So i disagree with many of the contentions Adam Liebling makes in his tongue in cheek account of the downfall of the american ska scene.



1. The supporting of crappy local bands

As Cervantes once said, greed is the root of all evil. And greed in the ska scene took two forms: kids who couldn't get enough of the ska, and young crappy bands who were happy to oblige. The former couldn't be happy with the Sublimes and Leftover Cracks of the world who were already producing excellent ska, so they generated a demand for more. Bands popped up to fill that demand and line their pockets… only problem was that they sucked. Yet ska kids continued to support them in their greedy hunger, and this glut continued until 99% of ska sucked. That much concentrated suckage was one of the largest contributions to the downfall of the music.



Okay, Yeah Cousin Oliver were the worst thing to happen to Music since Collective Soul, but the problem wasn't really the glut as much as it was the commodification and exploitation of a nearly defunct style of jamaican popular music by American labels, major and minor. I include moon in this. Some of the stuff they put out was total garbage.



3. Preferring swing and rockabilly over ska

And many ska fans left because they became seduced by the swing and rockabilly revival movements. Instead of keeping one foot planted in the ska scene, they all ran full steam into a new scene, burning bridges behind them. And from what I hear, those wagon jumpers are now mainly listening to emo and Liz Phair.



Personally, i went through a phase where all i was listening to was Charles Mingus and Miles Davis. but my involvement and vantage point were somewhat different than others, cause i actually volunteered to stand behind a counter and sell crap like Cousin Oliver to people without getting paid. But there was a long time after i quit to go do homework (and go on a date with someone 8 hours of work on saturday really eats up your weekend when you structure your evening around Xena: Warrior Princess) - well, really after that october when everyone either got fired or quit in disgust, when i could barely listen to anything with a syncopated upbeat without hurling. Petty justifications aside, i think the mass exodus of folks from the ska scene had a lot to do with burnout - and the collapse of just about every band i can think of seems to support this hypothesis.



5. The splintering of ska

One day, ska is Less Then Jake, Bosstones, and No Doubt (though some would argue that last one - but their return to ska on their latest "Rock Steady" should remove any "doubts!") The next day, you have ska-funk, ska-jazz, ska-this, ska-that. Now, I'm not saying that the evolution of music is bad, but I don't believe the scene was mature enough to handle it. Immediately, bickering sprung up over which type of ska was better. Coastal wars were the norm. Ska-jazz especially turned off a lot of fans: Long jams, soloing, and lengthy song durations sapped the energy and fun danceability from ska. It soon wasn't rare to see upwards of 8 musicians on stage, each taking a turn to bore the hell out of you



Disagree: this was only a problem when the bands sucked - which many of them did. Tons of so-called trad-ska bands were pretentious, mediocre musicians who disguised a lack of talent or vision with claims to authenticity and made boring, boring music which really did create kind of a glut, i guess. Still, there were as many if not more execrable third wavey pop-ska bands and ska-punk bands. Particularly from Orange County CA, Long Island and New Jersey.



6. Stealing music

A friend of mine owns a computer. One of the things he does on it is download ska music - without paying for it. I asked him why, and he replied: "I don't have the money, and I can just get the songs on the Internet." Is it any wonder that bands couldn't afford to survive, especially with upwards of eight musicians in their band?



enh. By the time i figured out how to download MP3s, everyone knew about the Noah Wildman stuff and Moon was basically on the verge of collapse anyway, and the rest of the US ska scene was in the same boat. So i don't buy this. (No pun intended.)



7. Negative behaviors

Ska fans, otherwise respectable-looking in suits and sweaters, decided to call themselves "rudeboys" and act rude to people. This turned off many, including, I'm sure, radio stations and MTV.



hehe.



8. Not crossing over into rap

While taking on many permutations, ska didn't follow metal's lead into rap (the only thing that saved metal, incidentally). Racism or just plain stupidity?



while i realize the not-quite serious nature of these questions, i just wanted to point out Critical Mass's cover of Eric B. and Rakim's "Paid in Full." Also, there was that Sugar Ray song.



10. Warped sense of quality

As previously mentioned, ska fans were rabid over crappy, local bands. But how did they feel toward the bigger, touring bands? They resented them. A backlash against the more popular ska bands, like Smashmouth and No Doubt, was fueled by ska fans' immaturity. Not wanting to share their music, and having the local bands to supply what they need, the bigger bands who were shouldering the scene fell under the weight of negative attitudes. And like Ayn Rand's Atlantis Shrugged, many of the bigger bands gave up the ska and went on to play pop music - where they could be appreciated.



Smashmouth always sucked. I think Adam's right about No Doubt though, who were pegged as sellouts when i think they were really just trying to write great pop songs. I think people were frustrated because Less Than Jake were blowing up and corporate radio was having a loud orgasm over an ahistoricized reified something called "ska" while ignoring not only the pretty well-established two tone movement in the 70s and 80s and the jamaican stuff before that. But i think indie labels were just as guilty, if nopt moreso, of reifying and marketing brand ska. It's "Atlas Shrugged," btw. Worst book ever.



For folks who are really interested in learning why the american ska scene imploded, take a look at this analysis by the same writer, which, when it came out, sent me into convulsive fits of laughter for several weeks. (Although i'm not certain folks who weren't involved in the ska revival as fans, musicians, groupies, etc would get some of the ridiculously esoteric satire in here. Anyway, it's still pretty funny six years later.