The French have a saying that I think loosely translates into "the things you think of saying on the stairs," when our sub conscious scripts clever retorts to something said to us in the past, instead we kinda let 'em go for whatever reason; we call 'em 'coulda woulda shouldas...whatever...When I asked MTV's Ben Lyons what he thought about groups like Fishbone and Living Colour, during a phoner he said, point-blank: "who cares?"...harsh, son! Although I was slightly taken aback (I had other questions to ask for my piece) I really didn't take offense because one man's trash is another man's treasure (and vice versa) so I didn't hold it against him...later, on some staircase or something, I got the thunderbolt on my dome when I looked into the rearview mirror: at the height of their creative powers these two groups helped show and prove to a grip of inner city kiddies (yours truly is in that lot) that there were alternative musical paths to walk which makes me want to go back in time and shriek back into that phone reciever: "Who cares? I do! But that's hindsight 20/20, now...
Fishbone (original lineup I saw for the first time in '89 back at Traxx in Charlottesville, VA: It's a Wonderful Life:
...and Living Colour (the four-piece who rocked socks off in a dingy bar in DC just before they went on the road with the Rolling Stones and blew up: Cult of Personality:
...that's my two cents on the matter...duly noted, counselor...case closed....
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I don't really know Fishbone, but I liked Living Colour.
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I like the fact that rock can be color-blind. OK, most rock bands are white, but the fact that it can be color-blind gives me hope.
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fishbone always blew my mind, especially when i was younger. the album, give a monkey a brain and he'll swear he is the center of the universe, is quite possibly on my top 10 albums of all time. this album showed their relevance even outside of the ska/party music scene that had reacted so well to party at ground zero from their self titled 1985 EP... which is an awesome track on an awesome EP. regardless, i think this is one band that does not get the credit they deserve... but then again it's ben lyons OF MTV. what can you expect about social relevance when the guy has MTV attached to his name.
man, now i have to go drag out all of my fishbone records.
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It's been so long since I listened to either of them, thanks for the reminder. Is Corey Glover still trying his hand at acting? Haven't seen him in anything since Platoon.
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etcvisitor, I was always partial to Reality of My Surroundings..."Housework"..."Behavior Control Technician"..."Pressure"...but GAMABAHSHTCOTU was pretty damn good...so was their first EP w/ all the ska bits, y'know?...unless you get a hard disc CD you can't even find "Post Coldwar Politics" anymore...? On the Ben Lyons/ MTV thingy: that's why I didn't take it too badly...at first...but then...
Sureshot, I don't think Corey's into the acting thing anymore (at least to my knowledge) I haven't seen him in anything but I did catch ILC at the House of Blues during their Collideoscope tour...stood right in front of the scoops by Vernon and took pics for a mag I was writing for at the time...he's a fuggin' God..
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I WOULDA SAID "I CARE FUGGIN BIOTCH YO!" I LOVE THOSE CATS