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Subject: FAQ: Ska (alt.music.ska) Frequently Asked Questions (Part 1 of 3)
Supersedes: <SkaFAQ$19951226$Part1@psycco.msae.wisc.edu>
Date: Fri, 12 Jan 96 02:02:05 CST
Expires: Sunday, 28 Jan 96 01:01:01 CST
Summary: Answers to frequently-asked questions about ska music.
Archive-name: music/ska-faq/part1
Version: $Revision: 3.35 $
Part: 1 of 3
URL:ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/music/ska-faq/part1
URL:http://www.smartpages.com/faqs/music/ska-faq/part1/faq.html
URL:http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/music/ska-faq/top.html
FAQ for (news:alt.music.ska)
Questions and answers about ska music
Tomas Willis
tomas@cae.wisc.edu
Administrivia:
Go forth and skank.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 1.1: Introduction
In response to all of those ``Isn't ska some dance form of reggae?''
questions, I present the following historical background to the music we
call ska, gleaned from liner notes I have lying about the place, various
postings to (news:alt.music.ska), and sundry emailings with helpful ska
fans.
This is part 1, $Revision: 3.35 $, posted to (news:alt.music.ska),
(news:rec.music.info), (news:alt.skinheads), (news:alt.answers),
(news:rec.answers), and (news:news.answers). This FAQ is posted twice
a month, whether it needs to be or not.
This FAQ file is also available for anonymous ftp on the archive site
rtfm.mit.edu as the file `pub/usenet/news.answers/music/ska-faq/part1'.
This FAQ file is on the Web as
URL: http://www.smartpages.com/faqs/music/ska-faq/part1/faq.html
Disclaimer: I am not a musician, nor do I play one on TV.
Neither am I a musical historian. I do love ska music, so I offer this
material unto the public domain.
Acks:
Michael Cancilla (mailto:mcancill@polyslo.calpoly.edu) posted a long list
of ska bands that I have incorporated into this FAQ. That list has grown
to list over 500 bands! Mike Fragassi (mailto:mfragass@ucs.indiana.edu) emailed
me about 10k in response to my request for more info and is still at it.
Thanks Mikes! Thanks also to everyone else in a.m.s and other reaches of
netspace who sent me info.
Dance harder!
Tomas Willis (mailto:tomas@psycco.msae.wisc.edu)
================= now in digest format, for easier digestion =================
================ but, maybe not for long! tell me if you care ================
Also, you can get at this document on the World Wide Web (WWW) at
URL:http://www.smartpages.com/faqs/music/ska-faq/top.html
-or-
URL:http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/music/ska-faq/top.html
------------------------------
Subject: 1.2: Table of Contents
The ska FAQ is now distributed in three sections. Part one addresses
background questions, part two contains information about ska via various media,
and part three contains infomation about bands.
Table of Contents:
Part 1
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Table of Contents
1.3 What is ska music?
1.4 Where did ska come from?
1.5 What is first-wave ska? Second-wave ska? Third-wave ska?
1.6 What is ska-core?
1.7 What is a rude boy?
1.8 What is with the narrow-brim hats, dark suits and narrow ties?
How come some of these ska bands look like the Blues Brothers?
1.9 What is skanking?
1.10 What about reggae?
1.11 Oi! What about skinheads?
1.12 Recommended reading and Bibliography
Part 2
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Table of Contents
2.3 Where can I hear ska on the radio?
2.4 Where can I hear ska live?
2.5 Is anyone doing ska video?
2.6 Are there any ska movies?
2.7 Are there any books about ska?
2.8 What are some ska-related 'zines (fan-created magazines)?
2.9 How do I get a ska email-based mailing list?
2.10 What are some more Internet ska resources?
2.11 Can anyone reccommend some good ska albums for someone who has
absolutely no clue about ska?
2.12 What are addresses of some record labels producing ska discs?
2.13 Are there some mail order stores that carry ska?
Part 3
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Table of Contents
3.3 What are the names of some ska bands?
3.4 Can I write to any of these bands?
------------------------------
Subject: 1.3: What is ska music?
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.
For the musically inclined, here is a description of the rhythmic structure
of ska:
``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
therefore is carrying the blues and swing beats of the American
music, and the guitar expressing the mento sound.''
[SB(JJ)]
Brendan Tween (brendog@panix.com) mentions that the Skatalites frequently
used a G--Em--C--D guitar progression, while most modern ska uses a
straight 1-4-5 progression (A--D--E C--F--G), although A--D--E9--A is
another possible progression.
Ska features a strong bass and drum rhythm section, guitars, keyboards
and brass. _I_ say, the bigger the ska band, the better.
------------------------------
Subject: 1.4: Where did ska come from?
In the Caribbean island nation of Jamaica rhythm & blues sounds from
the African-American experience in America were adapted by Jamaican
musicians and blended with traditional Jamaican _mento_, spiced with jazz,
as well as ya-ya, calypso and other island sounds and cranked out of
dance hall systems and mobile sound systems mounted on huge trucks.
In the late 1950s Jamaica was about to gain independence from Great
Britain, and pioneering Jamaican record producer Clement ``Coxsone'' Dodd,
no doubt in a spirit of nationalism and a desire to get down, called on his
musicians to create a danceable uniquely Jamaican sound. Bassist Cluet
Johnson (Clue J) ran the ``hardest-driving dance and recording band''
developing this sound in Jamaica and went about the town greeting his
friends with ``Love Skavoovie.'' [SB(JJ)] From this greeting, the name of
the music naturally developed into ``ska.'' In late 1960 and 1961 bands
recording for Dodd laid down the first truly ska tracks, distinct from
calypso, r&b, jazz and American and British pop sounds. There developed
``a unique Jamaican jazz culture where the melody of horns fused with the
drums in a free form music which was mellifluous and rebellious.''[RAR,
p.126] Thus, ska became Jamaica's first indigenous popular music form. A
hit at home, ska reigned supreme in Jamaica for many years: ``The National
Dance,'' indeed. As many have stated in alt.music.ska, ska did not spring
into sudden existence out of nowhere. Many of the elements of ska can be
heard in recordings from the late 1950s. It wasn't until these were all
brought together in the Kingston scene under the influences of Coxsone,
Prince Buster, Clue J and others that ska emerged as a distinct sound.
By the time ska made its ``world debut'' at the 1964 New York World's Fair
at the the Jamaican exhibition it was an established phenomenon at home.
Ska came to England with immigrants in the early 1960s. Known in the UK
briefly as ``Jamaican Blues,'' ska inspired the formation of the Blue Beat
record company, providing yet another name for the ska sound: `blue beat.'
Ska gained popularity in the UK with the `Mod' scene, leading to the
residual association of small-brimmed trilby (hats) and scooters with ska
music. [HSBR] (For scooter talk, check out the alt.scooter Usenet group.)
Trojan Records was still releasing ska hits into the UK top 10 as late as
1969 or 1970, but by that time rock-steady and reggae were waxing as ska
waned, for a while, at least.
------------------------------
Subject: 1.5: What is first-wave ska? Second-wave ska? Third-wave ska?
These sound like musicology terms to me. These terms are used by some
to 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 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. 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_. Two-tone ska is faster,
tighter and uses more horns than some older Jamaican ska. 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 reverted to a more roots ska sound.
For more on the Skatalites, check out
URL:http://www.cybercom.com/~nappy/skata1.html
For more on skinhead reggae, check out
URL:http://www.america.com/~brianr/Jabsco/jabsco7.html
-and-
URL:http://www.ksu.edu/~lashout/sknmusc.html
For Usenet discussion of reggae, check out
URL:news:rec.music.reggae
------------------------------
Subject: 1.6. What is ska-core?
Yet another label. A matter of semantics. Ska-core is either
hardcore/punk-influenced ska or ska-influenced hardcore music. Or a
fiction. Compared to traditional ska, ska-core is faster and harder.
Voodoo Glow Skulls and Operation Ivy are commonly called ska-core bands.
At some points, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones have claimed to play ska-core.
Some claim that ska-core songs change rythmic structure from ska-like to
hardcore-like within one song. This could be differentiated from
ska-influenced punk. Just turn up the music and dance.
Lately, I've heard the terms ``carnival punk'' and ``skunkcore'' applied
to the kind of thrashy ska/punk/hardcore/klezmer fusion played by the Blue
Meanies and others. Is this another form of ska-core?
------------------------------
Subject: 1.7: What is a rude boy?
A rude boy is not just an impolite male child. The street-cool
toughs of Kingstown, Jamaica, dressed nattily in the latest and hep-est
threads were known as `rude boys' and they ruled the Kingstown dance
halls. (Read `rude' as `chill' or `dope' or, if you are older, `cool'
or `reet'). The term spread to the UK, and was revived by second-wave
ska fans in the UK.
Academic Caribbean historian Horace Campbell writes, in "Rasta and
Resistance":
Between 1964 and 1967 a subculture of angry youths developed in
the [Jamaican] society. Answering to the psuedonym _Rude Bwoy_
[sic] and searching for for avenues of self-expression and
recognition, these unemployed youths were quickly integrated into
the [ganga] export trade, many of them as enforcers.
...these young people created terror among working people, such
that they were feared by both citizens and police.
`[RAR, p. 111]' The [bracketed] comments are mine.
Referring to Desmond Dekker's "Rude Boy Train," "007," and other
songs describing rude boys, `Melody Maker' defined the term as "a sort
of cool super-hooligan.' [DD] Dekker sings:
Them a loot
Them a shoot
Then a wail
At Shanty Town
When rude boy deh 'pon probation
Then rude boy a bomb up the town.
`[DD]'
Obviously, the people your mother warned you about. Consider Jimmy
Cliff's character in the film `The Harder They Come'.
Laurence Cane-Honeysett wrote on:
From the summer of 1966, up until 1967, a whole series of records
referring to the exploits of so-called "Rude Boys" were released in
Jamaica. Almost every major artist on the island recorded material
featuring lyrics either condemning or defending the actions of the
young men who spread mayhem across the island. Some described the
Rude Boys as no more than glorified hooligans, who caused trouble
for trouble's sake, while others depicted them as heroes, akin to
the gangsters and cowboys featured in the popular films of the day.
To most, however, they were simply victims of the deprived social
conditions into which they were born and subsequently raised.
Whichever way one viewed them, the Rude Boys were an established
part of Jamaican life and had been around long before the glut of
releases which drew attention to there activities. The main reason
for the sudden interest was the explosion of violence during the
summer of 1966, undoubtedly agitated to a large degree by the
exceptionally hot weather. By October, following six deaths over
the preceding three months, the Jamaican government declared a
state of emergency and instructed the police and military to cordon
off the trouble zone in Kingston and enforce a 10pm to 6am curfew.
The fact that this period coincides with one of the major
transformations in Jamaican music is no coincidence.[sic] The heat
which had made tempers become frayed had also made dancing to Ska
an exhausting experience and it was a natural progression to slow
the tempo of the music. Eventually the rhythm slowed to such an
extent that it became a completely new sound - Ska had been
replaced by Rocksteady.
By early 1967, both the weather and tempers had cooled and the Rude
Boy theme became less frequent in song lyrics. Over the years that
followed, Rude Boys were rarely mentioned and despite the succes of
Perry Hanzell's film, "The Harder They Come", which starred Jimmy
Cliff as the doomed anti-hero, 'Ivanhoe Martin Rhygin', they
featured only occasionally in songs such as the slicker's "Johnny
Too Bad".
Towards the end of the seventies, British Ska bands such as The
Specials and Madness re-invented the image of the Rude Boy,
presenting him as a fun-loving young man, attired in a stylish
two-tone suit and a pork-pie hat, more akin to the Mods of the
sixties than [to] the original Jamaican version. The British Rude
Boy was not to last, however, and following the demise of the Ska
revival, he quickly vanished. Since then, Rude Boys seem to have
been all but forgotten outside Jamaica...until now!
`[RAR2]'
------------------------------
Subject: 1.8: What is with the narrow-brim hats, dark suits and narrow ties?
How come some of these ska bands look like the Blues Brothers?
This is rude boy fashion from Jamaica in the 1960s.
Jamie in NYC (mowder@axp1.acf.nyu.edu) writes:
About ska fashion:
Maybe the ``dark suit and pork-pie hat'' thing comes from people
trying to look like Jerry Dammers from those old Specials album
covers. And _he_ was probably trying to look like ``Walt Jabsco,''
the cartoon guy from the 2 Tone label design. And Walt was (so
I've read) modeled after the way Peter Tosh looked on the cover
of the _Wailing Wailers_ album from Studio One.
So, I guess all these ``Blues Brothers'' types are actually trying
to look like Peter Tosh from 1965!
About rude girl fashion, Alex Whitten (94maw_2@williams.edu) adds:
When I was learning about rudeness I was told that rude girls
(depending on what era they like best) can wear:
1. fifties type clunky-heeled black pumps, tight to the knee (or
mid-calf) skirts with zipper sides, tight sleeveless shirt (or
sweater set), (typical outfit would be a white shirt and black
skirt), dark red lipstick, dark eyes, hair shoulder-length, small
handbag, black sunglasses (cat's eyes)
2. or (nowadays it seems) ... psuedo-skinchick without the Chelsea
hairdoo.
------------------------------
Subject: 1.9: What is skanking?
Skanking is the *canonical* ska dance. Being canonical doesn't make
it the only or One True ska dance; it is, however, the standard dance
these days. Skanking involves angular pumping of legs and arms, with
knees and elbows bent. Mike Fragrassi (I think) described this a
rythmic "herking and jerking."
The original *official* ska dance was called "*The Ska*." This dance
originated in Jamaica and was the dance one did at ska shows. It is
not as punk-influenced as contemporary skanking. Jeremy D. Mushlin,
JDM7548@acfcluster.nyu.edu, described it as:
Not like jamming your elbow to your opposite knee back and forth,
but sort of like the milk-the-cow, do the monkey sort of thing ...
Guido van Breda has turned up a great series of still shots of