The Skaject
welcome to the Skaject!
in this project, i’ll be going over a large but incomplete sampling of ska music over the last 60 years! here’s the general rules of the project:
-i’m covering a sampling of roughly fifty artists – i found some popularity polls and discussions of largest contributing artists, spanning from the early Jamaican Ska years through the Two-Tone era and the Ska-Punk of the 90s and early aughts, with some international picks along the way.
-we’re going through this chronologically, rather than sticking with one artist at a time.
-i’m looking at LPs and EPs only – as i mentioned in my announcement post i’m aware that this underrepresents some of the earlier artists, who didn’t start jumping into full LPs until the late 60s and early 70s as the early Ska boom was ending. if folks who have thoughts about that have suggestions of collections to cover that gap, i’d be happy to take some time looking at those!
-there are some artists who made some large contributions to the genre(s) but then shifted their attention in other areas – i’m only gonna be covering those artists until that happens. i’m going to be doing my best to not skip ska albums, and i know that many of these artists still made quality music after they stopped making ska, but i only have so much time and this IS the Skaject, so… yeah.
here’s a link to all the Skaject reviews!
here’s some playlists:
non-skaject ska (most of which we will get to)
and here’s the artists we’re looking at!
MAIN PROJECT:
(artists are listed by debut year, including singles, with primary music genres across their careers)
1959 – Byron Lee and the Dragonaires (Ska, Calypso, Reggae)
1959 – Derrick Morgan (Ska, Rocksteady, Reggae)
1961 – Desmond Dekker (Ska, Rocksteady, Reggae)
1961 – Prince Buster (Ska, Rocksteady, Reggae)
1962 – The Maytals (Ska, Rocksteady, Reggae)
1963 – The Skatalites (Ska, Rocksteady, Reggae)
1964 – Laurel Aitken (Ska, Rocksteady)
1976 – Madness (2-Tone)
1976 * Bad Manners (2-Tone)
1977 – The Specials (2-Tone)
1978 – The Beat (2-Tone)
1979 – The Selecter (2-Tone)
1979 – Fishbone (Ska Punk, Funk Rock)
1981 – The Toasters (2-Tone)
1981 – The Untouchables (Ska, Soul)
1983 * The Bosstones (Ska Punk)
1983 – Bim Skala Bim (Ska Punk)
1986 – No Doubt (Ska Punk)
1987 – Operation Ivy (Ska, Ska Punk)
1988 – Sublime (Ska Punk, Reggae Rock)
1988 – Voodoo Glow Skulls (Ska Punk)
1988 */ Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra (Ska, Jazz)
1988 – MU330 (Ska Punk)
1989 – Hepcat (Ska, Rocksteady)
1989 – Skankin’ Pickle (Ska Punk)
1989 – Dance Hall Crashers (Ska Punk)
1990 – The Pietasters (Ska, Rocksteady, Soul)
1990 – Mephiskapheles (Ska, Ska Punk)
1991 – The Slackers (Ska)
1991 * Reel Big Fish (Ska Punk)
1991 – The Suicide Machines (Ska Punk, Punk)
1991 – Rancid (Punk, Ska Punk)
1991 – Mustard Plug (Ska Punk, Pop Punk)
1991 – Buck-O-Nine (Ska Punk)
1992 * Less Than Jake (Ska Punk)
1993 * The Planet Smashers (Ska Punk)
1993 – Radioactive Chicken Heads (Ska Punk)
1994 * Goldfinger (Ska Punk, Punk)
1994 – Deal’s Gone Bad (Ska)
1994 – The Aquabats (Ska, New Wave, Pop Punk)
1995 – Big D and the Kid’s Table (Ska Punk)
1995 * Mad Caddies (Ska Punk)
1995 * Save Ferris (Ska Punk)
1995 – Five Iron Frenzy (Christian Ska Punk)
1995 – Rx Bandits (Ska Punk)
1995 * The Hippos (Ska Punk, Power Pop)
1996 – Catch-22 (Ska Punk)
1996 – Go Jimmy Go (Ska)
1998 * Suburban Legends (Ska Punk)
2002 * Streetlight Manifesto (Ska Punk, Punk)
Modern / Post-Project
2011 * The Interrupters (Ska Punk)
2011 * The Trash Monsters
2012 – Soul Radics (Ska, Reggae)
(* indicates an artists i covered during the original Skaject)
artists to potentially look at after the Skaject:
OreSkaBand
Common Rider
The Bodysnatchers
GOGO13
[spunge]
Dan P. and the Bricks