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NormPhillips · Apr 29, 2003, 10:21 PM

Could anyone recommend some ska to me? I like the music, but have no idea who to buy since I've only listened to a little of it.

Earth Mk. II · Apr 29, 2003, 10:25 PM

Um, I like the Toasters, The Slackers and The Pietasters myself.

A friend of mine could talk your ear off about ska...

Superchicken · Apr 29, 2003, 10:29 PM

there is a TON of awsome Christian ska.. yes believe it or not there are tons of bigish name Christian ska bands who probably are at least on par with popularity with the secular artists... crazy eh?

Anyway my FAVE style of all time is Ska, my fave bands are the OC Supertones, The Insyderz, Flight 180, Baliey's Car, and I used to like Five Iron Frenzy... their music is really good... but the people in the band piss me off... I've gotten into fights with em on their message boards cause they're jack asses...

ANYWAY, yeah, secular bands that do ska lets see what names I can remember, I think Aquabats, Reel Big Fish, ... those are the only ones that come to mind. You can check out the OC Supertones on apple's music store... sadly there arn't any other Christian ska bands on it to my knowlege...

Swiss Bob · Apr 29, 2003, 10:37 PM

Originally posted by NormPhillips:
Could anyone recommend some ska to me?

Nay. I wouldn't recommend ska to my worst enemy.

jamesvanderbeek · Apr 29, 2003, 10:41 PM

forget the christian crap.....less than jake. best ska band ever. yes reel big fish, early goldfinger, mad caddies, the chinkees, mu330, slapstick. the list goes on and on. but what i have given you should be a great start. like i said NO CHRISTIAN. dont say i didnt warn you.

Earth Mk. II · Apr 29, 2003, 10:50 PM

Originally posted by jamesvanderbeek:
forget the christian crap.....less than jake. best ska band ever. yes reel big fish, early goldfinger, mad caddies, the chinkees, mu330, slapstick. the list goes on and on. but what i have given you should be a great start. like i said NO CHRISTIAN. dont say i didnt warn you.

Ugh.. stick to Trad and Two-Tone ska... ska-punk and skacore is crap. (excepting a few notable bands, and Operation Ivy being the only one I can think of now)

on that note - you might want to check out some bands from (the now defunct) moon-ska records. a pretty decent label focusing on ska.

[EDIT: added exception]

jamesvanderbeek · Apr 29, 2003, 11:06 PM

Originally posted by Earth Mk. II:
Ugh.. stick to Trad and Two-Tone ska... ska-punk and skacore is crap. (excepting a few notable bands, and Operation Ivy being the only one I can think of now)

on that note - you might want to check out some bands from (the now defunct) moon-ska records. a pretty decent label focusing on ska.

[EDIT: added exception]

you are wrong about ska-punk being crap. i do agree that moon ska had some cool bands. bad manners is cool. as is operation ivy. check out the suicide machines, against all authority, (early) millencolin, big d and the kids table, skankin pickle, catch 22, assorted jellybeans, kemuri, mustard plug. back me up here obiwan.

Earth Mk. II · Apr 29, 2003, 11:16 PM

I'll give you Millencolin. Fox is just too good of a song not to.

But i can't stand Catch-22 and similar bands. It's really just a matter of personal taste, but trad and two-tone are closer to jazz and I find them much more appealing overall.

jamesvanderbeek · Apr 29, 2003, 11:40 PM

although there isnt a single ska song on that cd i do agree that Fox is a great song. i enjoyed most of that album. im not fond of catch 22 much either, but im just tryin give this kid some ideas. cmon man what about less than jake. cmon......cmon

ObiWan Flanders · Apr 29, 2003, 11:52 PM

I think I'm gonna have to back up every single word vanderbeek said, I'd have to say I agree with every band hes listed. And lets face it, all ska is great ska. With the exception of these "christian" ska bands... call me the anti-christ if you will but 99% of that doesnt even qualify as ska.

BTW Earth MK II, never call ska core crap, I will declare war on your non-skanking ass. I take a statement like that as a personal insult.

Jansar · Apr 30, 2003, 12:18 AM

The Mighty Mighty BossTones

deekay1 · Apr 30, 2003, 01:05 AM

the specials

bad manners
the toasters
the selector
the busters
sublime (some of their their ska tracks are actually pretty cool)
old bob marley stuff ;-)

jamesvanderbeek · Apr 30, 2003, 01:07 AM

bosstones, no. slow gherkin, yes

DesignerTerp · Apr 30, 2003, 01:09 AM

Originally posted by Earth Mk. II:
Um, I like the Toasters, The Slackers and The Pietasters myself.

A friend of mine could talk your ear off about ska...

Yeah! I love the Pietasters!

DeathMan · Apr 30, 2003, 01:39 AM

The Voodoo glowskulls were presented to me as Ska, and it sort of turned me off. I think its more ska-punk or something. Also, the Mighty Bosstones didn't float my boat.

Depending on where you're coming from musically, you'll like different bands.

Skank and Pickle is a really good mix of fun music, with some nice speed metal guitar thrown in every now and then.

Mealticket is cool, the singer is a girl and has the tremolo thing going with her voice if you like that style (which I do) You'll often find Mealticket mislabled on P2P as No Doubt.

Lets Go Bowling was pretty popular around here, but I never heard them.

ObiWan Flanders · Apr 30, 2003, 01:42 AM

Originally posted by DeathMan:

Mealticket is cool, the singer is a girl and has the tremolo thing going with her voice if you like that style (which I do) You'll often find Mealticket mislabled on P2P as No Doubt.

Agree...Mealticket is quite schweet

jamesvanderbeek · Apr 30, 2003, 01:47 AM

murder city devils, not ska, but S.K.A. Seriously kick ass. booyah and goodnight

PAC-Rat · Apr 30, 2003, 04:00 AM

Ska-talites.

My soul is crying in pain from many of the "ska" bands that have been listed thus far.

DeathMan · Apr 30, 2003, 04:21 AM

Originally posted by PAC-Rat:
Ska-talites.

My soul is crying in pain from many of the "ska" bands that have been listed thus far.

You're going to have to accept that fact that Ska has grown into a much more broad genre than the traditional definition would allow for. Everything is Ska these days. Don't you know that? At least no one has put No Doubt down...yet.

Webscreamer · Apr 30, 2003, 08:07 AM

OMG Reel Big Fish is the best

bleuvixen · Apr 30, 2003, 08:39 AM

Originally posted by DeathMan:
Skank and Pickle is a really good mix of fun music, with some nice speed metal guitar thrown in every now and then.

Its Skankin' Pickle and the are really good. So is Reel Big Fish, Pietasters, Tosters, and Nofx's album So Long And Thanks For All the Fish it has a good ska feel

scottiB · Apr 30, 2003, 08:44 AM

Desmond Dekker: old school (60s), still heavily reggae, but you can see ska developing.

And one from my youth--one of the best shows I've seen: Fishbone (early stuff, especially)

typoon · Apr 30, 2003, 08:59 AM

What is SKA Music anyway? Never understood the term? Someone please explain. Thanks.

sambeau · Apr 30, 2003, 08:59 AM

If you want to start gently/poppy you could do no worse than Madness.
But The Specials are what it's all about in my book.

Of course techno is just ska music played quickly on synths

bleuvixen · Apr 30, 2003, 09:06 AM

Originally posted by typoon:
What is SKA Music anyway? Never understood the term? Someone please explain. Thanks.

lots of horns and up beats.. a blend between reggae, punk, and big band

typoon · Apr 30, 2003, 09:07 AM

Originally posted by bleuvixen:
lots of horns and up beats.. a blend between reggae, punk, and big band

You mean combined?

bleuvixen · Apr 30, 2003, 09:10 AM

yes

scottiB · Apr 30, 2003, 09:27 AM

Not much on the iTunes MS, but search for "Ska" and The Skatalites and a Jamaican ska album comes up.

The beat, depending on the song, is essentially fast reggae--with the guitar and organ usually playing offbeats to drive the tune.

Madness and The Specials (from the early 80s) were the first Ska I was exposed to, and during the 80s, others (like Fishbone) increased the tempos and angst to punk-ish levels.

http://www.thespecials.com/

scaught · Apr 30, 2003, 10:53 AM

Originally posted by typoon:
What is SKA Music anyway? Never understood the term? Someone please explain. Thanks.

ska in its most traditional form is a VERY old form of music that comes from jamaica that is older than reggae, older than dancehall, etc. i knew a jamaican guy and asked him what he thought of ska and he told me it was "old people music"

haha. skatalites play very traditional ska, we (and most) refer to this era as "first generation ska".

ska moved towards the UK where the sound got a bit more rock/pop oriented, but still stayed pretty true to its roots. this was in the late 70s early 80s. bands like the specials (seriously a great band worth checking out, probably my favorite ska band), the selector, english beat are part of this "second generation" of ska.

sort of late 80s early 90s the sound made its way to america, but with a very punk twist. operation ivy is the band that basically started this ska punk sound which ran rampant in bands like slapstick, less than jake, skankin pickle, mustard plug, etc etc etc. theres also more "traditional" sounding bands of this era like the toasters, lets go bowling, hepcat, etc. the "third generation" of ska is typified for its "punkish" sounds, but there are a wide range of bands and sounds within that.

thats basically it. there could be some factual errors in there but i think i got it pretty straight.

DeathMan · Apr 30, 2003, 01:31 PM

Originally posted by bleuvixen:
Its Skankin' Pickle and the are really good.

Ah thanks for the correction. That was the result of the fog of 8 or 9 years. Havn't heard those guys for a while. I liked the green album (I think that's what it was called)