Why is Voodoo Glow Skulls’ Steady As She Goes on my best 1,000 albums ever list?
You’d have to have nada en la cabeza to not get moving to this album.
What does Voodoo Glow Skulls’ Steady As She Goes mean to me? What does it make me feel? Why is it exciting or compelling?
I’ve heard Voodoo Glow Skulls’ music described as ranging from “ska punk” to “barrio ska-core.” I like to think of their music – of which I’ve been an enormous fan dating back to their debut album (Who Is? This Is?) in the early ‘90s – as “perfectly controlled chaos.” It’s fast, it’s manic, it’s crazy energized horn-driven ska and punk and hardcore madness – but it’s finely and expertly executed. Most importantly: it rocks and it’s great.
“Nada En La Cabeza” is one of my most favorite VGS songs in their entire catalog. The hook is insanely great, and the Spanish language lyrics and chorus, whether you speak the language or not, is deeply infectious and entirely fantastic.
This probably will sound a bit random and hyper specific for most of you reading this, but the beginning of “One For the Road” always reminds me of a number of songs on Waste of Mind, a 1998 album by Zebrahead that my wife was into back in the day and got quite a lot of airplay in our early relationship apartments back in the day. It then segues into another fantastically catchy hook and chorus.
“Little Red Ridin’ Hood” continues the really fun band tradition of including a highly unlikely cover song (this one originally by Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs) as the last song on an album, translated of course into Voodoo Glow Skulls-esque ska plus punk, etc. stylings.
Some stats & info about Voodoo Glow Skulls – Steady As She Goes
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? SoCal Bands, Ska Punk, Punk Rock, Third Wave Ska Revival
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 2.5 out of 5 stars
- When was Steady As She Goes released? 2002
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #711 out of 1,000
Voodoo Glow Skulls’ Steady As She Goes on Spotify
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.