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Ska: A form of Jamaican music which began around the 1950s. Combining elements of traditional mento and calypso with an American jazz and rhythm and blues sound, it was a precursor in Jamaica to rocksteady and later reggae. It is the predominant form of music listened to by the Rudeboy, Mod(Modernist), and Skinhead movements.
(^Wikipedia(Yeah!))

The Music: Ska bands usually consist of a Guitarist(or two) a bass, a drummer. The distinctive horn found in ska bands are usually the Saxophone, Trumpet and Trombone. Ska sounds like reggae at a fast paced punk beat, with big band in the background. Ska guitarists usually play in quick fast up strokes to get that "wikk" sound. Many 3rd wave ska bands such as Buck-o-nine have come up with very clever baselines for thier music. Many mistake ska for reggae, and some like ska, but dont know its called ska.

There have been other "branches" or subgenres of ska such as:
Ska-Core
Ska-Punk
and Psycho Ska

The History
First Wave
After World War II, Jamaicans purchased radios in increasing numbers and were able to hear American R&B from southern cities like New Orleans, Louisiana, whose artists (such as Fats Domino) had the most influence on early ska. To meet the demand for such music, entrepreneurs like Prince Buster, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, and Duke Reid formed sound systems, portable discotheques which appeared at dances and other gatherings. Sound system operators were able to obtain records from Miami and New Orleans, and these records were hot commodities in Jamaica. Often, these sound system operators removed labels from the most popular records in order to enjoy a monopoly on the best-liked tunes and draw the most customers.
As music changed in America, so did ska. For example, ska was influenced by jazz and rock. Ska groups like Clement Dodd's house band, The Skatalites often did instrumental ska versions of popular American and British music, such as Beatles tunes, movie themes, or surf instrumentals. In 1966 and 1967, when American soul became slower and smoother, ska changed its sound accordingly and resulted in rocksteady, a style of music with the bass playing more varied rhythms, more emphasis on the downbeat, and soulful vocals. Some historians suggest that the popularity of rocksteady's slowed tempo was a result of an exceptionally warm summer of 1966, during which dancers were physically too hot to dance to the uptempo numbers. Some notable rocksteady musicians are the Melodians, who scored a hit with 'Rivers of Babylon', The Ethiopians, and Desmond Dekker, who did a number of rocksteady songs during the late sixties. The Maytals, another popular rocksteady group, coined the term 'reggae' with their hit "Do the Reggay". Rocksteady lasted until the emergence of reggae in 1968.

(My Personal Favorite)
Third Wave ska!
Beginning in the late 1980s and gaining popularity in the early 1990s, the third wave of ska moved across the Atlantic Ocean and became hugely popular in the United States. Combining elements of ska with rock, punk, hardcore, and jazz, musicians of the third wave created a new style of ska. Ska punk and skacore, sub-genres of the third wave, make up a majority of this genre.
Some of the most popular and long lasting third wave ska bands include The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Reel Big Fish, The Aquabats, Catch 22, Less Than Jake, Mustard Plug, Buck-O-Nine, Operation Ivy, Streetlight Manifesto, and Mad Caddies.
While chronologically, bands like The Allstonians, The Slackers, Pressure Cooker, Let's Go Bowling, Sublime, and Hepcat can be classified as third wave groups, their sound is much more similar to that of the first wave. Their music is influenced by or strongly resembles the ska of 1960s Jamaica.
In recent years, ska has attempted to make a come back. After the major ska surge of the 90's, the third wave ska movement died, only to be found rekindling in new bands, both ska and [ska punk]] in the mid-2000's such as The Taj Motel Trio, High School Football Heroes, Perfect Orange, The Supervillains, and older bands that are now making a comeback The Planet Smashers and The Toasters.
The third wave of ska also includes a number of Christian ska bands. It would not be accurate to describe Christian ska as being its own wave (as is often done), as it does not differ significantly in geography, occurrence in time, or overall sound. Two of the more popular and recognized Christian ska bands are Five Iron Frenzy and The O.C. Supertones who often wrote songs about life from a Christian perspective.




(courtesy of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ska)

Reserved.

yah huh.

wtf is the difference between ska-punk and ska-core

Ska core is mor like less than jake, and ska punk is more like operation Ivy.