Upside Down Reggae/Rock??

[bmd]

Having grown up in the Western tradition of 4/4 beat every now and then when listening to a Reggae or particularly a Ska tune, most often when I somehow start listening mid song, mid bar I hear the beat upside down, at this point it is incredibly hard to recover the element I call 'the skank'.

It's undoubtedly due to years of ears being trained in the way of the Western beat. What I find strange is that my mind does this to me, particularly when that backbeat, 'the skank' is so important to me, in fact it's the drug I'm addicted to!

I'm not explaining this very well, but perhaps if someone else here ever has that happen they might be able to illuminate further?

Often when non Reggae lovers say that oh so common phrase 'it all sounds the same to me' I explain that with a 4/4 beat most 'Rock' probably sounds pretty similar to a Chinaman, but once you are inside a music and that music's culture it becomes a wonderful Pandora's Box of little gifts to the ears, however, every now and then,... the ears fail, or the Brain wants to take me back from where the Rum come from, and I don't like it, I feel like a traitor even telling you guys about it!

[The Favorite]

mike i'm not a musician so probably won't explain this right either but i have heard something about how the transistor and it's tinny replication of sound contributed to the inversion of the 2/4 or something like that.. like some sort of US music was 4/2 or something but didn't come through 100% clearly via those radios and one attempt to recreate a US-style drumbeat resulted in a major and maybe primary "innovation" in JA music..

[bmd]

I'd once heard that it was the Radio propogation of LW and it's phasing that created the Reggae beat!! I don't think so!!!
What I'm on about is not how the beat came about, as far as I'm concerned that's reasonably easily traceable through all the influences mixed, Mento, R&B, Ska etc etc..
What I mean is this place where my head and ears get trapped upside down on the off beat as if it was the On beat and I can't turn the ears and head over to get it for a while..

[rosko]

Ahhh.... yeah. And it's good to dance to!

[consciouspilot]

Nurse, the ambulance for Mr Dread.....;0)

[I]

Simply put, rock music is on beat; ska is off beat. Watch a crowd at a concert when clapping,; they invariably clap on beat and wrongly.

Reel

[bmd]

Exactly Mr. R, thankyou for clearing up my waffle slightly;;... and it's my training in this Western tradition that buggers up my musical head on occassions when I somehow enter an off beat (particularly Ska) tune mid stream, my head wants to put the on beat, where the off beat is..

Gosh I feel like a traitor telling you guys this,... it's my darkest secret... :-(