Ska punk, from the outside in. Each step is a genre and the single record this encyclopedia would put on first. Play them in this order and the last one should sound like a next step rather than a wall.
- 1 The way in
Rock 1954
The whole family: guitar, bass, drums and a beat borrowed from blues and rhythm and blues. Every branch below grows out of this trunk, metal included.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
The Beatles - Revolver, if you want to understand why everything branched so fast.
The Beatles, Revolver (1966) - 2 Then
Punk rock 1974
Three chords, two minutes and zero patience for solos. A full reset of rock, and the second major source of extreme metal.
Shouted. Barked or chanted, and you can still make out the words.
Put on
Ramones - Ramones. Fourteen songs in twenty-nine minutes, not a wasted note.
Ramones, Ramones (1976) - 3 What you asked about
Ska punk 1988
Ska offbeats and a horn section at punk tempo. The third wave of ska, thoroughly American.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
Operation Ivy - Energy. Twenty-seven minutes, one band, wildly outsized influence.
Operation Ivy, Energy (1989) - 4 Where to go next
Surf rock 1961
Instrumental, drenched in tank reverb, with fast tremolo picking. The sound of the Californian coast, later recycled by punk and by Tarantino.
Instrumental. Usually no vocals at all.
Assembled from the tree: every genre Ska punk descends from, in order. Ska punk has no subgenres, so the last step is the genre that rates closest to it by sound.