meshing different styles of music, such as metal, rap, funk, ska and to some extent, reggae, takes a
lot of ingenuity, originality and a lot of sleepless nights. while some of the newer bands are
realizing that this kind of style is addictive, as well as media catch, bands who began the trend
like the mighty mighty bosstones and fishbone hide in the shadows and make their appearance in front
of those people, who already know of them or to the drunken passers-by. while the mighty mighty
bosstones have maintained their hardcore ska/ funk fusion attack, fishbone has metamorphosed into an
even more diverse and interesting combination of styles that allures their fans and defies the laws
of music.
the scales, which make fishbone up formed with a nucleus, created around john norwood fisher (bass),
fish (drums), kendall rey jones (guitars), christopher gordon dowd (vocals, trumpet), angelo
christopher moore (vocals, saxophone) and walter adam kibby ii (trumpets). these six youths from the
california area, each brought their affinity for the reggae/ska/funk fusion into the core of fishbone
in early 1984. (thank god they’re black, ‘cause a bunch of white guys tryin’ to do this kind of thing
would look and sound funny. don’t ‘cha think?) they broke through in 1985 with their debut release,
the ep ‘fishbone.’ this mini-album featured their rhythmic drums, jazzy saxophones and trumpets,
twiddly guitars, funky bass lines and jazz-style vocals with the affectionately evident eighties
element on “ugly,” “lyin’ ass bitch” and a classic of theirs, “party at ground zero.” (it seems like
you can tell what is and isn’t an early eighties album, because they all have this upbeat attitude to
them.)
after this, they came back with their ‘in your face’ release, which features more of their crazy
eighties style music on “when problems arise,” “in the air,” “i wish i had a date” and “’simon says’
the kingpin.” then they released ‘truth and soul’ the following year, which had the same style
elements on “ma and pa,” “mighty long way” and another classic of theirs, “bonin’ in the boneyard.”
both these releases would show a side of fishbone before the ‘eighties switch.’ the ‘eighties switch’
is the period, where all bands realized a need for a louder, looser attack that was less intricate and
more powerful. before this time, the eighties was littered by keyboards, symphonies, cheesy dance
songs and rhythms in the mainstream. although they were never anywhere close to being a cheesy
eighties love song/ballad outfit, there was a marked change between this release and the following one.
fishbone was one of the first to change their style up and this is when their fanbase began to grow.
the old was good, but the new was even better.
with fishbone’s 1989 release, ‘the reality of my surroundings,’ they began to experience the true rock
experience, as their new public visibility was guised in the form of videos and tours with the red hot
chili peppers and the defunkt, jane’s addiction, to name a few. while the brass instruments were still
mightily present, there was a greater presence of guitar work, due to addition of john bigham. this
isn’t to say that they lost their good-vibe-giving feeling, because they definitely did not. (“naz-tee
may’en,” “pressure,” “housework,” etc...) their upbeat rhythms make plenty of appearances on this album,
but it make up all the material as it did in the past. the lyrics on this release seem more focused than
previous material and somewhat politically aimed as the band deals with many issues like ignorance, drugs,
war, politics, etc... they proceed to dole ass whoopin’s on “fight the youth,” “so many millions,”
“everyday sunshine” and “sunless saturday,” as well as the many interludes, which they recorded live.
1992 saw fishbone rise to an even higher point in their career. their lengthy-titled release, ‘give a
monkey a brain... and he’ll swear he’s the center of the universe’ was heavily guitar influenced. the
album catapulted the band to become one of the spotlit highlights of lollapalooza ‘93, with rage against
the machine, front 242, primus, alice in chains, tool, etc... their exposure was all over and their fan
base began to pulsate and continuously grow by the day. this album is more playful than the last album,
where much of the material is serious and harder-edged. there are songs like “black flowers,” “servitude”
and “end the reign,” which deal with serious issues, but the band strays slightly back to the original
style, lyrically. songs like “swim,” “the warmth of your breath” and “drunk skitzko” exemplify their
musically heavy, but lyrically slap-happy attitude with lines like “my mom’s a bitch, my cuzz is a fuck
up/ my dad’s a drunk, my mom’s a skitzko.” there are songs, which return to the old school, which are
lyrically and musically happy and crazy like “properties of propaganda (fuk this shit on up),” “lemon
meringue,” “unyielding conditioning” and “nuttmegalomaniac.”
after a long hiatus from the music scene and a slightly trimmed down line-up, fishbone has finally returned
with their newest release, aptly titled ‘chim chim’s badass revenge.’ the cover shows a cartoon monkey
with a space helmet, standing on a tnt trigger and the fuse leading towards earth and a large cloud hovering
over it. there are many new things for the fishbone fan on this release. firstly, the release of this
album went virtually unknown, because they are no longer on columbia records, which was fishbone’s home
until now. they are now being released by the smaller underground label, rowdy records. secondly, they
have lost two of their members, christopher dowd, who contributed to the vocals on most of the slower, more
serious songs and brass work and kendall rey jones who helped with the guitars. the release takes fishbone
back in time. the lyrics and subject matters behind the album are completely insane and ‘nuttsacreligious.’
the title, which was inspired by the monkey on the hit tv show, ‘speed racer,’ is only part of the reason.
they seem to be overly intrigued and obsessed with monkeys, shit, nuts and things bearing reference or
resemblance towards it. the inside cover has a headline, which reads “1000 lb. nut lands in back yard” and
on the other side of it, there is a female monkey, bearing a striking resemblance to dionne warwick and her
‘psychotic friends nuttwerk.’
they open the album with an “intro,” in which the band’s intentions and warnings are signaled to the
listeners by a loud alarm and a radio announcer: “chim chim’s badass revenge equals the imaginative mind that
enables us to resist the strategies of containment brought on to us by political thunder whores/ for it is
with these words and the spirit of chim chim’s badass theory of religiosity that we bring you the only
antidote that humanity will ever know; fishbone.” the song leads directly into the title track. angelo
moore (vox, saxophones), walter kibby ii (vox, trumpets), norwood fisher (bass), john bigham (guitars) and
phil d. fish (drums) attack with their full force as angelo chants “all that primate thinkin’, broke off
leg and elbow/ wit one mega nut bomb, you got blowin’ up up and away.” the rest of the band creates a hard-
edged background with funk-ass bass rhythms. the next song is the first song, which entirely concerns itself
with one main entity; that being the ideology known to man as shit!! “in the cube” is a slow song, which
progresses for eight minutes with ska rhythms and the witty-as-a-harvard-professor lyrics like “deep in the
toilet, doo deep doo/ but livin’ in shit with shit and bein’ all about shit ain’t my style/ so up to the
front i go, past the ass rim/ i can find peace and tranquillity amongst the peanuts and shit/ back down i
go, to the toilet bowl.”
“beergut” is a faster-paced, punk style song with mucho de brass work. while fishbone laces it up musically
with their original style, angelo proceeds to enlighten the listener of a common drunk: “beergut/ gettin’ in
the way of things/ no longer can he see his nuts/ his gut is filled with heineken 40 ounce chug-a-lugs of old
english, saint ides budweiser, mickey’s big mouth.” fishbone breaks it up with the informational “interlude
1.” brass and some other elements cloud the background as angelo (‘nuttsactified’) lists the members of the
band’s and their respective occupations. then he proceeds to inform the trials and tribulations of chim chim
for the past couple of years: “... insensitive techniques of torture only a monkey, infected with ebola zaire
would be subject to/ chim chim was determined to expand past the spandex-like, confines of a horrifying,
contractual nuttlock.” the song leads into the rock-influenced “psychologically overcast.” busta rhymez
makes a cameo appearance in the middle section with an inspiring rap to break up the flow.
another party down style song appears in the form of “alcoholic.” the song is ska-style, but slow during the
verse section and speeds up during the chorus area. norwood plays a loud funky bass and john plucks lightly at
the guitar as the band reads its tail of john q. alcoholic: “oh, alcoholic/ real good liquor/ make you clumsy/
make you throw up/ scotch and 800/ burn the spaghetti.” the happy, ska-induced “love...hate” follows. as
angelo sings in his sweetest voice, the band plays with a twiddly guitar dominated background. they break up
the rhythms with a bridge from slow to fast beats with “interlude 2.” they continue to tell chim chim’s tale:
“a nutsactor of five extraordinary sperm, searching simultaneously for the eggsac.” the bridge from the slower
songs to the faster songs is crossed into the very fast, punk-style, one-minute long “riot.” fishbone blow
through this song and spew forth fury: “when you ain’t got shit, make you wanna loot shit/ kill whitey/ we
burned your fuckin’ store up/ and at this point, you know we don’t give a fuck.” they continue their attack
on another affectionately-held monkey entity. fishbone plug away throughout “monkey dick.” the lyrics go like
this: “sitting in a cage all day long/ smelling monkey nutts, boy the odors strong/ leave ya in a pile of urine
jelly walls/ my nutts, they itch rott/ my dick, it burn hott.” the background is dominated by fast drum beats
and quick-paced guitar strums and variously placed brass works.
the next song is “sourpuss,” in which they slow down. it’s a more ska-influenced song, with less crunchy guitar
work and more rhythmic strums and loud brass stylin’. they return for one more quick, fast attack on “rock star.”
the song is led by fast drums, fast guitars and everything fast. the song deals with the life and aspirations of
being a rock star: “i wanted to like bootsy, dr. funkenstein or jimi the rock star/ everywhere i look, white rock
star/ break a window, smash a t.v./ get real drunk, fuck, fuck, fuck/ wreck you hotel room/ catch a lear jet/ stay
in debt/ shoot up some heroin, do some cocaine/ smash your guitar/ with a short gun to your brain, for the price
of fame like kurt cobain.” they slow it down with “pre nut” which is like an ‘alternative’ gospel attempt. the
song mainly serves as a introduction to the last song, the lengthy “fight for nutmeg.” the song is a combination
of everything from this album and their career. it has loud bass lines, semi-crunchy guitar riffs, great drum
work, jazzy big band like brass work and angelo and walter’s beautiful voice throughout this masterpiece: “never
givin’ up/ got to fuck up/ want to locc up/ before i smoke up/ to get your shit through, you want peace/ fight for
nutmeg.”
this is a great album and a worthy follow-up to ‘give a monkey a brain...’ although its not as guitar-oriented,
like their last album, guitar-orientation was never their original basis for sound. this is closer to the old
sound, while it explores new territory at the same time. it’s a shame that this hasn’t gotten the kind of
exposure that fuckin’ metallica, alanis morissette, smashing pumpkins or presidents of the united states of
america have. this kicks all of their asses combined. it’s a party on cd, pop it in and you’re ready to roll.
fishbone shows their true heart and soul on “intro,” “chim chim’s badass revenge,” “beergut,” “interlude 1,”
“alcoholic,” “interlude 2,” “riot,” “monkey dick,” “rock star” and “fight for nutmeg.” angelo and the boys have
cooked up some good time for all to take part in and enjoy. it’s fun, exciting and the mega nutbomb!!
experience more aural extascy
show that you were here,
or
what everyone else is raving about.
look through the fishbone discography at 
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