Ska punk hit Orange County hard in the mid 90s. Nobody does Ska better than Reel Big Fish. Number 7 on my top ten is S.R. by Reel Big Fish. The song is actually short, it comes in at 1:26 on Turn the Radio Off. This YouTube live version is longer and great fun.
Why?
In the mid 90s, my then 15 or 16 year old son starting wearing odd clothing and listening to bands like Save Ferris, Less than Jake, Sublime, Jeffries Fan Club, Buck-O-Nine, No Doubt, and let us not forget the Aquabats. Each weekend I would take my son to a cheap show so he could skank the night away. I would sit outside with the old folks and talk about the good old days - until my son started asking me to wait in the car. It seems I embarrassed him.
Ska Punk was upbeat, energetic, and sarcastic all at the same time. My son moved on to hip hop, I kept all of his old CDs. I still listen to them. I can close my eyes and remember my son dressed as a rude boy. I would drive him to some little hole in the wall music venue while we sang along to Real Big Fish. S.R. is a song which anchors an important moment in my life. In just a few short years my son would leave for Berkeley and never really come home again. I miss him. With luck I'll see him tomorrow - I'm looking forward to hitting a few music stores. He always turns me on to the good stuff.
4 comments:
FYI, it is Reel Big Fish.
I knew that - geez, that makes me a real big idiot.
I remember giving him a limited release video tape of Mighty Mighty Bosstones I got from Capitol Records when I was interning there. Ugh, I feel old now...
- Imogen
i love music, but ska just couldn't do it for me. it was too limited, which is probably why it died after a year or two of surfacing from underground. i have to admit though, RBF's cover of "take on me" by Ah-ha was great. oh yeah, atheism sucks.
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