This week's Throwback Thursday band is a group of guys from Boston who were major players in bringing the ska/punk sound of the early-to-mid 1990's from the underground to the mainstream.

Forming in 1985 — 12 years before the major commercial success of their album, Let's Face It — "The Bosstones", as they were known then (they added the "Mighty Mighty" after learning of an a capella in the area with the same name), blended the members mutual love of ska, with elements of punk and hard rock, along with heavy metal.

Just like last week's band, Sugar Ray, I wasn't aware of The Bosstones early material until I began working at the University of Southern Indiana's campus radio station, AM820, which at the time was an Alternative Rock format when that genre of music was still considered an "alternative" to the mainstream bands of the day.

While they did have some success with early songs like "Someday I Suppose" from 1993's Don't Know How to Party, and "Pictures to Prove It" from 1994's Question the Answers, most of that success came from the handful of radio stations around the country who had jumped on the alternative bandwagon, and people already familiar with the band.

Obviously everything changed when Let's Face It hit stores in 1997 with the huge commercial success of "The Impression That I Get" which was the main reason I went and picked up a copy of the CD, which I still have today, only now it's on my iPod where it can't get scratched up.

If you listen to me on a regular basis (shameless plug in 3...2...1...weekday afternoons from 2-6pm), then you've probably noticed that I'll use the instrumental portions of "Impression" as background music when I talk. However, that's not the only track from that album I use, there's also "The Rascal King" which is track two from that album, as well as the aforementioned, "Someday I Suppose" from Don't Know How to Party.

I wouldn't consider myself a huge ska fan, but there's something about the addition of horns to rock music that I really enjoy. If you look through my iPod you'll find other ska bands in there like Less Than Jake and Reel Big Fish who also found mainstream success thanks to the Mighty Mighty Bosstones paving the way.

Fun Facts

  • The band is still together, playing shows, and putting out albums. Their most recent effort, The Magic of Youth was released in 2011.
  • Frontman Dicky Barrett also serves as the announcer for Jimmy Kimmel Live!
  • Original member, Ben Carr is simply listed as "dancer".
  • Original guitarist Nate Albert left the band in 1998 to finish his degree at Brown University.

 

 

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