Roots Archives Forum

Funky Punk wrote: No word of a lie, someone who's into that music once insisted to me that 'ska' was shorthand for 'skateboard'.

That is the funniest thing I'm going to hear today, and I just woke up, still have the whole day ahead of me.
Thank you sir!

Funky Punk wrote:Also, as I believe that ska is also within the remit of this forum... bands that fuse pop-punk/skatepunk with ska - they're usually awful, aren't they? No word of a lie, someone who's into that music once insisted to me that 'ska' was shorthand for 'skateboard'.

Another good one!
Don't like many (skate)ska-punk bands either, but I gotta throw in Sublime as positive example. They managed to create an unique own blend of ska/reggae/punk and they knew their reggae and dancehall roots. Shame we lost Mr. Novell to heroin, great singer.

I used to listen to Operation Ivy a lot when I was younger. Nowadays, you'd listen to them and think that they had the most cliched, cookie-cutter 'ska-core' sound imaginable - but they were the band who pretty much invented that whole sound. Which other bands over the next 20 years proceeded to copy shamelessly in the process of endlessly churning out music for middle-class suburban white kids in Southern California who think that life is unfair and that they got it so hard...

When it comes to neo-ska, 99% of the bands are a bad photocopy of a photocopy of The Specials. What many people call "ska" is really bad punk rock with some horns thrown in. There are some cool exceptions of course: Hepcat, The Kingpins, Dr. Ring Ding, The Aggrovators.

Prince Fatty as well maybe, does a decent take on ska, reggae and dub.

Mick Sleeper wrote:When it comes to neo-ska, 99% of the bands are a bad photocopy of a photocopy of The Specials. What many people call "ska" is really bad punk rock with some horns thrown in. There are some cool exceptions of course: Hepcat, The Kingpins, Dr. Ring Ding, The Aggrovators.

Green Day - but with a trumpet! for kids who like to wear eyeliner, baggy pants, wallet chains, black/white checked Vans and jog on the spot at gigs...


This isn't much of an exaggeration.

I, also find this new ,,ska'' annoying! What I find really stupid is that I see a lot of my colegues (mostly girls) with dreadlocks, red, gold and grenn, etc. I ask them, you listen to reggae? No, just ska. Which bands? NoFx, Clash,... And Keith Richards is the best reggae guitarist (this was really said)...
Dreadlocks are just a matter of fashion nowadays...

The Beat !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDr8cnH6 ... re=related

MatejkoFarI wrote:I, also find this new ,,ska'' annoying! What I find really stupid is that I see a lot of my colegues (mostly girls) with dreadlocks, red, gold and grenn, etc. I ask them, you listen to reggae? No, just ska. Which bands? NoFx, Clash,... And Keith Richards is the best reggae guitarist (this was really said)...
Dreadlocks are just a matter of fashion nowadays...

Not just ska - NoFx and bands with a similar sound (often on Epitaph Records or Fat Wreck Chords) are making punk lame too.


In terms of punk, I find myself tending more towards the skinhead bands (no, not the Nazi stuff!) in recent years. A tougher sound, a more pragmatic attitude and much less pose/whining.

No-one ever started a skinhead band because they wanted to make money or become a rockstar. Because the general public seem to hate the skinheads and don't even bother trying to understand them.

Also, you can't really pose at being a skinhead, pretend to be poor because you think it's cool and run your mouth (in real life, I mean - you can on the internet, like you can with anything!) - if you did so, there'd be a very real chance that you'd get your ass kicked and have your skinhead clothing and boots forcibly taken away from you.

Funky Punk summed it up pretty good.

I don't listen to ska or punk anymore...my tastes have changed since i was 14. I don't skateboard or live with my parents anymore either. I saw sublime play however at the very first warped tour about 15 years ago and thats how I was introduced to them. They played Bad Brains "House of Suffering" and that really did it. Bad brains to me are the greatest band of all time and the only music I've really held onto since that period of my life. They're the exception. Fishbone is worth a mention as well.