SKA IS BACK ON THE UK CHART!

BY KEVIN JACKSON

Observer writer

Ska has returned to the British national charts. Liar Liar GE2017 , a political song by Captain SKA, enters the chart at number four this week.

Captain Ska

The band — comprising unsigned, freelance session musicians — first recorded the song in 2010. They recorded it with additional lyrics in the run-up to this Thursday’s general election in Britain. It contains speeches by British Prime Minister Theresa May, whose Conservative party faces a stiff challenge for re-election from the Labor party, headed by Jeremy Corbyn. Despite not getting airplay in the UK, Liar Liar GE2017’s rise on the charts is based solely on streaming and digital sales.

Ska, which originated in Jamaica during the 1960s, has always had a big following in Britain. In 1964, Millie Small reached number two on the British national chart with My Boy Lollipop.

The sound was initially popular among white British youths called Skinheads. Pioneer ska artistes like Derek Morgan, Prince Buster, and Laurel Aitken influenced bands like Captain SKA, which was formed in London in 2010.

Captain SKA came to prominence with Liar Liar in 2010. At the time, there were protests against a rise in college tuition fees in the UK, and the song had attacked the coalition Government led by Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron and Liberal Democrat and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.