Ska has much longer history than most genres that are popular today. It began as a precurser to Reggae in the Jamaican popular music during the 1950s. This time in Ska's history is where the phrase "rude boy", referring to a Ska fan, comes from, as "rude" was the equivelent to "cool" in the slang of that period. The most well known band of this period, known as First Wave Ska, were the Skatalites. In the sixties, Reggae split off from Ska as its own distinct genre, and Ska fell into obsucrity. Then in the 1980s, the Ska Revival began, and Second Wave Ska gained great popularity in England and to a lesser degree in the United States. This era is where the black and white checkered pattern gained its association with Ska, because the embracing of music originally by black kids from Jamaica by white kids in England was seen as a step toward greater cultural unity. Thus the white and black checkers represented the coming together of the two cultures. The Toasters and Madness are bands of the Second Wave. Finally, we come to the present. Today, the distinctive Ska beat has been mixed with Punk Rock to create Third Wave Ska. Some modern, Third Wave Ska bands are Catch 22, Big D and the Kid's Table and Choking Victim.
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