Ska

Before laid-back reggae rhythms came along and slowed things down, Jamaica moved to the hectic skank of ska, turning American R&B beats inside out and adding a hint of calypso sway. In the ’60s, “blue beat” monarch Prince Buster’s horn-heavy gangster groove “Al Capone” and the Skatalites’ “Don de Lion” — named for trombonist Don Drummond’s roaring repartee — ruled the Jamaican scene. Later, it seemed like every generation put its own twist on the sound, be it British 2 Tone heroes the Specials’ 1979 version of Dandy Livingstone’s ’67 single “A Message to You Rudy” or Berkeley ska-punks Rancid igniting a “Time Bomb” in 1995.

Young Brits push past punk and reach out for ska, in Next Steps.

After ska’s initial explosion in the ’60s, the first real revival came at the end of the following decade, when British youth began looking past punk. They spawned the 2 Tone movement — named for the record label, the iconic black-and-white checked pattern synonymous with ska, and the interracial makeup of the British bands. The Specials brought punk attitude to the second-wave ska party with the anti-procreation cry “Too Much Too Young.” The English Beat mated old-school style with provocative politics, segueing Prince Buster’s “Whine and Grine” into the anti-Thatcher throwdown of “Stand Down Margaret.” And the Selecter slammed an arch, off-kilter new-wave feel up against the sharp snap of ska beats to score big on the British charts with “On My Radio.”

West Coast kids ride a third wave of ska in Deep Cuts.

Ska never fades away — it evolves in new directions with each passing generation. By the ’90s, a third wave had taken hold when a fresh crop of American — mostly Californian — kids who came up on the hardcore punk scene started moving to a blue-beat groove. West Coast wildmen Voodoo Glow Skulls serve up a searing, ska-soaked take on the old Coasters hit “Charlie Brown,” and their fellow Golden State gang Skankin’ Pickle come off like the Skatalites playing They Might Be Giants’ songbook, on the kooky, quirky “Hussein Skank.” But SoCal ska revivalists Hepcat dig into a decidedly old-school vibe for the smooth, retromantic “Dance Wid’ Me.”

Before reggae, ska was the sound of Jamaica. It was born in the '60s when a new breed of Jamaican visionaries turned American R&B inside out and spiced it up with an island flavor, giving the world a new groove to move to. Some of the biggest names in reggae launched their careers with ska, including Bob Marley himself. Later, post-punk-era Brits brought about a revival that crossed over to rockers and reggae fans alike, and a third wave arrived when American bands mashed it all up with U.S. punk. There’s a line that runs from blue-beat heroes Prince Buster and the Skatalites through to 2 Tone titans like Madness and the Specials, all the way to such ska-punk supermen as Rancid and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. The crucial cuts we’ve tied together trace that line from end to end, without missing a single, skankin’ beat.