Third Way Third Wave: The Ideological Vacuum in End of History-era Ska
Source: Reed Schwartz
In 1989, as the Cold War waned, Francis Fukuyama (rather optimistically) pronounced the end of History. This was not the end of newsworthy events, but rather the end of serious ideological competition that Hegel had announced when Napoleon rode through Jena in 1806—the unabashed triumph of liberal democracy. The Marxism-Leninism of the Soviet Union, unable to compete with the free market economies of the West, was being dismantled by its own leaders, and fascism had burnt itself out in the 1940s. No ideological challengers to liberal-democratic hegemony remained. In the same year, on the other side of the country, Southern California ska bands were playing the same tune.
Ska, a genre characterized by skanky, off-beat guitar, originated in Jamaica, far from Orange County. In the 1950s, local calypso and mento music merged with American R&B and jazz to create “first wave” or Jamaican ska, a precursor to rocksteady and reggae. In the ‘70s, Windrush immigrants brought the sound to the U.K., where it fused with the music of the British working class into the punkier “two-tone”. This new, cosmopolitan genre was introduced to the United States by bands like Madness, the Specials, and the Clash, and was picked up by SoCal bands like No Doubt and Sublime, who saw massive radio success in the ‘90s and into the early 2000s. Unlike its predecessors, which had been defined first by themes of self-determination and then of broader social justice (the name “two-tone” refers to the need to overcome racism under Thatcher), American third wave ska was largely apolitical and heavily commercial. Ska had always been upbeat and danceable, but third wave took this to an extreme, adding in excessive horn sections and omitting the messaging that had divided left- and right-wing British punks. Today, the genre is best remembered as the backing tracks in Chuck E. Cheese commercials; ska sounds like Guy Fieri looks. However, this was not an inherent feature of ska, which had been aggressively outspoken on issues from apartheid to Basque separatism to the South American desaparecidos in earlier waves, but rather a reflection of the domestic politics of the time.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
After 12 years of Reaganism, and 18 years of Thatcherism, the anglophone left was exhausted. After so many years in the political wilderness, the Democratic and Labour parties desperately needed a new strategy, and they won back power with a centrism known as the Third Way. The Third Way gave center-right austerity and neoliberal economics a kinder, gentler face while making modest commitments to center-left social policy. In the shift, both parties prioritized compromise over many of their core commitments and constituencies: New Labour dropped nationalization of industry from its platform, while in the U.S., Bill Clinton presided over welfare "reform" (read: cuts), free trade deals, and the liberalization of sectors like finance and energy. This triangulation was seen by many as a betrayal, but it proved effective, and across Europe and the United States, the Third Way brought social democratic parties back into power in significant numbers. When Fukuyama wrote “The End of History?”, he was speaking in much broader terms about the triumph of liberalism globally, rather than specific domestic electoral strategies. However, the message sent by the ‘90s was the same: History was over, and neoliberalism could not be resisted. It was time to have a good time, and time to sell out.
Accordingly, one of the biggest songs of the period was Reel Big Fish’s “Sell Out.” The song satirically tells the story of a musician who, rather than work in fast food for the rest of their life, sells out and plays “what they want you to hear” in exchange for “lots of money.” Was it good for the music that one of the biggest third wave bands was sneering at the idea that selling out was bad? Probably not, but Bill Clinton and Tony Blair were doing it too, to great success, and the collapse of the Soviet Union ensured that there was no other ideology to turn to for refuge. As Margaret Thatcher repeated ad nauseam, “there [was] no alternative.”
Another smash hit was the Mighty Mighty Bosstones’ “The Impression That I Get,” which goes
Have you ever been close to tragedy/Or been close to folks who have?
Have you ever felt a pain so powerful/So heavy you collapse…
I've never had to knock on wood/But I know someone who has
Which makes me wonder if I could…/And I'm glad I haven't yet
Because I'm sure it isn't good/That's the impression that I get
There are obvious connections to Clinton’s famous “I feel your pain” line in the lyrics, but the thrust of the song is that the musician understands that things are bad for some people, but is not moved beyond empathy—if Bill Clinton had lent his saxophone to the Bosstones, this could have been the anthem for welfare reform. The song takes areas that two-tone bands had identified as sites of political conflict—suffering, tragedy—and moves them into the realm of the personal, avoiding the need for political conflict. Unfortunately, however, issues of resource distribution and justice cannot be solved without politics, without meaningful conflict between competing interest groups. It is impossible to substantially engage with these issues at the individual level. To reject politics is not an apolitical move, but an affirmation of a neoliberal status quo.
It’s hard to pin down exactly when Third Way politics died—reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated—but it was clear by the early 2000s that the Third Way would no longer be a guiding force in American politics, and Blair’s focus on domestic spending precluded the possibility of adopting a “neither left nor right” politics. A variety of fiascos and tragedies, including but not limited to the WTO Protests, Dot Com Bust, 9/11, the invasion of Iraq, Enron, and the beginning of the China Shock had poured water on the optimism of the ‘90s and proved the enduring necessity of left vs. right conflict. Not all of these events were the fault of Third Way policies (at least, probably not 9/11), but they did contribute to a shift away from the ideology, though the Democratic Party and European social democrats are still heavily influenced by Third Way technocratic values. Similarly, third wave ska suffered a serious decrease in popularity at the end of the ‘90s and in the early 2000s, in part because it had become so dominant: it’s hard for a genre to be taken seriously once it becomes the soundtrack to America’s Funniest Home Videos. The angst of nu-metal and pop punk fit the Bush era better than the goofiness of third wave.
So, have we arrived at the end of the end of History? Was third wave’s abnegation from two-tone’s overt politics permanent? The answer to the second question appears to be “no”, while the first is still unclear. As with the Third Way, the end of the end of History has been greatly exaggerated, though the rise of China’s illiberal capitalism as a serious alternative to liberalism does make it appear less secure than it was in ‘89. At the same time, some smaller and non-Western ska bands like We Are the Union and JER, the Interrupters, and the Ska Vengers have tackled topics ranging from structural racism to transphobia to Hindu nationalism with music both polemical and joyful. They reflect both the opportunities and the dangers that were suppressed by Third Way liberalism, ideas that never could have made it into the ska of the mid-‘90s. This isn’t a fourth wave—outside of a couple of Interrupters and 100 gecs songs, ska has not seen any mainstream attention in the Anglosphere, though it has flourished in its internet niche. Still, even non-Historical conflict in politics will continue to provide fertile ground for new ska, and the genre will continue to give us music to skank to if we ever do reach the end of History.
References
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Fukuyama, Francis. “The End of History?” The National Interest, no. 16, 1989, pp. 3–18. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24027184. Accessed 9 Sep. 2022.
Jones, J.R. “Ska's Lost Cause.” Chicago Reader, 23 July 1998, https://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/skas-lost-cause/.
Kortatu. “Sarri, Sarri.” Recorded May 15, 1983. Track 5 on A Frontline Compilation. Oihuka, 1983, Spotify.
Lahusen, Christian. “The Aesthetic of Radicalism: The Relationship between Punk and the Patriotic Nationalist Movement of the Basque Country.” Popular Music 12, no. 3 (1993):263–80. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/931235.
Leigh, Andrew. “The Rise and Fall of the Third Way.” AQ: Australian Quarterly 75, no. 2 (2003): 10–40. https://doi.org/10.2307/20638162.
Los Fabulosos Cadillacs. “El Matador.” Recorded January 1, 2003. Track 1 on Solo Para Fanáticos. Universal Music Latino, 2003, Spotify.
Reel Big Fish, “Sell Out.” Recorded January 1, 1996. Track 1 on Turn The Radio Off. ZMJO Corporation, 1996, Spotify.
The Specials. “Nelson Mandela - 2002 Remaster.” Recorded March 31, 2008. Track 20 on The Best of the Specials. Chrysalis Records Limited, 2008, Spotify.