Ska starts in Jamaica in the late 1950s and from there a lot of ska is misinterpreted. Ska was a popular sound in dancehalls and is Jamaicans first very own style of music. The bands and fans originally and for the most part idolized al Capone style gangsters and dressed the like; this is where the signature rude boy suit came from. The term rude boy was a term that the islanders called the ruffians associate with ska and is what they called each other out of prestige associate with gangsters once again.
The name "ska" came from the sound the guitar makes. The music its self is a blend of calypso, R&B, jazz and other more Americanized music, but with a Jamaican spin. Generally ska includes up strokes on the guitar, island style bass lines, drums using mostly toms and symbols, trumpet, trombone, keyboards and saxophones are also associated with ska. But the upstrokes are the most important part. Ska was a very big hit in Jamaica and from it came rock steady, dancehall, and reggae.
From Jamaica ska made its way to Europe, mainly the UK and was changed slightly to something more commonly called "two tone ska" the two-tone ska movement was named for the overwhelming unity between blacks and whites within the scene at the time. The music got fairly faster and more poppy. A number of the bands incorporated horns less often, or used very simple melodies for the horns. Ska was most popular among the pre-racist skinheads, mods, and rudies(rude boy) sub cultures. Though for such ...

Ska is great music that was formed in Jamacia, this was done by conbining amercian jazz with the traditional jamacian beat.
There is 3 waves, Jamacian ska (1st wave), two-tone (2nd wave), and Ameriacn ska (3rd wave). Throughout the years ska has greatly changed. some examples of ska bands are: the Skatilites, and Toots and the Maytals (Jamacian ska), the Specials, and the Madness (two-tone), Big D and the Table Kids, and Catch 22.