Taking Sides: 3rd Wave Ska vs. Pop/Punk

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Okay. So for whatever reason, "Spiderwebs" by No Doubt has been coming back into rotation on the radio. And I am enjoying it, as I did at the time. So the question here is, was any of the 3rd wave ska worth shaking a stick at, compared to the the non-ska novelty pop/punk of the time? Were they both crap? Can anything be rescued? At the time, the ska kidz were three years younger than me, and I was all about hardcore punk. Because those were the two choices. In retrospect, I think that No Doubt had moments of goodness, that Reel Big Fish's "Sell Out" was a great anthem. and that The Bosstones' "Impression That I Get" was r0x0r, but their normal lead singer bit. Rancid were cute. Goldfinger, Buck-O-Nine, and uh, Skanking Pickle, could all jump off a cliff. But the collective output tops Offspring stuff by a mile. And, of course, Sublime should have stayed dead.

― Sterling Clover, Wednesday, 30 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

This is another giant reminisce for me and the glory daze of KJEE, back when it was really, REALLY good, and you could always hear something new there.

The 3rd Wave of Ska was really a piddly bunch of crap as far as I'm concerned -- with the exception of No Doubt (which aren't as good as they used to be since Gwen stopped jumping around like a little blonde firecracker), none of the bands have had any staying power, even as I've been remembering Sell Out quite a bit recently.

Sublime was an unfortunate mess and a great mistake.

But look at what's still out there: NOFX and all the fucks on Fat Wreck still exist, and near as I've heard, still make the cycle down in So. Cal, and all the 9th grade skateboarders still have Pennywise patches on their backpacks. Lookout had its shining moments and the Great Exodus wherein all bands left to the Majors and were no longer welcome at any street-cred-required-for-admittance-parties. I mean, I brought back "...And Out Came The Wolves" last time I went home and it's still as fresh as the day I first heard.

So what am I trying to say? It's just another period ripe with one-hit wonders, and all the bands that were worth something faded into nostolgia.

P.S. Remember "Mabel"?

― JM, Wednesday, 30 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

mabel? she's the bomb!..i played that song dead.

― Kevin Enas, Wednesday, 30 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

No. I don't remember.

― Sterling Clover, Wednesday, 30 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Really? Kevin clearly remembers. It sucks I still think Mabel she's the bomb.

― JM, Thursday, 31 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

oh, ska-punk is a great idea in theory but PRACTICALLY it results in crappy records more often than not. I've noticed that ska is the kind of music that should be listened only when played live in front of a noisy audience...

This reminds me that it has been a while since I last bought a punk/hardcore/ska cd. Any suggestions?

Also: for some odd reason we've got several pretty good ska-punk bands here in Italy... You should be able to find something by "Shandon" (their latest album is called "fetish" and is sung partly in english... they've got a brilliant cover of Karma Chamaleon on it...).

― Simone, Thursday, 31 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

3rd wave ska (nu-ska?) and pop-punk/kiddiepunk are two of my least favourite genres, and I've never heard anything I didn't think was 'orrible from that lot. I'm only posting to suggest that someone do a novelty-ska cover of "Wonderwall" by oasis, because that would amuse me mightily.

x0x0

― Norman Fay, Thursday, 31 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'm a little sad that this thread died as quickly as it did, actually...

― JM, Sunday, 3 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

heard the ska-punk version of 'going to ibiza' by UNCLE BRIAN. The best British band are ZEN BASEBALLBAT - whose 'an ode to purple ackey' is ska by punx rather than ska-punk.

― steppin' racer, Sunday, 3 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

one year passes...

ignore the email addy. its old. as to sublime, they were awesome. i dont care what other people think. and in case you havent figured it out the entire idea of punk was to be different and have people accept those differences. and if they didnt wed say "fuck them". well now look whats happened. weve got hardcore punkers and ska fucks all around the world claiming this band and this band suck and so and so is better. well if you want to say "fuck them" to people who wont accept you. then how about a fuck you to you

― megan elslip, Wednesday, 5 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Fucking fuck.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 5 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

eighteen years pass...

both of these genres were widely reviled by hipsters in 2001, but 90s style pop-punk is, afaict, cool now- will the ska-punk of the same era be redeemed? has it been already? I only ever hear about it as a joke whereas blink-182 are basically classic rock now

― Left, Saturday, 28 November 2020 05:26 (five years ago)

a lot of my friends were into this stuff in the 90's. Thought it was pretty funny how blatantly stuff like Screeching Weasel or The Queers pandered to a juvenile audience. The lyrics would be like, "I hate doing my homework, I hate mowing the lawn". Uh. How old are you supposed to be? It was targeted kids' music, like Raffi or The Wiggles but for petulant 12-year-olds.

Compared to that "sellouts" like Green Day were much more believable.

― Deflatormouse, Monday, 30 November 2020 02:32 (five years ago)

The rest of No Doubt I barely remember, but was there ever any question that "Spiderwebs" rules? Great then, great now. The way Stefani nails "A likely story" is the best application of her weird voice ever.

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Monday, 30 November 2020 03:11 (five years ago)

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