So why is Voodoo Glow Skulls’ Who Is, This Is? on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
Exquisitely controlled chaos.
That’s what Voodoo Glow Skulls’ frantic, brilliant brand of ska punk offers, and it’s never better delivered than on their 1993 debut LP, Who Is, This Is?
It’s natural to wonder what the heck the album title (Who Is, This Is?) means, and your question (and your prayers, perhaps) are answered at the kickoff of the opening track, “Insubordination,” where we hear the iconic comedy duo of Cheech and Chong in a clip from the 1978 movie Up in Smoke.
And then we’re off to the races with an Ozzy Osbourne-inspired rush of metal injected with high velocity ska punk energy. This is fast-paced music, but as I mention it’s also tightly orchestrated. There’s real musical dynamics at work too, where the pace slows down just a hair to hit the chorus hard.
And that’s a way to describe all 16 tracks on Who Is, This Is? It goes hard.
Songs like “Sin Berguensa (Si Habla Espanol)” and “La Migra (Mas Español)” (and check out more Ozzy flavor by way of Black Sabbath on the latter!) have what I think of as the classic Voodoo Glow Skulls sound, showing off a sunny-tinged melody on top of the manic and raucous energy being conjured by the band. And speaking of the band: it has one of the best horn sections you’ll experience in popular music, bar none. They’re a huge reason why VGS is so good.
The fellas of VGS will get quite serious in terms of their lyrical content, but they also have a clear and present sense of humor. Your mileage will vary on whether or not you’ll find them funny, but I certainly find “Country Phuck” amusing. But it’s interesting too to consider the band’s satiric outlook as Latino and white dude punk rockers growing up in the Inland Empire, east of Los Angeles in southern California.
Also see: “Ugly Stick.”
Voodoo Glow Skulls have a knack for doing super unique cover versions of well-known songs. And here we get the wildest version of The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun” that you could ever imagine. It’s strikingly original and flat out great.
Oh, and then the guitar tone kicking off “Cheap Guy” was produced in a lab to please me, I’d wager. The crunching riff on this one is just so [REDACTED] great.
Some stats & info about Voodoo Glow Skulls – Who Is, This Is?
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? SoCal Bands, Rock Music, Punk Rock, Ska Punk, Third Wave Ska Revival
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – not rated!
- When was Who Is, This Is released? 1993
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #185 out of 1,000
Voodoo Glow Skulls’ Who Is, This Is on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Voodoo Glow Skulls’ Who Is, This Is that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
There’s no need for violence against your fellow man. We must live together in this corrupted land.
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.