Ska Revival
Located in 1 route
The broader late-1970s and early-1980s resurgence that reintroduced ska to a new generation, of which 2 Tone was the commercial spearhead but which also embraced trad-leaning and comedic acts working the same offbeat groove. Sharp horn charts, a fast punkish chop, chanted hooks and knees-up singalongs defined the style, played by racially mixed bands to packed halls. Where 2 Tone leaned political, the wider revival ran from good-time nutty-boy fun to faithful re-creations of the Jamaican sound. It kept the afterbeat alive across Britain long enough to seed a worldwide ska underground.
History
Riding the 2 Tone wave out of Coventry and London in 1979, the revival gathered acts such as Bad Manners, the Bodysnatchers and the Selecter alongside returning first-wave figure Laurel Aitken, whose "Rudi Got Married" made him the "Godfather of Ska" to a new audience, and comic skinhead-reggae veteran Judge Dread. The scene filled the charts and the live circuit, spread to the United States where New York's the Toasters founded the Moon Ska label and to a continental European following, and sustained a touring infrastructure long after 2 Tone itself dissolved. Its momentum fed directly into the international trad-ska and third-wave movements of the following decade.
Defining artists
Essential listening
- Lip Up Fatty(1980) — Bad MannersSpotifyYouTube
- Special Brew(1980) — Bad MannersSpotifyYouTube
- Let's Do Rock Steady(1980) — The BodysnatchersSpotifyYouTube
- On My Radio(1979) — The SelecterSpotifyYouTube
- Three Minute Hero(1979) — The SelecterSpotifyYouTube
- Rudi Got Married(1980) — Laurel AitkenSpotifyYouTube
Sources
- George Marshall, The Two Tone Story (1990)
- Marc Griffiths, Boss Sounds: Classic Skinhead Reggae (1995)
- Daniel Rachel, Walls Come Tumbling Down (2016)