Hey, it's Alan, and I just wanted to let you know that you can now listen to the ongoing

history of new music early and ad-free on Amazon music, included with Prime.

When it comes to genres of music, most of them come and go. They're hyped, they reach some

kind of peak, and they just kind of fade away. Just look at the graveyard of hyped music since

the beginning of the 21st century. Anybody remember glitch?

That scene started around 2000 and featured weird electronic manipulations of bloops and bleeps.

It existed alongside Electroclash, which was a half-hearted resurrection of music from the synth end of the new wave era.

Then we had Grime and Freakfolk and Crunk, dubstep, new balleric, blog house,

glowfi, dance punk, hipster metal, and a bunch of others. You get the idea. All of these genres

and scenes had their moments and then faded into the background or were killed altogether.

There are, however, certain styles that seem immortal.

The blues will never die. Hip-hop isn't going away. Neither is metal or punk or pop.

They will all evolve and mutate with the times, but the kernel at the heart of their operating

system will remain pure. Which brings me to another genre that will not die.

Ska was born in Jamaica in the 1950s.

It was declared over at least twice.

The first wave petered out in the late 1960s as reggae took hold.

Then, in the early 80s, post-punk ska was suddenly deemed passe.

But on both occasions,

ska rose from the dead and came back even stronger.

Skye is now into its third wave,

and that's where we're going.

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