{ "slug": "ska", "name": "Ska", "aliases": [ "bluebeat", "rocksteady", "jamaican ska", "skank" ], "description": "Jamaican musicians in 1962 taking American rhythm and blues off the radio, flipping the emphasis onto the offbeat, and adding a horn section trained in jazz. Independence music, and the first link in the chain that ends in dubstep.", "origin": { "place": "Kingston, Jamaica", "year": 1962 }, "lineage": [ { "genre": "rhythm-and-blues", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/rhythm-and-blues/", "inherited": "The source signal, received from Miami. Jamaican sound systems ran on American jump blues records until the supply dried up, and ska began as an attempt to make more of them locally." }, { "genre": "jazz", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/jazz/", "inherited": "The players. The Skatalites were Alpha Boys School-trained jazz musicians, and the horn arrangements and solos on these records are bebop-literate in a way the form did not require." } ], "bpm": { "min": 130, "max": 160 }, "updated": "2026-08-30", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/ska/", "trackCount": 8, "curatedBy": [], "playlists": {}, "tracks": [ { "rank": 1, "trackKey": "the-wailers--simmer-down", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-wailers--simmer-down/", "title": "Simmer Down", "artist": "The Wailers", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-wailers/", "year": 1963, "label": "Studio One", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Marley at eighteen, telling the rude boys to calm down over the Skatalites. A number one in Jamaica, and the first evidence that this group could write as well as sing.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Wailers%20Simmer%20Down", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja8UxtUu30k", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 2, "trackKey": "don-drummond-and-the-skatalites--man-in-the-street", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/don-drummond-and-the-skatalites--man-in-the-street/", "title": "Man in the Street", "artist": "Don Drummond & The Skatalites", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/don-drummond-and-the-skatalites/", "year": 1964, "label": "Studio One", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A trombone melody of extraordinary melancholy over a rhythm going the other way entirely. Drummond wrote the saddest instrumentals in a music built for celebration.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Don%20Drummond%20%26%20The%20Skatalites%20Man%20in%20the%20Street", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll_5suXU_pg", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 3, "trackKey": "the-skatalites--guns-of-navarone", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-skatalites--guns-of-navarone/", "title": "Guns of Navarone", "artist": "The Skatalites", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-skatalites/", "year": 1965, "label": "Island", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A film theme turned into a horn workout, and the record that carried ska to British dancefloors. The house band of Jamaican music at full stretch.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Skatalites%20Guns%20of%20Navarone", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=wtESlTKBa4s", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 4, "trackKey": "millie-small--my-boy-lollipop", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/millie-small--my-boy-lollipop/", "title": "My Boy Lollipop", "artist": "Millie Small", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/millie-small/", "year": 1964, "label": "Fontana", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Six million copies and the first Jamaican record most of the world ever heard. Slight, joyful and historically enormous — it built the label that became Island.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Millie%20Small%20My%20Boy%20Lollipop", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=HiuPND4W6KM", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 5, "trackKey": "prince-buster--al-capone", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/prince-buster--al-capone/", "title": "Al Capone", "artist": "Prince Buster", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/prince-buster/", "year": 1964, "label": "Blue Beat", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Screeching tyres, gunshots and a spoken introduction. Buster understood that a record could be a piece of theatre, which is a lesson dancehall never forgot.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Prince%20Buster%20Al%20Capone", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=GBdXyLgjJuA", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 6, "trackKey": "justin-hinds-and-the-dominoes--carry-go-bring-come", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/justin-hinds-and-the-dominoes--carry-go-bring-come/", "title": "Carry Go Bring Come", "artist": "Justin Hinds & The Dominoes", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/justin-hinds-and-the-dominoes/", "year": 1964, "label": "Treasure Isle", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Three-part harmony over a Treasure Isle rhythm, warning against gossip. The most beautiful vocal record of the ska years and the one that has dated least.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Justin%20Hinds%20%26%20The%20Dominoes%20Carry%20Go%20Bring%20Come", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=zOXcaGuwTRA", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 7, "trackKey": "desmond-dekker-and-the-aces--007-shanty-town", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/desmond-dekker-and-the-aces--007-shanty-town/", "title": "007 (Shanty Town)", "artist": "Desmond Dekker & The Aces", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/desmond-dekker-and-the-aces/", "year": 1967, "label": "Beverley's", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Rocksteady now — slower, heavier, the bass suddenly in charge. The exact moment the music decelerates towards reggae, captured on a hit single.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Desmond%20Dekker%20%26%20The%20Aces%20007%20(Shanty%20Town)", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=alGOb2X9_ZY", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 8, "trackKey": "the-ethiopians--train-to-skaville", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-ethiopians--train-to-skaville/", "title": "Train to Skaville", "artist": "The Ethiopians", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-ethiopians/", "year": 1967, "label": "Rio", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A rhythm imitating a train, which the form had been threatening to do since 1962. The last great ska record before the tempo dropped for good.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Ethiopians%20Train%20to%20Skaville", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=L5fJQ9DYL0k", "exact": true } } } ] }