1.5: What is first-wave ska? Second-wave ska? Third-wave ska? Is there a fourth wave?
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This article is from the Ska FAQ, by Tomas Willis tomas@twillis.com with numerous contributions by others.
1.5: What is first-wave ska? Second-wave ska? Third-wave ska? Is there a fourth wave?
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 offspring rock-steady
and reggae. Seminal first-wave Jamaican ska artists include the
Skatalites, 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' (see ), it
eventually toppled the government!
"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, tighter and uses more horns
than some older Jamaican ska, although certainly not as much as the
Skatalites. 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! 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.)
For more details on the Skatalites, check out
http://www.profane.com/skatalites/
A recent Max Perlich interview of Dodd is available at
http://www.grandroyal.com/Magazine/Issue1/UpFront/Clement.html, wherein
*Coxsone* answers the question: "How does it compare to the ska of the
past?"
For more on skinhead reggae, check out
http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~lashout/sknmusc.html.
For Usenet discussion of reggae, check out news:rec.music.reggae
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) There is some discrepancy as do the *exact* time at which a
music distinctly "ska" was first played and recorded. Music recorded
as early as late 1958 and in 1959 have much, if not all, of the musical
elements "required" to be ska. It is not clear to me that the term
"ska" was in use prior to late 1960, however. The knowlegeable Noah Roy
(nr24@columbia.edu) of Moon credits Theo Beckford's `Easy Snappin' as
the first ska recording.
(2) "Kako" is Puerto Rican for "homeboy".
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