Fishbone – Swim (Official Music Video) – Click here for another funny movie.
For thirty years the Los Angeles based Fishbone has taken ska, punk, rock, funk and R&B captive to make an indomitable sound that continues to confound the industry and charm the public. Their longevity can be credited to the quality of their music and blazing performances that put them on the map before the 1985 Fishbone EP.
“Party At Ground Zero” from the EP became a ska classic and they followed it up with the full-length In Your Face in ’87 which got them a film spot in Back To The Beach and a touring spot with the Beastie Boys. The critical breakthrough came with 1988’s Truth And Soul which boasted a distinctive cover of Curtis Mayfield’s “Freddie’s Dead.” They also recorded “Rock Island Line” with Little Richard for a tribute album to Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie that same year. The Reality Of My Surroundings came out in ’91 and became their biggest success with an hour long video that was a survey of each bandmember’s personality and the song “Sunless Saturday” got a Spike Lee directed video. Give A Monkey A Brain And He’ll Swear He’s The Center Of The Universe from ’93 was their last triumph as a solid unit because Kendall Jones and John Norwood Fisher left the band as a result of unresolved mental issues. “Swim” was the first single from that album and the video received coverage from MTV. In ’96 Dallas Austin produced the denotative Chim Chim’s Badass Revenge with an appropriately spastic guest appearance from Busta Rhymes on “Psychologically Overcast.” There were more personnel changes with the departure of Phillip “Fish” Fisher and John Bigham who were replaced by Tracey “Spacey T” Singleton, John Mcknight and Anthony Brewster. Once regrouped they released The Psychotic Friends Nuttwerx that had a number of guest appearances with the most impressive cover of “Everybody Is A Star” featuring Rick James, Sly Stone, George Clinton, Gwen Stefani and Rose Stone on backing vocals. Two live albums followed this project with Live At The Temple Bar And More and Live In Amsterdam in 2002 and 2005. Still Stuck In Your Throat is their last studio release from 2007. Their first official concert DVD Fishbone Live came out in May of this year. Original members Walter Kibby, Kendall Jones and Christopher Dowd joined the band for a Pepsi Pass commercial this past January prompting the idea of a reunion. The band is currently working on a documentary film called Everyday Sunshine which is scheduled to be released next year.
