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How to Skank video from 1964

David Pescovitz at 2:52 pm Mon, Feb 16, 2009

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Here's a fun skanking lesson from 1964. It's at the legendary Sombrero Club in Jamaica. On stage are Byron Lee and the Dragonaires.

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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  • John Markos O’Neill

    The establishment? Billionaire ukulele ska!

  • mdh

    I think Paris Hilton’s been doing it wrong.

  • ryane

    the beatles were fans of the ska. see obla di obla da.

    Now that I know how to skank, bring on Sonseed!

  • artomatic

    Are we sure the announcer isn’t a young Joe Strummer before he got his groove?

    Remember, without original Jamaican Ska, there’s no Reggae, no Bob Marley, no Specials, no DJ sound systems, no Dub and no Clash singing “Police & Thieves.”

  • Rick York

    So, I was 20 in 1964. This was as dumb then as it is now.

  • skatanic

    Um, this is amazing.

  • Anonymous

    fantastic! my mom traveled to Jamaica in the 60s, before I was born, and always had great Ska records that I’d listen to growing up. Plus, I think I could actually do this dance! How fun.

  • Gilbert Wham

    It’s nearly midnight here, I am STILL waiting for the asshole plumber to turn up & fix my boiler, yet this managed to make me smile anyway. And since when was Ska dumb?

  • Gemma

    Wow. Before autocues. Where if you didn’t know the script by heart you have to look awkwardly off to the right at regular intervals.

  • Anonymous

    Ah yes. A “rowing” motion.

  • Anonymous

    Steve Buscemi gained like 30 pounds for this part

  • sswaan

    MDH, well, you know how these things evolve over time. In the 60s apparently pelvic thrusts were called “rowing.”

  • brem

    The song is a cover of “Last Night” by the Mar-Keys

  • sswaan

    At the veeeery end, you see the woman just to the right (our right) of the MC finally just break into actual dancing, rather than the nonsense he’s been telling them to do.

  • jstueart

    Ohhhhh….that’s called ROWING….. right…..

  • Rindan

    Ska was good then and it is good now. Too bad it is dead. Alas, these days when it comes to music you only get to pick from wallowing in your own misery or mindless industrial grade pop. This world needs more music with trumpets and trombones.

    Bah. Excuse me while I go back to pretending to like indie music and Garden State.

  • minTphresh

    easy skankin! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJsGzEEO6rg&feature=related

  • alphagirl

    I like how the pelvic thrusts are described as “throwing back the upper half of the body.” It’s not sexual if you are moving the upper half, right?

  • resista

    Here is the 2nd part of that video with more music , different singers and actual dancing in it. I like the 2 microphone thing he has going on. One is for the stage and one for the Camera I guess.

    If you don’t like this kind of music or it doesn’t make you nostalgic then ok but this music was really innocent and fun. It brought blacks and whites together in the UK and it was a stepping stone for the Blue beat, Red Beat and Reggae artists later on in the decade.

    There are no set dances anymore everyone just stumbles around vogueing. (Thanks Hippies!) I think this was more fun. I am glad someone saved this video and thanks for posting it.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_pCLw7ONtU

  • Joe on the Beach

    Ahhh! So this must be where Bob Marley got his title for “Easy Skanking*” from. Cool!

  • franko

    wow, he really sucked the joy of out of it with his dry, clinical description, didn’t he? at least all the dancers were having fun.

  • Miss Jess

    This and the 2nd part were just what I needed this morning – how awesome. Takes me straight back to high school basement shows. Thanks for posting!

    P.S. – like this? You’ll like them –> http://www.myspace.com/greenroomrockers

  • Hamish MacDonald

    Gosh, that word doesn’t seem to mean what I thought it meant at all.

  • Anonymous

    Little known fact, Salt Lake City had a HUGE ska scene in the 90′s and early 2000′s. There was a documentary that was recently released about it, and it definitely brings on the nostalgia:

    http://www.theupbeatmovie.com/

  • dwdyer

    This guy reminds me of 50′s educational films.

    Here he is again:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA9bZgfr86Y

    Throbbed.

    Surging.

    Pulsating.

    Yeah, that’s the “rowing” bit, right?

  • KoreanAbdulJabbar

    Little known fact: Salt Lake City, Utah had a HUGE ska scene in the 90′s and early 2000′s. There was a film released last summer that documents ska, and how it took a hold of the state (and the Mormons). It definitely hits you with some nostalgia.

    http://www.theupbeatmovie.com/trailer.php

  • CapnMarrrrk

    Come one everybody! Let’s do the Pussycat

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-wt4VWQxEE

  • FrankensteinsMonster

    now me see why music world then need Beatles, and new generation who make own minds, not listen to the man say how make music or dance.

  • AJ

    I love you forever for putting this up….

  • jahknow

    “Yes, this is Ska…”

  • GoldMatenes

    Serious hilarity at all the comments claiming skanking as the ‘dance of the establishment’.

    Since when are a bunch of punks, reggae heads, and big band daddies establishment?