TOTW: The Mighty Mighty Bosstones_ Chasing The Sun Away

Over the last week there’s been a heatwave over Britain. And with it, a collection of painting chores I needed to do outside the house.

Ska punk was an obvious choice to go to. I had this track come to mind so I put on the album, “Jacknife to A Swa” by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and gave the whole thing a listen.

It’s been a while since I listened to much of this genre. It was probably the first genre I truly got into as a teenager, when music became something I was more conscious of and could afford.

It started with hearing the track “Superman” by “Goldfinger” in the Tony Hawks Pro Skater game. As someone who played trombone throughout my youth, the idea of blending brass with the current alternative mainstay genre of Pop Punk was highly alluring. I quickly got into other bands in the genre, and throughout that time would go to HMV and sift through their small batch of records labelled [SKA/PUNK].

It was the first genre of music I truly took ownership of. It nurtured an obsession with studying, and investigating music; buying records purely on their covers and the genre and finding gems in the rough.

Times have changed and the internet has made accessing music easier, and has also far widened the pool to search in. But it was those teenage years spent in record stores, flicking through ska punk cds, that honed the skills and passion I now have.

During those years “The Mighty Mighty Bosstones” were a band that were obviously on my radar as one of the progenitors of the genre, but they never became a mainstay of my listening habits. However, as time has progressed and my taste in music has slightly matured, the bands that were my favourites in my teens have started to feel the oposite.

Listening to “Jacknife To A Swan” in the sun with paintbush in hand brought back memories of disappointment with the record on first listen that no longer make sense to me nearly a decade later. “How could I have been so wrong back then,” I thought to myself, as track after track of great music that I rememberd inside out came out of my headphones. I think quite simply this album was just a little too well made for my younger self and came out in the burnout phase of my love with the genre.

Today It sounds like a very mature vesion of both Ska, punk and its surrounding genre. It had me fistpumping and dancing my way through the sunshine, untill the painting was finished with ease.

I’m glad “Chasing The Sun Away” made me return to this record and enjoy it with a fresh take.

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