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(Erik)
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Wow awesome, I actually did a speech on this very topic back in college. Just to add a few things:
1st wave: People of Jamiaca, in the 50`s, mixed their own folk music with swing and dixieland they heard on the radio from Miami. A few examples are The Skatalites, Desmond Dekker, The Isrealites, Rico Rodriquez, and The Wailers.
2nd wave: Jamaica`s economy went to crap in the mid to late 60`s, so 2 things happened. First, the ska music of Jamaica got a lot slower, more politically motivated, and dropped a lot of the jazz horn sound. This created Raggae, with many musicians sticking it out in Jamaica and changing the sound. For example, The Wailers changed from a ska band into what we all know as Bob Marley and the Wailers. Second, lot`s of folks left for England for work, since there was none in Jamaica. They got jobs on the docks and the warehouses, having to shave their heads in the process. This lead to a feeling of brotherhood for the workforce, which also lead to the first skinheads. Which were NOT racist at all. (Racisit skinheads are NOT real skinheads, they are neo-nazi posers.) Musically, the music they brought from Jamaica was mixed with the new punk sound in England in the 70`s, which lead to a more punkish, politically motivated style. Examples from this era are The Specials, The English Beat, Madness, Bad Manners, and The Selector.
3rd wave: Ska makes it to America. When it got here, it spread out a bunch. Some bands kept the style of the English 2nd wave, and some again mixed styles from American punk bands. There is also a big difference between East Coast and West Coast ska. Traditional East Coast ska bands were a little more edgy, political, and hardcore, such as The Toasters, Mephiskapheles, Scofflaws, Hepcat, The New York Ska Jazz Ensemble, and The Pietasters. East Coast Punk-Ska bands and a little heavier, somtimes even metal oriented, and include Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Blue Meanies as well as others. The Traditional West Coast scene includes bands like Let`s Go Bowling, while the West Coast Punk Ska scene really exploded. They mixed the English 2nd wave sound with LA punk bands like Social Distortion, Bad Religion, Agent Orange, and more recently bands like NOFX. West Coast Punk Ska includes bands like Skankin` Pickle, Link 80, MU330, Tantra Monsters(Hawaii), Kemuri(Japan), Suicide Machines, Mealticket, One Eye Open, and the Rudiments. Funk was also added in in that West Coast sound, with bands like Neosoreskin and early Fishbone.
Hope that wasn`t too much to read.... It`s a subject I hold at heart, since it is what kept me a musician all these years. Love it, always will.
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