Topic: Ska? (Read 25906 times)

Liam · « **Reply #50 on:** 25 Nov 2007, 20:46 »

Quote from: FireAarro on 25 Nov 2007, 03:46

Quote from: Liam on 23 Nov 2007, 22:51
Ska, like all genres, is populated mostly by terrible bands. Even the good bands have terrible songs and weird quirks and idiosyncrasies that will turn people off. But this is true of all music, and indeed of all things.
I like how this post starts off by saying something, but in the end turns out to say nothing.

In my defense, I was pretty tired.

I guess my point was that a lot of people don't delve much deeper than a song by each of the first bands they hear of before they decide they don't like ska at all, which is kind of a dumb thing to do. The most popular stuff is what you're going to see first, and if you don't generally agree with what the mainstream recommends, how does it make sense not to look further than that?

I think that's just as unwieldy as my first attempt at coherence, so I'm just going to click 'post' and give up.

Bishop138 · « **Reply #51 on:** 25 Nov 2007, 21:21 »

Personally I just like Reel Big Fish, never got into any other ska bands really. I have an Area 7 cd somewhere, but yeah, I never listen to it anymore.

asyluman · « **Reply #52 on:** 29 Nov 2007, 15:10 »

The deviation of Ska from normal music is minimal. It's really just an emphasis on the off-beat and horns and shit. Most newer ska is this plus punk. It's the same music you probably like, but different. Therefore, the only conclusion that can be made is that the people saying "OMG SKA IS SO BAD ITS WORSE THAN RAPE AND MAYBE ITS WORSE THAN PITCHFORK, BECAUSE IT IS COOL NOW TO HATE THEM THOUGH THIS WAS NOT THE CASE A SHORT WHILE AGO, BUT WHAT CAN I SAY I AM REALLY A TRENDSETTER" are, in fact, assholes.

Seriously. Don't overdo the hipster-hate. It makes you look like a dick, and once you post you'll look back and see this, but you won't be able to delete it cause that's just lame.*

*Chance of said occurrence happening with this post: 67%

asyluman · « **Reply #53 on:** 29 Nov 2007, 18:48 »

I am referring specifically to the YELLING IN ALL CAPS.

It's fine if you're like:

"Ska's really not my thing."

Or:

"I really dislike ska."

But it's just a dick move to say something like:

"YOU THINK GENOCIDE IS BAD? OBVIOUSLY YOU HAVE NEVER HEARD CATCH-22."

ViolentDove · « **Reply #54 on:** 29 Nov 2007, 20:13 »

Wait, what?

There's a band called Catch-22?

Do all their songs consist of paradoxical and temporally disjointed narratives?

The Viz · « **Reply #55 on:** 29 Nov 2007, 20:24 »

Quote from: ViolentDove on 29 Nov 2007, 20:13

Wait, what?

There's a band called Catch-22?

Do all their songs consist of paradoxical and temporally disjointed narratives?

Catch 22 was a really good band once. They made on album, then their songwriter left, and the band only made one good EP and one good album after that. The rest of their catalogue is mediocre at best.

The songwriter of their first album, however, went on to form Streetlight Manifesto, which is ten times better than Catch ever was.

Other than Streetlight, my main ska squeeze is the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, whose first show after a four year hiatus I shall be attending this December. A few other ska bands I love are Reel Big Fish (obviously), The Toasters, MU330, and the LI-based Homecoming Queens, who are only local right now but they deserve to get big so bad.

Ska is no different from any other genre. It has good bands, bad bands, and bands that rip off both. It's okay if it's not really your thing, but don't go bashing it just because it's different from your taste, the good bands have some very solid music. The ska scene is better than the other scenes though. Hardcore shows are just a bunch of pissed off kids kicking each other's asses and indie shows tend to be populated by pretentious assholes who are more concerned with looking superior to others than listening to the music onstage (which can be phenomenal). At a ska show though, everybody is there to have a good time. Yeah, uber-ska-kids can get really annoying. A lot. But I have more fun with them on the train home than fanboys and fangirls of any other genre.

r2knee2 · « **Reply #56 on:** 29 Nov 2007, 21:12 »

Catch 22 was good, I agree. Then they became Streetlight Manifesto, which astounds me more and more with every listen. Not only did they start out strong with their first CD, but with the coming of Somewhere in the Between, they got better (in my opinion, of course). I can't stop listening to my copy of the CD. Basically, I recommend it to all ska fans out there. It's good. Really good. Perhaps too good.

As for ska in general, I can't get into everything, but I like most of the basic stuff. I agree with the above about ska having good and bad bands. Also, if you start listening to ska without any clue of what to expect, it is sometimes overwhelming and hard to get into (I've seen this happen with a lot of people). But first impressions aren't everything. Sometimes going back and listening after some time has passed completely changes your opinion. It's the same way with a lot of genres, but especially so with ska.

The Viz · « **Reply #57 on:** 29 Nov 2007, 21:39 »

Definitely. One of my favorite bands (not ska) is the Flaming Lips, and they were really tough for me to get into. I'm a big fan of listening to an album once and then listening to it again after a month or so, helps it seep in.

Ernest · « **Reply #58 on:** 29 Nov 2007, 22:50 »

Quote from: asyluman on 29 Nov 2007, 15:10

The deviation of Ska from normal music is minimal. It's really just an emphasis on the off-beat and horns and shit.

What is "normal music?"

ImRonBurgundy? · « **Reply #59 on:** 29 Nov 2007, 23:28 »

From the wording of his post, I think we can deduce that it's anything that isn't ska.

The Viz · « **Reply #60 on:** 30 Nov 2007, 09:32 »

*shrugs* Whatever. All I know, is it takes more talent to play a sax than to play a guitar (and I'm a guitarist).

Ernest · « **Reply #61 on:** 30 Nov 2007, 10:36 »

It takes more talent to play a harp than to play anything we've mentioned so far.

What is your point?

The Viz · « **Reply #62 on:** 30 Nov 2007, 10:52 »

I've seen people play harp, it's awesome. Classical harp music is good stuff.

supersheep · « **Reply #63 on:** 30 Nov 2007, 12:32 »

More talen = better art, duh.

It takes more talent to be a brain surgeon than to play music. Therefore, let us give up on listening to music and instead listen to brain surgery!

The Viz · « **Reply #64 on:** 30 Nov 2007, 13:43 »

All I'm saying is, there are a lot of different types of music and that it's unfair to attack one just because you personally don't dig it when those who play it clearly have a lot of talent. For example, I don't like Radiohead, but I still consider it good music because of the songwriting and musicianship, even if it's not my style.

KharBevNor · « **Reply #65 on:** 30 Nov 2007, 13:48 »

Nah, Radiohead is just poop.

Green Gorgon · « **Reply #66 on:** 30 Nov 2007, 13:51 »

I agree, I personally HATE Radiohead. I can't make it through a whole song. But I can recognize them as talented.

At any rate, I don't listen to that much ska. My favorite band, however, is a ska band that apparently no one has heard of. Please someone else tell me they listen to Five Iron Frenzy. You would restore my faith in the state of the ska fanbase.
They're really more like hard rock with a horn line, especially their later stuff. Anyway, check 'em out.

The Viz · « **Reply #67 on:** 30 Nov 2007, 13:57 »

FIF is awesome. Admittedly, I only own "Our Newest Album Ever!", though a friend of mine showed me some more of their stuff (I've been meaning to get some more). Very fun band.

KharBevNor · « **Reply #68 on:** 30 Nov 2007, 13:58 »

I have heard of them.

What do you people think of Leftover Crack?

JimmyJazz · « **Reply #69 on:** 30 Nov 2007, 17:16 »

I like them. I think they're overrated by most of their fans, but I still think they're a solid group. Good political ska-punk.

KharBevNor · « **Reply #70 on:** 01 Dec 2007, 07:18 »

They're damn good live.

ImRonBurgundy? · « **Reply #71 on:** 01 Dec 2007, 11:39 »

Quote from: Green Gorgon on 30 Nov 2007, 13:51

At any rate, I don't listen to that much ska. My favorite band, however, is a ska band that apparently no one has heard of. Please someone else tell me they listen to Five Iron Frenzy. You would restore my faith in the state of the ska fanbase.
They're really more like hard rock with a horn line, especially their later stuff. Anyway, check 'em out.

I listened to this band in like tenth grade. They were a Christian band, but had their share of sociopolitical songs (several focusing on the mistreatment of Native Americans during the Manifest Destiny era). However, on the flipside of the same coin, the most enlightened position on homosexuality they were able to come up with was "love the sinner, hate the sin."

Also, their sense of humor was completely stunted.

brady · « **Reply #72 on:** 04 Dec 2007, 17:50 »

I love ska but more for the shows. I almost never miss a ska show even if I have no clue who the band is but I can rarely just listen to ska if I'm not at a show. Ska be dancing music.

Blank_Jebus · « **Reply #73 on:** 06 Dec 2007, 09:11 »

ska show are really really fun...even if you don't like ska going to a show puts you in a good mood because the bands usually have great stage presence and everyone at the show is really nice...plus skanking is fun

as far as bands go...ill agree ska has it's good, bad, and ugly...like some of the best ska bands out there are Streetlight Manifesto, Catch 22, Five Iron Frenzy, Reel Big Fish, Less Than Jake, No Doubt, The O.C. Supertones, Slapstick, Mustard Plug, Slapstick, Slow Gherkin...there are more those are just the ones i can come up with off the top of my head...

i don't get why people hate ska so much...like was there a tramatic event in your life that happened and was ska playing in the background so now whenever you hear some off beat guitar with horn you wanna kill someone or what..like i don't get it...but if you don't like it then it's cool...just don't be an ass about it...

recently one of my friends never heard of ska so i had her listen to "Somewhere in the Between" and she loved it...i think it's really weird how unknown ska is toward most people seeing on how it's been around for soo long

there i think i've reached just about every thing that was talking about in this forum..i think

yossarian07 · « **Reply #74 on:** 06 Dec 2007, 12:05 »

Quote from: The Viz on 29 Nov 2007, 20:24

Quote from: ViolentDove on 29 Nov 2007, 20:13
Wait, what?

There's a band called Catch-22?

Do all their songs consist of paradoxical and temporally disjointed narratives?
Catch 22 was a really good band once. They made on album, then their songwriter left, and the band only made one good EP and one good album after that. The rest of their catalogue is mediocre at best.

The songwriter of their first album, however, went on to form Streetlight Manifesto, which is ten times better than Catch ever was.

Other than Streetlight, my main ska squeeze is the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, whose first show after a four year hiatus I shall be attending this December. A few other ska bands I love are Reel Big Fish (obviously), The Toasters, MU330, and the LI-based Homecoming Queens, who are only local right now but they deserve to get big so bad.

Ska is no different from any other genre. It has good bands, bad bands, and bands that rip off both. It's okay if it's not really your thing, but don't go bashing it just because it's different from your taste, the good bands have some very solid music. The ska scene is better than the other scenes though. Hardcore shows are just a bunch of pissed off kids kicking each other's asses and indie shows tend to be populated by pretentious assholes who are more concerned with looking superior to others than listening to the music onstage (which can be phenomenal). At a ska show though, everybody is there to have a good time. Yeah, uber-ska-kids can get really annoying. A lot. But I have more fun with them on the train home than fanboys and fangirls of any other genre.

Totally agreed. Only complete idiots bash an entire genres of music and say it sucks. It's fine if you dislike it, just making bread generalizations makes you look like a complete douche.
Kalnoky is one of my favorite songwriters ever. Im not that into ska but Streetlight Manifesto is one of my favore bands ever mostly because Kalnoky is such a brilliant Lyricist.
Reel Big Fish is cool two, I've seen them twice, both times with Streetlight opening for them.
I havent heard much of MU330, but they went to my high school and I had a class in the very room that they named themselves after, so that makes them cool in my book.

Mattzors · « **Reply #75 on:** 06 Dec 2007, 17:35 »

Less than Jake got me into the ska scene years ago. They're a bit more on the punk side (and their last album leaning towards emo...) but that's where it started for me. After that I went onto some more third wave bands, and eventually came across New Yorks 'The Slackers.' The Slackers are more on the reggae side of things, and have some amazing songs. In my own opinion, they don't get enough credit in the ska community.
These two bands are definitely my favorites in this genre.

The Viz · « **Reply #76 on:** 06 Dec 2007, 18:08 »

The Slackers are totally underrated, definitely. Less Than Jake...I'm not a fan. I mean, most of their album's are pretty good...Anthem and Hello Rockview are great...but when I saw them live they played way too much shit off their crappy new album (which is pop-punk with a few horn parts, not ska at all), and made a point of being assholes about it ("Hey, we're gonna play some songs off our new album...because most of you hate it!"), repeated the same unfunny jokes after every song, and were too busy sucking their own cocks to give the audience what they paid for. I still moderately like them, but I can't really respect them anymore.

r2knee2 · « **Reply #77 on:** 06 Dec 2007, 18:19 »

I saw Less than Jake, Streetlight Manifesto, Reel Big Fish, and some other band that I can't remember the name of that I had never heard of before over the summer in one amazingly ska-tastic concert. It was so wonderful. LtJ was my least favorite of the those three, though. They ran their portion of the show as a "The Price Is Right" parody, and while it was entertaining, it kind of felt like their act was more about the gimmick than the actual music.

Speaking of such types of shows, I'm going to see Streetlight Manifesto in January and I am OHMYGOODNESSSOEXCITED. I'm going with a few of my friends, including one who does not really know much ska music and I have taken it upon myself to introduce him to ska music via mix CD (partially because I can, and partially because... well... he asked). So now I'm trying to make the ultimate introduction to ska music in preparation for someone going to a Streetlight Manifesto concert in a little over a month. So now, I pose this question: what songs should I put on the CD?

ImRonBurgundy? · « **Reply #78 on:** 06 Dec 2007, 20:13 »

Quote from: Mattzors on 06 Dec 2007, 17:35

They're a bit more on the punk side (and their last album leaning towards emo...)

*titter*

Blank_Jebus · « **Reply #79 on:** 07 Dec 2007, 09:41 »

streetlight songs to include in a mix cd would be

Somewhere in the Between, Would you Be Impressed, Watch it Crash, 40 days, We Will Fall Together, A Better Place A Better Time, Here's to Life, Everythingt WEnt Numb, If and When WE Rise, A Moment of Silence, A Moment of Violence...no in this order.

if you wanna get them hooked on to Tomas Kalnocky then you can also add the songs from Streetlight's version of Keasbey NIghts like 1234,1234, As the Fotsteps Die out Forever, Supernothing, on & on & on,

or you should just make them listen to the album "Somewhere in the Between" because that albums freakin rules...

one more idea...put all the streetlight on your computer on a playlist, hit random and what ever order they come on put those on the playlist

hope this helps

r2knee2 · « **Reply #80 on:** 07 Dec 2007, 11:30 »

well, originally I gave my friend a copy of Somewhere in the Between to prepare him, but he really didn't know how to approach the style of music, as he had never heard ska before. So now I'm trying to give him a generic "Welcome to Ska" cd.

ImRonBurgundy? · « **Reply #81 on:** 07 Dec 2007, 11:46 »

Just make sure "Mirror in the Bathroom" by The Beat is in there somewhere.

The Viz · « **Reply #82 on:** 07 Dec 2007, 18:26 »

Put on some Bosstones, some RBF, some Specials, maybe some early Aquabats. Maybe one or two of Sublime's ska tunes.

As for Streetlight, make sure he knows If And When We Rise Again, it's my favorite song by them. Hell, just give him the entire Everything Goes Numb album.

valley_parade · « **Reply #83 on:** 08 Dec 2007, 08:36 »

If you're gonna use an Aquabats song, gotta go with Super Rad!.

Blank_Jebus · « **Reply #84 on:** 09 Dec 2007, 20:02 »

some good welcome to ska songs would be....

Two Tone Army - The Toasters
There's a metalhead in the parking lot - Slapstick
Trapped like rats in myer's flats - Slow Gherkin
Please - The Hippos
Lamont's Lament - Catch 22
Noise Complaint - Big D and the Kids Table
Radio - Potshot
Beer - Reel Big Fish
Plan B - The Impossibles

that's a a few that are good...there are more...but a must have on a ska mix

Gryff · « **Reply #85 on:** 10 Dec 2007, 21:37 »

Why do ska bands have such terrible names?

The Viz · « **Reply #86 on:** 11 Dec 2007, 13:56 »

Every band of every genre has had a terrible name. Ever.

Though, at least none of them have names that sound like epitaphs (unlike a certain other scene).

Scandanavian War Machine · « **Reply #87 on:** 11 Dec 2007, 14:08 »

about once a week or so i open this thread to see if it's gotten any better, only to be disapointed again and again.

i did like the part where someone mentioned Leftover Crack, though.

Scandanavian War Machine · « **Reply #88 on:** 11 Dec 2007, 14:45 »

oh i agree. this thread is doing it's job well. i just keep thinking "hey, maybe there'll be something good in there this time" and there never is. it's not that i don't like ska to some extent (i do) but for some reason this thread just reads extremely silly to me.

The Viz · « **Reply #89 on:** 11 Dec 2007, 14:48 »

Would you like me to discuss the music theory behind the horn arrangements on Streetlight Manifesto's new album? Because I could, but it wouldn't make for good conversation on an indie rock forum.

Jackie Blue · « **Reply #90 on:** 11 Dec 2007, 15:04 »

This isn't an indie rock forum.

Inlander · « **Reply #91 on:** 11 Dec 2007, 17:47 »

Man, fuck all you "ska sucks" people. I'm going to keep bombarding you with cheaply YouTube "videos" until you fucking get it.

Here is Toots & the Maytal's "Sweet and Dandy". Don't waste it, fuckers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP2-5__wpkY

StaedlerMars · « **Reply #92 on:** 12 Dec 2007, 15:28 »

Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels is all the justification Ska needs for existence.

Blank_Jebus · « **Reply #93 on:** 13 Dec 2007, 09:58 »

i would like to know the whole streetlgiht manifesto horn layout for the album...it would making listening to it a whole new experience

Bishop138 · « **Reply #94 on:** 16 Dec 2007, 01:22 »

The night before last I went to a ska show. I can't remember the name of the Sydney band, but they were fairly decent. The rest of the line up was: Streetlight Manifesto, Less Than Jake and Reel Big Fish.

It was pretty awesome, a good show. It wasn't one of those "Yeah, these guys playing now are alright, but I'm really waiting for such and such." it was more along the lines of each band put on a great show and it was fun to see each of them.

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Author Topic: Ska? (Read 25906 times)

asyluman

asyluman

The Viz

r2knee2

The Viz

The Viz

The Viz

The Viz

Green Gorgon

The Viz

brady

Blank_Jebus

yossarian07

The Viz

r2knee2

Blank_Jebus

r2knee2

The Viz

Blank_Jebus

The Viz

The Viz

Blank_Jebus