Rock That Doesn't Roll: The Story of Christian Music The CCM to Ska Pipeline (ft. Aaron Carnes)
Oct 22, 2025
Aaron Carnes, author of In Defense of Ska and ska historian. He traces ska’s Jamaican roots, the two-tone and third-wave reinventions, and how Christian scenes embraced and sometimes awkwardly evangelized ska. They swap stories about Sonseed, LA trad-ska, and bands like Five Iron Frenzy and The OC Supertones.
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Skankin' Pickle Moment That Defined Ska For Aaron
- Carnes discovered ska live seeing Skankin' Pickle in the early 1990s and only then recognized ska as a distinct form.
- Prior exposure to Fishbone and Mr. Bungle didn't click until that Bay Area show made the style clear.
Ska Is A Global Evolving Lineage
- Ska is a long, evolving global lineage from 1950s Jamaica through two-tone England to diverse American third-wave scenes.
- Aaron Carnes traces roots: Jamaican ska → rocksteady → reggae, two-tone revival in England, then US ska-punk mainstream in the 1990s.
Two-Tone Ska Mixed Politics And Multicultural Britain
- Two-tone ska in late-1970s England mixed punk, Jamaican immigrants, and mods to revive ska with racial integration and political energy.
- That revival normalized reggae influences across British punk/post-punk and spawned bands like The Specials and Madness.
