Rocksteady is a music genre that originated in Jamaica around 1966. A successor to ska and a precursor to reggae, rocksteady was performed by Jamaican vocal harmony groups such as The Gaylads, The Maytals and The Paragons. The term rocksteady comes from a dance style that was mentioned in the Alton Ellis song "Rock Steady". Dances performed to rocksteady were less energetic than the earlier ska dances. The first international rocksteady hit was "Hold Me Tight" (1968) by the American soul singer Johnny Nash; it reached #5 in the United Kingdom and United States.

Rocksteady uses some of the musical elements of rhythm and blues (R&B), ska, African and Cuban drumming, and other genres. A primary element is offbeat rhythms; staccato chords played by a guitar and piano on the second and fourth beats of the measure. Rocksteady, more so than its musical cousins ska and early reggae, often accentuates the "one drop" drum beat, characterized by a heavy accent on the third beat of every measure, played by the bass drum and the snare together. This differs markedly from the drumming styles in R&B and rock and roll, which put the bass drum on the first beat (the downbeat) and almost never on the third. Jamaican musicians sometimes refer to this third beat as the "afterbeat". Rocksteady drumming has a mixture of influences, including African "burru" percussion, American R&B, and Latin rhythms. The snare drum almost always plays a side stick "click" rather that a full snare hit; an influence from Cuban clave rhythms. In rocksteady, the bass is heavier and more prominent than in ska, and the bass lines replace the walking style of ska in favor of more broken, syncopated figures, playing a counterpoint to the repetitive rhythm of the guitar and keyboards. Rocksteady reduced (but did not eliminate) the use of horns; instead, the electric guitar, bass, and piano became more prominent, and there was generally less harmonic complexity in the arrangements than in ska. In rocksteady, the lead guitar often doubles the bass line, in the picking style perfected by Lynn Taitt, a technique that continued on into reggae. The guitar and piano also add occasional accents that help to keep the beat from becoming too monotonous.

Due in part to the heavy borrowing from US soul songs, many rocksteady songs are love songs; e.g. "Sharing You" by Prince Buster, which is a cover of a Mitty Collier original, and "Queen Majesty" by The Techniques, which is a cover of "Minstrel and Queen" by The Impressions. There are rocksteady songs about religion and the Rastafari movement, though not to the same extent as in reggae. At the time of rocksteadys debut, lower-class Jamaicans were struggling to prevail over the shortage of food, shelter and employment. This suffering set the stage for the emergence of a rebellious subculture known as rude boys. Some rocksteady lyrics either celebrated or criticized the violent lifestyle of the rude boys, and spoke out against political injustice. The rude boy phenomenon had existed in the ska period, but was expressed more obviously during the rocksteady era in songs such as "Rude Boy Gone A Jail" by The Clarendonians; '"No Good Rudie" by Justin Hinds & the Dominoes; and "Don't Be A Rude Boy" by The Rulers. Crying was a theme in some rocksteady songs, such as Alton and the Flames' "Cry Tough", which urged Jamaicans in the ghettos to stay tough though the hard times.