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Originally Posted by Megzer
Were you around for the old gigs??
Cool! Sounds good though apart from the skinheads. My mates in england now and he said he's bought lots of ska cds so i acant wait to listen to them when he gets back. And im goin to america soon any suggestions of cds i might like to get. They're a bitch to get here.
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Hi Megzer
I was a teenager in the early 1980s and I was crazy about the music, but I must confess I didn't go to any of the gigs. I know about the violence because I read it in the music press, and some of the bands themselves admitted that there was a problem with an element among their fans. Also, some of the ska 'fans' in the school I went to were thugs. Some were even racist/fascist, which is weird considering that ska was originally a black music. A lot of people didn't know that ska came directly from Jamaica. Some thought it was a British offshoot of reggae or some kind of blend of reggae and punk. Others didn't even know it had any link with reggae or Jamaica.
Most of the trouble makers were only into ska because it was the 'in thing' at the time. When it went out of fashion they moved on to something else. They were not true fans. After second wave ska died out, a hardcore of the skinheads embraced Oi (a form of punk music with a skinhead fan base). Most of the others stopped being skinheads and became 'casuals' (who wore mainstream designer clothing and carried on the tradition of football hooliganism). I have to say that not all skinheads are bad. I've met some who are really cool, including one who is a mate of mine. There is even a movement called Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice (SHARP).
I'm not really sure what ska CDs you could check out in the USA. Look for anything on the Moon Ska label. They are USA-based and do a lot of ska compilations. They'll also be cheaper over there because they're not imported.
Prince Burridge