Ska Boom and Ska Bust

Something has changed in the ska world. Ska shows, with attendance in the thousands, local bar ska nights and even television ads with ska jingles are becoming ever less frequent. Frat kids are tuning into rap-metal instead of ska-punk, and ska sections in record stores are becoming ever smaller. Ska's Third Wave, it seems, has crashed on the surf; the tide has turned and is ebbing away. But few people seem to be panicking. The situation as it regards fans, bands and labels isn't as dire as some people are quick (and happy) to point out...

That's the opening to an excellent Exclaim article titled Ska Boom and Ska Bust. Check it out, it says a lot about not only the rise and fall of Ska's third wave, but the state of minds of the artists effected by this drop in popularity. Exclaim!, by the way, is a free music publication which has a circulation of over 100,000 copies across Canada every month.