Showing posts with label angelo moore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label angelo moore. Show all posts
Friday, April 3, 2026
Fishbone
My Fishbone profile, including new interviews with Angelo Moore and Christopher Dowd, is up at The Aquarian.
Sunday, March 2, 2014
Fishbone, "Freddie's Dead"
Angelo Moore, what were you thinking? When a woman took Fishbone to court this year for breaking her skull and collarbone during one of Moore's stage dives at a 2010 show, the lead singer apparently told the court that he doesn't warn the crowd because "people want to be on the edge when they go to a Fishbone show," and that ambulances get called to Fishbone shows "every few months." The judge has now ordered the band to pay $1.4 in damages, which made me think of the scene in Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone where present-day Moore moves back in with his mom because he can't afford his own home in his 40s. As foolish as his actions were, and as awful as it is for the plaintiff, I hate to think of how long it's going to take the band to pay her back. Three decades of credibility apparently doesn't buy you anything.
They wrote some great songs and are excellent musicians, but every fan with a pulse will tell you that Fishbone's expertise is in performing. No surprise then, that their best song is a cover, a punk remake of Curtis Mayfield's Super Fly classic (and the inspiration for Nightmare on Elm Street 6). Fishbone is often credited with connecting punk with soul, and by reaching back to Mayfield they showed how closely the two were already linked by reality-based lyrics and anthemic choruses. Channeling their live energy and ditching the silliness of their earlier albums, "Freddie's Dead" finally gave Fishbone the song that they deserved.
They wrote some great songs and are excellent musicians, but every fan with a pulse will tell you that Fishbone's expertise is in performing. No surprise then, that their best song is a cover, a punk remake of Curtis Mayfield's Super Fly classic (and the inspiration for Nightmare on Elm Street 6). Fishbone is often credited with connecting punk with soul, and by reaching back to Mayfield they showed how closely the two were already linked by reality-based lyrics and anthemic choruses. Channeling their live energy and ditching the silliness of their earlier albums, "Freddie's Dead" finally gave Fishbone the song that they deserved.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Song of the Day: Fishbone, "Sunless Saturday"
No one still needs to learn that happy music isn't written by happy people. Yet there's something shocking about all the misery in Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone, the Laurence Fishburne-narrated documentary about the world's most transcendent ska band.
Onstage, Fishbone are a jubilant blast of acrobatics, stage dives and and singalongs, sons of James Brown and fathers of Andrew W.K. Watching peers (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Primus) and followers (Sublime, No Doubt) find the success that eludes Fishbone is sad, but seeing middle-aged Angelo Moore move back in with his mom, bassist Norwood Fisher charged with kidnapping the band's Rapture-pushing guitarist and nearly-empty record store signings for a band that once performed on SNL is downright disheartening. It's funny to watch no one show up to an Anvil show, but only because Anvil got a second chance.
Before Kendall Jones started believing that his bandmates were demons, he wrote one of Fishbone's best songs, "Sunless Saturday."
Fishbone were on a major label (but not for much longer) and had the budget to get Spike Lee to direct their music video. To Lee's credit, it catches some of the frenzied excitement of a Fishbone show without ever looking like a concert movie.
"Sunless Saturday" is heavy, in the way that something with horns and major key progressions can still sound like helter skelter. The melody's controlled chaos makes me wonder how the band lasted ten years before someone went insane.
It's isn't punk, funk, metal or ska--Wikipedia calls it "alternative," which confirms that no one really knew what to do with Fishbone. Everyday Sunshine interviewees argue that they "were too black," "weren't black enough," "were too ahead of their time" or "should have been less of a democracy," the latter point being the only one that Fishbone's records back up. But everyone seems to agree on "Sunless Saturday."
Onstage, Fishbone are a jubilant blast of acrobatics, stage dives and and singalongs, sons of James Brown and fathers of Andrew W.K. Watching peers (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Primus) and followers (Sublime, No Doubt) find the success that eludes Fishbone is sad, but seeing middle-aged Angelo Moore move back in with his mom, bassist Norwood Fisher charged with kidnapping the band's Rapture-pushing guitarist and nearly-empty record store signings for a band that once performed on SNL is downright disheartening. It's funny to watch no one show up to an Anvil show, but only because Anvil got a second chance.
Before Kendall Jones started believing that his bandmates were demons, he wrote one of Fishbone's best songs, "Sunless Saturday."
Fishbone were on a major label (but not for much longer) and had the budget to get Spike Lee to direct their music video. To Lee's credit, it catches some of the frenzied excitement of a Fishbone show without ever looking like a concert movie.
"Sunless Saturday" is heavy, in the way that something with horns and major key progressions can still sound like helter skelter. The melody's controlled chaos makes me wonder how the band lasted ten years before someone went insane.
It's isn't punk, funk, metal or ska--Wikipedia calls it "alternative," which confirms that no one really knew what to do with Fishbone. Everyday Sunshine interviewees argue that they "were too black," "weren't black enough," "were too ahead of their time" or "should have been less of a democracy," the latter point being the only one that Fishbone's records back up. But everyone seems to agree on "Sunless Saturday."
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