Mike Masnick: Okay, fine, let's try this. A month ago @ericgoldman.bsky.social challenged me to create a "best ska songs of all time" playlist that was better than ChatGPT's. So, here it is: 200 songs of ska: open.spotify.com/playlist/0wW...

Okay, fine, let's try this. A month ago @ericgoldman.bsky.social challenged me to create a "best ska songs of all time" playlist that was better than ChatGPT's. So, here it is: 200 songs of ska: open.spotify.com/playlist/0wW...

Best Ska Songs Of All Timeopen.spotify.com Best Ska Songs Of All Time · Playlist · 200 songs · 2 likes

You will disagree with some choices on my list. That's cool. This is all totally subjective. These are the songs that have stuck with me. And to keep it to 200 songs, I made some tough choices. There are more good songs. If I didn't include your favorite, it's probably because I'm a bad person.

The list is roughly arranged by time period/style, though not entirely. It flows pretty well listening straight through, but also seems to function pretty well on random. If you like ska, you will likely recognize some songs, and there may be some new ones there for you.

If you hate ska... well... you'll probably hate it? But, I think a lot of my list is a bit further away from what a lot of people *think* ska is. Mine is much more leaning towards traditional Jamaican ska. There are some punkier songs in there, but not as many.

There are a lot of original Jamaican songs towards the beginning, then we get some two tone, and some more rock influenced third wave from the 80s/90s, and then once we're in the 2000s, going back to more traditional style, with a modern flavor.

Anyway, I could listen to this list for a long, long time.

(I guess I should also note that there are at least 5 or so songs that I would have liked to have included, but which aren't available on Spotify. 🙁 )

This is a great list. Forget about how many songs I thought were original in the 1980's and beyond were great old Jamaican tunes. Good stuff.

It's a good one. Balanced.

Groovy.

No issues with your list, but I still don't understand why people use Spotify

I consider myself a ska fan and don't know like 80% of these songs. I am looking forward to discovering a lot of new stuff.

Oh cool! Well, let me know what you think. Hopefully you like some of 'em.

Excellent choices all!

I *knew* it! (Jk, looking forward to poking at it myself and finding the ones I've forgotten about, I know there are more than a few)

Scans list… wow, turns out Rudy could fail.

Subjective being the exact attribute that no LLM or ML engine can offer. My experiments with this kind of curation, from streaming platforms personalized playlists to ChatGPT prompts, all prove to me the human brain is not yet matched. Thx for this.

Great playlist, thank you! Would have liked another Desmond Dekker or two on it, like one of my main faves below, but there's only so much room.

Every time I play this song it literally stops me dead in my tracks. The driving rhythm groove, with Dekker's phenomenal voice soaring over it, never stronger. An antiwar song, but more like a chant, an invocation, a plea. www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkvy...

Warlockwww.youtube.com Provided to YouTube by Trojan RecordsWarlock · Desmond DekkerThe Definitive Collection: You Can Get It If You Really Want℗ 1973 Sanctuary Records Group Ltd.,...

Back in the 90s I went to an amazing, if slightly odd pairing double bill show of Desmond Dekker and... Buckwheat Zydeco in Manhattan somewhere. And they each did two sets. DD then BZ then DD then BZ. It was incredible.

I see you included Op Ivy, I am satisfied. 🙂

Correct amount of Slackers so I am gonna let it slide that you don't have One Cup of Coffee in here. HOWEVER, does seem an oversight?

GLARING omission youtu.be/MBNkG1XGK1Q?...

CN Groovies - Jabberjaw (4K 30fps)youtu.be Concept by Casper KellyDirected by Jonas OdellSong by PainPain - Jabberjaw Running Underwaterhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZdSgKaxR3wToonami Remastered we...

Look if I'm including TV cartoon ska songs, this one goes in first: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7V0X...

Pick it Up (Feat. Alex Désert)www.youtube.com Yo Gabba Gabba! animated segment. GOGO13 teaches the importance of picking up your room. Pays homage to Prince Buster, The Specials and the like. Winner 2008...

One of my favorites (Dave Wakeling of The English Beat): www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmbF...

Yes! That one is great too.

My old band opened for Pain a couple times. Their shows were always fun as hell. I am partial to Suckerpunch. youtu.be/5ppcmvsQwXk?...

Suckerpunchyoutu.be Provided to YouTube by The Orchard EnterprisesSuckerpunch · PainWonderful Beef℗ 2001 Springman RecordsReleased on: 1997-01-01Auto-generated by YouTube.

Love that one!

Amazing playlist, great picks! Skanking through the saturday morning. 😁

Tune My Music got me 199/200 songs into Apple Music. My weekend now has a purpose. 😄

Oh no. Which one is missing?

I Want You Back by Jazz Jamaica. I’m gonna see if I can find it somewhere else and add it manually.

Ah, that one's a cover song anyway. But a fun one.

Thank you for this

Fire. Love it.

This list is incredible! More than half are completely new to me, and what I've heard so far is great. 9 1/2 hours of music: I'm making a drive in a couple weeks Dallas to El Paso, 9 1/2 hours. I've found my playlist for the trip!

Cool. Would love to know what you think when you've listened to more.

I have just found time to listen to your list for the first time and like it a lot. Mostly cause it has so jazzy vibes. Thanks a lot!

Awesome. Glad you liked it. And, yes, I am partial to jazzy ska...

This is an amazing list. I don't use Spotify, so I'll have to recreate it. One minor note is that it needs more Robustos. And no ska playlist is ever harmed by adding Bumblebee Tuna.

Someone did make a YouTube Music version of it... music.youtube.com/playlist?lis... And, yes, more Robustos songs & Bumblebee Tuna were both considered and on the longer list, but cuts had to come from somewhere.

mmasnick1's Best Ska Songs of All Timemusic.youtube.com https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0wWbbEskzraleg5dFKQnXx?si=2ffe26f770224fab&nd=1&dlsi=75dde8b31e244613 missing: -Soul Organ - Roger Rivas -Jesse James - Reggae Workers of the World Band

I have a saxophone playlist that includes a few ska songs. This is one of my favorites, youtu.be/YnQN61BgrJs?...

The Scofflaws - Ska-La-Carteyoutu.be

Yeah, there were other Scofflaws songs I would have *liked* to have included. But most aren't on Spotify (which sucks). I have them on *my* Spotify because I have the mp3s of every Scofflaws song on my hard drive, but can't add them to playlists.

There are playlist migration tools, but I'm not sure if they can migrate someone else's playlist. Might be worth looking into. I migrated from Spotify to Tidal a few years ago using this tool: www.tunemymusic.com

Transfer Playlists Between Music Services | Tune My Musicwww.tunemymusic.com Transfer Playlists From Any Music Platform to Any Other Music Platform! Including Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, YouTube, Google Play Music, TIDAL and more!

Since we're sharing playlists, If anyone loves Paul's Boutique as much as I do, here's one I made from KEXP's breakdown of that Beastie Boys album. A few songs are missing but may be available on other albums: open.spotify.com/playlist/1RO... tidal.com/browse/playl...

This is a really great list.

This is brilliant thank you! Listened for 10-12 hours so far while sailing into Key West. All on board loved it.

I was wondering about this the other day. Thank you for doing this. 🫡 And perfect timing as I have a flight tonight.

Toots AND The Maytals?? In this economy???

200!!

Haven't heard Jump With Joey in forever. I remember seeing them open for Bad Manners and The Skatelites in LA in '90 or '91

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