Ska has repeatedly risen to near-mass appeal and then fallen back into obscurity. About a year ago, Dave Wakeling of the 2-Tone era band The English Beat told me to watch out for a fourth wave of ska in America and Britain. He described the music’s potential to be uplifting in times of crisis, explaining it “comes in a post-punk period, or a post-angst period, where people still might feel a sense of protest, but they’re sick of feeling miserable about it. Like, we’re still mad, but we want to party.”

It’s a nice idea, but I don’t see it happening. Despite big pockets of ska fans around the world, mass audiences don’t seem to want it. It’s always been a niche music. Even a vast economic downturn won’t change that.

The full blog post is at INTELLIGENT LIFE.

The politically outspoken English Beat front man is playing 140 shows a year and getting more radio play than he did in the 80s.