Night Boat to Cairo

There was a huge ska revival in the 80s, so to get a sense for the decade it's important to include at least one track from that movement. The best ska bands of the era were English Beat, The Specials, and Madness. Of them, Madness was probably my favorite. This is a representative song. It's lively and danceable. It's informed by reggae - really, it's basically sped up reggae. The bouncing guitar you hear in this song is in nearly every song, literally.