Is Ska Dead?

During the mid to late 90’s, after almost every teenager was through being angry at the world (thanks to the grunge movement fading away), the movie Clueless helped expose an old genre of music, but new to the mainstream and most of the American culture, otherwise known as the up-beat genre of SKA. It had the pop and alternative style that American kids enjoyed, but with the sounds of a horn, trumpet, trombone and other brass instruments that made it different from other types of music.

The first bands to get the push into the mainstream (thanks to Clueless), were No Doubt (yes, No Doubt was and will always be a SKA band) and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. First came No Doubt’s “I’m Just A Girl”, which really didn’t display the SKA genre at its fullest, but it still got the genre out to a good start to the mainstream audience. But the SKA push really came when Cher Horowitz (the main character in Clueless played by Alicia Silverstone) and her dance partner, Christian Stovitz, were both at a club dancing together to the Mighty Mighty Bosstones hits, “Where’d You Go” and “Someday I Suppose”, both of which were based on the SKA style with the horns and trumpets blasting in the background.

Getting the Mighty Might Bosstones on the movie Clueless was not an easy thing to do, a lot of luck was at play. Mercury Records (now defunct) obtained the soundtrack rights of the movie and wanted to show off their newest band signing, which was the Bosstones. They were able to arrange the two songs to go into the movie, but Mercury thought it would be better to have the band actually playing the songs, live, in the movie. So, after some negotiations and weight being pushed around, the Bosstones were put into the movie to sing their songs.

SKA, from there on out was in the mainstream; The Bosstones went on from the Clueless movie to the main stage at the 1995 Lollapalooza tour.

The Bosstones thanked Mercury for having so much faith in them. They soon went to #1 on the Billboard charts with their new single “The Impression That I Get” off their 1997 album Let’s Face It. They later released another album, Jackknife to a Swan, on the independent label, SideOneDummy Records. After the release and tour of Jackknife to a Swan, The Bosstones went on hiatus, only to reappear in 2007 and tour again, with sizable crowd outcomes.

Reel Big Fish, another SKA band to get a push into the mainstream, with their songs being the main music for the 1998 movie, BASEketball. The song that caught the most attention was “Beer”: a song about drinking, just not to hear a girl talk and confuse the man about her feelings about him.

Reel Big Fish gained their spot into the movie BASEketball by their underground hit, “Sellout”. From there the band signed a deal with Mojo records (now a part of the Jive record family) and started touring throughout the United States.

Even though now they have only one original band member, the lead singer and guitarist, Aaron Barrett. They still continue to tour and release new albums – most recently, Were Not Happy ‘Till You’re Not Happy (2005) and independently released Monkeys for Nothin’ and Chimps For Free (2007).

Their popularity still shows during their live shows, where kids of all ages are seen singing along and dancing to their favorite RBL songs, such as “Somebody Hates Me” and “I Want Your Girlfriend to be My Girlfriend”, both off their 1998 album, Why Do We Rock So Hard? The kids from the underground music movement still sellout their well-earned money to see Reel Big Fish live, whenever they can.

One of the other SKA bands that are still around today is Less Than Jake, who also got mainstream exposure when they signed with Capitol Records in 1996. Tracks such as “I Swear It’s The Last Time” and “Gainesville Rock City” exposed the band to the mainstream world, as well as touring on the Warped Tour (along with The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Reel Big Fish).

In 2003, now on WB/Sire Records, Less Than Jake relased the album Anthem, which has been, to this date their most successful album, due to three songs that hit it big commercially, “She’s Gonna Break Soon” (which spent a couple weeks on MTV’s Total Request Live), “The Science Of Selling Yourself Short” (which spent fives weeks on the Billboard Top 40 chart), and “The Brightest Bulb Has Burned Out”.

SKA is certainly not dead; even though it may not be quite as popular in the mainstream music culture, it still thrives in the underground circles. People, who enjoy SKA, remain loyal to it. It might not have another revival into the mainstream, like it did in the late 90’s, but it will continue to survive, with or without help from the mainstream commercial audience.