My interest in hats—which sounds so much better than “my irrational, expensive hat obsession”—started when I was eight with Frank Sinatra, specifically, the “Come Fly With Me” album cover. The jet plane, that sense of adventure, Frank’s inviting smile and how he held his mother’s hand when he crossed the street, just like me. And that hat. After World War II, an influx of radios available to Jamaicans introduced American R&B music artists to the island. Artists like Fats Domino and Rosco Gordon were popular among the Jamaican public and inspired decades of ska music innovation. The evolution of ska is generally categorized into three waves, the first in the 60s, the second in the 70s and 80s, and the third in the 90s. The 1960s: The First Wave Many established second and third-wave ska bands have released music in the past couple of years which were well received by fans. The Specials’ newest album Encore reached No. 1 in the UK, while newer bands like The Interrupters and The Pirate Ska Rebellion are making waves for their unique sounds. My friends like to joke that I have almost as many hats as my wife has shoes. This is silly. I have far more hats. We’re talking proper hats here, not baseball caps (of which I have zero), fezzes (several), ghutrahs or yarmulkes (one each). And we’re most definitely not talking cowboy hats because, no.

While I own many hats, Bruce Zales’ ska-inspired Dekker gets the most compliments. (Second would be my drinking fez. ) The crown is a tad high IMHO and it’s way too warm to wear on the dog days of summer, but it’s as close to perfection as I’m likely to come. I suppose now I can stop buying new hats, but that’s as likely to happen as me walking out of a vintage record store without a copy of something I already own. In multiple formats. Inside 2 Tone: Lives & Legacies at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum until September. Photograph: Garry Jones Most ska music relies on its frenetic energy to draw in fans. The Aquabats take a different approach by using a visual and comedic element. But Frank’s hat was cool—even an 8-year-old could see that. Just look at the album cover! As for the music, well, it was no Flintsones, but it wasn’t horrible. The Skanksters – I’m middle row, second from the right Ska takes elements of both of these distinct music styles, combining instruments like the trumpet, trombone, saxophone, guitar, bass, piano, and snare drums to create its signature sound. Ska Music Characteristics

And while things end badly for Trilby—can’t have young girls running off to Paris without a tragic lesson—the hat became a fashion sensation. Well, less a sensation and more a slow-warming, outlying fashion trend. Men’s hats continued on their wide-brim, high-crown ways for another forty years. In the late 50s, however, brims narrowed and crowns lowered and the Trilby became the hat of choice for the mid-century modern man.

In 1964, the first international ska hit titled “My Boy Lollipop” was recorded by a teenage female artist named Millie Small. This song reached No. 2 on the UK and U.S. charts and sold over 6 million copies. It was largely responsible for bringing the signature ska sound to a wider audience and would pave the way for popular artists like Bob Marley later on. Ska guitarists contribute by playing on the off-beats. This method is derived from Jamaican mento and Caribbean calypso music, and doing so creates the bouncy rhythm that ska music is known for. This style of playing is even called the ska upstroke, and it is an extremely percussive style of playing. Horn Section The group formed in California in 1994, making them predecessors to the third-wave ska movement. Despite their goofy nature, they have seen moderate Billboard success, especially with the single “Super Rad!” and gained an enormous internet cult following. Summing Up Our List Of The Best Ska Bands The name comes from the London stage adaptation of Trilby, a cringe-worthy 1894 novel by George du Maurer in which the vivacious, bohemian heroine, Trilby O’Ferrall, is hypnotized by the evil Svengali (yes, that’s where the name comes from) to become a Paris singing sensation. To underscore Trilby’s joie de vivre, actress Dorothea Baird sported a man’s short-brimmed, low-crown hat. A hatless Dorothea Baird Although modern-day ska has lyrical topics that run the gamut from love songs to protest songs, traditional ska songs focused on social justice. Racial integration and equality were also huge topics ska music broached in the first and second waves, which we will touch on momentarily. 7 Song Examples of Ska MusicBorrowing sounds from England, America, and Jamaica, ska is a true fusion of genres with flavors from multiple continents.

Sublime was another popular American ska-punk band of the mid to late 90s. The trio of musicians from Long Beach, California made their debut as a garage punk band, with influences like Green Day and the Beastie Boys. They would later embrace reggae and ska influences to create their popular street sound. Of their five studio albums, Tragic Kingdom peaked at #1 on the Billboard 200 and sold over 16 million copies. They also won a Grammy for their single “Hey Baby.” Reel Big Fish The horn section in ska bands is heavily featured. Made up of trumpets, alto saxophones, and trombones, they are largely responsible for providing instrumental riffs between vocals, so there is an even trade between melody from the singer and melody from the horns. Social Justice Anthems Rosco Gordon was also a pianist and singer-songwriter who pioneered the Memphis blues style of music. He is known for his signature piano playing style, called the Rosco Rhythm, which had an emphasis on the downbeat. This off-beat emphasis would play a large role in the evolution of ska’s bouncy sound. And so did stylish Windrush passengers arriving from Jamaica, Trinidad and other Caribbean islands. The Trilby was everywhere, and then it wasn’t.Which reminds me, I need to find a stylish newsboy-style flat cap that I can keep in the glovebox of my (currently being restored) 1973 German-market-only Rally 180 Vespa. Mento, which came to prominence just before the emergence of ska in the 1940s, featured acoustic instruments and songs that focused on social issues like poverty. It was 1967 when I discovered the album in my parents’ collection, and by then no one was wearing hats anymore. Hats were old-fashioned and, as my sister Helen would say, square. She was old, like 19. She smoked and had a boyfriend with a motorcycle. If she said hats were uncool, they were uncool.

Its energizing tempos and cheeky culture draw in listeners across demographics to absorb lyrics ranging from carefree fun to politicized content. Local artists began to record their versions of these musical styles, and while they originally were emulating the songs they heard on the radio, the result was a unique experimental genre that combined these rhythmic, melodic influences into something brand new. A solid example of ska-punk is Less Than Jake, a band from Gainesville, Florida that began performing in 1992. Their song “She’s Gonna Break Soon” is about a young woman struggling to find her place and herself in a slew of fake friends, fake IDs, and partying. She feels empty and on the edge of breaking down. 5 Top Ska Musicians Streetlight Manifesto was a ska-punk band formed in 2002 in New Jersey and had members like lead singer Tomas Kalnoky who was a popular player in the 90s third wave of ska. Their music style has European influences with nods to the music of the 50s and 60s. They have released five studio albums, their most recent titled The Hands That Thieve in 2013. No Doubt The second wave of ska music took place primarily in the UK. The English record label 2 Tone was largely responsible for the genre’s resurgence in the country. This label was owned by Jerry Dammers and the Specials and produced music by bands such as the Bodysnatchers and the English Beat.

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This unique music style was born from a wide range of influences, including American jazz and rhythm and blues, specifically New Orleans R&B, Caribbean folk music, calypso, and traditional Jamaican dance music called Mento. And yes, Bruce knows that Desmond Dekker wore berets, not Trilby’s, but he liked the name. If you design it, you get to name it. Their third and final self-titled album Sublime would go on to sell more than five million copies, making it one of the highest-selling ska-punk albums in music history. Streetlight Manifesto She donated a number of items to the exhibition, including her trilby hat and a 1980s Selecter T-shirt from the US, an example of how 2 Tone gained worldwide popularity. Calypso comes from the islands of Trinidad and Tobago and features tropical sounds and lyrics about poverty and social issues, all with a humorous slant. It is often confused with mento music; however, the two are very different.