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

I sure do hate those frat boys

I was an assistant manager at a record store in a small resort town during the 90s, and in a rare moment of market awareness, my boss had us create a separate ska section to meet customer demand. We then got a reputation as having a lot of ska CDs for sale (like, two rows of them!) which attracted the most annoying clientele ever. Now my feelings about ska as a music are way too caught up in my residual feelings of rage about the many times I had to chase some mall punk tourist junior high schooler in a Less Than Jake t-shirt and JNCO shorts down the boardwalk to retrieve stolen ska CDs.

man you could probably fit a whole ton of ska CDs into a pair of JNCOs

Definitely the shorts of choice for the shoplifting youth of America. At least the swing revival costume involved tighter pants and in my experience, no dude ever tried to hide a Squirrel Nut Zippers CD in his pompadour.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 14, 2009

CHERRY POPPIN’ DADDIES TO RELEASE TWO ALBUMS IN SEPTEMBER

In celebration of the bands 20th year in the music business, Eugene, Oregon’s horn-heavy, genre-bending, multi-platinum-selling Cherry Poppin’ Daddies are giving store shelves a double shot of musical goodness in September: both “Susquehanna” and “Skaboy JFK: the Skankin’ hits of the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies” are scheduled for release on September 29, 2009, on Rock Ridge Music/Space Age Bachelor Pad Records. “Susquehanna” will finally receive its national release, as it was previously only available on the band’s website, while “Skaboy JFK” is a compilation of new ska tracks with older Cherry Poppin’ Daddies ska songs (some of which have been re-recorded) in a collection that comes off like a classic of the genre.

Says CPD band leader Steve Perry: “We are excited to be working with Rock Ridge Music on the release of ‘Skaboy JFK,’ because we have had a previous successful working relationship with their CEO Tom Derr, while we were both at Universal Records. Rock Ridge has done a great job promoting and distributing Reel Big Fish records (our ex label mates) and this record is directed at some of the same markets, so it’s a perfect fit for us. We also made a deal to have Rock Ridge distribute and promote our 2008 recording, ‘Susquehanna,’ which had previously not received distribution outside of our web site. This is our coming-out party after a bit of a self-imposed hiatus, and we are happy to be with a company with such great industry bona fides.”

“As has been done by Steve and CPD, Rock Ridge again sees the opportunity to break some ground, break some rules, and break into dance," says Rock Ridge Music CEO Tom Derr about the upcoming Cherry Poppin’ Daddies releases.

“Susquehanna” brings together the Daddies West Coast retro style and Latin influences: Flamenco, Greaser Rock, Swing, Ska, Glam, and Soca to name a few. The album is an experiment in narrative storytelling through shifting genres. “I wanted each song to come across as a chapter in a modernist novel,” Perry says of the record, “like James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses,’ where the literary style/genre that each chapter is written in is radically different. So it’s a pop album, disjointed, and maybe even jarring, in style and structure, but it’s thematically coherent.”

Like their 1998 multi-platinum smash “Zoot Suit Riot: the Swingin’ hits of…,” the new album, “Skaboy JFK: the Skankin’ Hits of the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies,” will emphasize a single genre, this time the 60’s era up-tempo form of pre-reggae Jamaican soul known as ska. “Skaboy” will combine four new recordings with tracks from the group’s earlier catalogue, reflecting all the waves and varieties of ska: Traditional/Bluebeat (“2:29,” “Soul Cadillac”), Two Tone (“Hammerblow,” “Skaboy JFK”), Third Wave (“Hi and Lo,” “Sockable Face Club”). There are even funky Fishbone-esque hybrids for good measure (“Slapstick”).

With “Skaboy” the Daddies plan to reconnect with a ska audience that is largely aware of the band as merely a swing band. “We toured with many of the iconic ska bands when we were coming up,” Perry says, “like the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Fishbone, Reel Big Fish, The Specials, No Doubt, and Madness, but at that time, we were really touring behind ‘Zoot Suit Riot,’ so we didn’t play a ton of ska in our sets. Now we will.”

Speaking of sets, the band plans to tour in support of both albums, with tour dates to be announced soon.

Cherry Poppin’ Daddies can be found online at: www.daddies.com or www.myspace.com/cherrypoppindaddies.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

omg I forgot about JNCOs and yeah, I def owned a couple - ;_;

With “Skaboy” the Daddies plan to reconnect with a ska audience that is largely aware of the band as merely a swing band. “We toured with many of the iconic ska bands when we were coming up,” Perry says, “like the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Fishbone, Reel Big Fish, The Specials, No Doubt, and Madness, but at that time, we were really touring behind ‘Zoot Suit Riot,’ so we didn’t play a ton of ska in our sets. Now we will.”

Truly a bold statement.

I think the bolder statement was that their album is modeled after James Joyce's 'Ulysses'. You don't see a lot of Modernism in the ska world.

As for the Daddies, they were around doing their own thing for at least 8 years before they had a fluke of a hit. Of course they ran with it.

True, but they ran with it at the expense of losing their aesthetic and the entire musical/performance ideology they were founded upon. They gave into the cliches: they cut their hair, starting wearing suits, starting referring to themselves in interviews as "a swing band"...totally disregarding their history (sans the ska material). Of course, as said, you can't blame 'em...it was their big break, any one of us would have done the exact same thing if we had finally found fluke success with our own multi-genre-art-rock-band-who-develop-concept-albums-based-off-early-20th-century-literature. However, the swing revival would have had a lot more longevity if the musicians approached it in an evolutionary sense, promoting cross-genre fusions and an iconoclastic visual style, instead of just a conservative nostalgic rehash.

Not to say CPD didn't maintain artistic credibility: their follow-up album, released in 2000 at the tail end of the swing revival, was another multi-genre effort with very little swing; the lead single was even a 70s-style T. Rex-y glam rock song, produced by Tony Visconti no less. Even in the last few years, as they've been more or less relegated to playing shows at the Idaho State Fair and the Muncie Festival of Cheese, they're still doing the artsy multi-genre deal. Their last studio album didn't have ANY swing on it, nor does their ska album, obviously. Points for perseverance of vision.

Regardless of whether or not one likes CPD's music (of any genre), it's obvious the Daddies were a unique and versatile act that had heaps of (arguably pretentious) substance to match their style. The fact that they're remembered/reviled by 95% of the world as the total opposite is quite a gross injustice, in my opinion. :/

<3 Idaho State Fair

Does the short-lasting 1999 bossa nova revival count as swing? In which case, swing deserves to achieve a landslide win here. I mean, surely Lou Bega's "Mambo #5" must be one of the most annoying summer hits EVER!

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

57-48. Justice would've been a tie, but this is fair.

(Ska should've "won" though)

over 100 votes!!

third-wave ska is/was dorky and embarrassing, but it produced some catchy tunes.

This could be said of second-wave/two-tone as well.

yes, i am aware that the song is anti-date rape (how very white of them, as my grandparents would say).

Is there some obvious reference I'm missing here that makes ^this not incredibly o_0

http://www.stencilpunks.org/ska_against_racism1.gif

Skacism

Ska Against Racism, Swing Against Dignity

I love how the "ska against racism" graphic looks like some racist caricature from a KKK pamphlet. I'm not saying they are racist, I doubt that, but perhaps some of the fourth generation ska (or whatever generation they are up to) sucks because they are too stupid to recognize this.

I don't think that graphic is from the current generation of ska bands, fwiw.

looks like some racist caricature from a KKK pamphlet

I found it on a site for punk rock stencils, so that's why it's very simplistic and two-toned. But I don't think that a KKK pamphlet would have a black person and a white person smiling together.

punk rock stencils

If I ever saw this spray painted on a wall, I might very literally die laughing.

If someone where I live saw this on a wall they might call the cops: "don't vote Obama, your kids will look like this!" I know they don't mean it, but, like, TRY HARDER ok.

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

4th wave ska fwiw

yes, i am aware that the song is anti-date rape (how very white of them, as my grandparents would say).

Is there some obvious reference I'm missing here that makes ^this not incredibly o_0

― sometimes I feel like throwing my glands up in the air (DJ Mencap), Wednesday, March 3, 2010 10:01 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark

"how very white of you" is old-timey American slang (used by, as in my example, one's grandparents). it's basically meant to be sarcastic or as damning w/ faint praise -- as in, calling someone out when someone is patting themselves on the back for taking a "virtuous" or "heroic" stand on an issue that really isn't controversial at all in polite company. e.g., saying that you're anti-date rape (as in that sublime song) as if ANYONE is going to come out w/ a full-throated defense of date rape. i guess that the phrase COULD be interpreted as racist (though i didn't mean it as such), and it isn't that common anymore.

"as if ANYONE is going to come out w/ a full-throated defense of date rape"

Somewhere, Fred Durst is raising his hand sheepishly.

If someone where I live saw this on a wall they might call the cops: "don't vote Obama, your kids will look like this!" I know they don't mean it, but, like, TRY HARDER ok.

― Earth Dye (u s steel), Wednesday, March 3, 2010 5:26 PM (Yesterday)

uh wha?

always fun, this thread

friend was talking to me about less than jake on twitter wondering what they were doing and I said i bet they are still going those ska bands have crazy loyal audiences, but jesus christ look at this tour schedule these dudes are road warriors....cali across the whole US to europe to UK to germany with a zillion shows everywhere and barely any days off!

http://www.lessthanjake.com/shows/