The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day: SKApril
Reel Big Fish, "Sell Out" from Turn the Radio Off (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: The very same night my eyes & ears were opened to The Mighty Mighty Bosstones & "The Impression That I Get" I also saw the music video for "Sell Out" by a band that was theretofore completely unknown to me, Reel Big Fish, "the R.B.F." No one who has heard the opening brassy bombast of "Sell Out" can ever forget it, & fourteen years later that song is never too far from the front of my mind. So different from the Bosstones, Reel Big Fish opened up a world I'd never even imagined existed: the vibrant southern California ska scene. Soon "the L.B.C." was easily recognizable as a reference to Long Beach, California, & band after band after band followed R.B.F. out of SoCal onto the burgeoning national ska scene. So many posers liked ska in those days, but since we were all so new to it there was no way to tell whose love was genuine & who was following the crowd; we couldn't even know that ourselves until the third wave of ska had crested & the tide receded. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones have a very idiosyncratic sound; none of my friends, not even my fellow "ska kids" (we were kids way back then), have ever liked them as I do. Reel Big Fish have a distinctive sound all their own, but they are similar enough to many other bands that they were the gateway into the wider world of ska, specifically ska-punk. "The Impression That I Get" & "Sell Out," both in one night. What were the odds? (Yes, I know, one hundred per cent [100%], but you know what I meant.)