Ska is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the off beat. It was developed in Jamaica in the 1960s when Stranger Cole, Prince Buster, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, and Duke Reid formed sound systems to play American rhythm and blues and then began recording their own songs. In the early 1960s, ska was the dominant music genre of Jamaica and was popular with British mods. Later it became popular with many skinheads.
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones is an American ska punk band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1983. Since the band's inception, lead vocalist Dicky Barrett, bassist Joe Gittleman, tenor saxophonist Tim "Johnny Vegas" Burton and dancer ("Bosstone") Ben Carr have remained constant members. The line-up also includes drummer Joe Sirois, saxophonist Leon Silva, guitarist Lawrence Katz, keyboardist John Goetchius, and trombonist Chris Rhodes.
Ska punk is a fusion genre that mixes ska music and punk rock music together. Ska-core is a subgenre of ska punk that mixes ska with hardcore punk. Early ska punk mixed both 2 Tone and ska with hardcore punk. Ska punk tends to feature brass instruments, especially horns such as trumpets, trombones and woodwind instruments like saxophones, making the genre distinct from other forms of punk rock. It is closely tied to third wave ska which reached its zenith in the mid 1990s.
Bad Manners are an English two-tone and ska band led by frontman Buster Bloodvessel. Early appearances included Top of The Pops and the live film documentary, Dance Craze.
Dance Hall Crashers is an American ska punk band formed in 1989 in Berkeley, California.
Gwar, often stylized as GWAR, is an American heavy metal band formed in Richmond, Virginia in 1984, composed of and operated by a frequently rotating line-up of musicians, artists and filmmakers collectively known as Slave Pit Inc. Following the death of frontman and lead singer Dave Brockie in 2014, the group has continued without any of its founding members.
Skankin' Pickle was an American ska punk band formed in San Jose, California that was active from 1989 to 1997.
Voodoo Glow Skulls are an American ska punk band formed in 1988 in Riverside, California, United States, by brothers Frank, Eddie, and Jorge Casillas and their longtime friend Jerry O'Neill. Voodoo Glow Skulls first played at backyard parties and later at Spanky's Café in their hometown of Riverside, where they played shows with the Angry Samoans, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Firehose, Murphy's Law, and The Dickies.
Buck-O-Nine is an American ska punk band which was formed in San Diego in 1991. The band has toured internationally and released several albums and EPs, as well as appearing on compilations and film soundtracks. During the mid-to-late 1990s, they experienced mainstream success with the release of the album Twenty-Eight Teeth and its most successful single, "My Town". As the popularity of third-wave ska waned, Buck-O-Nine stopped touring full-time in 2000, but continues to perform regularly throughout California and much of the Southwestern United States. Since 2001, the band has also performed in Japan, the UK, Canada, Mexico and Hawaii.
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.
The Pietasters are an American eight-piece ska/soul band hailing from Washington, D.C., with additional members from Maryland and Virginia.
Spring Heeled Jack is a third wave ska band based out of New Haven, Connecticut. The band was formed by guitarist/vocalist Ron Ragona and drummer Dave Karcich in 1991. After a short breakup, Ragona and Karcich reformed the band with a new lineup. This lineup went on to record two albums before announcing a hiatus in 2000. While the band members moved on to perform in several new bands, their intention was to play the occasional reunion show. This plan would never come to fruition as a cerebral aneurysm would be cause for Karcich's death in 2002. In 2015, several band members returned to reform the band full-time. A third studio album, Sound Salvation, followed in 2017.
Mephiskapheles is a ska band based in New York City. Their name is a portmanteau of "ska" and "Mephistopheles", of the Faust legend. As their name suggests, their lyrics are often playfully satanic in nature.
Ruder Than You is an American ska band that was founded in 1989 at Penn State University and, in 1991, the group relocated to Philadelphia. While ska and reggae stylings have always provided the common musical thread, over the past 15 plus years Ruder Than You has been mixing in dancehall, hip hop, rocksteady, and rub-a-dub – even adding elements of funk, jazz, and punk – to create their own unique sound.
Hog Hoggidy Hog is a band from Cape Town, South Africa. The band blends a mixture punk, ska and many other influences, including traditional African music to create an original sound, sometimes referred to as Porkrock. The band has been active within the South African music scene since 1995, but have also been touring the European circuit since 2005. They are presently one of the longest standing live acts in South Africa. They are credited as being the frontrunners and founders of the SA punk scene and are sometimes also referred to as the godfathers of punk in SA. They have also had a profound impact on South African alternative music influencing bands from The Rudimentals to Fokofpolisiekar.
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.
SGR was an American ska-core band from Voorhees, New Jersey, United States, that formed as a five piece act in 1996, during the United States third wave ska boom. The band's catalog spans four albums, a live recording, and a handful of compilation appearances. The band's last live show took place in June 2007.
The Australian ska scene has existed since the mid-1980s, when it started enjoying the same sort of interest as it did in the United Kingdom, following the success of UK 2 Tone bands such as The Specials, The Beat and Madness.
BeNuts are a German ska band from Munich.
Stephen Jackson is a musician from Washington D.C. Most notably he is a founding member, singer and songwriter for the Washington D.C. based band The Pietasters and the record labels Slug Tone! and Indication Records.
