The Beginning of Ska
Developed in the late 1950's, ska music originally evolved from the style of Jamaican music that included calypso beats as well as jazz and blues riffs. The genre became known for its scratchy beats, fast tempo and the piano, guitar (and in later stages, horns) as the prevailing instruments.
Ska music became known as the precursor to reggae, and became widely popular in the 1960's. During this time, Jamaica's "Rude Boys" helped spur the popularity of ska music because it was this genre that the subculture preferred to listen to.
Oddly enough however, many of the ska artists during this time actually rejected the rude boys and their violent tendencies, despite the fact that this subculture was said to have come about because of ska.
Pioneers of Ska Music
There are many theories pertaining to the originator of ska music, but it's mostly unclear who was truly responsible for bringing ska music into the limelight. For example, one theory believes ska music became a kind of response to American music. Yet another theory claims that Prince Buster (a.k.a. Cecil Campbell) created ska music.
Whatever the case maybe, the first true ska recordings began in the early 1960's. At the 1964 New York's World Fair, ska music first began to take shape as a popular form of music for many people. Byron Lee and the Dragonaires were the main stage event and performed with other early ska musicians like Prince Buster and Peter Tosh.
Eventually, ska began to change its sound as American music did the same thing. You could hear richer vocals and more of a rocksteady sound during the late 1960's - even the tempo was slower. You could hear the way ska changed by listening to the artists of the time; bands like the Melodians, the Paragons, and Desmond Dekker resembled a rich tapestry of what ska music was slowly evolving into.
The Revival of Ska
As ska music grew to be a popular genre of music, revival bands in the United States started to form. One such band, The Toasters, could effectively be argued as the frontrunner of the ska revival. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Operation Ivy paid homage to ska music by incorporating a distinctly ska sound into their punk music, thereby creating the ska punk genre.
Finally, during the late 1990's, mainstream ska bands began to see a dip in popularity. Despite this fact, there are still several ska-infused bands today who enjoy a good bit of fame, including Less Than Jake, Reel Big Fish, and The Slackers.
While several bands have moved away from their ska sound to emulate various forms of punk or rock, still many other bands remain true to the early sounds of ska music.