By the time Less Than Jake hit their stride with this third record, they were already a household name. They had hit the road with so many different bands that they were veterans of the scene. Their brand of ska core won over fans across the nation, and by the time they hit the studio, they already had a ton of ideas to build upon. While their first two records were quite good, this one was the first album recorded for a major label.
Titled “Losing Streak” and produced by Howard Benson, the album would go forward to represent the bands endless array of pop hooks with punk ska prowess. Capitol Records would get a lot of good stuff out Less Than Jake, including some hits from the punksters that were featured in many different video games, soundtracks and so much more.
The most notable of tracks, for new comers, definitely had to be “Jen Doesn’t Like Me Anymore” and “Johnny Quest Thinks We’re Sellouts” both songs were hits from the “Pezcore” album. However, they had some major originals to go along with those, including standout tracks like: “Automatic”, “Sugar in Your Gas Tank”, “Dopeman”, “How’s My Driving, Doug Hastings”, and one of my personal favorites, “Shindo”.
The song “Shindo” sticks out huge for me, considering that it was one of the songs that I related to heavily on a lyrical level:
Something’s out there
and it takes me away
from a world too small to stay
something’s out there
And with that anthem, I moved away from Los Angeles, California and enjoy a life in another town…a boring town, but a town none the less.
The band made a music video for the track “Dopeman” but of course it was controversial and it didn’t really help get them into the mtv world. The video is below:
Less Than Jake’s “Losing Streak” is a cool record and an essential ska record that pushed the limits of the band and the genre alike. It catapulted the band into the mainstream, and led the way for many other ska bands to take a piece of the overall ska pie of the late 90’s. The album was releasd in 1996 and has since been one of ska’s perennial favorites amongst the fourth wave of skacore bands.
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