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This article is from the Reggae FAQ, by Mike Pawka eznoh@niceup.com with numerous contributions by others.

10]. What are the different reggae styles?

From: Paul Harvey
Subject: Re: Reggae styles

In article <Mar08.171038.66404@yuma.ACNS.ColoState.EDU>
jn163051@longs.LANCE.ColoState.Edu (Joel Nevison) writes:
>One thing I am a bit fuzzy on is the defining characteristics of
>the various styles of reggae; dancehall, rock steady, etc etc.
>I have a grip on the difference between ska and dub, but those
>are pretty obvbious. Could some of the experts here give an outline
>of the musical characteristics of the various styles? Also helpful
>would be a short list of titles that are good examples of or define
>a particular style. I've been listening to reggae for so long, and
>mainly break it down into two groups; love it, and okay. Seems I
>ought to maybe think about it a little more now.

I'll start but, it's not easy to do in writing. And I could probably
stand some education myself, anyway:

Ska - 50-60's, pioneered by the Skatalites? There is a thing called the
ska beat, which I don't really know how to describe, maybe you take each
beat and make it triplet with the two outer notes played by a guitar or
keyboard or horn and the center note a drum hit. Anyway, much ska was
just American pop of the 50-60's with a ska beat, but there was orginal
stuff also and there were certainly a lot of variations in the basic ska
beat.

[For more info on Ska, check the alt.music.ska FAQ:

<URL:http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/music/ska-faq/top.html>

<URL:ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/music/ska-faq/part1>
<URL:ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/music/ska-faq/part2>
<URL:ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/music/ska-faq/part3> ]

Dub - is just dubing something, usually vocals, onto an instrumental
version, often a B side.

Rock Steady was late 60's and was a slowed down version of ska with more
of a rock feel.

Roots was sort of a cross between American Rock and Ska/Rock-Steady, The
Wailers being the equivalent of the Beatles.

Dancehall seems to be the catchall for 80's and 90's Jamaican music and
is a varied as American Modern Rock/Pop music. Shabba Ranks is probably
the big name here, but there are of course many others. There are lots
of terms for sub-types of Dancehall.

From: ld21@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Lee Dirks)
Subject: Re: Reggae styles

In article Paul Harvey) writes:

>In article <Mar08.171038.66404@yuma.ACNS.ColoState.EDU>
>jn163051@longs.LANCE.ColoState.Edu (Joel Nevison) writes:
>>One thing I am a bit fuzzy on is the defining characteristics of
>>the various styles of reggae; dancehall, rock steady, etc etc.

>Ska - 50-60's, pioneered by the Skatalites?

I'm not sure anyone can say exactly who pioneered ska, but the Skatalites
were definitely right there at the beginning...and are still going strong!

>Dub - is just dubing something, usually vocals, onto an instrumental
>version, often a B side.

As far as I know, Dub should probably come in later down in this list, but
that is a minor point.

>Rock Steady was late 60's and was a slowed down version of ska with more
>of a rock feel.

I think you could safely say early 60s...

>Roots was sort of a cross between American Rock and Ska/Rock-Steady, The
>Wailers being the equivalent of the Beatles.

Good call. Fitting in after Roots (chronologically) would be Lover's Rock
and the man Gregory Isaacs, along with many other smooth singers of this style.

Before we jump on to dancehall, I think you should mention its origins, those
being Toasting and DJ. At least I would say these are the precursors, or the
given to dancehall before it was called dancehall. Toasting: U-Roy would
probably be one of the grand-daddys of this musical form (Big Youth as well?),
working the sound systems and chanting and toasting over dub versions of other
popular tunes of their day. Then, that was followed by the DJ style
popularized by The King (in his day) Yellowman; this style glided straight
into Dancehall as we know it today. At least, this is my take on the
situation. I'm more a roots man myself, so I'm not exactly taking about my
field here.

>Dancehall seems to be the catchall for 80's and 90's Jamaican music and
>is a varied as American Modern Rock/Pop music. Shabba Ranks is probably
>the big name here, but there are of course many others. There are lots
>of terms for sub-types of Dancehall.

I think this idea of drawing up catageories and writing descriptions and
listing artists which define the style is a good idea which should be
continued by all who wish to contribute. This could develop into a file
worth saving. Let's keep filling in the blanks!!

From: bbe001@acad.drake.edu
Subject: Re: Reggae styles

In article <1993Mar10.153518.4235@news.columbia.edu>,
ld21@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Lee Dirks) writes:
> In article <f0lZvYp@quack.kfu.com> Paul Harvey writes:
>
>>In article <Mar08.171038.66404@yuma.ACNS.ColoState.EDU>
>>jn163051@longs.LANCE.ColoState.Edu (Joel Nevison) writes:
>>>One thing I am a bit fuzzy on is the defining characteristics of
>>>the various styles of reggae; dancehall, rock steady, etc etc.
>
>>Ska - 50-60's, pioneered by the Skatalites?
>
> I'm not sure anyone can say exactly who pioneered ska, but the Skatalites
> were definitely right there at the beginning...and are still going strong!
Most people contribute it to Laurel Atikan (I know I spelled that wrong).
>>Dub - is just dubing something, usually vocals, onto an instrumental
>>version, often a B side.
Ah but so much more brah. It started out with people like King Tubby and
Augustus Pablo taking the instrumental tracks from the A-sides, then pumping up
the bass, using delay (like an echo) effects on the instruments and sometimes
maybe a snatch of vocals for the B-sides. If it was just stripping the vocals o
ff, then it's just a "version" record. This is why some songs use the same ridd
ims. But then, they just started having studio musicians provide the music.
Now, with the new techno-dub, for lack of a better word, the drum machines and
synths are doing a lot of it- like Jah Shaka and King (used to be Prince)
Jammy's newer stuff.
> As far as I know, Dub should probably come in later down in this list, but
> that is a minor point.
>
>>Rock Steady was late 60's and was a slowed down version of ska with more
>>of a rock feel.
>
> I think you could safely say early 60s...
>
>>Roots was sort of a cross between American Rock and Ska/Rock-Steady, The
>>Wailers being the equivalent of the Beatles.
>
> Good call. Fitting in after Roots (chronologically) would be Lover's Rock
> and the man Gregory Isaacs, along with many other smooth singers of this style.
>
> Before we jump on to dancehall, I think you should mention its origins, those
> being Toasting and DJ. At least I would say these are the precursors, or the
> given to dancehall before it was called dancehall. Toasting: U-Roy would
> probably be one of the grand-daddys of this musical form (Big Youth as well?),
> working the sound systems and chanting and toasting over dub versions of other
> popular tunes of their day. Then, that was followed by the DJ style
> popularized by The King (in his day) Yellowman; this style glided straight
> into Dancehall as we know it today. At least, this is my take on the
> situation. I'm more a roots man myself, so I'm not exactly taking about my
> field here.
>
>>Dancehall seems to be the catchall for 80's and 90's Jamaican music and
>>is a varied as American Modern Rock/Pop music. Shabba Ranks is probably
>>the big name here, but there are of course many others. There are lots
>>of terms for sub-types of Dancehall.
Definately true- about the deejay style of the 80's before dancehall now. Like
Eek-A-Mouse, Michigan and Smiley, and King Yello. For those of you interested
in some CONSCIOUS DANCEHALL- check out Charlie Chaplin -"Take Two," etc.
>
> I think this idea of drawing up catageories and writing descriptions and
> listing artists which define the style is a good idea which should be
> continued by all who wish to contribute. This could develop into a file
> worth saving. Let's keep filling in the blanks!!
>
I remeber reading about all these wierd names like "sleng-teng" and some others
I don't remember. I think sleng-teng was real techno-synth stuff. And I still
don't know what "inna yard style" is! Yeah yard is your house, but someone tell
me an actual artist in the yardee style, if any.

Respect,
Brad

From: mcbean@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Subject: Re: Reggae styles
Date: 13 Mar 93 07:29:05 GMT

In article <C3pyGB.sq@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk>, stevem@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (Steve
McGowan) writes:
> ld21@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Lee Dirks) writes:
>
>>In article <f0lZvYp@quack.kfu.com> Paul Harvey writes:
>
>>>In article <Mar08.171038.66404@yuma.ACNS.ColoState.EDU>
>>>jn163051@longs.LANCE.ColoState.Edu (Joel Nevison) writes:
>>>>One thing I am a bit fuzzy on is the defining characteristics of
>>>>the various styles of reggae; dancehall, rock steady, etc etc.
>
>
> I posted a very similar question a couple of months ago, but got
> no replies. I asked if anyone knew how/where the music style
> known as Mento fitted in with the development of reggae.
>
> I think Mento may have been more blues oriented than reggae (as we
> know it today), but not so distant that reggae could not evolve
> from it.
>
> Anyone shed some light?

My understanding of mento was that it is more like calypso (old calypso as
opposed to soca). It certainly sounds like it, more rhythmical lyrically, in a
storytelling tradition which suggests that it is closer to the original African
music forms. Some fuzzy memory tells me I'm on the right track but don't quote
me definitely. It was probably more influenced by the folk music forms of
England & great britain, since it comes from an era where dances like the
quadrille were still prevalent.

It definitely predates ska, and if you listen to ska then you can hear some of
the mento influence coming through, and of course reggae comes out of the ska
tradition.

There is a Jamaican "musicologist" (whatever that is supposed to mean), Dermot
Hussey, who has published several articles on this. Unfortunately residing in
"Babylon" at present means I have no way of enlightening you:-)

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