Reggae is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use the word "reggae", effectively naming the genre and introducing it to a global audience. While sometimes used in a broad sense to refer to most types of popular Jamaican dance music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that was strongly influenced by traditional mento as well as American jazz and rhythm and blues, and evolved out of the earlier genres ska and rocksteady. Reggae usually relates news, social gossip, and political commentary. It is instantly recognizable from the counterpoint between the bass and drum downbeat and the offbeat rhythm section. The immediate origins of reggae were in ska and rocksteady; from the latter, reggae took over the use of the bass as a percussion instrument.
The Beat are a band founded in Birmingham, England, in 1978. Their music fuses Latin, ska, pop, soul, reggae and punk rock.
Ska-P is a Spanish ska punk band formed in 1994 in Vallecas, a district of Madrid, by a group of friends from Madrid, Navarre and Euskadi
Go Jimmy Go was an American ska, rocksteady, reggae and soul influenced band from Honolulu, Hawaii. Although chronologically, the band belongs to the third-wave, their mellow, slower tempo sound is reminiscent of the classic style of the original 1960s Jamaican first wave of ska.
Suburban Legends are an American ska punk band that formed in Huntington Beach, California, in 1998 and later based themselves in nearby Santa Ana. After building a fanbase in the Orange County ska scene through their numerous regular performances at the Disneyland Resort, a series of lineup changes in 2005 introduced elements of funk and disco into the group's style.
Big D and the Kids Table is a ska punk band formed in October 1995 in Boston, Massachusetts when its members converged in college. Their first release was on their own Fork in Hand Records label, but have since teamed with Springman Records and SideOneDummy. The band has been noted for its strict DIY work ethic, such as engineering, producing, and releasing their own albums and videos and self-promotion of their own shows.
Inner Circle, also known as The Inner Circle Band or The Bad Boys of Reggae, are a Jamaican reggae band formed in Kingston in 1968. The band first backed The Chosen Few in the early 1970s before joining with successful solo artist Jacob Miller and releasing a string of records. This era of the band ended with Miller's death in a car crash in 1980.
La Chango Family is a Montreal, Quebec based band that plays a mixture of reggae, ska, funk, and other genres of music, which is often called world music.
In Your Face is the debut studio album by American ska and funk metal band Fishbone, released on November 30, 1986. The record is the band's second major label release for Columbia Records following their self-titled EP from the previous year.
Victor "Vic" Ruggiero, is a musician, songwriter and producer from New York City who has played in reggae, blues, ska and rocksteady bands since the early 1990s, including The Slackers, Stubborn All-Stars, SKAndalous All Stars, Crazy Baldhead and The Silencers. He has also performed with punk rock band Rancid, both live and in the studio. He has released four solo acoustic albums and continues to tour and record worldwide. Ruggiero is known primarily as a singer and organist, although he also plays piano, bass, banjo, cigar box guitar, guitar, harmonica and percussion.
Deal's Gone Bad is a band from Chicago, Illinois. Their sound mixes reggae, rocksteady, and ska music with American soul. They have been together since 1994, with numerous lineup changes over the years. The current incarnation has been mostly stable since 2003. The band hews to a more traditional ska-reggae sound while many others working in the genre morphed into a more punk variety.
La Tordue was a popular musical group from Paris, France that existed from 1989 to 2003.
The Rocksteady 7 or "David Hillyard & the Rocksteady Seven", is an American Ska and Jazz band from New York, New York that formed in 1992. Since the early 1990s the group has consisted of tenor saxophonist and band leader Dave Hillyard as well as percussionist Larry McDonald. In live performances, they are supported by a rotating cast of musicians, including drummer Eddie Ocampo and Dave Wake on keys among others.
La Severa Matacera is a Colombian musical group, formed in Bogotá, at the end of 1995, with the idea of forming a band which could mix all the influences of its members.
Subb was a Canadian ska punk band formed in November 1992 in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec. Since their beginning in the early 1990s, the band released four full-length albums, one EP and one split CD on the labels Stomp Records and Underworld Records. Though they experienced several lineup changes over the years, founding members Mart Charron and Stef Gauthier remained in the group. The band's musical style initially blended elements of punk rock, ska, and hardcore into a genre popularly known as ska punk or "ska-core," which characterized their first two albums. In 2002 they shifted gears, moving away from this sound and producing an album with a heavy pop punk influence. After a brief hiatus in 2003, the band moved back towards their ska, punk and hardcore elements.
Black Roots are a roots reggae band from the St. Paul's area of Bristol, England, formed in 1979. They toured extensively in the UK and Europe in the 1980s and early 1990s releasing several albums and singles during that time before disappearing from the music scene for about ten years. Their comeback began when Soundicate/Makasound, a record label in France, released an album in 2004 and followed it up with another in 2007. In December 2010 they performed their first live show for some twenty years at the Trinity Hall in Bristol and since then they have been active once again, playing live dates and releasing a new album.
Major Lazer is an American electronic dance music trio, which includes record producer Diplo, and DJs Walshy Fire and Ape Drums. It was founded in 2008 by Diplo and Switch, with Switch leaving after three years in 2011. He was then replaced by both Jillionaire and Walshy Fire. In June 2019, Jillionaire left the group and was replaced by Ape Drums. Its music spans numerous genres, mixing reggae with dancehall, reggaeton, soca, house and moombahton.
The Skints are an English reggae punk band from London, described by Clash Music as “the torchbearers for modern British reggae music.” The Skints mix reggae, ska, dub, punk rock, dancehall, soul, and rap, touring extensively across the UK, Europe and the United States. Their album Swimming Lessons (2019) debuted at number 1 on the Billboard reggae chart. Their original style of music has been described as "tropical punk".
Milky Chance is a German rock band originating in Kassel. It consists of vocalist and guitarist Clemens Rehbein, bassist and percussionist Philipp Dausch, and guitarist Antonio Greger.
Bumpin Uglies is an American ska punk reggae group from Annapolis, Maryland.
