Cobb

Ahhh . . . Monk. I love his music, and when I had that cassette tape player I would play the tapes over and over again. I must check around on the iTunes store and see if there's any of his classics there . . . .

FISHBOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE! I always thought they were victims of the "punk-rock-funk-ska where do we play these guys?" industry mentality. But man were they solid. Haven't kept up with them of late, but my brother and I caught them at a local music festival in '96 or '97 (phenomenal fest that included Fishbone, George Clinton, Dave Mathews, Alman Bros, Shawn Colvin and capped off by Van Morrison!) and they were still banging.

The whole topic of Black Rock could be a blog unto itself. I'm not an historian, but early rock (that had a firm basis in the blues) was pretty well represented by black artists (Chuck Berry, Little Richard, all those doo-wopers), but as it grew beyond the niche into mainstream the blacks seemed to either migrate or be pushed off into soul or R&B. With a few notable exceptions, though, (Jimi Hendrix, Living Color, Fishbone, 24/7 Spyz, Lenny Kravitz) the black presence in straight ahead rock & roll for the last 30 years has been comparatively minor. An interesting side effect of the concentration of blacks in the soul and R&B genre, though, is the predominance of black influence on most popular music today.

Love fishbone ever since "Party at Ground Zero" I have the 12" of that.

If you want to see something mad. Rent "Back to the Beach" with Annet Funacello, they Appear in there as a beach band.

I also have had a soft spot for ICE-T rock band Body Count. They had a great show.

And of course I love all SKA

Interesting site, man. glad I stumbled accross it. i''l be back to read more. keep up the work!

Ah, Fishbone.... Now you're taking me back.

I just dug up my Living Colour CDs the other day. Vernon Reid is the bomb. What happened to them?

Vernon did this and that. I hear he's got a new project or just did one. He's chillin' in New York.

When I found Fishbone as a college freshman (89) everything suddenly clicked. Yes, that rage and that groove and the aaaaaaaaahhhhhh that Angelo brought down on you. And I think the smooth was there too, but it was a certain kind of smooth that you could only get to through the mosh. The revelation to me about the band was that here was someone else listening to music from all over the place but they were going further becausse they were throwing it all into the Fishbone machine, mixing in a bit of social commentary and some existential angst and making something completely theirs.
I kept dying for them to break through. I think they were just too early to their own party. By the time the world caught up -I think the post-grunge sound of the mid-90's owed everything and it's left arm to Fishbone, though often done poorly - the band was fracturing (One guy got lured into a cult, then Norwood got arrested trying to kidnap him back etc.) and unable to seize their moment.

Jeff!
Damn man it's been a while. I must have seen Fishbone live 3 or 4 times. Once at Ackerman at UCLA, once at one of the almost greatest concerts of all time - the first Black Rock Coalition Concert (Fishbone, Public Enemy, Stetsasonic, Living Colour) at the Santa Monica Civic (where I got my reputation for moshing in a tie and jacket), and once or twice at Al's Bar in downtown LA. Oh yeah and they did come to CSUN near the beginning when they just had one album out somewhere around 84.

I remember Angelo from before the band days when he was a poplocker on Hollywood Blvd. He was always totally unleashed. My brother went to Audubon Jr High with some other band members.

Fishbone has always represented to me, all of the power and energy that lay under the surface. See, Angelo was from the Dons, which at the time was the single most affluent black neighborhood in the country, more recently surpassed by PG County in Maryland. He busted right through it all, completely uncompromised. So when they finally came with it all on the 'Monkey' album it was no surprise that they could articulate.

Nuttmeg is, I think, their greatest song in every way. They went out at the top.

You're committing heresy, bro :). Living Colour, not Fishbone, is **the** black rock & roll band. They had rock, they had soul, they highlighted black community life, and you can dance to their stuff.

Was never a Fishbone fan, although I though they had talent. I actually fell asleep - yes, I dozed off - at one of their concerts because they were too soft for me.

'These are the voices of modern industry...'

My exposure to Fishbone dates back to the mid-80s when I was an announcer at an 'alternative rock' station. (The time was just before alt-rock stations were co-opted by the likes of Clear Channel, et al..) I came across them by a fluke; I have always been heavily into P-Funk and somehow I caught them as an adjunct to a George Clinton performance. They had a rawness... an energy that you just couldn't hate on, even though their aesthetics could be found disorienting.

It used to slay me that Whiteys looked upon punk and metal from Black artists as somehow unauthentic, when almost every single one of their guitar God/icons cited Black blues artists like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf as inspiration. If you've ever heard Clapton and others speak about Hendrix, you'd swear the brother turned water into wine. At another station I worked in the early 80s, I watched in amusement as White dudes hailed Prince's 'Little Red Corvette' as A Discovery, only for me to pop his bubble with Prince cuts from years earlier.

I agree with the other author on Living Colour. I'd pay to see them today. Fishbone is kind of a novelty by comparison. There was also a P-Funk offshoot called Xavion. I'd state Funkadelic is the mother (and mutha) of all these groups as their work transcends any kind of description you can conjure.

I have been back-cataloging Monk of late, but have owned the 'Straight No Chaser' tape for years. I don't even have an appropriate description for him. Recently, I caught the segment of Ken Burns' 'Jazz' that featured Monk, Miles Davis and Bird and sat absolutely slackjawed.

Wait a minute here. Y'all are both off the edge. Corey can't hold a candle to Angelo as a front man although he can sing better. Yes Vernon is bad on guitar but Fish rules drums.

Fishbone a novelty act? You've got to be completely unfamiliar with Chim Chim and half their work. I mean Living Colour recycled all their stuff after Stain for years, and some of their serious lyrics are just insipid. Now I give them credit for putting Doug Wimbish into the lineup, but they really fell off.

As for Fishbone being soft, you really got to be kidding me. Here are the lyrics to Riot, which is, as far as I know the only black group to record a song relating to the LA Riots other than Ice Cube.

When you ain't got shit
Make you want to loot shit !
When ya fuckin' fed up
Dam sure Gonna shoot shit !
Listen to the government
They don't know what to tell you
Listen to um white man
Your governments failing us !

Riot Riot

Yea we burn your fuckin' store up
At this point you know we don't give a fuck
What the hell you expect anyway
Treat your customer crazy
They gonna act crazy
Look at that shit smolder (X2)

Riot Riot

Thanks for reminding me. Saw the 'Bone in Raleigh in like '85-86 with Flat Duo Jets opening. Slamming (wasn't moshing then) with my skinny silver lame' tie and other fashion errors. The ladies in the house were very friendly and liked to get on stage about halfway through.

"This is not a chawwade!"

Monk I discovered through Hal Willner--he did this tribute album on A&M ("That's The Way I Feel Now") that sold about six copes and was an outstanding intro. Shortly afterward saw "Straight No Chaser" on duty on the submarine and was hooked. Gooood stuff.

Aiight, I'm admitting my ignorance. What's a good Fishbone starter kit?

To this date, Fishbone is still alive and well. Though they have gone through a few lineup changes (but which band 20+ years old hasn't?), theyre still true to their spirit. Follow their recent activity on http://www.fishbonelive.org/

Good starter kit? their latest Sony best of (the essential Fishbone, on Columbia/Legacy) then, dig in the different albums. the post 95 albums certainly have a more heavy edge. Their latest album (Live at the Temple Bar and More) is a great effort, but suffers from poor production, for the unaware ear.