POLL: Which left a bigger shit-stain on the '90s? Swing or Ska

I remember him talking about some swing band he was playing with in Philadelphia (I can't remember the name)

It was Joe Sudler's Swing Machine.

I would have felt better about "swing" if they'd just called it a jump blues revival. But I guess, "Hey kids, like race singles?" would have been hard to sell.

There was a band from Chicago called the Mighty Blue Kings (who were actually pretty fun) that always bristled at the "swing" tag and insisted they were a jump blues band.

The Squirrel Nut Zippers were ok

i'll stan for ska. Streetlight Manifesto are great!

― Mordy, Monday, February 22, 2010 5:58 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark

lol was going to stan for catch-22

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8woy5IPHojY

^^ still is k-k-klassic btw

I sometimes what my music taste would be like if I hadn't spent my formative years listening to pop punk/ska

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ndNjrD90a0

I vote swing. At least those groups sound like they listened to the original records. Ska revival music has no soul.

I mean I voted for ska as worse.

where do the Mighty Mighty Bosstones fit into this shit? I still have some Bosstones-related PTSD, I think.

I am voting ska, because I barely noticed the swing thing. I did used to like this local Phoenix ska group called Kongo Shock, though.

If I say I like ska it's more likely that someone will assume it's 3rd wave shitstain ska than someone assuming I like Cherry Poppin Daddies if I say I like swing. So, ska.

swing gave us this though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGlIqjszsR8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK6TXMsvgQgs

I tend to identify the ska genre almost entirely by its rhythm, so an absence of horns isn't an issue for me, but I'm not a skaficianado.

bad ska puns

Skaficianado was def. my favorite Voodoo Glow Skulls record.

what's funny is that, in my socal 90s experience, ska and swing were pretty intermingled. they both kinda came out of high school band class! at least that was the way it was at my high school. Suddenly dudes who could play horns were playing in swing and ska bands. both sucked! oh well.

actual skapunks in the wild circa 2009:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax87yohhNds

where do the Mighty Mighty Bosstones fit into this shit? I still have some Bosstones-related PTSD, I think.

― richie aprile (rockapads), Sunday, February 21, 2010 10:25 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

loooooooooooooooooooooooooool

The first show I ever saw was Mighty Mighty Bosstones with Murphy's Law opening up in Ithaca, NY - 1995. I fucking loved a lot of that ska shit at the time and would be lying if I said that it doesn't still hold a soft spot in my heart. That swing revival stuff was much more annoying imo.

skankin', the dance everybody could do

ha true

One thing that confuses me about 90s ska revival is that, in Philadelphia at least, I remember bands being around who were kindof ska (usual with some punk mixed in) in the mid-to-late 80s, so I'm not sure when it was supposed to have gone away (but Philly tends to be late in letting go of musical trends, genres, etc., something I like).

Skanking consists of a “running man” motion of the legs to the beat while alternating bent-elbow fist-punches, left and right.[2] The punk version features a sharp striking out look with the arms, and is sometimes used in moshing to knock around others doing the same.

Skanks include the "Jungle Skank", the "Migraine Skank" and the "Tribal Skank". These are renowned as the truest and purest form of skanking. Any other skanks, notably those involved with drum and bass and dustep music are rubbish.

Scott can probably back me up on some of that.

x-post

I grew up in Philly in the 90s, and I don't remember any Philadelphia based ska bands - all the regional ones I listened to were from NJ

OK thing #518 that I probably should not admit on the internet:

The beginning of this song was my outgoing answering machine for a while when i was a freshman in college. I was 17 - cut me some slack!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z70jVUTAbo4

x-post:

Well maybe it died in Philly while it was reviving elsewhere.

xp Did people actually leave messages or hang up in disgust?

"Scott can probably back me up on some of that."

scram?

xp - ha.

scram were weirder though than most hyper jumpy skapunk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzeMN4coQ8M

there was some good Japanese ska from the 90s too iirc

Scott, yeah I was thinking of Scram! though really only a small percentage of what they did was ska. They were one of my favorite local bands. Too bad "Here Tonite" is not on youtube, that really was a classic song. If I ever get some of my old cassettes digitized. . .

I do remember some lesser lights being around doing similar things.

most cities had SOMEONE doing ska since the 80's. just like there were always at least 3 to 4 mods on scooters or 5 to 6 trad skins or 2 to 4 mohawk punks in philly at all times.

ska. swing was ignorable.

was 311 ska?

I think that what made Swing forgivable for me was that it was a hop, skip and a jump from Swing to Lounge and from Louge to Space Age Bachelor Pad Music and I am full of love for Esquivel and Spike Jones (and if you keep going that way, you get to Stereolab and Broadcast which is just fine with me.)

The Cherry Poppin Daddies were a ska band first, then they became a swing band, and now they're back to being a ska band. They just released an album last year called "Skaboy JFK: The Skankin Hits of...".

Clearly, they're the most evil of any band on this list.

Seriously, what the fuck?
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Shit, I meant this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIyvp6ga5Tw

have a huge soft-spot for these guys and this song in partic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZOyQT4aVz4
interviewed dicky barrett BITD for melody maker when i was just starting out and he was hilarious. we junked my prepared questions and just talked abt how awesome madness were for ages

i think Rancid are pretty ace too, tho more when they're in hardcore mode than skacore mode

Somehow every local band in my hometown was a mediocre ska revival band. I guess this was ok in the context of the time but it's *still the case,* like 90% of the bands there play 'ska.' There's four or five '90s-style ska-punk bands here, too. I voted ska bcz its detrimental effects have been so long-lasting.

Whatever ska's crimes, the convention of naming your band with a bad 'ska' pun is endlessly hilarious to me (though you might count this as part of ska's crimes).
Where are the swing-pun bands?

The first show I ever saw was Mighty Mighty Bosstones with Murphy's Law opening up in Ithaca, NY - 1995.

― t(o_o)t (ENBB)

which venue was this at?

ska didn't register much with me either way except i liked what i heard ok enough. the swing revival was ubiquitous for awhile there and i think half the people i went to college with who ended up in l.a. were still riding the wave of 'swingers' nostalgia w/r/t fashion and language. that shit was embarrassing, ska is not.

All the shitty third wave and beyond ska-punk bands made neo-traditionlists like Hepcat sound like the Maytals. But Hepcat was still pretty great, regardless.

Ska is one of the worst genre ever imo

I don't think ska is inherently bad, its just a very narrow genre that is virtually impossible to do really well.