Music Genres Similar to Reggae

Looking for some music genres similar to reggae? Here are a few suggestions to get you started.

Reggae

Reggae is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term reggae encompasses a variety of musical styles, including ska, rocksteady, dub, and ragga. Reggae is usually played with a four-beat meter and is characterized by a strong bass line, repetitive rhythms, and a call-and-response structure.

Defining Reggae

Reggae is a genre of music that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, “Do the Reggay” was the first popular song to use the word “reggae”, effectively naming the genre and introducing it to a global audience. while sometimes used in a broad sense to refer to most types of popular Jamaican danceable music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady. Reggae is based on a rhythmic style characterized by regular beats on the off-beat, sometimes referred to as the skank.

Reggae’s Origins

Reggae is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term reggae derives from the word “ragged” or “ragga”, which is a variation of the Jamaican patois verb “to rake”. Reggae developed from ska and rocksteady and is characterized by a distinctive rhythmic style that is often related to the Rastafari movement. It typically features guitars, bass, drums, keyboards and horns playing syncopated rhythms with an offbeat or ‘skank’.

Music Genres Similar to Reggae

Looking for music genres similar to reggae? Reggae is a genre of music that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The style is characterized by a strong bass line, drums, and horns. The lyrics are usually positive and uplifting, and the music is often used to promote social and political messages. If you’re a fan of reggae, you might also enjoy these similar genres.

Ska

Ska is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s. It is a precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combines elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. It is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the off-beat. Ska developed in Jamaican soundsystems such as those of Duke Reid and Clement Coxsone Dodd. By the early 1960s, ska was the dominant music genre of Jamaica and was spreading overseas, especially to Britain, Canada, and the United States.

Dub

Dub is a genre of electronic music that developed in the late 1970s. The style is characterized by a sparse, dub-heavy sound that often features engineer-manipulated dubplates and delay effects.

Dub has its roots in Jamaican sound system culture, specifically the “toasting” style of Jamaican DJs who would talk over instrumental tracks to hype up the crowd. In the early 1960s, these DJs began adding rudimentary elements of production to their sets, using basic echo and reverb effects to create a more “dubbed out” sound.

By the late 1970s, Jamaican producers like Lee “Scratch” Perry and King Tubby were creating fully realized dub tracks, complete with heavy basslines, echoed percussion, and psychedelically-tinged melodies. These tracks became hugely popular in both Jamaica and the UK, where they were played on pirate radio stations like Radio Caroline.

Dub has influenced many other genres of electronic music, including techno, house, drum & bass, and trip hop. Dub artists such as Mad Professor, Adrian Sherwood, and Scientist have been highly influential in shaping the sound of contemporary electronic music.

Rocksteady

Rocksteady is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in 1966.A successor to ska and a predecessor to reggae, rocksteady was the dominant style of Jamaican popular music from 1966 to 1968. The term rocksteady comes from a dance style that was mentioned in the Alton Ellis song “Rock Steady”. Musically, rocksteady was slower than ska but with the same emphasis on the offbeat. The Jamaican vocal harmony groups such as The Paragons and The Techniques were key figures in developing the rocksteady sound along with producers such as Duke Reid and Coxsone Dodd.By late 1966, most record companies had converted to using the Half Speed master recordings which made it easy for Duke Reid and others to produce records. Other musical styles influenced rock steady, resulting in crossover hits like Ken Boothe’s “Everything I Own” (a cover of an American pop song) and Byron Lee’s “Raindrops”.

Reggae is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, “Do the Reggay” was the first popular song to use the word “reggae”, effectively naming the genre and introducing it to a global audience. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.

Dancehall

Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s. In the mid-1980s, digital instrumentation became more prevalent, changing the sound considerably, with digital dancehall becoming increasingly characterized by faster rhythms. Key elements of dancehall include its use of Jamaican Patois and curse words, a distinctive rhythmic style, and an emphasis on the sound system.