I'm currently aware that mushroomcomix and I are interested in ska. But is there anyone else? Recommend and obsess over your favourite ska/ reggae bands or musicians and give us some recommendations!!

So far, my fave ska bands/artists are:

Reel Big Fish
Streetlight Manifesto (ska-punk is allowed)
The Mighty Mighty Bosstonnes
and the legendary Bob Marley

Prince Buster.
Desmond Decker.
Derrick Morgan.
The Specials...

ozoneocean
Prince Buster.
Desmond Decker.
Derrick Morgan.
The Specials...

I love the specials!!

:)

A good one for Sarah Palin's kid:

ozoneocean
:)

A good one for Sarah Palin's kid:

hehehe! Awesome! I think my favourite would have to be "A Message To You Rudy".

I was into the Specials when they came out, they still sound great. The Selecter were good too, although Madness were more of a pop band. That was a great little scene at the time in the UK - Two Tone.

We got into all the original stuff from that. I have some amazing original vinyl from Jamaica, with Prince Buster, Ernest Ranglin, The Skatalites, and so on. I got it all for free from my father in law!

I don't know anything about the newer bands - maybe you could steer me in the right direction Warefish?

I love "What I Like Most About You Is Your Girlfriend" and "Ghost town".

--------------------
Heh, "Judge dread" is a great series of songs... but the guy that took that name as a performer is horrible. -_-

We call them skankers in the states. Or at least every state I've visited does.

A couple good ones are
The Forces of Evil,
( a personal favorite. ),
The Toasters,
Mustard Plug,
Deals Gone Bad,
Operation Ivy,
Catch 22 ( The band that became Streetlight Manifesto. ),
The Mad Caddies,
Suburban Legends,
The Barrymores,
No Doubt ( their early stuff was light ska if you're into more pop sounding stuff. ),
Skankin' Pickle,
The Planet Smashers,
Pepper ( One of the few newer reggae bands that I find I really like. ),
Less Than Jake,
IllScarlett ( Up and coming Canadian stuff that mixes a lot of ska, rock, dub and reggae influences. They're very unique in their sound.)

edit- totally forgot Rancid. They're a classic.

I'll add a few more as i have time, but that right there is about a months worth of listening to listen to everything they all have even at a total audiophile's speed like I listen.

warefish
and the legendary Bob Marley

what about 311? HA!


anyway, the great thing about bob marley is how he changed style over his career. from the "rude bwai" style of his youth with songs like "simmer down" and "hammer". to his ska(nk) style with songs like "lick samba", "easky skanking", "Natty Dread" and "kaya" to his later rock/social awareness style with songs like "Get up Stand Up", "Burnin and Lootin" "Concrete Jungle" and "Slave Driver". he even was a crooner too withs ongs like "Stir it up", "Guava Jelly" "nice Time" and "mellow mood".

to limit him to just ska is a disservice to the greatest musical artist of all time.

I gotta get my brother over here. Nobody even mentioned BIM. :P

Well, Bim Skala Bim has been defunct now for more than 5 or 6 years. Still, they were great.

My favorites that are still going:

The Bosstones
Catch 22
Streetlight Manifesto
Mustard Plug
Big D and the Kids Table

My favorites that are defunct:

Bim Skala Bim
The Hippos
Undercover SKA

Bands I liked for a while but have lost interest in:

Reel Big Fish
Planet Smashers
Aquabats

...that's about it.

My wife likes the more punk sound like Rancid, Orange (though I like orange as well), Bouncing Souls and Dropkick Murphys.

Ironscarfs Ghost
I was into the Specials when they came out, they still sound great. The Selecter were good too, although Madness were more of a pop band. That was a great little scene at the time in the UK - Two Tone.

We got into all the original stuff from that. I have some amazing original vinyl from Jamaica, with Prince Buster, Ernest Ranglin, The Skatalites, and so on. I got it all for free from my father in law!

I don't know anything about the newer bands - maybe you could steer me in the right direction Warefish?

The newer stuff that I like are some of the ones that I listed above. Such as Reel Big Fish and Streetlight Manifesto. Less Than Jake is a really good band as well but not all of their songs are ska (kinda like RBF really). Area 7 is an Australian ska band as well and they're well worth checking out. But other than that, I'm not too sure. That's kinda the reason why I started this thread. To learn about more bands!

NickGuy
what about 311? HA!


anyway, the great thing about bob marley is how he changed style over his career. from the "rude bwai" style of his youth with songs like "simmer down" and "hammer". to his ska(nk) style with songs like "lick samba", "easky skanking", "Natty Dread" and "kaya" to his later rock/social awareness style with songs like "Get up Stand Up", "Burnin and Lootin" "Concrete Jungle" and "Slave Driver". he even was a crooner too withs ongs like "Stir it up", "Guava Jelly" "nice Time" and "mellow mood".

to limit him to just ska is a disservice to the greatest musical artist of all time.

I'm sorry. My bad. :(

Ronson
My wife likes the more punk sound like Rancid, Orange (though I like orange as well), Bouncing Souls and Dropkick Murphys.

The Dropkick Murphys! YAY!

warefish

NickGuy
what about 311? HA!


anyway, the great thing about bob marley is how he changed style over his career. from the "rude bwai" style of his youth with songs like "simmer down" and "hammer". to his ska(nk) style with songs like "lick samba", "easky skanking", "Natty Dread" and "kaya" to his later rock/social awareness style with songs like "Get up Stand Up", "Burnin and Lootin" "Concrete Jungle" and "Slave Driver". he even was a crooner too withs ongs like "Stir it up", "Guava Jelly" "nice Time" and "mellow mood".

to limit him to just ska is a disservice to the greatest musical artist of all time.

I'm sorry. My bad. :(

oh i wasnt being mean. my avatar makes all my posts look angry lol. I just meant that while bob marley certainly did ska, that wasnt the only category he did. :)

NickGuy

warefish

NickGuy
what about 311? HA!


anyway, the great thing about bob marley is how he changed style over his career. from the "rude bwai" style of his youth with songs like "simmer down" and "hammer". to his ska(nk) style with songs like "lick samba", "easky skanking", "Natty Dread" and "kaya" to his later rock/social awareness style with songs like "Get up Stand Up", "Burnin and Lootin" "Concrete Jungle" and "Slave Driver". he even was a crooner too withs ongs like "Stir it up", "Guava Jelly" "nice Time" and "mellow mood".

to limit him to just ska is a disservice to the greatest musical artist of all time.

I'm sorry. My bad. :(

oh i wasnt being mean. my avatar makes all my posts look angry lol. I just meant that while bob marley certainly did ska, that wasnt the only category he did. :)

Don't worry. I knew what you meant ;). I was kinda slapping myself in the face for forgetting that fact...
But needless to say, Bobby Marley is awesome! And that's what matters most! :)

Hey I need in on this

Pepper
Slightly Stoopid
Early No Doubt
Sublime
Fishbone
Pennywise
Dropkick Murphys who toured with the bostones then ditched em for the offspring in colorado and really made me mad:(
Flogging Molly
Skindred (Reggae Metal)
VooDoo Glow Skulls
Long Beach Shortbus/Long Beach Dub Allstars
16th street Dub Allstars(They did darkside of the moon dub style..its awesome)
Sly and Robbie
The Expendables
Young Dubliners

Mushroomcomix
Hey I need in on this

Pepper
Slightly Stoopid
Early No Doubt
Sublime
Fishbone
Pennywise
Dropkick Murphys who toured with the bostones then ditched em for the offspring in colorado and really made me mad:(
Flogging Molly
Skindred (Reggae Metal)
VooDoo Glow Skulls
Long Beach Shortbus/Long Beach Dub Allstars
16th street Dub Allstars(They did darkside of the moon dub style..its awesome)
Sly and Robbie
The Expendables
Young Dubliners

I wouldn't classify Flogging Molly and the Dropkick Murphys as ska. They're more Irish Punk. ;)

But this is an awesome list you have, Mushroomcomix! I've only heard of two thirds of the bands on this list!!

*Edit* F@#k! I missed Streetlight Manifesto and the Resignators on Thursday!! I had my damn band rehearsal! :(

actually Young Dubliners is Irish punk too;)
My wife wanted me to throw Vincent Black Shadow into this list, I'm not to sure how Ska they are but they have a kind of old school No Doubt sound to some of there songs.

Sorry I'm just a Machine Head.

Forgot to put five iron frenzy and cake on my list..I guess cake is kinda Ska in some of their songs

Mushroomcomix
Forgot to put five iron frenzy and cake on my list..I guess cake is kinda Ska in some of their songs

I like Cake (both the band and the food)...
And I really don't mind Five Iron Frenzy. The only thing is that I'm not too big on Christian bands...

Ska is some really awful music, I cannot begin to comprehend why people enjoy it.

However I find myself oddly attracted to the sounds of Reel Big Fish and Beck.

warefish
I like Cake (both the band and the food)...
And I really don't mind Five Iron Frenzy. The only thing is that I'm not too big on Christian bands...

Ya me neither but they are from Colorado so I listen to them to support our local music....especially since the crap that has been getting big from Colorado lately sucks, I mean really sucks...The Fray and Single File should not represent our local music scene. I just got my first aquabats CD, I think that they are pretty good :)

Cake has a big festival out here ever year up in the mountains with De La Soul, I have never gone b/c it's to expensive and is usually up at a ski resort but I'd like to see them I have never gotten to. Just got Reel Big Fish tix for January tho :)

aw, you silly rude boys and your ties and skanking.
you guys pretty much covered what i was going to touch on. but left out some crutials!!

the independents - south carolina based horror/ska/punk
slapstick - chicago's own (now defunct) ska/punk
the usuals - gainesville's traditional ska band
the rudiments- east bay ska
against all authority - miami political ska

my best friend and room-mate was a bass player for a semi-successful nationally touring ska band for like 6 years.

with the influx of 4th wave ska trying to bring back the "two-tone" style and market it to today's kids i'm sure there will be a lot of new bands coming into play. with absolutely ZERO mainstream interest, and the high prices of gasoline in the states, touring for most bands (especially fledglings) will be difficult, to say the least.

oh, and "rancid" is NOT ska. while, yes tim armstrong and matt freeman were in "operation ivy", after the collapse of their failed ska attempt with "downfall" they went on to form rancid....under the guise of a "straight up punk band". it was the mid 90's and the major labels had taken a HUGE interest in "punk music" again.....and seeing the ability to capitalize on the final years of 3rd wave ska and it's "radio friendly" sound, the big labels and eMpTyV were turning their ears towards "ska" once again. "rancid" recorded and released a couple ska styled singles to jump on those coat-tails. that's part of punk rock history....and you can't wiki-pedia that sh!t.

i'm an old school punk a$$hole from 88. so i don't need to read a website or watch a documentary to know about stuff i was around to see.

Mushroomcomix
Just got Reel Big Fish tix for January tho :)

AWESOME! I saw them live as well!

json
aw, you silly rude boys and your ties and skanking.
you guys pretty much covered what i was going to touch on. but left out some crutials!!

the independents - south carolina based horror/ska/punk
slapstick - chicago's own (now defunct) ska/punk
the usuals - gainesville's traditional ska band
the rudiments- east bay ska
against all authority - miami political ska

my best friend and room-mate was a bass player for a semi-successful nationally touring ska band for like 6 years.

with the influx of 4th wave ska trying to bring back the "two-tone" style and market it to today's kids i'm sure there will be a lot of new bands coming into play. with absolutely ZERO mainstream interest, and the high prices of gasoline in the states, touring for most bands (especially fledglings) will be difficult, to say the least.

You've just earned yourself some cred!

Old school ska is awesome. Toots and the Maytals, the Skatallites, the Specials. Third wave, in my view, almost entirely fails to capture the authenticity of the original music.

Exzachly
Old school ska is awesome. Toots and the Maytals, the Skatallites, the Specials. Third wave, in my view, almost entirely fails to capture the authenticity of the original music.

since almost all of the bands that started the 3rd wave were out of the punk scene of the late 80s, there was definatly a lot punk rock influence in the music. i don't think any of the bands were trying to capture the traditional sound of the 60s jamaican ska. so, i wouldn't necessarily say they "failed" at capturing it, because i don't think anyone was even really trying to do that. just using their musical influences and taking the genre in a different direction.

that's where a lot of us old school f***ers don't get "4th wave" ska, because none of these bands are really bringing anything new to the table. but then again, the same could be said for punk music as a whole...but that is a whole other topic entirely.

json
oh, and "rancid" is NOT ska.

Anyone who'd try to argue that with you would be just plain dumb, but I included it in the list because a lot of people who are just now getting into ska relate well to Rancid and the more punk ska of the third wave than the other generations so it makes for a good starting point to help them go from Sum 41 to the first and second waves of ska without going into some sort of culture shock.

Plus, a lot of people these days seem to make no distinction between the pop punk of the mid and late 90's and ska music. Don't ask me why, maybe my generation lacks musical taste. They are after all the ones who created screamcore and brighteyes. :/

Whoopee! I got "The Specials- Too Much Too Young" today for 10 bucks! I also go the new Rise Against album, but they're not ska.