The Mighty Mighty Ska Thread

[Kory]

It's so funny the things the Hard Times rags on like they're the arbiter of punk, but then they do a sort of earnest ranking of Oasis albums or some bullshit.

[Flex]

It's so funny the things the Hard Times rags on like they're the arbiter of punk, but then they do a sort of earnest ranking of Oasis albums or some bullshit.

With the stuff like ska bashing, you can't do jokes like that without coming from a place of affection, I think (or, rather, know based on what they've said on their podcasts).

I have started to look pretty side-eyed at some of the ranking exercises. I guess to each their own and all that, but they Big Up some pretty lame shit.

Addendum: I assume the listcle shit is much more obviously just clickbait to drive ad revenue, in which case it makes sense to cover dumb mediocre bullshit like oasis.

[Silent Majority]

oasis? mediocre bullshit? oi mate taht's teh pisstake!!!

[Flex]

oasis? mediocre bullshit? oi mate taht's teh pisstake!!!

I now realize I failed to make the obvious joke that the #1 oasis album in their ranking was probably revolver

[revbob]

oasis? mediocre bullshit? oi mate taht's teh pisstake!!!

Is mediocre too complimentary?

[Dr. Medulla]

Addendum: I assume the listcle shit is much more obviously just clickbait to drive ad revenue, in which case it makes sense to cover dumb mediocre bullshit like oasis.

When they started doing it, I assumed it was a concession to draw in eyes from google searches. I click if I have opinions about the bands, but like any other listicle it's crab juice.

[Flex]

When they started doing it, I assumed it was a concession to draw in eyes from google searches. I click if I have opinions about the bands, but like any other listicle it's crab juice.

Yeah, I tried reading a few thinking it would be funnier or more anorak-type insightful about bands I was interested in than, say, a Buzzfeed list but they were really neither so I stopped checking any of them out a while ago.

[Wolter]

Place of love or not, I feel like the Hard Times ska jokes are super lazy, low hanging fruit jokes.

[Silent Majority]

Place of love or not, I feel like the Hard Times ska jokes are super lazy, low hanging fruit jokes.

I would have more patience with ska jokes if they called it White Ska. Still an ignorant over-simplification, but a slightly more forgivable one.

[Flex]

Place of love or not, I feel like the Hard Times ska jokes are super lazy, low hanging fruit jokes.

I would have more patience with ska jokes if they called it White Ska. Still an ignorant over-simplification, but a slightly more forgivable one.

This seems a little ungenerous to me. It's a punk news parody site, aimed primarily at 30 and 40 somethings, and takes on topics particularly as they relate to the (American, primarily) punk scene. I think the context, not to mention the actual copy, makes it pretty clear they're talking about 3rd wave and ska-punk (the most popular stuff of which has been primarily white). That may be a soft target, or a stale joke that's run its course by now, but I don't think it's a problem they don't make sure to specify in every joke that they're talking about reel big fish and not Desmond Dekker or whoever.

I broadly agree that the jokes aimed at stereotypes of sub-scenes in punk are generally the site's weakest since they're sort of definitionally the most broad and stereotypical; maybe my tastes are too simple because I still chuckle at most of those headlines even if it's always the same basic formula (crust punks smell, straight edge people are angry squares, skinheads just like to start fights, everyone really doesn't like ska, etc) but I also recognize they're the cheapest laughs.

The best stuff is always the headlines that take in aging and navigating the world as someone who believes in an alternative ethos but has to essentially "grow up."

[Dr. Medulla]

Hard Times' targets are music scenes or genres where the fans tend to take themselves a little too seriously. Sure, the jokes are one, maybe two note, but part of what makes them work—to me, at least—is that if you catch yourself being annoyed at them, you might actually be the target. Hard Times wants us to laugh at ourselves and our various conceits of being different, or, rather, superior.

[Flex]

Hard Times' targets are music scenes or genres where the fans tend to take themselves a little too seriously. Sure, the jokes are one, maybe two note, but part of what makes them work—to me, at least—is that if you catch yourself being annoyed at them, you might actually be the target. Hard Times wants us to laugh at ourselves and our various conceits of being different, or, rather, superior.

Yeah, good way to put it.

[Silent Majority]

Place of love or not, I feel like the Hard Times ska jokes are super lazy, low hanging fruit jokes.

I would have more patience with ska jokes if they called it White Ska. Still an ignorant over-simplification, but a slightly more forgivable one.

This seems a little ungenerous to me. It's a punk news parody site, aimed primarily at 30 and 40 somethings, and takes on topics particularly as they relate to the (American, primarily) punk scene. I think the context, not to mention the actual copy, makes it pretty clear they're talking about 3rd wave and ska-punk (the most popular stuff of which has been primarily white). That may be a soft target, or a stale joke that's run its course by now, but I don't think it's a problem they don't make sure to specify in every joke that they're talking about reel big fish and not Desmond Dekker or whoever.

I broadly agree that the jokes aimed at stereotypes of sub-scenes in punk are generally the site's weakest since they're sort of definitionally the most broad and stereotypical; maybe my tastes are too simple because I still chuckle at most of those headlines even if it's always the same basic formula (crust punks smell, straight edge people are angry squares, skinheads just like to start fights, everyone really doesn't like ska, etc) but I also recognize they're the cheapest laughs.

The best stuff is always the headlines that take in aging and navigating the world as someone who believes in an alternative ethos but has to essentially "grow up."

Yeah, excuse me, I was talking more generally about my frustrations with ska jokes that come from outside the culture than Hard Times' specific editorial bent. That was so far from clear from my post as to actually not be at all comprehensible.

[Kory]

My main beef with them is just that they seem to be running out of ideas. All the jokes are the same joke.

[Flex]

Yeah, excuse me, I was talking more generally about my frustrations with ska jokes that come from outside the culture than Hard Times' specific editorial bent. That was so far from clear from my post as to actually not be at all comprehensible

Yeah, I agree with that then for sure. People who are serious (or "seriously joking") about how ska sucks and whatnot are making a statement no more defensible than the 'ol "I like everything except rap and country."

Also, like masculine/heteronormative disdain of pop, I think a lot of anti-ska pushback came about partly because of how, even with the fratty white boy element, 3rd wave ska represented one of the most inclusive, minority and female friendly, scenes in rock of the last few decades (and still does with the current crop of bands). Hard not read some ugly sentiment behind the particular disdain and contempt ska often receives. That documentary Pick It Up about the 3rd wave does a good look at the inclusivity of the scene.