Ska is dead
Following my previous post fall is my time of the year. It's the time of the year I'm most amourous. Not just for the love of a good woman (see below) but for everything. Nature is the obvious choice since it's so beautiful this time of year but also music.
I'm filled with memories of playing in marching band every friday and high school and saturday in college. There is also ska. I discoverd it fall. It was slow process for me however to get the full picture.
Unbeknownest to me I fell in love with the music as a child listening to the classic Madness track Our House. That was the second incarnation of ska, the first being in 1960's with the evolution of the music in Jamaica (here's a fun fact; Bob Marely lead the formation of the music before brigging Reggae world wide)
The third revolution came in the late 90's. Like any form of music it never really died, just went underground. That all changed however with No Doubt's 1996 Tragic Kingdom and the first single of that album Spiderwebs. The public once again fell in love with the art form. I was among those who did. I quickly graduated to all of the great underground acts that weren't getting a lot of attention but soon would like The Mighty Mighty Bosstones (creators of the greast live album ever), Goldfinger, the punk-ska stylings of Less than Jake and many more.
Perfectly timed, this was during my 'rebellious' period right before I graduated high school in 1997. Free from the confines of life in East Point I entered college determined to reinvent myself. All the rage at the time was so call gangsta rap. I was different and weird so that wasn't for me. I wanted to be a punk. I started wearing supper baggy clothes, chains hanging from my pockets, growed my dredlocks and of course I was deep into punk and ska.
It was such a liberating feeling rebelling against the strick conservative christian culture of Morehouse College. I met a few people on campus who were into the same lifestyle. My boy Seth (where are you dude) and I would hang out and listen to Less than jake CD's and once attempted to go out to a show. That was quite adventure but I'll save that for later.
The music though. I was so beautiful. So perfect. 3/4 riffs mixed with a ragga beat and punk singing. What wasn't there to love.
So back on track. The fall of 1997 was a beautiful time. I got really deep into the scene and was totally free. Instead of going to class I'd spend hours at record stores in Little Five Points (the center of the counter culture in Atlanta) digging up rare ska tracks and spending way to much time eating pizza and buying incense. One I came across was a promo CD called "Ska, American Style" which showcased bands from Chicago.
The collection was perfect. Punk-ska bands along with the other fasination at the time retro big bands. I still regiously listen to it every fall and think of the good times before I sold out and stop being a punk. Unfortunaley for me ska's third revolution is over and probably won't come around again until my nieces generation is in their teens (for the record she is a huge ska fan since I forced her to listen to my CD's).
Who knows, maybe I'll go back to being that way someday and along with the music I love so will be popular again. In the mean time here's goes a sample of that wonderful CD. The track's name is called Siddhartha
-The Eclectics
Ahhhh, music to the ears of a rebellious 18 year old....
I'm filled with memories of playing in marching band every friday and high school and saturday in college. There is also ska. I discoverd it fall. It was slow process for me however to get the full picture.
Unbeknownest to me I fell in love with the music as a child listening to the classic Madness track Our House. That was the second incarnation of ska, the first being in 1960's with the evolution of the music in Jamaica (here's a fun fact; Bob Marely lead the formation of the music before brigging Reggae world wide)
The third revolution came in the late 90's. Like any form of music it never really died, just went underground. That all changed however with No Doubt's 1996 Tragic Kingdom and the first single of that album Spiderwebs. The public once again fell in love with the art form. I was among those who did. I quickly graduated to all of the great underground acts that weren't getting a lot of attention but soon would like The Mighty Mighty Bosstones (creators of the greast live album ever), Goldfinger, the punk-ska stylings of Less than Jake and many more.
Perfectly timed, this was during my 'rebellious' period right before I graduated high school in 1997. Free from the confines of life in East Point I entered college determined to reinvent myself. All the rage at the time was so call gangsta rap. I was different and weird so that wasn't for me. I wanted to be a punk. I started wearing supper baggy clothes, chains hanging from my pockets, growed my dredlocks and of course I was deep into punk and ska.
It was such a liberating feeling rebelling against the strick conservative christian culture of Morehouse College. I met a few people on campus who were into the same lifestyle. My boy Seth (where are you dude) and I would hang out and listen to Less than jake CD's and once attempted to go out to a show. That was quite adventure but I'll save that for later.
The music though. I was so beautiful. So perfect. 3/4 riffs mixed with a ragga beat and punk singing. What wasn't there to love.
So back on track. The fall of 1997 was a beautiful time. I got really deep into the scene and was totally free. Instead of going to class I'd spend hours at record stores in Little Five Points (the center of the counter culture in Atlanta) digging up rare ska tracks and spending way to much time eating pizza and buying incense. One I came across was a promo CD called "Ska, American Style" which showcased bands from Chicago.
The collection was perfect. Punk-ska bands along with the other fasination at the time retro big bands. I still regiously listen to it every fall and think of the good times before I sold out and stop being a punk. Unfortunaley for me ska's third revolution is over and probably won't come around again until my nieces generation is in their teens (for the record she is a huge ska fan since I forced her to listen to my CD's).
Who knows, maybe I'll go back to being that way someday and along with the music I love so will be popular again. In the mean time here's goes a sample of that wonderful CD. The track's name is called Siddhartha
-
In this world
yet so am i
and if i reach the top, i'll be ready to die
i know
i know i need a release
i know you're your trusing what i believe
don't tell me what i can do
i know the choices i have to choices i have to choose
i know what i want
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
you don't understand this world
yet I'm not the only one
i'm all alone
society's killing me
so how about you?
do you know, do you understand the things i'm going threw?
why are you sympethetic to the things i do?
don't laugh at me
don't say you undertand
unless your relly do
unless it happened to you..."
-The Eclectics
Ahhhh, music to the ears of a rebellious 18 year old....
<< Home