Ska had 3 (now 4) distinct “waves.” The first was Jamaican ska, which then turned into rocksteady and reggae. The “second wave” were British Two-Tone Bands like the Selector, English Beat, Madness, Bad Manners, etc. in the 70s-80s. These blended New Wave sounds with traditional ska and tended to be very keyboard focused. The 90s-00s saw a “third wave” in the U.S. with many punk-adjacent bands adopting ska/skank guitar/syncopation for the verses and then punk choruses with horn hooks. Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Reel Big Fish, Mustard Plug, Skanking Pickle, The Toasters, The Invaders, Suburban Legends, Save Ferris, Goldfinger. Less Than Jake was on the “more punk than ska” end of the spectrum. There also were some more hard-core ska-punk bands like Voodoo Glow Skulls. The high water mark for 3rd wave ska in the U.S. in terms of radio exposure was probably the summer of 96-97, and it died out commercially shortly thereafter as the swing revival took hold. To remain viable, many third-wave bands dropped their horns and transitioned into pure punk. Many of the 3rd wave bands started to release new material again in the later 2000s. I am going to see Mustard Plug in a few months.
BlockquoteMaybe a good definition of Ska is “any music you can skank to” then
Not really a viable definition, as you can skank to “Walking on Sunshine”
I’m always kind of shocked at how many hipsters detest ska these days. 
and yes, the specials were the Beatles of ska. and also the whole rude boy two tone thing was one of the coolest looks in rock of all time.
I mean come on now 
I’d add Cherry Poppin’ Daddies for sure.
Still is! Timeless 
Great bass line in Wasted Days. You know your history. There is a great book by Lloyd Bradley called “Bass Culture”. Long read, but very interesting.
Andrew.
Swing band, not a ska band.
Definitely swing too, for sure. Local ska fans I knew were in to them.
How do you feel about Rancid, then?
Rancid is a ska punk band. Some of their albums are almost all punk and a few are nearly all ska-influenced stuff. Out Comes the Wolves was one of my formative albums in high school.
To be fair to my previous post, I was never really into C.P.D. am not familiar with their entire repertoire, and sometimes confuse them with Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. People used to lump CPD in with ska in the late 90s just because they had horns.
Ska was my first musical love!
This is the first ska song I remember hearing…
The first 7” single I bought…
The dance we all mastered at the “Youth Club Disco”…
Oh, man, they were the days, before my head was turned by frilly shirts, eyeliner and the sounds of Planet Earth 
Can’t beat a bit of skanking to Madness 
Oh I was waiting for the opportunity to post this :
IMO First and second waves were good - not so keen on the third wave personally.
That’s fantastic on so many levels!
I’d never heard of ska until the ska lesson in B2B. I really enjoyed playing it and should probably go back to it. Can’t say I’ve ever listened to it though.
the selecter starring the legend, Pauline
I always knew ska mostly as what you guys call second wave and third wave.
I had a mate who played sax in a ska band back in the day. Was lots of fun going to the pub and listening to the gigs!