jamaica Tag

It all begins with Rancid, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and No Doubt. Or rather, it did for me as a suburban white boy growing up in the 90s. The pop punk scene headed by Green Day was just going mainstream. Following closely behind, Rancid had their moment. The Clash-influenced band from Berkeley who featured a pair of ex-Operation Ivy members had only a hint of ska in their sound, but soon a wave a ska-punk bands would be everywhere. And I loved them. From the elder statesmen Bosstones and Toasters to the rising upstarts Less Than Jake, Buck-o-Nine and the Voodoo Glow Skulls, ska was experiencing what was being called it’s third wave.As the third wave had its moment in the sun during the mid 90s, right before nu metal came along to shit upon everything, the 2 Tone bands of the late-70s/early-80s second wave got some attention as well. So, I became familiar with The Specials, Madness, The Selecter and The Beat. Unfortunately, the third wave did little to shed light on the vastly superior original ska/rocksteady scene or the history of the genre. A couple compilations would help bring that to my attention in my college years, but