168: Second Wave Ska (with Elana Levin)

Elana Levin from Graphic Policy Radio returns to the show for a deep dive into the second wave of Ska music, a brief but influential era when black and white UK musicians fused Jamaican dance music of the sixties into punk and new wave music of the seventies to create a sound that would further revolutionize American popular music in the nineties.

The modern ska genre gets made fun of a lot (mozzarella sticks, anyone?) but Elana will have you know that ska music is not a joke. In an 18-month period, 2 Tone Records, an indie label founded by the keyboardist from The Specials, Jerry Dammers, took over the UK pop charts with major distribution support from Chrysalis Records. In the wake of the election of Margaret Thatcher and the rise of white nationalists taking advantage of national economic malaise, a musical rebuke of these trends came from bands in the town of Coventry, offering alternative visions of racial harmony and anti-fascist songs you could dance to. The 1981 concert documentary Dance Craze, recently restored, captures the 2 Tone bands performing in their prime.

We discuss the evolution of ska, pay tribute to some of the top groups of the Second Wave Ska era including The Selecter, Madness, Bad Manners and The Specials and bid farewell to their lead singer the late great Terry Hall, whose passing last year inspired this episode.

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Elana’s “2nd Wave Ska” Spotify playlist 

BBC Arena segment from 1980 on 2 Tone Records and the new ska scene coming out of Coventry.

Madness-inspired Colgate advert from the UK, 1982

Re-release trailer for Dance Craze (Joe Massot, 1981)

The Selecter - On My Radio, from BBC’s Top of the Pops, 1979

The Beat - Stand Down Margaret, from ITV’s O.T.T., 1982

The Specials music videos

Gangsters (1979)

Ghost Town (1981)

Free Nelson Mandela (1984)