[4] Ska music came to be seen as "an excellent vehicle for exhortation and praise due to its up front lyrical style"[5] and upbeat, energetic, joyful sound.
[22] These were Squad 5-O (from Savannah, Georgia), Five Iron Frenzy (from Denver, Colorado), The Insyderz (from Detroit, Michigan), and the OC Supertones (from Orange County, California).
Of these Squad 5-O was unique in that they were hornless, their sound would later completely move away from any form of ska, and they would eventually sign to a general market label.
Each of these bands was founded and signed to record labels in or before 1996,[23] was commercially successful within Christian music,[24][25] and outlasted their contemporaries by several years.
[27] The Insyderz best known for their renditions of ska-styled hymns and modern praise and worship songs,[28] of which they released two albums, Skalleluia!
[29] Common themes included social causes such as hypocrisy, racism, big business, as well as the renewal of faith.
[29] Ska bands received a small amount of attention from Christian music award shows such as the Doves.
Other career highlights opening for Christian rock heavyweight dc Talk, and for the Pope during the same visit as the Supertones (although not at the main event).
[21] While producing Skanktified, a compilation album released by Eclectica Music (an imprint of N-Soul) in 1998, Mark Morrison found over seventy Christian ska bands operating throughout the United States, mostly in underground scenes.
[33] There were in fact an exceptional number of Christian ska bands underground,[9][21][34] creating an oversaturated market for the sound.
[9][34][35] For instance one band, the Skadaddles, released three albums in 1999, with a sound evolving from ska toward punk and emo.
In a move to distance themselves from ska the band changed their name twice and picked up an emo-indie-punk sound before signing to a major label.
[39] The Dingees were a spinoff band of the Supertones who play a sound which mixes punk, ska, and reggae, and have released three albums, the final one in 2001.
It went on to raise $207,980 USD, making it the most funded Kickstarter by dollar amount ever on the day it ended (January 21, 2012).