Certain types of music have been around forever. Jazz, for, example has been with us for over a hundred years. Classical music as we know it goes back at least 600 years. And then there’s religious music which can be eons old.

For a form of music to last beyond just a few years, it needs to have periodic comebacks. If you study this sort of thing–it’s a form of ethnomusicology–you’ll also see that revivals of various types of music happen all the time.

Music revivals can be defined as social movements when a segment of the population decides that a specific musical era or a certain musical system needs to be restored. They’re tired what’s currently happening in the mainstream and begin to look for something more interesting from the good old days to soothe their souls.

And revivals have an interesting side effect: When a form of music comes to the fore again, it has a chance to be renewed, to regenerate, and to evolve, if ever so slightly.

This is where we encounter one of the most durable and regenerative forms of music of the last hundred years. This is chapter two of our look at alt-rock revivals: Ska.

Songs heard on this show:

Sublime, Date Rape

Prince Buster, Al Capone

Desmond Dekker, The Israelites

The Specials, A Message to You, Rudy

Madness, One Step Beyond

Bad Manners, Band on the Drum All Day

Fishbone, Ma and Pa

Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Someday I Suppose

Rancid, Time Bomb

No Doubt, Just a Girl

The Interrupters, She’s Kerosene

Eric Wilhite has provided this handy playlist for us.

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