Skinhead: Encyclopedia II - Skinhead - Music

Skinhead - Music

Music plays an important role in any youth subculture and skinheads are no exception. Originally, the group was closely associated with the ska and reggae music of musicians like Desmond Dekker, Laurel Aitken, Symarip and Joe the Boss. The link between skinheads and reggae led to the sub-genre known as skinhead reggae.

Other types of music popular amongst early skinheads were Motown, Northern Soul, Rocksteady,and mod (lifestyle) RnB. Suedeheads of the '70s were also known to listen to British glam rock bands like The Sweet and Mott the Hoople.

The most popular music for the late '70s Skinhead was Two-Tone, named after a Coventry-based record label that featured such bands as The Specials, Madness, and The Selecter. Two-Tone was the musical integration of Ska, Rocksteady and punk rock. The label was initially very successful, scoring many top 20 hits and eventually a number one. During this time (1979 - 1981), skinheads were a common sight on the UK highstreets.

In the '70s and early '80s, a variant on streetpunk called Oi!, became accepted enthusiastically by skinheads and punks. Oi! continues to be one of the most popular genres among skinheads. Musically, Oi! combines elements of punk, football chants, pub rock and '70s British glam rock. Some forefathers of Oi! were Sham 69, Cocksparrer and Menace. The term Oi! as a musical term is said to come from the band Cockney Rejects and journalist Garry Bushell, who championed the genre in the music magazine Sounds. Well-known Oi! bands of the late '70s and early '80s include Angelic Upstarts , Blitz, Last Resort, Combat 84 and 4-Skins. Not exclusively a skinhead genre, many Oi! bands included both skins and punks, or people who fit in neither category, who were sometimes called herberts.

U.S. Oi! began in the '80s with bands such as the Bruisers (the singer is now in Dropkick Murphys), Anti-Heros (who sued the makers of American History X for wrongful use of their logo), and Iron Cross (whose singer Sab Grey is said to be of Jewish descent). American skinheads have also accepted hardcore punk, with hardcore bands such as Warzone, Agnostic Front, and Cro-mags. Current American Oi! bands are generally closer musically to hardcore than to early British street-punk.

White power skins have a separate musical culture known as Rock Against Communism which features bands such as Skrewdriver, Brutal Attack and Bound for Glory.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Music", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki