After the fast ska, rocksteady was introduced. Peaple said it was too hot in the summer of '66 to dance on the fast ska. It sounds logical, but maybe the people just wanted a calm style of music. Nobody knows where the name rocksteady comes from. Literal rocksteady means to rock quiet, to dance quiet. So that is a logical name inconnection with the hot summer. Because the soundsystems became more popular and ska-records were sold abroad, the soundsystems and recordingstudio's became better.
The lyrics weren't always about love as in ska, but also serious themes could pass the review. "Shanty Town" from Desmond Dekker is a song about the Rude Boys. 'Dem a loot, dem a shoot, dem a wail. A shanty town.' is a quotation from this song. It lets you hear how difficult it is to survive in the slums of Kingston where the rude boys lived.
Bob Marley didn't record a lot of rocksteady. The style was popular for a short time. Marley & co made a lot of ska and afterwards they made reggae.