Jason's Ska History Page!
Welcome To My Ska History Page. For Those Of You Visiting My Page Who Don't Know Or Aren't Quite Sure What Ska Music Is, The Definition According To the Ska FAQ is:
"Ska is dance music, first and foremost. Ska was a Jamaican dance music that swept out of Jamaica in the early 1960s to shake the butts of working- and middle-class Jamaicans before going on, via the West Indian immigrant connection, to the UK, and then on to the world. In the UK, ska was also known as `blue beat' music. Rocksteady, and later, reggae sprang from the loins of ska in the late 1960s. Mid-1970s and 1980s/1990s revivals of this popular dance form have kept this music alive and fun through the present. The ska beat on drums and bass, rhythm guitar, lots of horns and maybe a Hammond organ --- that's the ska sound."
Chapter 1 - General Ska Over View
If you want to know what ska is, Just go to a ska show and find your answer there. On this page I will Tell you about my choice of bands and labels and as much history as I know. Basically, I classified all bands on this page as ska that consider ska to be an integral part of their musical style. That could be jazz-ska, punk-ska, ska-core, mento-ska, reggae-ska, soul-ska, rockabilly-ska, pop-ska, surf-ska, camp-ska, satanic-ska, ska-punk 1st wave, 2nd wave, or 3rd wave ska. It doesn't matter, as long as ska is part of their style. For the history I will divide ska into categories (original, two-tone, third wave) only because ska has developes over the years in stages. I will not however categorize bands as ska or not ska or divide todays ska bands into categories. People who like to categorize and divide the ska world should understand that while ska certainly has distinguishable characteristics (a specific rhythm to the drums, guitar on the upbeat, a bright horn section, jazzy improvisation at times), almost no single band can incorporate all of these elements into their sound. It's futile to bicker over what is ska and what isn't ska, and who cares if one band might be "more ska" then another as long as you dig the music. My recommendation is to simply separate bands into those you like and those you don't like.
Hopefully with this history page you will be able to find out things about ska you never knew and maybe even find great ska bands that you never even heard of. If anything I just want to get the word of the all mighty SKA out to the wor1d, spreading the joy and happiness that I have found in ska.
Keep skankin people!!!!!!
Chapter 2: The Three Waves Of Ska
--First Wave, Second Wave, Third Wave Ska--
These terms describe ska music coming from three different time periods separated by gaps in the popularity of the music. Roughly speaking, first-wave ska began in late 1960[1] in Jamaica and lasted until the late 1960s in Jamaica and England (as blue beat), by which time its popularity had declined in favor of ska's offspring rock-steady and reggae. Seminal first-wave Jamaican ska artists include instrumentalists like the Skatalites, Baba Brooks, Ernest Ranglin, Jackie Mittoo, and Bobby Ellis, and vocalists like Laurel Aitken, Prince Buster, Derrick Morgan and Desmond Dekker.
Joly, joly@dti.net, reminds us that Duke Vin brought Sound System to London in the 50's, and in the Sixties the London Ska scene became so strong that, as can be seen in the movie Scandal, it eventually toppled the British government! (see Movies)
Second-wave ska flourished in the late-1970s and very early 1980s and saw the emergence of popular groups such as The Specials, the (English) Beat, Madness and the like in England. Second-wave ska is strongly associated with the 2 Tone scene [1979--1981] in the UK, as shown in the movie Dance Craze, although American bands like Her Majesties Secret Service brought the 2-Tone sound to the States in the early Eighties. Two-tone ska is faster and tighter than first-wave ska and incorporates some elements of punk rock and British reggae. Certainly, through the first and second waves, ska was a music for the man-in-street, the working people.
Third-wave ska is a late-1980s/early- 1990s revival of ska, involving such bands as Weaker Youth Ensemble, the Allstonians, Bim Skala Bim, the Voodoo Glow Skulls and The Toasters. Many popular rock/hardcore/funk bands, such as The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, are strongly influenced by ska sounds. In the last few years, some bands, like Hepcat, Steady Earnest, the Allstonians, Skavoovie and the Epitones, have recovered a roots ska sound.
In Puerto Rico and Latin America, new ska fusions are emerging. Some call the emerging latin ska salska, with bands fusing afro-caribbean and Latin pop-rock sounds with roots ska for a unique and exciting sound! Skarlos, carlos@skinhead.org, reports the development of skakakore,[2] a ska/hoodcore or rap/ska/hardcore mix. The band with the longest name to date, La Maldita Vecindad y los Hijos del quinto Patio, mixes cha-cha with ska - chachaska. Let's not forget freestyle ska, that European ska/hip-hop fusion. It sure isn't ska-core, but it is a new direction! Then, there is the return of jazz elements to ska, with ska-jazz and swing-ska catching on in some areas. Is this the fourth wave of ska?
Additionally, there has been a recent infusion of self-identified Christian ska bands, particularly in the US. These bands include the O.C. Supertones, Five Iron Frenzy, the Insyderz, Squad 5-0, the Israelites (not Desmond Dekker's backup band), Aloha Fridays and Big Dog Small Fence. This is one step beyond the gospel covers the Wailers recorded in 1962! How do you know a band is a Christian ska band? Ask them. (Mephiskapheles is another sort of thing, altogether.)
Another exciting trend in third-wave ska is swing-ska, or as it is called by some, swank. Swing-ska marries more or less traditional ska and big band swing, as in the work of The Cherry Poppin' Daddies, The W's, A Dream I Had, Seven Foot Politic and others.
Chapter 3- The Begining Of Ska In The West Indies (First Wave Ska)
The Beginning of Ska in the West Indies
In the 1950's, the world of music was metamorphosing. The start of a music industry, which made it possible for American popular music to
be spread throughout the free world, was bringing the music of America abroad. Cultures in many of the countries around the globe would be
greatly affected by this change, and this new form of communication would make the world seem much smaller.
In Jamaica, an island in the West Indies located 500 miles from Miami, the popular music at the time was Mento. Since the average Jamaican
could not afford to fly overseas and learn of the music of other cultures, Jamaica had been unaffected by the music of America until large radio
stations from the bigger south-eastern American cities such as Miami, Jacksonville, Nashville, and New Orleans, began to broadcast. Since
the ocean created little interference with the signal, the stations were easily reachable on clear days.
Jamaicans became exposed to new forms of music. Rhythm and Blues, Jazz, and boogie-woogie were totally new to these people and had a
danceable beat. The need for more American music grew as the people continued to listen. Some of the dancehall owners and entrepreneurs,
such as Clement 'Coxone' Dodd, Leroy Riley, Headley Jones, and Jack Taylor, went out of their way to help satisfy the needs of the quickly
changing musical culture in a place where their music was one of the only affordable social activities.
Radios that were capable of picking up distant radio stations were not easily accessible to the average Jamaican, leaving the spread of music
largely dependent on the sound systems of their dance-halls. These sound systems would travel to various parts of Jamaica and spread the
newest dance music. American musicians, such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Sarah Vaughan, Ray Charles, Professor Longhair, Fats
Domino, Smiley Louis, and others were played from Friday Nights to Monday mornings in all of the dancehalls in Jamaica. The big sound
system operators at that time were Tom the Great Sebastian, Roy White, V Rocket, Duke Reid the Trojan, and Sir Coxsone's Downbeat.
When Rock & Roll emerged from the United States, a puzzled Jamaica looked on. This new music identified with the white American youth
and for the Jamaican people, it was more difficult to dance to. This would not have been a problem if the music hadn't begun to overpower
rhythm & blues. Jamaicans began to find it more and more difficult to acquire r & b records for their dancehalls.
Clement Dodd, a sound system operator, record producer, and retailer, was the one who came up with the concept of creating a new
Jamaican popular music. It would encompass all of the components of the music that was being played at the dancehalls: mento, r & b, jazz,
and boogie-woogie, combined into one new form.
Dodd passed his ideas on to Cluet Johnson, the bass player for one of the most popular Jamaican dance and recording bands, Clue J and the
Blues Blasters. All of the supporters of the "Coxsone Downbeat," were considered to be the 'heppest' in the music scene. Clue J would greet
these supporters with the word "Skavoovie." The new music that was created, was said by many to have a "ya ya" sound. In honor of Clue J,
the music took on an abbreviation of Clue J’s favorite buzzword. This is how ska came about.
In the mid to late 50's, Calypso and American British Pop Style music were the only recordings coming out of Jamaica. Near the end of the
50's, Dodd was recording Jamaican entertainers doing a jazz and r&b sound. The ska sound wasn't officially created until late '60 or '61. The
sound was totally different from any of the previous Jamaican forms of music.
"Musically, Ska is a fusion of Jamaican mento rhythm with r & b, with the drum coming in on the 2nd and 4th beats, and the
guitar emphasizing the up of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th beats. The drum is therefore carrying the blues and swing beats of the
American music, and the guitar is expressing the mento sound." (Julian Jingles)
Ska music became Jamaicans’ first popular music. Ska even developed its own dance, which came from the middle class of Jamaica. New
names immediately rose to the top of this new Jamaican art form. For vocalists, there was Lascelles Perkins, Owen Grey, Laurel Aitken,
Clancy Eccles, Higgs and Wilson, Bunny and Skitter, and the Jiving Juniors. Jah Jerry Haynes became the most famous guitarist, and Aubrey
Adams was the popular pianist. The big bass players of the time were, of course, Clue J and Lloyd Brevett. Lloyd Knibbs and Drumbago
were the drummers, while Raymond Harper, Jackie Willacy, and Dizzy Johnny Moore were the popular trumpet players. As for trombone,
Don Drummond and Rico Rodriguez were a hit. On tenor sax there was the incredible Roland Alphonso.
In 1962, Tommy McCook, one of Jamaica's greatest tenor saxophonists, returned to live in Jamaica. He soon became one of the key players
in the shaping of ska music. McCook was an accomplished jazz saxophonist, whose musical discipline greatly enhanced this growing form of
music. A year later he began recording with a group of leading musicians: Don Drummond, trombone, Roland Alphonso, tenor saxophone,
Lester Sterling, alto, Jackie Mittoo, piano, Lloyd Brevett, bass, Lloyd Knibbs, drums, and Jah Jerry, guitar. Later on, Dizzy Johnny Moore
was brought into the group on trumpet.
This group recorded in Studio One, a famous Jamaican recording studio. The response was overwhelming, leaving the fans of the music
curious as to whom the musicians were. McCook then suggested that a band should be formed. Lloyd Brevett asked McCook to lead them
as a band.
McCook eventually agreed and they became the Skatalites in June of 1964. They broke up after only fourteen months. The kind of ska that
the Skatalites played was different from the original boogie-woogie sound that Clue J and his Blues Blasters had created. Tommy McCook
explains:
"The drop, the 2nd and 4th beat where the drum dropped was the key to it. In rhythm and blues it was the same drop, but also
the ska was a little faster, and the background was different to R & B. The guitar was playing a different thing and the piano
wasn’t playing as much r &b just ska-ing strictly and keeping the music lively. It was a foundation really. It was a good vibe, and
the singers wanted to show their appreciation of the beat, so we used to fire hard on that beat. When the horns weren’t riffing,
we would come in on the ska and add more weight to it." (Tommy McCook)
In 1967, a great heat wave crippled the West Indies. This made dancing to ska difficult and naturally the pace of the music was slowed as a
compromise. Eventually the music slowed enough to be an entirely new sound. Ska had evolved into rocksteady.
The rocksteady sound was much different from the ska. The horns of the rocksteady were turned down, and the emphasis was more on the
bass rhythm. This brought forth many artists who were in the backdrop during ska’s time. Desmond Dekker, Keith and Tex, the Jamaicans,
Laurel Aitken, and others, swept the island off it’s feet and could even be heard as far away as England. The first Jamaican band to hit the
British pop charts was Desmond Dekker in 1967 with a #11 hit ‘007 Shanty Town.’ He also reached #1 in 1969 with ‘Israelites .’ This
became the music of the British working class, who were then evolving into skinheads.
The desire for this rocksteady sound by the Jamaicans and skinheads made it possible for a new type of music to be started that was focused
around skinheads. This was called skinhead reggae. Bands such as Symarip, Derrick Morgan, Desmond Dekker, and others pumped out
songs to appease the skinhead masses. The skinhead reggae bands would eventually fade, as would rocksteady in Jamaica, but the UK had
been exposed to a new form of music, and it was only a matter of time before something would be done about it.
Chapter -4 Two Tone Ska (Second Wave Ska)
The 2-Tone Era
In 1979, the British music scene took a liking to a Jamaican music called ska. Many new bands formed to play this music in its revival. Bands
and crowds, alike, often dressed up in black and white clothing as a ‘rudeboy’. Rudeboys were gangsters that existed from the middle of
1966 to early in 1967 in Jamaica. During this time period, almost every artist in the West Indies wrote at least one song that referred to these
gangsters’ exploits. These gangsters were nothing more than victims of the poor social conditions in which they had lived, and often had no
choice but to resort to crime. The rudeboy fashion in Britain was more of a ‘happy dancing guy in a stylish two-tone suit and pork pie hat.’
However, the British rudeboy was dressed more like the mods of the sixties than the original Jamaican rudeboys.
According to Pauline Black from The Selecter, who was quoted in an article written by Scott Isler in September of 1993, "2 Tone was
basically about black and white people playing together." The 2 Tone movement was symbolic of the struggle against racial tensions between
blacks and whites in British society. The two colors, black and white, were used together on all of the artwork and checkered patterns that
decorated the second wave to symbolize black and white unity. Ska bands formed all over the UK, often of mixed ethnic backgrounds, to
play a danceable beat and to try to stop the racial discrimination that had been going on for quite some time.
The British record label 2 Tone was started in 1979 by Jerry Dammers, an Indian immigrant who played organ, percussion, and sang for a
band named The Special A.K.A. They consisted of Dammers, Lynval Golding, guitar, and Horace Panter, bass. The band had been known
as The Automatics, and started out playing punk rock mixed with heavy reggae. This sound had also been pulled off by the Clash on
occasion, so it wasn’t quite a new creation.
After finding that the two types of music did not quite blend in the way that they had intended, the band decided to try a ska beat instead. A
year after forming as The Automatics, they added on guitarist
Roddy Radiation, and singers Terry Hall and Neville Staples. At this point, they changed their name to The Special A.K.A. This was done to
avoid confusion and legal conflicts with another band also called The Automatics who had recently made a record deal.
Their big break came when The Clash offered them the chance to play as the opening act on their British tour. The Clash manager, Bernard
Rhodes, took a liking to them and offered the band his services. Unfortunately, Dammers and Rhodes did not work well together.
Dammers decided to start a new record label for the band’s recordings. They borrowed just enough money to record one song, "Gangsters."
The song was about the music industry and borrowed a sound effect from Prince Buster’s "Al Capone."
When the time came for the flipside of the record to be made, there was no money left. Lynval Golding, a backup singer for the band, knew
of guitarist Neol Davies, who had taped an instrumental at home a year earlier. Dammers got a hold of the track and overdubbed a ska
rhythm guitar and they called it ‘The Selecter.’
Having a strong background in art, Dammers designed a logo for their new label. Five thousand copies were pressed and the records were
then distributed independently. As a result, 2 Tone records took off, along with The Special A.K.A.
The single became an underground hit and their stage presence attracted record company executives from all over, including Mick Jagger.
Although Dammers did not intend on selling out, the band finally agreed to be signed on Chrysalis on the condition that 2 Tone would still exist
as a subset of Chrysalis and still be managed by The Special A.K.A and The Selecter, which was now an existing band formed by Davies
when the single became a smashing success. This would make it possible for all of the ska bands sprouting up all over England to have their
own ska music record label.
Once Chrysalis took over, "Gangsters" hit the British Top 10. 2 Tone released another single, this time from a new band called Madness.
"The Prince" went to the top 20 in Britain, and Madness was then signed to Stiff Records. The third release "On My Radio" by The Selecter,
discussed their contempt for radio. The irony is that the song was destined for the Top 10 and would be played on just about every radio in
England.
Special A.K.A. came out with a second single, "A Message To You Rudy," a cover of the Dandy Livingstone classic. This record added on
Rico Rodriquez on trombone, and the band changed their name to the Specials. About a month later, the record label produced another
single, this time from The Beat (known in America as The English Beat). They released a ska rendition of Smokey Robinson & The Miracles’
"Tears Of A Clown," shortly after the band set up their own label. After three albums, the Beat stopped, and later formed General Public and
Fine Young Cannibals.
Seven 2 Tone singles were released by 1980, each selling at least a quarter-million copies. The Specials had actually made it to number one
on the British Top 10 with their song "Too Much Too Young." American filmmaker Joe Massot filmed a concert documentary of six of
England’s top ska bands playing various shows throughout the country. The British ska scene had really taken off, and many of the bands
became overwhelmed by the popularity.
Dammers and Davies decided that 2 Tone was becoming way too popular for them to handle. The Selecter left the label. Dammers and The
Specials stayed on, believing that their popularity would soon fade.
The band continued to produce hits. "Rat Race" hit the Top 5, and "Stereotype" did just as well. But the big hit for the band was the release
of "Ghost Town" which sold over a million copies. A few months later, Hall, Staples, and Golding left the band to start The Fun Boy Three.
Soon after, guitarist Roddy Radiation left the band to play for the rock ‘n’ roll band called The Tearjerkers. At this point, The Specials were
forced to revert back to Special A.K.A., since they were basically no longer the same band. The Bodysnatchers, an all-female band headed
by Rhoda Dakar, had recently disbanded, and Rhoda joined Special A.K.A. in a release called "The Boiler." Other ex-Bodysnatchers
formed another band called The Belle Stars.
After a disappearance for two years, Special A.K.A. released the album "In The Studio," which missed the charts completely and forced the
band into debt. The rest of the releases from 2 Tone at this point were watered down, and the label began to suffocate. The last release to
come out of the label came from J.B’s Allstars, a group led by ex-Special A.K.A. drummer John Bradbury.
With the subtle disappearance of 2 Tone, the ‘second wave’ of ska slowly drifted into nothingness. It didn’t last very long, but people were
listening all over the world. Just across the Atlantic in America, the downbeat didn’t stop.
Chapter 5- Rude Boys
HOW TO DISTINGUISH A RUDE BOY FROM THE AMISH
RUDE BOY-----------------------------------------------------------------AMISH PERSON
- Cruises around on a scooter------------------------------------ Prefers the horse-drawn buggy
- Really likes to dance--------------------------------- Thinks it's grounds for eternal damnation
- Thinks girls should wear short skirts -------------------- Agrees, but isn't allowed to admit it
- Clean-shaven-------------------------------------------------------------------- Beard down to the waist
-Rolls his own smokes-------------------------------------------------------------- Churns his own butter
- Digs the Toasters------------------------------------------------------- Doesn't own any appliances
- Thinks sewing a patch is hard--------------------------------- Can sew a whole quilt, no sweat
and while we're at it...
HOW TO DISTINGUISH A RUDE BOY FROM AN ORTHODOX JEW
RUDIE-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ORTHODOX JEW
- Martinis---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Manischevitz
- Sometimes says "Oi!"--------------------------------------------------------- Sometimes says "Oy!"
-Waiting for the Skunks to show----------------------------------- Waiting for the Messiah to show
- Digs Fishbone--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digs Whitefish
- Knows that some skinheads are ok---------------------------a little nervous about skinheads
- Long sideburns----------------------------------------------------------- Really, really long sideburns
- Likes "The Israelites"------------------------------------------------------------------------ IS an Israelite
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