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Fort Skumpter
164 Posts |
 Posted - 07/04/2004 : 12:08:01 PM
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There are people around the country, like myself, who have worked diligently over the years to basically bring ska back from the dead.
(And trust me. It was pretty dead.)
What we're seeing is a bunch of new bands spring up. But instead of being ska bands, they're more like rock-bands-with-horns.
So, maybe, a lot of you simply just don't know what ska is supposed to sound like.
Well, pull up a chair cuz class is in session.
Ska is Jamaican music.
In the simplest of terms, it's basically a mix of Motown and an African type of music called mento.
Boss Sounds - A History Of Jamaican Music
http://www.geocities.com/boss_sounds
Eventhough it had gained its independence from England in 1962, Jamaica was still part of the British Commonwealth. A few years later, in the mid-70's, there was great political unrest in Jamaica and a lot of musicians fled the country. Some, because Jamaica was part of The Commonwealth, fled to the UK.
In England, musicians like The Clash and The Police started working Jamaican riddims into their music. Well, thanks to the Sex Pistols, a lot of punk was banned, and punk started to fall out of fashion.
In 1979, a punk band from Coventry called "The Coventry Automatics" decided to dabble in ska, or bluebeat as it was known in England. They decided to play a mix of punk and ska, and changed their name to The Specials.
The Specials Official Website
http://www.thespecials.com
At the same time, there was great social unrest in the UK because unemployment was high and a lot of these new Jamaican transplants, as well as other foreigners, were taking up jobs as cheap labor. Race retlations in the Uk were at a fever pitch. Along comes this band called The Specials, and they are an integrated band.
What the fook??
To show their support for racial solidarity, The Specials formed their own label, Two Tone Records, and started recruiting other ska acts.
Two Tone Info
http://2-tone.info
What followed has been described as a "Dance Craze". Ska was white hot in England. The black-and-white checkerboard design could be found everywhere. Two Tone bands ruled the British Pop Charts. But before you could say "One Step Beyond", it was all over. Two Tone Records was bankrupt, and in 1984, the whole craze folded.
Ska lay dormant for most of the 80's. Sure, The Toasters, Fishbone, The Loafers, and other bands were active, but with Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, and Bon Jovi being forced down your throats, did you really notice?
Around 1989, things began to change in the US. Bands like The Toasters, Fishbone, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones stopped being local bands and started gaining national recognition. (Who remembers hearing "Skanking To The Beat" in the movie "Say Anything"?)
At the same time in California, bands like No Doubt, Let's Go Bowling, and others started dabbling in ska. By 1994, with Moon Ska Records well under way, ska exploded onto the US music scene. Other record companies, always looking for the next big thing, started signing bands left and right. A Ska Boom, also know as The Third Wave, was on.
Pretty soon, any band with a couple of horns was being signed to a label. It didn't matter if you were a traditional band like Hepcat, or a punk band with horns like Reel Big Fish.
Ska was everywhere.
But with every Boom, there comes the Bust. And with the explosion of Boy Bands like NSync. Ska bands were dropped like flies from the labels. Moon Ska went bankrupt when bands couldn't make due on their contracts. (For more on Moon Ska, check out this interview with Bucket Hingley. http://www.inmusicwetrust.com/articles/66h03.html )
Ska was dead, as far as the US was concerned.
But it wasn't really. A lot of bands did fold, but some just went back to being the local band they were in the beginning.
In the past 3 to 4 years, a lot of people having trying to get a national ska scene back up and running. Some people, like myself, have worked on a small scale. Some people have worked on a regional scale. Others like Chuck Wren and Bucket Hingley have worked on a national scale with the founding of Megalith Records.
So please, if you want to start a ska band, at least try to work some recognizable ska aspects into your music. Keep in mind that ska is dance music. It always has been. If you need more info on ska's history, check out these links:
http://hem.passagen.se/qhp/75/history.html
http://www.geocities.com/lvbernard
http://www.skajerk.com/historyframe.html
Or check out these US bands that play a more traditional ska style:
http://www.twoandahalfwhiteguys.com
http://www.akarudie.com
http://www.chrismurray.net
http://www.easternstandardtime.com
http://www.iration.com/hepcat
http://www.kingdjango.com
http://www.lascabriolas.com
http://www.letsgobowling.com
http://www.rudeindc.com/rsg
http://www.theslackers.com
http://www.toasters.org
http://www.theuprights.net
http://www.westboundsound.com
and many more that I'm forgetting.
Thanks for listening.
-Andrew
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hop skip jump
USA
260 Posts |
Posted - 07/04/2004 : 1:23:34 PM
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very nice buddy
Pudding is the epitome of all that is good and wonderful. |
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daoster
Vietnam
405 Posts |
Posted - 07/04/2004 : 5:43:08 PM
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deja vu!
Weee |
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ruderoots
USA
988 Posts |
Posted - 07/06/2004 : 1:53:10 PM
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You're right in that most people around here have no idea what ska even sounds like, but you missed/erred in several important points in your post.
abram
www.ruderoots.com
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HepDoggy
Hayward
1101 Posts |
Posted - 07/06/2004 : 2:32:26 PM
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I tried to bite my tongue, well fuggit, let's have some fun...
Rhetorical Question:
I wonder if total strangers used to walk up to Miles Davis say 'Hey Miles, it's cool that you have a trumpet and all, but if you want to be called a jazz musician, you have to play like Louis Armstrong"?
-hepDoggy
"Never look at the trombones, it only encourages them." - Richard Strauss |
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ted
Kyrgyzstan
1864 Posts |
Posted - 07/06/2004 : 2:35:19 PM
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Do what now?
"I like my coffee like I like my women - tied up in a burlap sack and dragged across the Andes on the back of a donkey."
-Some guy on Slashdot |
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Fort Skumpter
164 Posts |
Posted - 07/06/2004 : 3:21:03 PM
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quote:
You're right in that most people around here have no idea what ska even sounds like, but you missed/erred in several important points in your post.
abram
www.ruderoots.com
True. I did generalize a bit too much. I was trying to squeeze 40 years of history into a few paragraphs. I recently found this link that explains ska much better.
http://www.reggaemovement.com/History/historyska.htm
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PepsOne
Mexico
1071 Posts |
Posted - 07/06/2004 : 9:48:04 PM
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quote:
There are people around the country, like myself, who have worked diligently over the years to basically bring ska back from the dead.
I can relate dude, fully!
(And trust me. It was pretty dead.)
Yeah!
What we're seeing is a bunch of new bands spring up. But instead of being ska bands, they're more like rock-bands-with-horns.
And a lot of them know that difference...ska-punk/ska-core is a genre all on its own, btw.
So, maybe, a lot of you simply just don't know what ska is supposed to sound like.
You're right, some of the young kids don't know, but most kids here on "our" BAS site DO KNOW!
Well, pull up a chair cuz class is in session.
Oh you're a music history teacher-COOL!AweSomE!!thank God!
Ska is Jamaican music.
In the simplest of terms, it's basically a mix of Motown and an African type of music called mento.
[red]you forgot jazz, R&B, & calypso/music from the west indies, and buru- an African type of music. Mento is actually distinctively Jamaican.[red]
Even though it had gained its independence from England in 1962, Jamaica was still part of the British Commonwealth. A few years later, in the mid-70's, there was great political unrest in Jamaica and a lot of musicians fled the country. Some, because Jamaica was part of The Commonwealth, fled to the UK.
[red]Fortunately ska stood strong, supported by a couple of subcultures. First by the mods in the early 60s then by skinheads in the late 60s. I'm glad you gave them credit. God forbid you piss them off with this post.
In England, musicians like The Clash and The Police started working Jamaican riddims into their music. Well, thanks to the Sex Pistols, a lot of punk was banned, and punk started to fall out of fashion.
[red]Yes! Awesome! Finally someone who mentions the Sex Pistols and fashion in the same sentence. PuNk=fuck you, so does ska in case you didn't know. It's music created by oppression. The world needed a band like the Sex Pistols to say "fuck you we don't care!" Punk wouldn't be what it is today without their MAJOR influence.
In 1979, a punk band from Coventry called "The Coventry Automatics" decided to dabble in ska, or bluebeat as it was known in England. They decided to play a mix of punk and ska, and changed their name to The Specials.
[red]Finally someone who agrees with me that the SPECIALS are punk (as much as ska)! That's what I've been trying to tell these kids for years!
At the same time, there was great social unrest in the UK because unemployment was high and a lot of these new Jamaican transplants, as well as other foreigners, were taking up jobs as cheap labor. Race relations in the Uk were at a fever pitch. Along comes this band called The Specials, and they are an integrated band.
[red]Followed by a big DUH!!   
blah..................ok, ok, hmmm......sure, yeah....
Ska lay dormant for most of the 80's. Sure, The Toasters, Fishbone, The Loafers, and other bands were active, but with Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, and Bon Jovi being forced down your throats, did you really notice?
[red]Uh, yeah if you were part of the scene/community or just loved ska music!!
So please, if you want to start a ska band, at least try to work some recognizable ska aspects into your music. Keep in mind that ska is dance music. It always has been. If you need more info on ska's history, check out these links:
.................
and many more that I'm forgetting.
[red]Like people who have studied music history and people who have lived the ska scene first hand (not me, btw)!!
Thanks for listening.
[red]er reading anyway[red]
-Andrew
*******************************************
I'm glad you helped out and dropped some knowledge to try to "school" these "ignorant" kids in the BAS scene. I'm also VERY glad someone else finally feels the way I do about ska- passionate about the music that brings lots of people together (mods, punx, skins, rudies, etc..) BTW, in case you didn't know, real Oi! is about inclusivity - Punk & ska! We're actually proud of our little ska community, and these kids are NOT ignorant! My heart melted when I saw a bunch of little young kids skankin' up a storm when I went to see the Kingpins at the Starry Plough.
Dude, Andrew, I'm glad you live right here in SF, er the Bay Area so we can go out for drinks and talk about music. Cuz the way I see it, you have no idea what you just started with yer post. I can talk about music for H-O-U-R-S!! fun tymes eh! drop me a line er an e-mail "rudeboy". Let's hang out and show these kids how to start a real skank-pit at one of these shows coming up.
Don't you hate trendy-ass scenesters who really don't give a shit about the music and are all about getting laid and being violent?!
Oh yeah, and I've got a website for you too:
http://www.twotone.ws/
[b]Oi![/i]
>>-+-+-+-+-+-+-+->
"SKA-pUnK-LoCo" |
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Fort Skumpter
164 Posts |
Posted - 07/07/2004 : 05:10:26 AM
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quote:
I tried to bite my tongue, well fuggit, let's have some fun...
Rhetorical Question:
I wonder if total strangers used to walk up to Miles Davis say 'Hey Miles, it's cool that you have a trumpet and all, but if you want to be called a jazz musician, you have to play like Louis Armstrong"?
-hepDoggy
"Never look at the trombones, it only encourages them." - Richard Strauss
Nah, don't bite your tongue. Speak up!
I do have a Rhetorical Question of my own...if you were to play some jazz for someone who'd NEVER heard of jazz before, who would you play? Miles Davis or Kenny G?
What about ska?
For me, I'd play Prince Buster or The Specials over Catch-22 or even The Bosstones...
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ruderoots
USA
988 Posts |
Posted - 07/07/2004 : 11:57:35 AM
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I do have a Rhetorical Question of my own...if you were to play some jazz for someone who'd NEVER heard of jazz before, who would you play? Miles Davis or Kenny G?
Right, just like would you book, say, the Doors alongside John Lee Hooker and B.B. King?
abram
www.ruderoots.com
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HepDoggy
Hayward
1101 Posts |
Posted - 07/07/2004 : 1:30:03 PM
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I'd pay to see that show!
There's a tendency for us ska fans to choose our favorite period or style within the genre to the exclusion of any other. Maybe it's natural, but I wouldn't give much credence to people who say rock music was defined solely by Elvis and if some artist strays from that style it ceases to be rock. That's silly.
All music evolves - we don't have to like every subgenre, but if the lineage reaches back to ska, why criticize it on a technicality? Say you don't like a band because they suck not because of a technicality. If a core value of the music is unity, why would we argue about subtlety, form, or instrumentation? There's something very wrong with the statement 'my ska is better that your ska' or 'this recording is the only true ska'.
What's so refreshing about ska as a genre is that it has been around so long and been influenced by so many. Music is exciting when it is new and fresh and when it reflects our times. Why should ska be forced to live in the past?
There are three ways to live with ska in your life.
1. Narrowly define ska as a phenomenon of the 60's. This means ska died in the mid-late 60's when rocksteady gained popularity and then reggae took off. There were no ska bands since that groundbreaking age with the exception of revival and cover bands - everything else was ska-influenced. Not ska. As a result, The Specials were just a band that liked a good offbeat.
2. Adopt the unified theory of ska. The Grand Unified Theory explains every principle process that occurs in nature by introducing energetic matter which formed wave formations that went on to create everything. It worked for the universe, why not ska? (BTW, I'm not looking to start a war with the creationists on the board). Under this pretense, all music is related - some more closely than others and that each wave in any genre influences the next. If there are waves in ska, then each wave influences the next rather than being influenced only by the first. This means that ska is kept in motion not by direct influence of the 'big bang of ska' but by the motion created by that bang AND and the waves that follow it. A band can be influenced by the 2nd or 3rd wave and still maintain it's ska lineage without directly being influenced by the 1st. You may hereafter refer to this as Gene's Unified Theory of Ska.
3. Live the simple life. Listen to what you like and dance at the shows. Call all music, music and all bands, bands. Be untroubled by the noisy chatter of critics and fans and live solely for the happy beat.
-hepDoggy
"Never look at the trombones, it only encourages them." - Richard Strauss |
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Peggy
Liechtenstein
2675 Posts |
Posted - 07/07/2004 : 2:52:10 PM
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The Specials irritate me. (Oh god, am I gonna get it!)
Go Jimmy Go is the best band ever.`
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ruderoots
USA
988 Posts |
Posted - 07/07/2004 : 3:27:19 PM
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I'd pay to see that show!
haha...I knew people would say that. I probably would too, but I'd be like "what the F are the Doors doing on this bill?"
"Gene's Unified Theory of Ska" sure sounds a lot like my 'Unified Wave Theory' (at least in title) that I was tooling with waaaaay back when I wrote for Agouti. However, I think your three paths left out a whole swath of options, but maybe it was your intention not to get too specific?
abram
www.ruderoots.com
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HepDoggy
Hayward
1101 Posts |
Posted - 07/07/2004 : 3:36:17 PM
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It took me forever to draft up just the three!
I think i'm the kind of person who overanalyzes people who overanalyze music.
-hepDoggy
"Never look at the trombones, it only encourages them." - Richard Strauss |
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Peggy
Liechtenstein
2675 Posts |
Posted - 07/07/2004 : 3:55:50 PM
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Gene,
You're making my last two days of work a-mu-zing!
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Percussed
Netherlands
1246 Posts |
Posted - 07/09/2004 : 1:00:30 PM
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The only negative thing I can say that I've encountered being in the ska community is the aparent "rift" that the "Traditionalists" have about us in the current wave, or "Rock bands with Horns." How many times have we seen this happen on the board, where the great ska guru feels he/she has to come down from the "Ska Summit"(what happened to that anyways?! ha!) lecture us new comers and tell us that we've got it all wrong. I enjoy all the faces/versions of ska, and have had the honor of playing alongside some great groups, and I think with this area's diversity you can't help but have everyones spin on the classic. After all if you know your music history, the masters have allways looked to the masters to carry on but evolve the music.
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What ska means to me....
