Nothing is created in isolation; everything, even the most unlikely or minor, is connected. Factors and circumstances intertwine to create something new. This article discusses the strands and circumstances that led to the creation of a style of music that created reggae. This style of music is known internationally as ska; it has been around for the past fifty years yet is less widely known than its descendant, reggae, despite retaining its place as a unique up-beat style that is recognizable and called Jamaica’s first Indigenous urban pop style.
I will be breaking down the many influences that went into ska’s creation and development throughout its three eras (debatably four), which span three continents and several decades, starting in Jamaica in the 1950s and continuing into the mid-1960s, the second wave in 1970s Britain, and the third in 1980s Orange County, California, as well as New York City, New York. It is important to remember that the distinctions between these various eras and styles are not strictly defined and are quite fluid, as evidenced by ska’s evolution domestically from rocksteady to reggae. This article will begin by examining the first era of ska in Jamaica.
Era 1 begins quite humbly out of the Original Jamaican Scene. In the post-World War II era of the 1950s, Jamaicans were able to experience new opportunities for the first time. Listen to rhythm and blues (R&B) on the radio through stations in New Orleans and Miami with a high volume of popular R&B tunes coming into the country. A particularly famous one was American blues artist Fats Domino’s “Ain’t That a Shame.” Jamaican producers eventually started recording local artists’ versions of the genre, like “The Skatalites” “Prince Buster,” “Eric Monty Morris,” “Desmond Decker,” “Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,” and, of course, “The Wailers.”. While still in the style of R&B, these songs showed influences from traditional styles such as mento, also known as Jamaican folk music with jazzy tunes, and calypso, an Afro-Caribbean style. These attempts to recreate American music while stitching it together with various influences would go on. To create an entirely new style and A whole new genre, See the title.
It was also around this same time that In Jamaica post-World War 2 following independence from England in 1962, the country’s first youth movement had gotten going. The rude boys emerged from dissatisfaction, poverty, and rising unemployment following independence, which is sadly a tale as old as time when it comes to the English Conquest and independence, the capital, Kingston, was, unsurprisingly, overpopulated; masses of young men had moved to the city seeking work and instead found cramped living conditions and strains on basic necessities. Invariably leading to criminal activity as a means of survival, requiring a level of cunning in these underground activities, cutting their teeth in the shanty town gangs of the West Indies.
Much like their UK’s ‘mobs’ and ‘Teds,’ Jamaica’s Rude Boys embrace sharp, rebellious fashion. Usurping the sartorial signifiers of the upper class, they donned a uniform of trilby and pork pie hats, sharp tonic suits, double-breasted blazers, and patent brogues, giving them an air of ambition and elevation in Jamaica’s ghetto gang scene; along with their style, they cribbed their attitude from Jazz musicians and dressing up to emulate James Bond (who just had the hit movie Dr No, which was filmed on location in Jamaica), and Ocean’s Eleven. These two influences are called out by name often in the contemporary songs, and they caused so much trouble that a good part of the original corpus of songs produced in that era were all about how rude boys need to chill the fuck out and get their lives straightened out. (Simmer Down, 007, Rudy A Message to You, and many, many others). Taking their emulation a step further by often being equipped with a ratchet knife or handgun, as well as a thin tie and sunglasses.
The boys remained discontented and rowdy, yet stylish; however, by the early 1960s, ska had become the most popular genre in Jamaica, as it reflected the jubilant hope associated with Jamaican independence. Now the ska original scene was very complex and chaotic in its beginnings. Groups that combined disc jockeys, MCs, and engineers—known as sound systems—often consisted of anyone who could afford a PA. They would run guerrilla dance parties in vacant lots in Kingston, hiring jazz musicians whose day jobs involved playing Frank Sinatra for tourists at hotels on weekends. During the week, they recorded ska songs and played those recordings on weekends. We’re rapidly producing new singles in this new style and playing them at lively street parties for the public’s enjoyment. The rude boys would take on temporary jobs from these sound system operators to intimidate and disrupt dances, thereby coining the term ‘dance hall crasher.’
Once and singers and producers saw an opportunity to clout chase and integrate the rude boys With the rude boys and the mods blurring more and more as they lived and interacted in Britain’s working-class neighborhoods giving born to the original skinheads who took 1960s mod styles and Rude Boy/girl music and fashion Taking 1960s mod styles and Rude Boy music and fashion by this point the energy, the charisma, of the rude boys and girls hemmed themselves into the very fabric of what the next era of ska was as Dick Hebdige said in Subculture: The Meaning of Style: “Thus, the Rude Boy hero immortalized in ska and rocksteady – the lone delinquent pitched hopelessly against an implacable authority – was supplanted as the central focus of identity by the Rastafarian who broke the law in more profound and subtle ways”
In this environment, rocksteady replaced ska in 1966 as a direct descendant considered the most developmental and influential stage of Jamaican music, though it lasted only 2 years with a slower beat. While ska had a fast pace, according to legend, rocksteady was created on a hot summer night in Jamaica when people wanted to continue dancing, so they slowed down the music. Nowadays, rocksteady typically features fewer brass instruments, with some of its giants including “The Melodians,” “The Heptones,” “The Ethiopians,” “Alton Ellis,” “Roy Shirley,” “The Gaylads,” Ultimately, rocksteady’s popularity didn’t endure for long, as it gave way to a more popular sound—reggae—which is considerably slower than traditional ska and has a slow backbeat that lends a “laid-back” feel to the music.
These factors helped by emigration from the West Indies to the UK a decade previously and that not only were the records brought over by immigrants, but often so were the musicians. These strands gave rise to what is called the 2-tone era how it got its name will be expanded on shortly moreover it began in Coventry, England seeing a huge surge of popularity in the late 1970s as the Rhythms and melodies from this era of ska were sowed in with the skinhead scene at the time & the differences between era one and the 2-tone era one is defined by the eponymously named the Skatalites who were the premier first era ska bands and their influence on the genre should not be understated. Furthermore, not to get too technical with the sound of Era One Ska it was primarily instrumental. Some bands and groups toasted, which means they used rhymes, chants, yells, and interjections.
In era one and freestyle, the horns would frequently assume the lead melodies over the steady beat and the upstrokes of the guitar. In this era, the piano played a part after the guitar or bassline. Included bass drum accents on beats two and four and mostly a 4/4 pace. Typically, drummers would pound the rim of the snare drum or cross-stick to add to the backbeat. Typically, the drumhead is struck on beat 4. Now as for the 2-tone era, where era one is Jamaican folk mixed in with R&B, 2-tone kicks it up more up-tempo and high-energy than the era previous, using the elements of punk rock riffs and instrumentation to yield music that had a different attitude. This ska revival was spearheaded by Jerry Dammers and his band, The Specials. This led me to write this article with the first song on their eponymous hit debut album, The Specials little bitch the lyrics are quite harsh and mean-spirited towards women; however, Dammer would say how he regretted how “anti-woman” the first album is.
However, it is the perfect example of the 2-tone era so named due to Dammers’ record label, 2 Tone Records, and the fact that the band was racially mixed (a rarity for the time) as well as the nightmarish political atmosphere of Thatcher administration with the band’s political leanings leading them to fight racism in Thatcher-era Britain. With an instantly recognizable sound and aesthetic, 2 Tone brought ska and the specials to mainstream audiences in the UK. Now it’s important to mention the other bands of this ska revival who are just as influential as the specials such as this epoch were Madness, the Selecter, Bad Manners, and the Body Snatchers. UK 2 Tone getting back to its roots and going international again extended its influence across the pond, resulting in the formation of arguably the country’s most important ska band. a Canadian 2 Tone-inspired band called The Villains.
It wasn’t long before America got caught in the weave, which they ironically started, and began incorporating ska into their sound with the villains in Canada. Continuing ska’s on going cross-continent journey So begins era 3, which I will call ska across the pond. Naturally it was punk bands that absorbed ska influences, putting it far removed from the original Jamaican ska like the 2-tone era in the UK, instead favoring punchy guitar riffs and other hallmarks of punk rock. Now in an instance of the scene being. Complex and the lines not being. Fundamentally strict are the Toasters as they really paved the US ska scene, both in terms of the influence of their first album Skaboom had on other bands, but also the founding of Moon Ska Records, which Bucket started himself after not being able to get any label support in the States.
I wouldn’t call the Toasters 3rd wave – stylistically they were much more 2nd wave. By the mid-nineties, ska punk exploded in popularity with bands like No Doubt, Sublime, Reel Big Fish, and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones getting mainstream attention each landing on the Billboard 200. Reel Big Fish, Rancid, and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones are still active today. This is the ska most people in America would be familiar with and even have on their playlists.
Three triumphant rises and countless evolutions era-influenced social movements by creating an exciting sound that stretched across cultures and countries. When we visit the third era, ska will again jump across an ocean and gain even more punk influences after its inception on the streets of Jamaica. Ska is still going strong. The discourse around the fourth era of ska suggests that no one is sure when it began; most people aren’t even certain when the third era ended. Some argue that the third era never ended and that it’s still going, while others contend that we are currently in the fourth era of ska. However, this point is not substantial. From my perspective, it is important to consider what has come before.
Ultimately, I believe Ska has left behind arbitrary distinctions and has entered a kind of fluid cultural state. Whether you believe the third era never truly ended or that we are now in the fourth era, isn’t it essential to remember that ska, rocksteady, and reggae have collectively formed a long-evolving tradition? It makes sense that no one is entirely certain about its direction, only aware of its history. Perhaps this is to its benefit, as it permits musicians to explore the style in diverse ways—whether by incorporating punk aesthetics, leaning more into rocksteady, or perhaps blending all three over time. Who’s to say? This, I believe, is the lasting legacy of ska.