spacemanspiff, your 100% right there. Ska originated from jamaica as a mix between mento and jazz initially called "Shuffle". when this slowly died out in the early 1960's. it was altered soon after in Britain around the same time and was known as "Bluebeat" which grew into the a the "Two Tone" phenomina in 1979 . most Western countries took this on board except fo America who considered it ‘too English’. They took the idea on board and implemented ther own political and social concerns into the lyrics and combined many different styles of rock with ska rhythms and instrumentation. this was known as the "Third Wave" of ska which is a harder ‘ska-core’ sound that is heavily influenced by punk. this is why many people including me consider the ska of today a part of new age punk

I totally understand what you're saying. Wow, you really know a lot about it, so you must really like it. I don't know why hat music gets on my nerves, I can't help it, it's just not my thing.

then you are actually talking about the rudeboy revival of the 80's, and its re-revival in the 90's, right shagmop? frankly i consider the "3rd-wave ska" (what the hell is the second wave?) to be kind of lame, at least from hearing bands like reel big fish, mephistopheles, suicide machines, etc. it's too... stupid. I mean i like alot of stupid music but its just too much for me. old stuff is good though, like the specials (some of it at least), the english beat, madness, some of the clash too. Punk ska, like op ivy, later rancid, kicks ass of course.

tut tut tut

well cameljoe, u may know a bit about music but it looks like u dont know much about being able to read properly. the ska movement was "Shuffle" which was started in jamaica. the second movement which u must have over-looked was "two-tone" the english take on ska which u say u like. and "third wave" is wat is heard today, which is the americanised ska music which is a mix of punk and two-tone (which u seem to bag out in the start of your reply and then say u like it at the end.)

well it seems that you have been confused! i'm not talking about ska from its own beginings (i don't even want to imagine how many waves there are back in jamaica), just from the first wave of ska revival in England to the mysteriously non-existent secondwave (once again, what is the second wave of revival ska?) to the third wave, modern stuff like catch 22.

my opinion still stands tho, right? i said that what passes a ska in the US today is kinda dumb

wait a sec... unless somehow what i always thought of as the 'first wave' is not actually the first wave... na i still think your wrong

Damn. I just posted a Ska thread, thinking that i was filling an unfilled niche. That'll teach me not to assume. And yes, Ska is the happiest damn music style (and the best) in the whole wide world - i have never been deppressed by Ska.

i don't know if this has been answered yet but here i go, reggea is actually a type of ska music. there are 3 main ttypes of ska:
1. there is reggea - that is the one being of the slowest tempo
2. then there is rocksteady - that being a lttle bit faster
3. then there is ska being the one with the fastest tempo.

ska music's origins date back into early 60's jamaica where people plaid ska music to forget there troubles. the early ska brought forth the rude boy image. and was heavily influenced by big band swing music. cause most of the radio stations that where being picked up in jamaica where from florida. then it took a little boat trip over to england in the late 70's. that is where it became veryvery popular with bands like the specials, the skatalitrs, the selectors, ect.
then there is modern (3rd wave) ska. very fast and punkish tempo. such are the bands like reel big fish, the early stuff from less than jake, and the planet smashers. and that my friends is a breif history of ska musc. and i didn't even get to talk about how it was a very politically charged type of music carrying anti-racsit messages.

Reggae was around before Ska (which, to be honest goes without saying) Jamaican immigrants came from Jamaica to Britain in the 60s and 70s, and brought Reggae and Rock Steady with them. The Jamaican populations Reggae melded with the White Working Class's punk/rock and that made Ska. Thats why most early Ska bands have white guitarists and drummers, but jamaican brass sections and Bass players (Bass is a Reggae instrument as well) and also why the majority of early Ska bands were British. Ska caught on in Jamaica and developed there simultaneously, but not on the same scale as in the UK. I dont know anything about Rocksteady, apart from that its damn wierd.

ya ska is really good. it is best when you are high, listening to loud ska an watching teletubbies. they are so cool.