For
me ska music is a little like I imagine talking to Lindsay Lohan might be.
She looks good in a superficial sense and she can hold a conversation
so long as it doesn’t extend beyond how she spent last night. But I
get the impression that should I ask her about current events or her
taste in art her brain might dribble through her ears. Take The Cat
Empire song posted here. Energetic drums and a bright brass section
and ten seconds in the audience is on its feet. Then the singer
starts describing the approach of a woman he feels like fucking,
alternating between fantasising about her in the third person and
flirting with her in the second. Noooooo. Of course I should point
out that it isn’t songs about lust in particular that I object to.
Elvis Costello has penned some superb tracks on the topic. Instead
it’s the ska insistence on keeping to the shallow end of the pool.
Same thing applies to Madness. Our house. In the middle of our
street. Our house. Death. Death to it all. Life is too short for
things that don’t challenge us.
