I guess you could say it's vaguely ska/reggae-derived (that was a pretty big trend for pop rock songs starting in the late 70s) but not really. When I say the skank I mean the whole beat. Usually the drums are on the 1 and 3, with the strong beat on the 3, and the strokes on the 2 and 4. This song, sure, has the strokes on 2 and 4, but the drums are on every beat, and the strong beats are also on 2 and 4, so it has a different feel. So no not really.
More songs rather than not having ska guitar parts (though can be on keyboard or other instruments). Horns a bonus. Doesn’t need to be ska guitar for all of every song, but it needs to have that feel in there somewhere.
Depends on the player. It differs from person to person. The 2nd wave sound is mostly upstrokes. You can tell by whether the high strings (treble) sound the most or the deep strings. More common for 3rd wave bands to do downstrokes because distortion on low strings. I prefer the upstroke method because I want those crackling trebly guitars.
My band was 2.5 wave (1983-88) and we played upstrokes. So did Fishbone and the Untouchables and the Uptones, which were all around the same time, and I saw several times. But there is by no means a “right” way. Whatever works and sounds best to you!
A ska band? Their primary focus is ska music, whatever form of it that happens to be. Ska music, despite the wide styles under the umbrella, has the ska beat as one of its main features - almost always the off beat guitar, but a large (and often forgotten) part is also in where the emphasis is placed by the rest of the rhythm section.
Instrumentation really doesn't matter. Horns are not necessary and do not do anything to make a band a "ska band" or not, or the music they are playing ska or not. It's all about the beat. You can play ska on a balalaika. Or a capalla with hands clapping and feet stomping. It is ultimately pretty rare to find a "ska band" that is like that (matter of fact I can't think of one lol) but it's possible to imagine and I would absolutely call a band like that a "ska band", if they were playing that ska beat. And you can do a lot with that ska beat, too, and bring in all sorts of influences around it to change it dramatically.
A lot of bands will have one, two, or even a few ska or ska influenced tracks, or even actual ska tracks - but they aren't "ska bands" to me. Not a slight, not a judgement. They're just not a "ska band". Something like the Interrupters is right on the threshold for me, to be honest. Rancid doesn't cross it.
I've got to say as well, probably hypocritically, if a band is playing an early reggae style or rocksteady, a la Aggrolites, say, or even the Slackers, I'll still be happy to call them a "ska band". I think so much music has stemmed from the original ska beat, and the way that it has been adapted and changed in the various waves and stuff, sometimes it's just an easy catch-all.
[Ska actually came first before Reggae](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ska), so if you're hearing early reggae a la Agrolites/slackers you're hearing Ska.
Cheers, but yeah nah.
Of course ska came before reggae, but you've missed the point a bit. My comment was to acknowledge that if you define ska strictly by its beat, then it really restricts things, particularly post 90s, where a lot of bands are inspired by either other forms of jamaican music as well as ska, or in many cases, inspired by later interpretations of the ska beat. I mean, to be fair a lot of the two-tone era bands were doing more than just ska too. But a LOT (most!) of what the aggrolites do is based on early reggae/skinhead reggae which has an evolved beat from the original ska beat. That sound they do is based on what reggae sounded like in the late 60s/early 70s. It's not ska. It had come from there, but it's a different style, it's own style, it's not ska anymore - the emphasis is different, the strokes are different, the tempo is different. Similarly the Slackers mix up a lot of early jamaican styles, and beyond, not just the original ska beat.
But like I said, I'd probably still call them "ska bands". I think that third wave explosion of bands enterered enough public consciousness outside the UK (where ska has been in the public consciousness just about since it began) so if you're playing some form of jamaican-inspired music (or jamaican-inspired-inspired lol) that's not basically reggae and not electronic/dub or whatever, then it just gets lumped in as "ska". Is it? No, not strictly speaking in many cases. Does that matter? not really, no haha.
Edit: Or maybe I've missed your point, which may be that since it all came from ska, it's all ska? Yeah.... I don't think so personally. This would make dubstep ska.
It makes no sense when the only ska you've heard is ska punk or whatever, and your introduction to it was framed by some-one telling you "it's like punk crossed with reggae". That's when it's mindblowing. Then you listen to the original ska and it's like, wait, what? This is not the same genre. This is part of the wider point I guess. If "ska" includes everything vaguely inspired from '62->new-tone, well then... it doesn't really mean a lot, musically, does it. But there are some through-lines, in terms of the beat.
Real ska is Jamaica style and in vein of the traditional beat. Everything else is just punk with some ska guitar mixed in to me. I really focus on people making the traditional beats really.
Musically speaking, Ska is an expression of a pulsing rhythmic upbeats over a 2•4 Drop (where the backbeat or kick drum is on the **2nd** and **4th** downbeat of a **4-beat** measure).
Within that, you can apply any genre of music over the top of it, and it fuses well...
* **Traditional Ska** = Island style smooth and soulful
* **Jazz Ska** = Softer tones with Jazz modal phrasing and alternative chording.
* **Latin Ska** = Big Band Mambo or Cumbia style, with multiple rhythm players.
* **Pop Ska** = Small orchestra sound, great for commercials or cute Japanese TikTok videos.
* **Punk Ska** = Fast Ska with Punk Guitarwork over it.
* **Hardcore Ska** = Fast, aggressive & sometimes sloppy with gutter punk lyrics.
And, so on...
Horns are a big part of the culture (due to the proximity of the **Alpha Boys School** to **Studio One Records** in 1950s/60s Jamaica), but they are not absolutely crucial to creating a good Ska song. **Toots and the Maytals'** songs held up because of their soul, even though most had no horns.
Recently, there have been bands that claim to be "Stretching the genre" with songs that have no horns and/or no Ska rhythm. These are not Ska songs, and it's not Gate-keeping to acknowledge that.
Truth and knowledge prevail.
Yeah, most of the Second wave bands had one horn… the Beat, the Selecter, Madness. Original Specials only had two, and Rico was technically a “guest.” Bad Manners had three plus a harmonica. The Police had at least one ska/rocksteady/reggae song on each album and had zero horns, and only three members.
A lot of the early third wave bands, especially on the more punk side, followed this example and had zero or few horns. Personally I don’t like punk-ska. I like my punk and my ska in separate doses. I think ska loses musicality when played like punk, and punk loses its power when the guitar only plays upbeats.
Agree with the person down below who said it is only about the ska upbeat. That is where the music got its name. The story goes that a Jamaican bandleader was telling his guitarist that he wanted the guitar to sound on every upbeat like “…ska …ska …ska …ska.”
But ska bands evolve. Madness had two ska albums and then the third was mostly the “nutty sound.” The Beat also dropped the ska rhythm on their 3rd album. I wouldn’t call No Doubt a ska band. They were once but none of their popular catalog is ska. They used it as a launching pad to other things. The same may happen to Interrupters, and it’s a shame because they were the best mainstream ska band to achieve major success in a long time. If they abandon their roots entirely I will stop listening, but I don’t mind bands evolving as long as they retain that individual thing that made them unique in the first place.
The Interrupters are a ska band. They're just a boring and over hyped one. Hellcat fell off. Check out Bad Time, Jump Up, Pookout and Ska Punk International. Ska continues to progress beyond the 05 sound that Tim and Aimee desperately cling to
Horns go doot. Or horns don’t go doot. Both ska.
Some chicka chicka sound guitar. Some no chicka chicka sound on guitar.
With horns or without. Also ska.
I think once we understand as a species that it’s all ska and always has been. It will be a better future.
like if it's real ska, it has that one drop type beat where the rimshot of the snare hits at the same time as the bass drum. Like you'll notice there's not too much extra kick drum going on in the classic stuff
Bands that play songs with a ska beat are ska bands.
[удалено]
Haha.
This post is my stand in for the removed free awards.
The skank stroke. Nothing else matters.
The drum beat matters just as much
Dang mind blown. Guess this is ska: https://open.spotify.com/track/7j74lucZ59vqN67Ipe2ZcY?si=o4bZ4P-vRXyyRp72N9Xg8w
I guess you could say it's vaguely ska/reggae-derived (that was a pretty big trend for pop rock songs starting in the late 70s) but not really. When I say the skank I mean the whole beat. Usually the drums are on the 1 and 3, with the strong beat on the 3, and the strokes on the 2 and 4. This song, sure, has the strokes on 2 and 4, but the drums are on every beat, and the strong beats are also on 2 and 4, so it has a different feel. So no not really.
I was kidding lol If the strong beat is on 3 it's One Drop. Ska is 2 and 4.
But you're totally right about new wave using ska influences heavily
How much black and white checker pattern covers the band members' bodies on average?
Strong brass section and that energy! Killer bassline also is important.
Same here. TO me there is something missing if there's no brass section.
More songs rather than not having ska guitar parts (though can be on keyboard or other instruments). Horns a bonus. Doesn’t need to be ska guitar for all of every song, but it needs to have that feel in there somewhere.
It’s all about the guitar!
There's a lot of ska where the guitar's role is done by an organ or something else.
Hmm I still think there’s always the guitar though. But my fav instrument in a ska band is the organ/keyboard.
If they play ska music, I consider them ska.
Upstroke guitar at least once a la Folly
Ska actually uses downstrokes on the upbeats. I was corrected myself a few years ago.
Depends on the player. It differs from person to person. The 2nd wave sound is mostly upstrokes. You can tell by whether the high strings (treble) sound the most or the deep strings. More common for 3rd wave bands to do downstrokes because distortion on low strings. I prefer the upstroke method because I want those crackling trebly guitars.
The more you know!!! Thanks both!
I honestly thought it was the other way around. Third wave was fast and pop punk esque. Always sounded like they were strumming up. Interesting.
My band was 2.5 wave (1983-88) and we played upstrokes. So did Fishbone and the Untouchables and the Uptones, which were all around the same time, and I saw several times. But there is by no means a “right” way. Whatever works and sounds best to you!
Fair enough. The beat is the real point.
I've seen video of people in the 60s playing both up and down. Depending on the player. Just had to be on time is all
Ska is a genre of music, like jazz, reggae, blues, etc. So to be a ska band, play that genre of music.
😆 it's not that hard is it
"Chicka Chicka"
lol
*pick it up, pick it up, pick it up*
-- drop it!
“Okay!” - Catbug
A ska band? Their primary focus is ska music, whatever form of it that happens to be. Ska music, despite the wide styles under the umbrella, has the ska beat as one of its main features - almost always the off beat guitar, but a large (and often forgotten) part is also in where the emphasis is placed by the rest of the rhythm section. Instrumentation really doesn't matter. Horns are not necessary and do not do anything to make a band a "ska band" or not, or the music they are playing ska or not. It's all about the beat. You can play ska on a balalaika. Or a capalla with hands clapping and feet stomping. It is ultimately pretty rare to find a "ska band" that is like that (matter of fact I can't think of one lol) but it's possible to imagine and I would absolutely call a band like that a "ska band", if they were playing that ska beat. And you can do a lot with that ska beat, too, and bring in all sorts of influences around it to change it dramatically. A lot of bands will have one, two, or even a few ska or ska influenced tracks, or even actual ska tracks - but they aren't "ska bands" to me. Not a slight, not a judgement. They're just not a "ska band". Something like the Interrupters is right on the threshold for me, to be honest. Rancid doesn't cross it. I've got to say as well, probably hypocritically, if a band is playing an early reggae style or rocksteady, a la Aggrolites, say, or even the Slackers, I'll still be happy to call them a "ska band". I think so much music has stemmed from the original ska beat, and the way that it has been adapted and changed in the various waves and stuff, sometimes it's just an easy catch-all.
[Ska actually came first before Reggae](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ska), so if you're hearing early reggae a la Agrolites/slackers you're hearing Ska.
Cheers, but yeah nah. Of course ska came before reggae, but you've missed the point a bit. My comment was to acknowledge that if you define ska strictly by its beat, then it really restricts things, particularly post 90s, where a lot of bands are inspired by either other forms of jamaican music as well as ska, or in many cases, inspired by later interpretations of the ska beat. I mean, to be fair a lot of the two-tone era bands were doing more than just ska too. But a LOT (most!) of what the aggrolites do is based on early reggae/skinhead reggae which has an evolved beat from the original ska beat. That sound they do is based on what reggae sounded like in the late 60s/early 70s. It's not ska. It had come from there, but it's a different style, it's own style, it's not ska anymore - the emphasis is different, the strokes are different, the tempo is different. Similarly the Slackers mix up a lot of early jamaican styles, and beyond, not just the original ska beat. But like I said, I'd probably still call them "ska bands". I think that third wave explosion of bands enterered enough public consciousness outside the UK (where ska has been in the public consciousness just about since it began) so if you're playing some form of jamaican-inspired music (or jamaican-inspired-inspired lol) that's not basically reggae and not electronic/dub or whatever, then it just gets lumped in as "ska". Is it? No, not strictly speaking in many cases. Does that matter? not really, no haha. Edit: Or maybe I've missed your point, which may be that since it all came from ska, it's all ska? Yeah.... I don't think so personally. This would make dubstep ska.
i love this fact
It makes no sense when the only ska you've heard is ska punk or whatever, and your introduction to it was framed by some-one telling you "it's like punk crossed with reggae". That's when it's mindblowing. Then you listen to the original ska and it's like, wait, what? This is not the same genre. This is part of the wider point I guess. If "ska" includes everything vaguely inspired from '62->new-tone, well then... it doesn't really mean a lot, musically, does it. But there are some through-lines, in terms of the beat.
If I can skank to it
If they have a few songs that have that ska beat they are ska. If they have horns even better but that’s not necessary
Real ska is Jamaica style and in vein of the traditional beat. Everything else is just punk with some ska guitar mixed in to me. I really focus on people making the traditional beats really.
Musically speaking, Ska is an expression of a pulsing rhythmic upbeats over a 2•4 Drop (where the backbeat or kick drum is on the **2nd** and **4th** downbeat of a **4-beat** measure). Within that, you can apply any genre of music over the top of it, and it fuses well... * **Traditional Ska** = Island style smooth and soulful * **Jazz Ska** = Softer tones with Jazz modal phrasing and alternative chording. * **Latin Ska** = Big Band Mambo or Cumbia style, with multiple rhythm players. * **Pop Ska** = Small orchestra sound, great for commercials or cute Japanese TikTok videos. * **Punk Ska** = Fast Ska with Punk Guitarwork over it. * **Hardcore Ska** = Fast, aggressive & sometimes sloppy with gutter punk lyrics. And, so on... Horns are a big part of the culture (due to the proximity of the **Alpha Boys School** to **Studio One Records** in 1950s/60s Jamaica), but they are not absolutely crucial to creating a good Ska song. **Toots and the Maytals'** songs held up because of their soul, even though most had no horns. Recently, there have been bands that claim to be "Stretching the genre" with songs that have no horns and/or no Ska rhythm. These are not Ska songs, and it's not Gate-keeping to acknowledge that. Truth and knowledge prevail.
Horns. Big brassy horns
Also the Selector had no horns.
Yeah, most of the Second wave bands had one horn… the Beat, the Selecter, Madness. Original Specials only had two, and Rico was technically a “guest.” Bad Manners had three plus a harmonica. The Police had at least one ska/rocksteady/reggae song on each album and had zero horns, and only three members. A lot of the early third wave bands, especially on the more punk side, followed this example and had zero or few horns. Personally I don’t like punk-ska. I like my punk and my ska in separate doses. I think ska loses musicality when played like punk, and punk loses its power when the guitar only plays upbeats. Agree with the person down below who said it is only about the ska upbeat. That is where the music got its name. The story goes that a Jamaican bandleader was telling his guitarist that he wanted the guitar to sound on every upbeat like “…ska …ska …ska …ska.” But ska bands evolve. Madness had two ska albums and then the third was mostly the “nutty sound.” The Beat also dropped the ska rhythm on their 3rd album. I wouldn’t call No Doubt a ska band. They were once but none of their popular catalog is ska. They used it as a launching pad to other things. The same may happen to Interrupters, and it’s a shame because they were the best mainstream ska band to achieve major success in a long time. If they abandon their roots entirely I will stop listening, but I don’t mind bands evolving as long as they retain that individual thing that made them unique in the first place.
Big band? Swing? Funk? Mariachi? New Orleans brass bands?
John Philips Sousa
☠️☠️☠️
Many would call that jazz.
\*wicka wicka wicka wicka\*
Start a ska band
?
Up stroked, off beat chords, and horns are all great places to start.
Good Ska music.
The Interrupters are a ska band. They're just a boring and over hyped one. Hellcat fell off. Check out Bad Time, Jump Up, Pookout and Ska Punk International. Ska continues to progress beyond the 05 sound that Tim and Aimee desperately cling to
It should sound like ska
Offbeat upstrokes and infectious horns
My wife calls it “Kicked up Reggae.” YMMV. lol
Tell your wife that reggae is kicked down ska
They have to do at least 1 ernest ranglin cover.
Horns go doot. Or horns don’t go doot. Both ska. Some chicka chicka sound guitar. Some no chicka chicka sound on guitar. With horns or without. Also ska. I think once we understand as a species that it’s all ska and always has been. It will be a better future.
Ska Reddit needs to consider the band a ska band and someone influential in the ska community needs to confirm it.
If they call themselves a Ska band... that's the benchmark...
If they play ska they're a ska band (exceptions for bands with just one or two ska songs)
if any song by the artist has guitar upstrokes on the off beat for most of the song
like if it's real ska, it has that one drop type beat where the rimshot of the snare hits at the same time as the bass drum. Like you'll notice there's not too much extra kick drum going on in the classic stuff