The Song Planner

Ska Rock

tagStarted 1979Peak 1979-1999Last big hit still active

Located in 3 routes

Rock → Global / Regional RockReggae / Caribbean → Reggae Rock / Island Rock / Ska RockReggae / Caribbean → Ska / 2-Tone / Ska-Punk

Ska's offbeat upstroke fused with rock and punk drive - fast tempos, walking basslines, choppy 'skank' guitar and blasting horn sections. Spans the British 2 Tone wave's monochrome mod-ska and the 1990s American 'third wave' that punked it up. Brassy, frantic, danceable, with politically conscious or party-minded lyrics.

History

Britain's 2 Tone label (1979) fused Jamaican ska with punk energy and multiracial politics via The Specials and Madness. The sound went dormant, then surged as the US 'third wave' in the 1990s - Sublime-adjacent but horn-driven - with No Doubt, Reel Big Fish and the ska-punk of Operation Ivy fueling a mainstream late-1990s boom.

Defining artists

Essential listening

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Sources

  • AllMusic: Ska / 2 Tone / Third Wave Ska
  • Wikipedia: Ska punk / 2 Tone
  • Rolling Stone Specials coverage
  • BBC 2 Tone histories