Good ska

[yesno]

Since I've slagged on ska a few times on this board, but also because I think that most thinking people realize that ska as it has existed since the early 1990s or so is just about the stupidest kind of music, I thought that we could perhaps review what ska is actually not that bad.

* Most original Jamaican ska (the kind of stuff I only really know from Soul Jazz comps and the like)

* Lots of the the Two Tone stuff

* Particularly, the poppier stuff like Madness and English Beat, and some Specials

* I also still like Operation Ivy's ska songs

My theory as to why there is so much bad ska is that band nerds start playing it because it's the only kind of music they can use their instruments for.

[Beth]

I still kinda like The Toasters 

[AllisonLeGnome]

My theory as to why there is so much bad ska is that band nerds start playing it because it's the only kind of music they can use their instruments for.

That's not just a theory- that's hard fact. Marching band was huge at my high school, and I always saw fliers for bands claiming to be influenced by the most generic 90s ska bands advertising for drummers, singers, etc. (basically everything except horns). I myself have wished that there was some way to use a violin in rock music many times, but I have the common sense to have started playing the guitar instead of trying it.

[jamesp]

I love Toots & the Maytals and the Skatalites. I don't know if they'd really count as ska or reggae but both are great.

I think most ska/reggae is fine, pretty much up until the 1990s when you got more Warped Tour ska/pop-punk acts popping up everywhere and bands like 311 or Sublime hitting it big.

yesno -- that's definitely a true theory. I think most ska is also the easiest to play. Just listen to those guitar riffs that sound the same from song to song.

[samir]

I like Madness. they invented ska.

[<<<<<]

I disliked all ska and don't even care for the Clash.

[TL]

I still kinda like The Toasters 

Ain't no shame in that game!  "Run Rudy Run," "Decision at Midnight," "Now or Never" - amazing songs.
There was a whole bunch of great New York ska in the 80s - The Terrorists, The NY Citizens, The Toasters, Urban Blight (featuring Mackie from the Cro-Mags on drums), all the early Moon Records stuff, hell - I'd even put Fishbone in that category - it seems like they played with the Citizens or Murphy's Law every other weekend in '87-'88 (and they were amazing).
Obviously, The Specials - they still not only "hold up," but are better than most other bands ever (there've been a lot of bands throughout history, so it's not really that much of an overstatement, o.k.?).
Both Selector records are great.
Early Bob Marley/Wailers ska stuff is pretty unassailable in its awesomeness ("Maga Dog," "One Cup of Coffee," "Guava Jelly") - saying the Wailers suck because legions of idiots like them is like saying the same thing about the Beatles.
One of my favorite eras of music, in general, is when the original ska beat started slowing down, and DJs first came on the scene in Jamaica - so, like, all those great Studio One comps, early U-Roy and I-Roy, etc. (and the modern revivalists, like I-Ron, of course)...
If you go back one step further to Mento, you can kind of see the point at which what eventually became reggae split off from what was quickly becoming Calypso, too.

[yesno]

I myself have wished that there was some way to use a violin in rock music many times,

The scientists over at the Dambuilders and Camper van Beethoven have been working on that one. 

[Beth]

I still kinda like The Toasters 

Ain't no shame in that game! 

I don't feel shame about it, because they make me so happy! It's a good natured blush. I wish they had a smiling embarrassed guy.

Summer really is the perfect time to reminisce about ska. I think I'll break out some Fishbone.

[Trembling Eagle]

I don't get how Ska is connected to the punk/rock side of things. I don't mind it but where did that come from to connect the two?

[AllisonLeGnome]

I myself have wished that there was some way to use a violin in rock music many times,

The scientists over at the Dambuilders and Camper van Beethoven have been working on that one. 

I was kind of scared away from the idea entirely once Yellowcard became popular.

[yesno]

I don't get how Ska is connected to the punk/rock side of things. I don't mind it but where did that come from to connect the two?

It's basically just an accident.  Some punk guys got into reggae and ska in the 70s.  It was briefly a symbol of racial harmony but I think it lasted because the musical styles are weirdly complementary.  Punk rockers don't get to have ballads, so they dabble in ska instead.  Something like that.

[emma]

I don't get how Ska is connected to the punk/rock side of things. I don't mind it but where did that come from to connect the two?

It's basically just an accident.  Some punk guys got into reggae and ska in the 70s.  It was briefly a symbol of racial harmony but I think it lasted because the musical styles are weirdly complementary.  Punk rockers don't get to have ballads, so they dabble in ska instead.  Something like that.

I would also guess that the whole 2-tone thing was going on in England in the late '70s, and it would be difficult for a musical subculture (especially one with political roots) to not sort of crash into punk rock and skinhead culture and stuff at the time?

Then again, I was not even close to being alive at that point, so what do I know?
(Answer: Very Little.)

[bookem_dan-o]

I myself have wished that there was some way to use a violin in rock music many times

[Gilly]

Yellowcard were pretty awful. Keep the violin to classical music because you can rock just as hard playing classical. You might not go platinum but you'll still rock.