As a commemoration of the Grammy Awards and the fact that indie music is on its last legs as the current hip genre, I thought I'd take a look back at the other popular music we've had since the Grunge/Alternative revolution of the early 90's. I'll do one at a time, so I can milk this as long as possible and have something to post about for awhile.

Ska

Time of Popularity: 1997-98
Ripped off the musical stylings of: reggae, early punk, and big band.
Trademark sound: lilting upstroke guitar, trumpets, saxophones, and the occasional vocal solo where the lead singer tried to sound Jamaican.
Most Successful Artists: Once upon a time Sublime and No Doubt pretended they were ska, but neither was purely a ska band (and No Doubt just did it because it was popular at the time). The real ska band with the most mainstream success was probably Reel Big Fish, but none of them really hit it big.
Band with the most staying power: Honestly, none. The only ones who are still around either moved to a different sound (Less than Jake) or haven't recorded anything worthwhile in years (Reel Big Fish).
Clothing: Thanks to the ska scene, thrift stores went from being a means for the less fortunate to obtain clothing to a means for middle-class suburban kids to show how totally ska they were by getting cheap 3-piece suits to wear to concerts and custodial uniforms with other people's names on them. Black and white checkerboard patterns were also popular, although I'm not exactly sure why.
Long-Term Contribution to Society: Ska bands rekindled the tradition of bands appearing in movies as themselves playing at a teenager's ridiculously over-the-top party or prom. Of course the fad ended this past year when Simple Plan appeared in New York Minute along with the Olsen twins, but not much else is left from the ska era.
The Last Word: Considering the choices at the time (freaking Dishwalla had a hit song on the alt-rock stations), ska's popularity makes more sense, but it managed to get old and tiresome without ever really making the leap to the mainstream. The omnipresent ska image of suits and custodial uniforms caused a backlash against the genre without any of the bands having songs get overplayed on the radio.

Next time: Swing