"Ska
wasn't just a movement for me or a fad. It was an opportunity to
actually like music Christians created. Sunday praise wasn't exactly
all Hillsong-ed up in the mid-90s (which I have issue with but will
write about another time) and Michael W. Smith wasn't exactly my
generation's cup of tea. So when I first heard ska in the form of The
O.C. Supertones' Adonai
(which I had no idea was a Hebrew name for God at the time), I was
hooked. The first song on their first album started with a
cartoon-ish voice declaring “Alright Supertones: let's rock”
followed by a 1:13 intro of dramatic garage band proportions
accompanied by sharp, catchy horns which lead into: “Well I'm as
ugly as sin, that is to say I'm not good lookin'.” Humility.
Something the mainstream music I listened to lacked. The 'Tones
continued with:
'...One
purpose is to worship and to make the body strong, I don't care about
your haircut,
can't we
all just get along? Not just get along, but to really love and care.
If your eyes are
on
the Lord you can't see nobody's hair.'
I
was excited. A new form of socially-conscious, relatable worship. I
remember randomly checking out Arrested Development's 3
Years, 5 Months, 2 Days in the Life Of...
at the library a few years earlier (I was attracted to their
non-threatening, colorful CD cover- a rarity among rap albums) and
was pumped that similar social commentary had emerged in my new
favorite genre of music. Ska was a more fun, danceable version of
rock: fast, catchy, high energy, inspirational. I mean, I could
move to pop music, but I was never moved by it. I joined band
in 5th grade and recognized later why my lips subconsciously
decided to play the alto saxophone the most fluidly: I wanted to be
the next Dave Chevalier (Supertones saxophonist for their first two
albums). I remember being so excited about The Supertones, that I
brought The Adventures of The O.C. Supertones CD over to my best
friend Corey's house so he could have this music change his life as
well. I placed it in his CD player when he wasn't looking and pressed
play. "This is awful" Corey told me with a good-natured
chuckle. I think this was the first time we ever disagreed about
something I really cared about. It may have nothing to do with this
heart-breaking moment, but our super-close friendship slowly became
unhinged over the next few years. Ultimately, it was probably more
that I had started a faith journey without my best friend that tore
us apart, but at the time, I felt like our differing taste in music
may be a problem in relating to one another. Corey started listening
to more rap music (and not the Arrested Development variety) and I
ska. I was listening to music that sang about God the entire album
while he was listening to music that sang about God once during the
album (which was usually very poetically done) and about money, sex,
and violence the other 11 tracks (can you say DMX?). Music
molds impressionable middle schoolers more than I ever gave it
credit."
