Urban75 Home About Offline BrixtonBuzz Contact

Christ! "What is Ska?"

Dubversion said:
and anyway -go on then, test me :p
Click to expand...

Right, I want five examples of Oldskool Smurfcore (none of that nu-skool stuff, that's really more like Weeblecore) and five examples of Doomhopaciddeathstep.

Off you go. :)
 
tommers said:
The Ethiopians - 'Train to Skaville'
Harry J Allstars - 'Liquidator'
Prince Buster - 'Al Capone'
Lee 'Scratch' Perry - 'Rub and Squeeze'
Dave and Ansell Collins - 'Double Barrel'
The Skatalites - 'Guns of Navarone'


sorry, more than two, but I just did a CD for mate, and I get a bit carried away!
Click to expand...

Despite the name, Train to Skaville is rocksteady isn't it? Liquidator and Double Barrel are (Skinhead) Reggae. Agree with neilh though, everything Jamaican from about '59 to '71 tends to get labelled as ska.
 
I hope it wasn't Jo who asked this ;)

I was wearing a ska wars t-shirt once and was asked what S K A wars, she didn't even know how to pronounce it. I think if you want someone who is ignorant to it you have to give a mainstream example from the 80's, Specials Madness, Bad manners etc.
 
Ska well you got to have some of them
trumpets.jpg


Altha & Donna uptowe top ranking, more bit dubby then ska but still a floor mover :)
Mad Manners - not the main stream stuff like lip up fatty or speshel brew.
 
i think the answer you gave was perfect, though could have been shortened to two words - "bouncy reggae" maybe adding - "with horns"

naming records is no good to the person who asked, I'd assume, that's just confusing them further.
 
Dubversion said:
so if somebody said to YOU what's SKA - what TWO tunes would you name them to help out? not the best, mind, but the most obvious / easily recognisable.
Click to expand...

Well what it's not is the dirge and musical monstrosity that started to come out of America late 80's early 90's from such musical monstrorities as No Doubt, Mephiskapheles etc etc

The timescale and dates of the beginning and end of the ska period are up for argument with the dates not being rigid at all.

The music known as SKA, arguably termed by famous JA guitarist Ernest Ranglin-from the 'skat, skat, skat' stroke on their guitars, was Jamaicas 'indigenous' melding of traditional Caribbean rhythms such as soca/calypso/mento etc with the imported American sounds of rhythm and blues (check out the Trojan cd 'Ska before Ska' to see the obvious evolution). Ska could be applied to the music literally churned out by producers such as Leslie Kong, prince Buster, Clement 'Coxsone' Dodd, Duke Reid etc and such legendary labels as Studio 1, Trojan and later Island over the period 1960-1966/67. And with bands such as the legendary Skatalites and Derrick Morgan.
However mirroring the slowdown in US soul ska began to evolve into the more melodic and less frenetic music that became known as rocksteady. the rocksteady period ushered in the vocal harmony groups such as Toots & the Maytals and The Paragons with the mighty John Holt as lead singer.
Rocksteady itself then begaan to evolve into 'reggae' and 'skinhead reggae' and with the 'honeymoon period' of Independence beginning to end the content of the songs began to change too.

As an aside imho the 2Tone period 0f 1979-82/82 whilst undoubtedly influenced by ska/rocksteady etc etc (and erroneously imho termed as 2nd wave ska) owes as much to the punk/new wave music of the period as it does ska, which imho counts it out as ska and is, imho, more accurately referred to as 2Tone.
 
Fedayn said:
Well what it's not is the dirge and musical monstrosity that started to come out of America late 80's early 90's from such musical monstrorities as No Doubt, Mephiskapheles etc etc

The timescale and dates of the beginning and end of the ska period are up for argument with the dates not being rigid at all.

The music known as SKA, arguably termed by famous JA guitarist Ernest Ranglin-from the 'skat, skat, skat' stroke on their guitars, was Jamaicas 'indigenous' melding of traditional Caribbean rhythms such as soca/calypso etc with the imported American sounds of rhythm and blues (check out the Trojan cd 'Ska before Ska' to see the obvious evolution). Ska could be applied to the music literally churned out by producers such as Leslie Kong, prince Buster, Clement 'Coxsone' Dodd, Duke Reid etc and such legendary labels as Studio 1, Trojan and later Island over the period 1960-1966/67. And with bands such as the legendary Skatalites and Derrick Morgan.
However mirroring the slowdown in US soul ska began to evolve into the more melodic and less frenetic music that became known as rocksteady. the rocksteady period ushered in the vocal harmony groups such as Toots & the Maytals and The Paragons with the mighty John Holt as lead singer.
Rocksteady itself then begaan to evolve into 'reggae' and 'skinhead reggae' and with the 'honeymoon period' of Independence beginning to end the content of the songs began to change too.

As an aside imho the 2Tone period 0f 1979-82/82 whilst undoubtedly influenced by ska/rocksteady etc etc (and erroneously imho termed as 2nd wave ska) owes as much to the punk/new wave music of the period as it does ska, which imho counts it out as ska and is, imho, more accurately referred to as 2Tone.
Click to expand...

erm.. i know all this.

did you even read the original post?
 
Dubversion said:
erm.. i know all this.

did you even read the original post?
Click to expand...

Funnily enough yes I did. However the idea that you can simplify totally a musical genre into 2 records is a bit ridiculous. You could as perviously mentioned refer this idiot you've mentioned to The Skatalites but you're in more trouble if they've never heard of The Skatalites. Unless the person youre referring to is a complete moron without the capacity to understand complex sentences why not mention what you did.

There's also the point about 2Tone and whether that's ska..... it's never, if you'll excuse the obvious pun, black and white.

If you really need to reduce it to 2 songs try

007 (shanty town)
and
The Israelites

And yes there maybe arguments of the ska v rocksteady variety but the chances are said person has actually heard of these two tracks and might see where yer going at least.
 
OT but relevant to this audience: Anyone else going to the Skatalites tomorrow night? :D
 
Fedayn said:
Funnily enough yes I did. However the idea that you can simplify totally a musical genre into 2 records is a bit ridiculous. You could as perviously mentioned refer this idiot you've mentioned to The Skatalites but you're in more trouble if they've never heard of The Skatalites. Unless the person youre referring to is a complete moron without the capacity to understand complex sentences why not mention what you did.

There's also the point about 2Tone and whether that's ska..... it's never, if you'll excuse the obvious pun, black and white.

If you really need to reduce it to 2 songs try

007 (shanty town)
and
The Israelites

And yes there maybe arguments of the ska v rocksteady variety but the chances are said person has actually heard of these two tracks and might see where yer going at least.
Click to expand...


the point is, she doesn't really care that much. i just wanted to explain to her very simply by example is all.
 
Dave & Ansell Collins/Double Barrel
Harry J Allstars/Liquidator
Always thought these to be Ska but probably have someone argue that they're not really.
 
Dubversion said:
erm.

WHAT?
Click to expand...

<checks skatalites website>

Thu, Nov. 10 2005
Jazz Cafe
London,England
Fri, Nov. 11 2005
Jazz Cafe
London,England
Sat, Nov. 12 2005
Jazz Cafe
London,England

www.skatalites.com

Bookable here for £20 or so. 3 days so may still be a chance of tickets.

arsebanditfucksticks, I'm waiting on a fuckspudding new credit card. Mind you £25 is a bit too much.

Tbh with people like this the only thing you'll ever be able to get them to recognise is Madness.
 
Sir Belchalot said:
Dave & Ansell Collins/Double Barrel
Harry J Allstars/Liquidator
Always thought these to be Ska but probably have someone argue that they're not really.
Click to expand...


all rocksteady pretty much.. slower than ska.
 
I fucking love the fact that Ska was essentially ended by a really hot summer (was it the summer of '67).

Fuck that - too hot to dance to that stuff! :cool:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

U
What exactly is 'music' and why does nobody ever seem to ask that question?
2
Replies
46
Views
1K
mojo pixy
mojo pixy
Fez909
What's this bassline style called?
Replies
14
Views
264
Petcha
P
Steel Icarus
EDM - what am I missing?
2 3 4
Replies
92
Views
2K
AverageJoe
AverageJoe
K
What is the future of professional music making?
2 3
Replies
70
Views
2K
souljacker
souljacker
kalidarkone
The " What music genre is this? " thread.
2
Replies
35
Views
1K
kalidarkone
kalidarkone
Back
Top Bottom