Rocksteady
Jamaica's transition between ska and reggae — slower, heavier bass
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Rocksteady is Jamaica's transitional genre of 1966–68: slower than ska, with a heavier and more melodic bass, a relaxed drum feel and a more forward vocal. It is the bridge between ska and reggae.
It differs from ska: ska is fast and springy, rocksteady slow and settled; it differs from reggae too: reggae is slower still and stresses offbeat and space. The usual mistake is to treat rocksteady as "slow ska" — its bass writing and vocal placement already follow another musical logic.
Read deeper → reggae
Sources
- rocksteady 的过渡位置与音乐特征，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Rocksteady"；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.