When I was getting into music, as a teenager, I loved hardcore, punk, and rock music. Anything with distorted guitars, I had to have. I would blow all my money on getting the latest releases from all the mainstream and underground punk and hardcore bands. I didn’t know anyone else that liked what I liked, and to this day, have a hard time finding people that enjoy the same spread of music that I do.

One day, while skateboarding, I overheard someone playing what I would later know to be ska. The first band that I got into was The Pietasters. That’s right, the Pietasters. The band mixed a blend of punk rock’s delivery with jazz bass and “upward strummed” guitars and horned instruments. With a raspy voice, and some catchy tunes, the world of ska opened up to me in a new way.

The Pietasters, I would later come to find out, had a lot of music out that no one was really buying. This is before the explosion of the late 90’s ska movement, where all the sak bands were getting major record deals, and getting airplay on MTV and what not. The Pietasters remained relatively underground, and I never got to see them live.

If you can picture a time before the internet, there was only three major sources for me to find new music from. The first and most prominent source for me to find new underground music was this little known tv show called “punkorama” this show was run by Epitaph records and would be on at around 1:30 A.M on Friday nights/Saturday mornings playing as many music videos as they could with little interruption for one hour straight. This was a big commitment for me, and sometimes I would have to record it on vhs and watch it later. That show was the first time I had ever heard the song “Yesterdays Over”. I thought (being a teen, mind you) that the chick in the convertible was pretty hot, and the dork of a police officer was funny. The vocals had a raspy quality that would make my mom hate ska music, which made it more tangible for me. The video was low budget, but proved that I didn’t need mtv to find out about new cool bands. The Pietasters would swing open the door for some ska!

Little did I know that the next ska band that I would be introduced to was on tour through my town. The band was Less Than Jake! I somehow convinced my parents to take me to Hollywood to see Mxpx play, they were opening for Less Than jake & The Hippos that night, and I stuck around to see Less Than Jake rock the stage with punk rock ethics and a horn section that would make any band geek proud! I was hooked at this point, and had to get my hands on everything ska.

The next wave of ska music for me was Christian ska. I went to a church at the time which was getting a nice push in numbers. Thanks in whole part to a young surfer who had a vision for youth that reached beyond wearing suits and ties. That aspect interested me, but what interested me even more was the fact that the youth group meetings had some rock & roll, distorted guitars and loud p.a. system. Not only that, they met inside an abandoned Bank Building that was massive. Not only that, the kids there skated, and so I naturally clung to any sort of friendship I could build there. The big thing at the time was Christian music, and there was a new fringe of crossover appeal with the late 90’s ska movement. The Supertones led the charge for me with a faith mixed message of ska prowess the likes I’d never heard before. A TON of people liked and loved The Orange County Supertones, so much so that they even headlined massive tours including the 1998 tour entitled “Suburbia” which was held at an event center that was normally used for NCAA basketball tournaments. It was huge, maybe not across the main stream, but definitely in the Christian market, which was getting a major resurgence of youth wanting heavier sounding music. The terms ska-core could be used to compare the band. Here’s a the music video for the track “Resolution” off of their second record, which was pretty amazing to say the least.

Christian music could not contain my interest of ska and punk. So I moved onto more and more musical findings. The next one was The Mighty Might Bosstones, which had hit the radio airwaves with a single entitled “The Impression That I Get”, sparking my interest in the term ska-core even more. The Boston based ska band introduced me to a heavier version of ska, and while they did manage to tone it down a bit at times, they most certainly had a way of bring the noise a lot more than bands that played a more traditional ska sound. From there I also got into Reel Big Fish, which is still together to this day making records that are panned by critics and embraced by those few people that love to dance, sing along, and look goofy for a while. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones had a nice string of luck too, popping up in the movie Clueless with their track “Where’d You Go”, and even playing MTV’s Spring Break excursion. Here’s the video for “The Impression That I Get”

Then in a random movie, I heard a band that had two female singers. The band was called Dancehall Crashers and I began to explore another side of ska music. One that had females in the power position, and no not just No Doubt, but I’m sure it didn’t hurt that they were getting big in the music scene right around the time I picked up the Angus Movie soundtrack. Dancehall Crashers remained an underground favorite from what I hear, and they still play a happy go lucky version of ska that most people don’t really listen to anymore.

At this point, I was getting jaded with ska music. I had already accrued a huge collection of vinyl, cd’s and cassette tapes (yes, I had a ton of cassette tapes) from bands like: The Skatelites, Fishbone, Skanking Pickle, The Toasters, The Pietasters, Supertones, Five Iron Frenzy, The Israelites, The Dingees, The Specials, Reel Big Fish, The Mighty Might Bosstones, Mustard Plug, and so many other no name bands that it was ridiculous.

Naturally after my ska exploitation, I got into a lot of hardcore music.

But then in an odd twist of fate, I got a Playstation. The original Playstation was a huge jump from previous gaming systems, and I finally got one, after much begging for it.

I now feel bad for all the times I made my mom, a single parent, buy me stupid stuff that she couldn’t afford. But that’s not for this post. I ended up getting a game entitled “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater” that game was cool. In it I found a track from the band Goldfinger, which I liked already, but when hearing it, it sparked my interest in ska music yet again! The game also had a cool track from The Suicide Machines, which was definitely cool too. I would follow the trail a little more and get into more traditional ska music, and even into reggae, and eventually my favoritism for ska kind of shriveled out. Here’s the track No Face from The Suicide Machines, another ska classic.

So that takes you through my journey through ska. Although poorly written, lacking major dates, and points, it is a nice little look back at my teenage years and how much ska I listened to. I even began to play bass because I wanted to be a rudeboy and play ska. It never panned out, and I never got into anything formidable with the ska movement.

It was cool to listen to while skateboarding though, as the musical style lent itself well to street skateboarding and vert alike. I still put in some Reel Big Fish every now and again, and definitely listen to Less Than Jake a lot. I’m not into the ska sound any longer, but I still appreciate a good ska show. I went to see Mxpx tour with Streelight Manifesto and Reel Big Fish which was an amazing show with lots of fun, and no violence.

Ska might not be on the main stream radar anymore, but there are definitely some records out there worth picking up. If I had to pick just one, or two at most, I’d say Supertones Strike Back by The Supertones and Awesome Mix Tape #6 by The Pietasters are two albums I’d take with me…then again, I couldn’t leave Less Than Jakes classic Pezcore out of the loop.

I might be old, but man, some of those tracks are still highly danceable.

Further Reading

• Refused New Noise Old Noise Whatever
• 16 and Invincible
• Top Punk Rock Songs Volume 1
• Mxpx Gimme Christmas Music Video
• Payable on Death Addicted Music Video
• 65 Days of Static
• Mxpx Life In General Cd Review

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Filed under: Music, Random Observations, music reviews, record label, Music, notes, personal life, ska