So why is The Mighty Might Bosstones’ Ska-Core, The Devil and More on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
Ska-Core, The Devil and More is pound for pound one of the more eclectic and highly infectious albums I can think of, so even at a relatively slim six total songs it earns its place at precisely the #600 position on the best 1,000 albums ever.
If the Bosstones were born to do a single cover, it may well be Bob Marley & The Wailers’ “Simmer Down.” They take the original and bump it up just a notch in terms adding in a little rock feel and slight aggression, the latter coming in the form of Dickie Barrett’s famously scratchy vocals.
I have many memories from my college years associated with this EP. One involves my man Nirav, an attorney in New York these days, saying, “Simmer down, simmer down…” whenever one of our knucklehead housemates (as many as nine total during our raucous senior year at the “rugby house” located on Leroy Street in Binghamton, New York) got a bit out of hand.
While that obviously comes from the song, “Simmer Down,” the direct quote is pulled from the subsequent track, “Drugs and Kittens / I’ll Drink to That,” a live track that begins with Barrett chilling the crowd out when it’s doing one of its frequent, “MIGHTY MIGHTY… BOSSTONES!” chants*.
* I should know as I’ve seen the Mighty Mighty Bosstones live many times. The band never, ever disappointed me.
The “Drugs and Kittens” portion of the track is a version of a song that originally appears as “Drunks and Children” on Devil’s Night Out and shows up in slightly different forms on a number of albums. “Drugs and Kittens” is a fabulous live version, probably slightly better than the version that appears as “Doves and Civilians” on the insanely great live album, Live From the Middle East.
“Someday I Suppose” is probably one of the Bosstones’ best-known songs, at least prior to 1997, when the band achieved its greatest commercial success with the album, Let’s Face It (it’s the one with “The Impression That I Get” on it). It’s a great song, though I have mixed feelings about it these days that have nothing to do with the song or the Bosstones (more on this below).
There are several songs on Ska-Core, The Devil and More that lean into the band’s thrashier and hardcore side. The best of these by far is “Think Again,” which lays a nice groove underneath the thrashy thrashy bits.
Also see: The Mighty Mighty Bosstones – Let’s Face It: #779 of best 1,000 albums ever
Pop culture stuff that has something to do with The Mighty Might Bosstones’ Ska-Core, The Devil and More
The opening riff of “Someday I Suppose” is used as the theme music for The Adam Carolla Show podcast. I listened to Carolla for years, dating back to the long running Loveline radio show that he co-hosted with “Dr. Drew” Pinksy. Carolla is very funny and talented, but I dropped him and his show out of my life after I observed a slow but sure slide into the show becoming a vehicle for issuing rightwing bromides and half-baked policy prescriptions*.
* When long-time show guests, such as the fabulous and hilarious David Allan Grier (a.k.a. DAG), started distancing themselves from Carolla, that was also a clue.
The most frustrating part for me is that Carolla is absolutely brilliant in terms of observing human behavior and talking about it in a way that is interesting or hilarious (and often both). But his success and skill in certain areas transformed into hubris about how to “fix” the government and the culture.
Enter the Trump era (and the covid era a few years later), and that hubris and penchant for issuing ill informed policy prescriptions combined into something that can be flat out dangerous.
Some stats & info about The Mighty Might Bosstones – Ska-Core, The Devil and More
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Boston Bands, Rock Music, Ska Punk, Third Wave Ska Revival, Alternative Rock
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 3 out of 5 stars
- When was Ska-Core, The Devil and More released? 1993
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #600 out of 1,000
The Mighty Might Bosstones’ Ska-Core, The Devil and More on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from The Mighty Might Bosstones’ Ska-Core, The Devil and More that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
You know, I’ve made mistakes. I’ve had my ups and downs, my ins and outs, my share of bad breaks. But when it’s all been said and done, I raise my beer and I swear, “God, it’s been fun!”
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.