Line #60 Main/SkaPunk


1	[floatboxright:
2	Primary Stylistic Influences:
3	+ {{Ska}} (especially TwoTone), PunkRock, PopPunk, HardcorePunk
4	]
5	[floatboxright:
6	Secondary Stylistic Influences:
7	+ HeavyMetal, AlternativeRock
8	]
9
10	After {{Grunge}} went out of style and {{Britpop}} failed to gain a foothold in America, this subgenre of AlternativeRock -also known as Third Wave ska - briefly came to the fore at the end of TheNineties. Owing as much to HairMetal or Classic Rock as it did to [[TwoTone 2 Tone]] or {{Reggae}}, ska punk essentially took '90s PunkRock[=/=]PopPunk and then added horns, syncopated rhythms and [[LyricalDissonance some of the most cheerfully dissonant lyrics you're likely to find in pop music]].
11
12	That's the musical style in a nutshell. To elaborate on the history of the genre, we'd have to go back to New York City in the early 1980s, where the first American ska scene began to develop. Much of the credit for the early development of American ska can be attributed to Robert "Bucket" Hingley, a British expatriate who enjoyed 2 Tone ska, founded his own band (The Toasters) and created the Moon Ska Records label, which recorded almost every noteworthy East Coast group at some point. Around the same time, a group of school friends from Massachusetts started Music/TheMightyMightyBosstones, whose fusion of ska and HardcorePunk was influential in the development of the ska-core style.
13
14	By the late 1980s, the most successful American ska scene was developing in California, where short-lived but hugely influential groups like Operation Ivy combined hardcore and ska influences to create their own brand of ska-core. A west coast alternative to Moon Ska appeared in the form of the Asian Man Records label, formed by Skankin' Pickle saxophonist Mike Park. After the huge success of {{Grunge}} and PunkRock in the early to mid-nineties, ska was well placed to enter the mainstream. Early successes to come out of the California scene included reggae fusion masters Music/{{Sublime}}, Op Ivy offshoots Music/{{Rancid}}, whose album ''... And Out Come the Wolves'' was the first American ska record to be certified Gold and some punk bands, like Music/{{NOFX}} and Music/TheOffspring, who also recorded some ska-influenced songs.
15
16	In 1995, ska punk was finally brought to mainstream attention with the release of Music/NoDoubt's multi-platinum ''Tragic Kingdom'' album, which created a big demand for similar-sounding groups. 1996 and 1997 would be the peak years for the Third Wave revival. Music/ReelBigFish, Sublime and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones all had hit singles on the Modern Rock charts, while groups like Less Than Jake and Mustard Plug skanked it up in Florida and the mid-west respectively and music by Save Ferris or the Toasters featured in films or TV. And while the mainstream focused on the aforementioned bands, the underground scene of the late 90's and early 2000’s saw a minor subgenre of ska punk form, dubbed "Crack Rock Steady". The subgenre was pioneered by bands like Music/ChokingVictim (the TropeNamer), Morning Glory, No Ca$h, and Music/LeftoverCrack, which fused ska, crust punk and DeathMetal into one package. For a while, ska punk was pretty popular.
17
18	However, ska's fifteen minutes of fame in America were soon up. Unlike {{Britpop}}, which was clearly finished off by the third Music/{{Oasis}} album, it's hard to place a definite GenreKiller for ska punk. A lot of bands split up, while others (such as No Doubt, Less Than Jake and the Aquabats) changed their sound a bit. Even so, there were plenty of bands that stuck to their ska guns, such as Reel Big Fish or the Bosstones, who continue to play to audiences who remain as rabid as ever, and every so often bands - such as Chase Long Beach and Streetlight Manifesto - come along who look like they may revive ska for a fourth wave.
19
20
21	Also of note is that ska-punk caught on outside the U.S., more so than it did outside UsefulNotes/{{Jamaica}} or the U.K. during the first or second wave; while it didn't get as popular anywhere else as it did in the U.S., there was no backlash against it, either. In parts of [[LatinLand South America]], the third wave of ska never really ended.
22
23	!!Bands include:
24	[[index]]
25	* Music/AgainstAllAuthority
26	* Music/TheAquabats
27	** 1997 - ''Music/TheFuryOfTheAquabats''
28	* Music/BimSkalaBim
29	* Music/BombTheMusicIndustry
30	* Music/BuckONine
31	* Music/Catch22
32	* Music/ChaseLongBeach
33	* Music/ChokingVictim
34	* Music/DanceHallCrashers
35	* Music/TheDingees (also played punk and reggae)
36	* Music/FarinUrlaubRacingTeam
37	* Music/{{Fishbone}} (also a funk rock band)
38	* Music/FiveIronFrenzy
39	* Music/{{Goldfinger}} (on their first two albums only, they then became pop-punk)
40	* Music/IceNineKills (only at the beginning of their career, currently metalcore)
41	* Music/IllScarlet
42	* Music/{{Hepcat}} (also a reggae band)
43	* Music/LessThanJake (though they also count as pop punk)
44	* Music/LeftoverCrack (also counts as hardcore punk)
45	* Music/LetsGoBowling
46	* Music/MadCaddies
47	* Music/{{Mephiskapheles}}
48	* Music/TheMightyMightyBosstones
49	* Music/MorningGlory
50	* Music/MustardPlug
51	* Music/NoDoubt (up until ''Rock Steady'' at least)
52	* Music/{{NOFX}}
53	* Music/OperationIvy (pretty much the trope codifiers of the genre)
54	* Music/{{Pepper}} (they're more of a punk rock/reggae hybrid really but they still count)
55	* Music/ThePlanetSmashers (though they come close to traditional Ska, with less punk influence)
56	* Music/RadioactiveChickenHeads
57	* Music/{{Rancid}} (also count as hardcore punk)
58	* Music/ReelBigFish
59	* Music/JeffRosenstock
60	* Music/{{Runforyerlife}} (were influenced more by funk and jazz than by punk rock)
61	* Music/RxBandits (combined with ProgressiveRock)
62	* Music/SaveFerris
63	* Music/TheScofflaws
64	* Music/SkakinPickle
65	* Music/TheSlackers
66	* Music/SlightlyStoopid (also reggae and borderline funk metal)
67	* Music/SmashMouth (well, sometimes anyways, mainly their first album, ''Fush Yu Mang'')
68	* Music/StreetlightManifesto
69	* Music/{{Sublime}} (Despite being one of the big names in the genre, they were actually influenced more by reggae and only recorded a handful of ska songs)
70	** Long Beach Dub All-Stars
71	** Sublime with Rome
72	* Music/TheSuicideMachines
73	* Music/TheToasters (though closer to 2-Tone ska in sound)
74	* Music/TheUntouchables
75	* Music/TheUpsetters (also a reggae group)
76	* Music/TheVincentBlackShadow
77	* Music/TheVoodooGlowSkulls
78	[[/index]]
79
80	----
81	!!Tropes
82	* GenreBusting: It's not uncommon for bands to have other musical influences besides the obvious {{Ska}} and PunkRock ones- for example, HeavyMetal in the case of Music/TheMightyMightyBosstones and Music/ReelBigFish, or {{Reggae}} and {{HipHop}} in the case of Sublime. Music/{{Rancid}} experimented with PopPunk, HardcorePunk, Rockabilly, Reggae, Latin Music and Blues at various times, as well...
83	* JerkJock: Fans of the genre have generally grown to be stereotyped as this, primarily due to the party-friendly nature of the music and the frequent inclusions of ska-punk songs on nineties fratboy comedy movie soundtracks. Sublime and Reel Big Fish in particular have gained a reputation for fratboy douchebag fans; while this isn't entirely true, the reaction at the average college bar when "Santeria" or "Beautiful Disaster" comes up on the jukebox proves that it isn't untrue, either.
84	* LyricalDissonance: A complete set of examples would probably fill a page on their own; this trope was practically a trademark of the genre. In short: most Ska Punk songs have bouncy, upbeat music and superficially sound extremely happy, but if you actually pay attention to the lyrics they are some of the most cynical, sarcastic, snide and/or self-deprecating songs ever written.
85	** Crack Rock Steady takes this up to eleven by writing songs about drug use, anarchism (more typically in the traditional sense, not the AnarchyIsChaos way - although there may be some overlap), and police brutality, among other "darker" subjects. The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56flbcUqAB8 song]] that named the subgenre is a standard-sounding rocker, but the lyrics blatantly describe the singer's hatred for police officers, to put it lightly.
86	* NoHitWonder: Many of the better known groups managed to be successful without getting many actual hit songs. They were either this or a...
87	* OneHitWonder: Music/ReelBigFish and Music/TheMightyMightyBosstones have only really had one charting hit each: "Sell Out" and "The Impression That I Get," respectively. However, both bands have major cult followings.
88	** Reel Big Fish even had a song about it ("One Hit Wonderful").
89	* SelfDeprecation: It's hard to find a ska band without a bit of this going on (particularly the ones who have been in it since ska's nineties heyday).

Context Main / SkaPunk