Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
TromBonus - 69 - Swing Revival Primer
0 Playsin 8 hours
Nice! We are kicking off our three part January Primer Series with a shallow dive on Ska's 90's sibling, Swing Revival! Rob, Celine and Joey run through its history from the classics that inspired the genre, to its flash in the pan success on pop radio all the way to the club filling Electro Swing of the modern era.
Hosts: Celine, Rob and Joey
Engineer: Joey
Editor: Joey
Theme Song: Keelan
Skassociate Producer: Chris Reeves of Ska Punk International
Merch: www.checkeredpast.ca/merch
Patreon: www.patreon.com/checkeredpast
Hear this episode's Playlist!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Checkered Past: the Skyedcast
00:00:00
Speaker
blamp wawa Literally, it's another trombonus episode, it's just Rob, Engineer Joey, Celine, and a pocket full of dreams as we dive into the finger-snappiest, smart-dressiest, Lindy-hoppiest fad of all time, Swing Revival, on Checkered Past, the Skyedcast.
Swing Music History and Impact
00:00:42
Speaker
What up, checkered heads? Welcome to Checkered Past, the Skycast with Celine and Rob. The show where, ah oh, yeah, I won a Zoot Suit Riot, and ah Bob Marley and the jump-jiving Wailers explore the history and impact of a different band each episode, hope to bring in new fans along the way. I'm Rob, and this is my sister and co-host, Celine. Swing. Ah. The dealer has it. Swing. And here, as always, is our co-host with the most toast, Engineer Joey. Wales. Yeah.
00:01:10
Speaker
whales love swing music right that's the the country yeah people of whales love swing music whales the mammals like swing that's what i was saying yeah yeah is that a thing or you're just saying i was like is there a scientific experiment where they like showed whales different types of music and saw how they reacted and swing was their favorite i mean i could see it it's the Benny Goodman effect instead of the Mozart effect Honestly, like, I guess of all styles of music, like... I feel like I can see whales swinging. Yeah, that's that makes sense to me for some reason. So with the Mozart effect, it's it's any music that does not have singing. Singing interrupts the the thought process. What music focuses on it was on Free Willy? Michael Jackson. when Maybe thatset then that's No, that made him ornery. That made him want to escape. Oh, yeah.
00:02:03
Speaker
you know What's the plot of that movie about freeing Willy? I don't remember. answer yeah But then also keeping the acting whale in captivity so you can film a second one. Which is the one about the the dolphin? The acting whale. Flipper. Flipper, right.
00:02:23
Speaker
but The one about the dolphin? yeah you know I don't know, the 90s are just like, there's the monkey one, there's the gorilla one. Flipper's like, back in the 70s I'm pretty sure. Flipper was, yeah. I think you're thinking of a Flubber. no No, Flipper was like lassie, but with a dolphin. I thought that was way more recent, but anyway. I think there is there's a reboot probably. He's not the one that checked in, right? That was Dunston? Yeah, that was definitely Dunston for sure.
00:02:52
Speaker
uh was dunston the mvp i don't know if he was the same is dunston the most valuable private well maybe he got good at sports because he was like privileged because he got to stay in that hotel you know what i mean i do know what you mean air bud if that was another one yeah he's talking about Animal movies. We tried to watch Christmas Buds. Santa Paws. Santa Paws, oh man. We couldn't get through it. We couldn't even get it five minutes ago. We watched all three of Beverly Hills Chihuahua, but we couldn't get through Santa Paws. Is that one of the Buddy's ones where it's like the little puppies?
00:03:29
Speaker
I think so. Yeah, I think that's what it was. yeah it are It was literally like, unlock ghetto yeah, it was like, yeah I think just the mouth movements. Yeah. Unsettling. Well, Santa paws, like lovers were just out here shitting on Santa paws. That's a huge franchise though. I mean, like yeah' maybe that's a low point of the franchise. Maybe the one where he plays football is the best one. It's like the Tokyo drift of the friend. Yeah. It's like, we don't talk. It's not really canon. Right. Yeah. But it has one beloved character who comes back.
00:04:01
Speaker
Oh, that's what this, if you've never listened to Check It Past the Skodcast, that's what you get in the first five minutes. We talk about animal movies. No talk about ska at all. But this month is January, so. There's gotta be ska music in animal movies. There is, yeah, frequently. Oh
Swing Revival and Ska in the 90s
00:04:18
Speaker
yeah, all the time. Yeah, I feel like that works well. Definitely. I was about to transition, but this actually brings up, so I'm. I brought up ska. Yeah, it was great. And music. No, I'm talking about ska too. I started I so I read in defense of sky and like a kind of a batches because I research for the podcast, right? And so I actually making a run at just reading it not just
00:04:41
Speaker
being a cherry pickin' daddy relevant. But there is a funny story about Bim Ska La Bim, the band from Boston from the 80s. So if you've watched Food Network shows and like a random ska song comes on and you're like, what's a random ska song? It's because Bim Ska La Bim sold the entire catalog of their music to this ah ah organization, I don't know what they are, that then sends it to reality TV.
00:05:07
Speaker
So if you hear a random ska song while listening to reality TV, just like in the background, probably it's bim scala bim. That's amazing. yeah it was And I notice that all the time. Like we point it out every now and then when we're just watching whatever random reality TV.
00:05:23
Speaker
yeah That was the most information I got from that book, I probably. Anyway, no, that's that's not fair. I use it all the time. That's the mostishia got that most book. Most important information. yeah Imagine someone says that. like Imagine there's actually like real stories in there. Who needs them?
00:05:44
Speaker
So this month, January, we are doing a theme month of sorts where for the next three weeks, we are going to be doing a three part primer series because we were told the primers are some people's favorites. um But we're going to do it on Scott Jason scenes that orbited Scott in the eighties and nineties. So in the first week, which is this week, we are going to kick off with the big one.
00:06:10
Speaker
which is Neo Swing, aka a Swing Revival, that exploded somewhere around when Scott exploded maybe about a year or two past. How long did it last? It feels, I feel like it was really. Way less time. Yeah, I feel like it was really quick. So fast. It was quite the flash in the pan. Like Ska was this like slow build over time. Yeah. And swing was this just like bam bam, like in out. But it was just so big and then it just was so not. Yeah, but it is still like kicks around. Electro swing is still going. Yeah, definitely. People love electro swing. Should maybe hold on to that thought. Okay, they do.
00:06:48
Speaker
Um, but, uh, this, so this episode is non comprehensive. We're obviously not going to cover everybody and every big player. Um, but we're going to start with sort of the classic quote unquote swing sound that kind of implied where swing ended up going, uh, and how and why it was such a flash in the pan in the nineties alongside Scott. And then it's.
00:07:09
Speaker
ah kind of Even though it's got a more steady rise why this kind of happened all at once ah Most of the focus is on the late 90s sound ah But it's a primer after all so we're not gonna be talking about swing Scott combos.
Personal Reflections on Swing Revival
00:07:24
Speaker
We already did a couple of those we did save Ferris try state conspiracy the cherry pop and daddy's got an episode all that uh... and you know like jeffries fan club i'm sure we'll touch at some point but anything that's like swing scott we're not going to do as a lot more so that's gonna be this episode uh... so before we can take it off how do we feel about swing the classic stuff or the new stuff every hour i was like when it came back i was there
00:07:52
Speaker
You know what I mean? Like it was like, it happened while I was, whilst I was into music and I was watching music videos and it was on that gap commercial. And so I remember it coming back. So I was like, I don't, I think at the time I was not mad at it because it would like, it was at the same time as third wave, right? So it was just like, oh, this is just another thing that's kind of like Scott, but also my dad, like always listen old, like blues cats. So I kind of had like.
00:08:21
Speaker
a good idea of what s swing sounded like before that, too. Because the swing revival wasn't just swing, and like jazz, like big band jazz, it was also jump blues. Yes. Right, because it wasn't next to the two, it wasn't... Yeah.
00:08:34
Speaker
even though that's kind of what we associate with it. Yeah. Yeah. Like, and, and so I'd heard, I don't know, it wasn't, I guess at the time looking back, I'm kind of like, why did that get popped? Like I'm interested to get into why it came back in such a way, but at the time I wasn't mad at it. And then it just sort of disappeared. And I didn't think it didn't stay long enough. It just really didn't. So Lynn, how about you? Well, I feel like I was a bit too young when it came out, but I feel like I was pretty in right away. I was happy to have it. It's rockabilly adjacent as well. It's very billy-coated. Yeah, for sure. I never got like hardened to swing, but I feel like a cherry-picking daddy.
00:09:11
Speaker
my swing and I like like i dig the like some electro-sings. Swing songs. I do too. yeah look I feel like I don't like swing bands. I like swing songs. oh yeah That's an interesting way to look at it. yeah I feel like they had a bigger problem with the too many people in the band thing that Scott did. yeah Can't make enough money. yeah yeah Yeah. That's why I think it kind of ended up as a that's why green days. Rich. or shit Yes. That's why. Yeah. The only reason they didn't write. thepaies the The only three person band that's actually six people in the world. ugly
Iconic Swing Songs and Artists
00:09:46
Speaker
When they tour, they're definitely on a three piece. Oh, really? They're not three piece. They have a guy that's played second guitar and piano for like forever and ever. And when they do big tours, they have a guy that guy just does guitar. And they have a piano player. And I think they have other backgrounds. Is there any three-piece, like three pieces? yeah Straight cats. No means no. Okay. Yeah. three they are dar Not enough three-piece band. Imagine. Motorhead. Motorhead. Yeah. Not bad. Good choices. Yeah. Not Green Day. Ask to know. Not Green Day. Not Green Day.
00:10:22
Speaker
but So let's get into it. Do you want to start? Yeah. We're going to start way back in the year, 1931. Whoa. With a gentleman. Quite a long way to go. Yeah, we're going to start with all, there's a few, the next three. Isn't that the oldest thing we've played on this? Yes. Whoa. By a margin. Wow. The next three songs are sort of like table setting to know what this whole swing revival was thinking about. Right. And so this first song is by a wonderful human being named Cab Calloway. I think he's good, right? He's great. He was a good guy. I think so. I should look into that before I make suspicious claims like that. This is a classic song, Mini the Moocher. Oh, yeah. People still be, people cup. It's called bands love to cover this. Yeah. It's just a thing. Blues Brothers love to cover this too. Well, the guy that raised the Blues Brothers likes to cover this in the movie.
00:11:16
Speaker
Cap Callow is the spooky skeleton guy too, right? Yep. That's very funny. And meme. It's very funny if that became a meme.
00:11:34
Speaker
Whoa, red hot. Poochie coochie. Yeah.
00:11:45
Speaker
big as a
00:12:02
Speaker
So yeah, Cab Calloway. Monster. Many of the moochers. So that song was from the Harlem Renaissance, I believe. And I like Cab Calloway's songs because they're all about like, it's real punk rock. It's just about like... Some guy he knows. Is always about some guy he knows. Getting out of that town. Yeah. Some... He's like... It's very ransomed, adjacent. Very like... Lesson Jake. Like that song Blue Surrog Suit is about how a guy's suit looks like shitty. He's like, that guy's suit looks like shit.
00:12:34
Speaker
Cab Calloway is the best. It's all stuff like that. I love that. He did a few songs for Fleischer Studios, for Betty Boop cartoons. Yeah, that's what it reminds me of. Yeah, that's how he got the spooky scary skeleton thing going. And they rotoscoped him for that so that he would do these cool little dances and they would rotoscop him. And he does the dances? Yeah, he's the guy. He's the guy. Yeah. He is the scary spooky skeleton. Yeah, he is. That's cool. Is he a neat guy? He's super neat. That's neat. He's got lanky arms and he has cool dances. Yeah, Cab Calloway's the man. And he's saying like that. Yeah. That's pretty cool. Yeah. Load the red hot hoochie coochers. Various other things. I do think that the Blues Brothers did have something to do with the swing revival a little bit It was all jump blues. Yeah, right that many the moocher. I mean that was like what 1980s something like it was not It was quite a ways away, but before yeah I don't know how much it would have played into it, but what's this guy? Colin James. Was he in the States too? Because he, through the 90s, kind of kept that torch burning in Canada on radio. I was going to say that he's Canadian. He's giving like pansexual energy. I like his mustache. I was going to say, so the mustache is what- For great style. He is what influenced King Dice from Cuphead.
Cultural Significance of Swing Music
00:13:52
Speaker
So King Dice is- It looks very cool. Yeah, he's a cool dude.
00:13:55
Speaker
Yeah, so I think like the Blues Brothers did have something to do about it. i I think there's other movies, but I think Swing in the Movies is very, I think movies had a very important ah like reason why Swing became a big thing. That makes sense.
00:14:11
Speaker
ah So the next song is a is it is a big one. there's this this is This is the swingiest swing song that's ever swung. This this is from 1937. It's Sing, Sing, Sing by a man named Benny Goodman and his orchestra.
00:14:28
Speaker
There it is. that's That's the mask beat. You know when he's at that club? Yeah. Yeah. Or those almonds jumping into the chocolate in the 90s, maybe? And the mask goes around the same time as the swing revival. Totally. I think I do one of these. I love the wiggling pointy finger thing. That's a part of the Lindy Hop. Oh, is it really? It is. Part of the Lindy Hop, yeah. Cool.
00:14:56
Speaker
um blinn so Lindy opts are crazy. Do you see what people are like good at? at It's athletic. must smile I mean swing dancers. Our grandmother was into got a one in two chance of getting this right. Who's drumming? Me. ah Buddy. Oh, it's the other guy. Gene Koopa. Dang it.
00:15:32
Speaker
yeah. but we're when we were doing I worked at the music store. and That was just a bunch of syllables. When I worked at the music store, these those two dudes like drum videos of their technique and stuff would be on constantly. And I was like,
00:15:46
Speaker
Fuck, these guys were so far ahead with Kurt. We were talking about drummers, we were talking about Tool before this, but I have a friend who's like the drummer for Tool's the best drummer that ever lived. And I was like, Buddy Rich and Gene Kruper are the best drummers that ever lived. And I don't think it's even close. They're not my favorite
Swing in Movies and 90s Revival
00:16:02
Speaker
drummers, but they're fucking crazy. It's bananas. The most skilled. Yeah, they're just, the technique is controlled. And they kind of did the same thing that Eddie Van Halen did where they just like invented, or Rodney Mullen was skateboarding. They just invented so much of the vocabulary of modern music that they are just the best because we crib from them even now. Do you think the mask helped? Do you think, okay, did Swing Revival have a pre-mask or did it have a post-mask? I think you need to hold that. Okay, well now I really need to know. They really need to know. Because he was wearing a zoot suit. So hold that thought. And he was kind of right. He was fully like swinging. It was hard swing.
00:16:44
Speaker
There's and sort love but like it's just so sweet a much more 1930 something, right? I know I'm so Okay, so got to go so one thing I'll say sixty years One thing I'll say is Benny Goodman played the clarinet and he played it like a motherfucking riot But where are the clo ne who so really poorly? right right that's what we decided But where are the clarinets in Scott? That's all I'm saying. like Bring those in. They're a reed instrument. They sound good. Yeah, yeah. And you can play wild shit. You hear them? It's crazy. Anyway. You heard it here first, folks. We need clarinet revival. OK, so the next one, we're going to jump to 1967. There's another guy that he's a Jump Blues performer that ah was huge in the 30s. He's a big swing guy.
00:17:32
Speaker
And he got a little bit of a revival later in his life because he was featured in a Disney movie. This is a guy named Louis Prima.
00:17:46
Speaker
disney movie is so yeah the jungle jungle book ho up and had to stop and that's what's bothering me Imagine though like want to be a man At the time, it was 1967, and at this time, Disney was just doing like Broadway man songs. um Yeah. And then they threw this crazy swing song in. It's kind of wild, actually. It is pretty wild. And mean and this I watched this movie when I was a little kid. like I heard this song a lot. Yeah. A lot, you know? But this over-the-top like vocal delivery is also huge for the swing revival. Yeah. Yeah.
Popular 90s Swing Bands
00:18:28
Speaker
I love it. That's fun. It's so fun. Scatting is fun. Yeah, scatting is wicked fun. People who don't like it are lying to themselves. Idiots. They're dumb dummies. Not Mr. Carruthers. No. No, Mr. Scatman if you're nasty. Scatman if you're nasty.
00:18:48
Speaker
Louis Brema. He was 57 when that movie came out, so good for him. He got a little bit of a jump later in his career. Okay, so we're gonna do it. that's We've laid the table. The father of Lou Begga. Yeah. ah Just the first name. Yeah. And ah. to and like I don't want to take my dad's last name. Yeah, but he also but I like the flow of your name. I'm not gonna be prim, I'm gonna be big. Yeah. All right.
00:19:18
Speaker
This is the song you're talking about, Celine. My time. And yes, Hitna Toms. That's a direct reference to Sing Sing. Okay wait, so what are you going to tell me about it? Wait, we got to listen to this track because it's a banger. Yeah, come on now.
00:19:40
Speaker
Yeah, this is really good.
00:19:43
Speaker
This band has a huge story. Was it released in 1991? No, the movie was released in 94-ish. OK, but the song is from 91? Yes. Yeah, so that's interesting. So this band was the first to do it. And I'm going to tease a couple stories because a future episode plays this band heavily. Oh, OK. Yeah, this is so fun.
00:20:12
Speaker
What's a pachuko? Gotta find out. What is a pachuko? It doesn't get addressed in this song. Hey, pachuko. Yeah. That's cool. What a groovy little song.
00:20:31
Speaker
I bet like so many kids who were playing bass in school bands felt so cool the first time they heard that song. They were like, I could play that. You know? Absolutely. That is a fun, slightly less demanding version of Sing, Sing, Sing with a Swing, right? Like you can just like... And there's a reason for that because ah that band is made up of members of BYO Records. That is Royal Crown Review. And yeah, specifically, ah what's a band that goes like Sync with California, that song?
00:21:06
Speaker
you Anyway that band and um They so it's made up of members of that the big punk rock hardcore band from the 80s turned into royal crown review Really? Yeah. And this is made up of a bunch of dudes they know. And then they made it onto the mask soundtrack. Maybe that's why. And that is them. Also. So is the mask the swing revival movie? It is not. The actual swing revival movie, even though the mask has a huge swing section in it. Well, and it looks like a swing guy. Yeah. The full time. And the band Royal Crown Review is in it, but there was a movie about swing with a full swing soundtrack called
00:21:45
Speaker
Swingers. Oh, yeah yes. And that had a slightly larger band in it called Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. That's his next one. yeah I only watched it like once or twice as like a kid. I don't think I've ever seen this movie. so Like a like a like tween. It's like an R-rated comedy with kids spawning.
00:22:04
Speaker
What's his name? That would have been Sunshine Video Games. Yeah, I'm like aware of it. I just never, I don't think I ever watched it. They're just... That would have been like an edgy comedy to watch as a 13 year old, you know? So Hey Pachuko is like more kind of punky band. This is definitely your pop band.
00:22:25
Speaker
morego red Just got to do a snap. I want to throw a big bad booty daddy face. They're fun. Voodoo band. Yeah, right?
00:22:39
Speaker
Mute trumpets. What are you doing? If you're in a swing band, you don't have a big mute on that trumpet. Honestly, I feel like mute trumpet should be used more for stuff. They're safe. It's it's a cool sound. Yeah.
00:22:53
Speaker
Give yourself a plunger. I also like self reference. I like the thing with a plunger not like a nerd with an actual mute. I love that they reference the big bad voodoo band. This is a fucking banger. It's really good.
00:23:17
Speaker
And the wingtip shoes. I was gonna say, like, all these songs are just about swing stuff, right? They got me. Yeah. What else is there to sing about? They're not really, like, about anything other than, like, it's all self-referential for the most part. It depends on the band. That's so clever. These lyrics are clever. The Mr. Hotty Hotty Ho. Yeah. They've just, I like self-referential. Back to Cab Cali. Yeah, so many references. Yeah, it's a lot. A lot of them are just making references to swing. Yes. That is very self-referential. I think the only, I'm going to, I know it's had to get brought up. The only band that wasn't doing it was the motherfucking cherry popping baddies.
Why is Swing Music Appealing?
00:23:53
Speaker
Zoot Zoot Ride is about race wars. They were just talking about fighting people. A lot about fighting people. A lot about punching, yeah. But yeah, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. They were- I went through phase. They were the big ones, yeah.
00:24:08
Speaker
Um, and they also performed at Super Bowl 99. That's that's crazy. for real I'm not joking. You have to like, i'm I'm going to get into this, but arguably swing with bigger than Scott in the nineties. That's crazy. i it was like i ido but it got But that's crazy. And there's so many references like in TV shows and movies to the swing revival, I feel like. And I feel like there was a lot of jokes being like, oh, they're into swing now. And someone's into like with the whole zoot zoot and everything. a adora So why are people less like they don't shit on swing as much? Is it because there ah it didn't last as long?
00:24:46
Speaker
Yeah, maybe that's it. Maybe because people can understand when you get into a fad that dies off really quickly, but they can't understand you like enjoying something that brings you joy for many, many years. I think it's like so camp that you can't make fun of it because it's like not taking it so seriously at all. What could you make fun of? Oh, that sounds big. And what are you all good at your instruments? What is this music for dancing? Are these choreographed people dancing? It is some like you could say it's some white people shit, but it's really not. Yeah, it's really not. It wouldn't exist without black people. Oh, yeah. So so this I haven't gotten into that part about it. But this if you're not familiar, a commercial was white people. Yeah, maybe that gets brought up swing. Most swing bands were mixed race. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was a big part of it is that and it was a lot of like not just like white and black people.
00:25:41
Speaker
it was a lot of like Latin people. yeah And this is going as far back as those early orchestras, like those big bands, like Benny Goodman's orchestra was mixed race and like everybody's was like, that was huge. yeah And all the way, even though it didn't have as, and swing was the biggest form of music before the late forties, basically. Like if you were buying records between 35 and 45, good chance that you were buying a swing record.
00:26:07
Speaker
Like it was the dominant form of music. Or like an old country record. Would have been the other, probably the rest of them. Potentially. But like, it was gigantic. It was literally the biggest form of music for a period of time. It was pop music. Exactly. Yeah. So I think that also is just, it's like... So classic in a way. It's almost like untouchable. Yeah. Well, and also it's, it's blues based. Right. And like, easy. Yeah. Well, it's not that it's easy. It's just like, it's like so culturally ingrained that anything that's like heavily blues based is like, it's a, it's like a cheat code to get into your brain. Right. Yeah. Um, one thing I'll say about the three primers that we're doing is that there are aggressively America coded.
00:26:48
Speaker
They all have their like deep roots in American culture. So like swing is definitely, jazz in general is just at a very American style music. Yeah. Yeah. And it's arguably one of the first American styles in music. Correct. Yeah. And directly, directly imported from black culture. Yep. A hundred percent. Um, let's talk about the squirrel nut zippers. Why don't we talk about them? This is a song called hell. You may have heard this one. Hope it gives you hell. Hope it gives you hell.
00:27:20
Speaker
Okay, so they are floating the Dixieland jazz, which is very fun. I also like their shitty production. It's very fun. Yeah, it does. It sounds makes it sound old. It makes it sound like it's playing on
00:27:40
Speaker
Yeah, I've never liked this one on that series. No, no.
00:27:49
Speaker
I think I just like like silly voices, but I was like, I can't even get into this. This whole genre, though. I was like, weller than. I needed things to be a little cooler. This whole genre, though, is like all of the singers. I would argue that very few of them are actual singers. They're probably just guys who can do a silly voice and have a lot of charisma. Yeah. You know what I mean? I mean, that's my thing. That's why I know it works.
00:28:17
Speaker
So they got to play at the 96 Olympics. This has like a salsa vibe. Yeah, totally. yeah Which is also cool. So playing around with a lot of different stuff. That was boring and not very good. I don't like Scrumpta. Correct. Yeah. And I believe they're from Atlanta, which is why they got the gig. So they were like the Tokyo Scott Paradise Orchestra and of Atlanta. The other thing with the swing scene is that it was very regional and it was like circuit
Swing's Influence on Other Genres
00:28:47
Speaker
tours. So there's always like, there's like the, what was the one? there's
00:28:51
Speaker
the Derby in California was like the big club that was like the mecca for it but everybody was all the big swing bands were each from like a different city and they all kind of like toured around shuffle around and then end up kind of at the Derby to play like their biggest shows yeah cool um All right, let's go to Canada for a second. This is a guy named Big Rude Jake, and this is produced by the old Gordy Johnson of Canada. Big Rude Jake? Big Rude Jake. He's not a Scott guy. Cool. like Wow. All right. Swing, baby. That's like a Big Larry in the skankers ass name, Big Rude Jake. Whoa. Is this cool? I've never heard this before. 1996.
00:29:37
Speaker
Sounds like 1996. This is getting a little into like a Tom Waits kind of territory almost.
00:29:49
Speaker
I don't know where you're getting that. This is giving like fucking like an in-beat. it's Or like something industrial about it. I don't know. so I don't know. There's like something like an industrial about this.
00:30:04
Speaker
I don't know how else to put it. It's definitely a programmed beat. there That isn't someone playing a drum.
00:30:15
Speaker
It's very experimental.
00:30:18
Speaker
this sounds like a commercial from the 90s to me like this sounds like very cinematic it could be i think this would be cool in a movie in a specific scene like a saturn commercial it's like ah like the ion with the third door in it this could be in fucking like baby driver or some shit you know what i mean and like yeah i could see it being like because it's weird it's like so many genres and yeah but know Canada's. I don't hate it. I it so i don't hate it. i He specifically went into the studio but to make something studio centric. Like that's the thing about swing music is it's very live energy like yeah yeah because they want it. And so most of the records are recorded live. Like it's not a lot of like individual instrument rec recordings. Um, so he went in to do it the opposite. He's like, I'm going to make this, I produced like a modern, I want to make it sound modern.
00:31:13
Speaker
i don't he He did well enough, but not nearly as well as the rest of the people that we're going to talk about. But yeah, that's Canada's entry. and it's interest It's interesting. I'm not mad. Yeah, we didn't have a big swing culture, names necessarily. That was very Americana. It seems Americana. I feel like we don't really have venues to go swing dancing.
00:31:32
Speaker
It's true, not a lot of ballrooms. Well, our grandmother was into it. Apparently, it was really big. She was part of the Navy. Yeah, I was going to say, probably. Not in the 90s, sorry, not the revival. Swing at the time, I think. Oh, I'm sure. Because, I mean, back in the day, you probably could have gone to your local legions. Yeah, my brain keeps mixing up the swing era. Classic swing. Yeah, classic swing and the swing. Yeah. But the royal in Winnipeg would have absolutely put that up. Yeah, totally.
00:32:01
Speaker
Um, but yeah, that's a good time for a break and when we come back we're gonna keep talking about the swing revival.
00:32:19
Speaker
Welcome back to Checkered
Swing in Commercials and Christian Music
00:32:20
Speaker
Past. We're here talking about the swing revival from the 90s. And let's do it, Joey. This is the moment you've been waiting for. The Gap commercial. Hooray. I am ready to jump. Jive and the whale.
00:32:35
Speaker
See, that's what I'm talking about, whales, man. Whales love swing music. Jumping out of the water, jiving around the jump-jiving whale. 1998 is when this came out.
00:32:52
Speaker
This The swing was big. yeah It's back, baby. yeah This seems very classic, swing. yeah For something that's Neo. in the back It seems pretty like... Neo swing is when the guy from the road tricks puts on a fedora.
00:33:08
Speaker
I gotcha. doing it Joey was doffing his cap. Yeah, I was putting on and off a fedora.
00:33:20
Speaker
This is giving, like, Brian Setzer. There's a reason for sure. Because it's Brian Setzer? Because it's Brian he does this. This is the Brian Setzer Orchestra.
00:33:36
Speaker
when he's not doing Christmas music. Honestly, I like Brian Setzer, but it does just blend in his elevator music. You know what I mean? You know what? I had forgotten that that was Brian Setzer. Until I heard the guitar, I was like, that's Brian Setzer's guitar sound that's so incredibly specific and only to him. But then also before he said that, I was like, this is like a Christmas song.
00:33:57
Speaker
Which also they have the Christmas album but i know and all be real yeah know Yeah, yeah, that's like all he does now. I can't believe I didn't even clock it I was just like not even big yeah, I think Brian said sir gets a little elevator II Probably okay. So that cover that's a Louis prima cover. Oh, it is a car That's why it sounds so honorary to the time. Yeah, it won a Grammy. It was the top it's the biggest swing song of all time like biggest neo-swing song yeah like it was it charted higher than everything it was on the gap commercial it was on the gap commercial and that was it that's when you knew you made it yeah so that so just as a quick recap uh
00:34:33
Speaker
We had a swing in the mask, swing in the movie swingers, swing at the Olympics, and now swing in the gap commercial. And as in a two year period, I don't think Scott was in as much stuff. Just saying. And also that moves like incrementally more.
00:34:50
Speaker
commercial until it was literally in a commercial commercial. It's just not like varied enough of a genre to carry on for too long. i think that's like If you say like hip-hop's really big, hip-hop means so many more things than what swing does. That's correct. Pop means so many more things than swing. It's not an evolving genre. Not as much. Other than the electro swing, which is cool, but when are you gonna play that?
00:35:17
Speaker
Well first let's talk about you You know your genre is big when the Christians get a hold of it. oh This is a song called the devil is bad by the W's that is pretty on the nose just that way is bad I need you to listen to the lyrics to this song. It's something else. It's something else He's got some lonely bull-ass trumpet going on
00:35:46
Speaker
Well, I will say, the swing does not sound like Satan's music. No. Really? I think it kind of does. Maybe if you're from the 30s. Yeah. When you're in the 30s, that was the doubles music. Yeah, for sure.
00:36:13
Speaker
I'm like, ah he know Adam didn't eat the apple.
00:36:45
Speaker
If I heard this, at 14, I would have liked this. Who do you think they're very good friends with? Real big fish. No, and another Christian band. Five Iron Frenzy, really? That is Five Iron Frenzy's best friends. That's fun. I don't hate that. Because they're very cheeky. they And they actually are religious, and they're having fun with it. That's stupid. They're very self-aware of how they're religious. That is a fun way about being religious. there their Their whole shtick is about bowling.
00:37:12
Speaker
Like they have a whole thing about bowling. Okay, so the pulling it a little bit away from ska a little towards swing, right? Right. So it is so dumb and over the top, but it is on purpose and is very fun.
00:37:26
Speaker
Who is the devil and the devil is bad? You are the devil and the devil is bad. If I heard that as a young teen, I would
Swing in Movie Soundtracks
00:37:33
Speaker
have dug it. I would have thought that was very funny. It's a little too... 90s. Too clean. It's very clean. It's too clean for me now. It's very clean humor. But if I was younger, I would have kind of dug it. That's a joke for everybody. The whole family can show up to a W show anyhow. Yeah. And I don't like that at this age. Yeah, that's not for me. I like Sonic 3, but that's about where it ends. All right, we're not done with movie songs. Let's move over to a band called the Atomic Fireballs with the song, The Man with the Hex. Whoa. You remind me of a man. Oh. The Cookie Monster. Yeah, the mighty, mighty swing tones. Oh, you do, you do. That's aggressive.
00:38:21
Speaker
that's he's doing dick dancing that's like a dicky thing
00:38:30
Speaker
1999 is where we're at now
00:38:37
Speaker
Is it a movie? A million movies. Yeah. Really? Yeah, let's see. American Pie, The Haunted Mansion, Scooby-Doo, a bunch of other ones. Those are the three I wrote down. We did just watch The Haunted Mansion. One of the James Gunn Scooby-Doo's?
00:38:53
Speaker
Uh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sick. This does sound like a song. I don't want to tease it. This does that does sound like a old line this sounds like a song a ghost would sing to you when you're like kind of like when the ghost is kind of up to no good and you're just like, I gotta to get away. And he's like, I got you. I got you. i'm like a real suookie booty Yeah. Yeah. This is a very, yeah are we going to talk about that?
00:39:17
Speaker
What? That Oogie Boogie is swing-coded? No, we could. Do you want to? Yeah, I probably said it. Well, yeah, I believe it is. Yeah, Oogie Boogie is swing-coded. I'm surprised you didn't bring up that that didn't remind you of the labyrinth.
00:39:30
Speaker
Is it, it's not in the labyrinth. No, but he does the whole like call and response thing that's like in the labyrinth. who does the Who do you do? Yeah, which is actually pulling, it's an interpolation from the same movie. They're both referencing a different movie from the thirties. You remind me of a babe, what babe, the babe with the power, what power of the power, who do, who do, you do, do what, remind me of the babe, I saw my baby. band don So both of those are, they're not connected, they're just referencing the same movie. I need to add that to my karaoke list. What am I thinking? Why haven't I been singing Dance the Magic Dance? Dance the Magic Dance, you guys. Swing. Swing is the magic dance. That's the magic dance. That's the magic dance. Anyway, that song is cool. Yeah, I like his hardcore guy vocals. That's fun.
00:40:22
Speaker
He's not a white guy, I'll just say that. He doesn't sound like that. There are hardcore guys that sound like that who are not white guys. I think it was more of the dicky thing. I was like, I don't know about saying he sounds like dicky, maybe dicky sounding. It's making me think that dicky's sounding like something else anyway.
00:40:39
Speaker
um Let's stay in 1999 with one more guy who is, whose name, I think Salin will appreciate this guy's name. His name is Lee Preson and the Nails. That's fun. That's fun. I will show you a picture of him while we play this song. Um, he's one of the OGs. He was doing this way before anybody else and he didn't get his first full record released until 1999. This song is called I Prefer a Coffin. That's a fun name. It's going to be kind of spooky, right? That's very Screaming Jay.
00:41:06
Speaker
they love screaming okay i'm like that that almost i was like even just the name and them being a swing band i'm like that sounds like a screaming j on her oh this is fun this is kind of like uh like old school like uh that's fine look at him he's having fun a dandy A goth dandy. Yeah, this is kinda like a Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen kinda thing, but more swingy. Again, I'm traumatized by guys that look like him. I wanna like them, but I'm like Diddy Groom young women. Right. Or men. And then this is his whole band where he's got a fence on it. He kinda looks like... I hope he's a good person. He kinda looks like Gomez Adams. Intentionally. Yeah. He's looking like a... He's playing a marimba? He's trying to look like a goth vintage guy. Which is working for him. This is like a swing band that is the cramps. Yeah. It's good. Actually, I enjoy this music better than some of these songs. I don't enjoy the music, but I like the bit.
00:42:06
Speaker
This is too, this is too... Because it's not, it's too circus-ier. What's the music that's... Ragtime! I don't like Dixieland. Yeah, see, I don't like that. I like this one. It's very Mad Caddies-y, though. Mad Caddies is a lot of Dixieland kind of stuff, too. Yeah. So it's not the same. I don't know. Something else. It's okay for you to not like it. Okay, I'm gonna skip the 2000s because Selene, your time has come. We're gonna talk about it. We're skipping right over the 2000s. It was dead.
Rise of Electro Swing in the 2010s
00:42:37
Speaker
It was fucking gone. Seriously gone. Are we gonna get electronic about this swing? Hell yeah. There's a song that came out of fucking nowhere, blew the doors, was gigantic, hundreds of millions of streams still. It's a banger.
00:42:54
Speaker
ah This is a song called we know speak Americano by Yolanda be cool. It's pretty good. I Still like it yeah as's a bager i remember at the time like you just said It an undeniable banger I feel like like even people that are like what it's like, I know everyone likes this Yeah, and this so this genre is electro swing and it started before this. Yeah, but this song was a manic um yeah So huge. I love actually I'm a sucker for Not only electro swing, but like the kind of equivalent for like bossa nova e type of stuff I'll find like a Spotify playlist that's like eight hours long and I'll just put it on random and listen for like two hours every now and then just cuz I love this shit Great. I just like the idea of people fucking popping off in the club to this. Yeah I remember working at HMB and the song was just on everything. It was everywhere. It was on everything. Yeah. 159 million. Goes pretty hard. It's pretty good. I like it. And I would say the swing of this is softer than you would when you're up by some bands later. Yeah. Like, for sure. I hope you're going to play my favorite electro swing song. I'm sure you are. Oh, maybe. The one with the sick music video.
00:44:11
Speaker
ah Well, the animals are at the strip club. I don't know. i'm good I might have to show you. Yeah, I might have to. smoke ah But yeah, so basically that song, just like every electronic version or type of music, it was huge. and the europe in the europe yeah because the usa was at this time 2010 they're still doing dubstep yeah almost guaranteed if it's not dubstep or house it doesn't exist in the us uh you know people like electronic music or hate me for saying that but it's probably true europe just has a way bigger scene of electronic music and they're a lot more what do you call it experimental they're always trying new stuff out
00:44:48
Speaker
But England is where it blew up. And there was one band that took it to the stratosphere in 2015. It's a band called Caravan Palace. That's, that's, that's Lone Digger? Lone Digger. Yes, sorry. Okay, the music video is so sick. It's all a cartoon and it's like fucking gory as hell. And it's all animals at a strip club and it's sick. And it's like this fucking like mob brawl between. Oh yeah, I do remember that video. I play this all the time. I love this song. This song is incredible. This album, the Robot Head.
00:45:18
Speaker
Album it's fucking awesome Caravan Palace is great. They're not from England. They're from France I think but feel Yeah, I feel like electro swing is very France coded. Yeah, and there are electro swing artists out of Quebec, which is also France
00:45:45
Speaker
I would love to see them, that'd be sick.
00:46:08
Speaker
Anyway, Lone Digger. What a fucking banger. That's the best song we've heard. That sounds so good. I love that song so much. It's Caravan Palace. They rule. Lone Digger Caravan Palace. They just had an album come out last year. That's a karaoke. I didn't even realize it came out until our friend Craig told us about it. And I was like, fuck, this is awesome. And the record's great.
Contemporary Swing Interpretations
00:46:26
Speaker
Yeah. Big shout out, Caravan Palace. This is like when you hang out with your friends and play videos, this is always on our list. Go check out the video on YouTube.
00:46:36
Speaker
for Lone Digger by Caravan Palace. yeah all right Now we're going to go to another band. This is a band called the Cut Capers and they are a full band. They're actually like a full swing band, but they have A vocalist and two rappers. That's their like whole shtick. ah So they're kind of like a mixed genre band and they're mostly known for touring festivals. ah They do a lot of swing. Their stuff is ska-ish sometimes too. But they at one point did a electro swing remix of one of their songs called Say What and it fucking rips man. 2019 for this one. Say what? Say what? What is that you say? Say what?
00:47:24
Speaker
Just gettin' that berry in there. Just right off the bat. Honkin' it.
00:47:53
Speaker
and way more clarinets. This is all those clarinets just going. Also I unabashedly love a four on the floor beat. I love it. Oh yeah. Yeah. Just more kick drums please. I love kick drums. That's why you love metal so much. That's why I love metal. A lot of kick drums. And that's, you know what, that might be why I don't like trap that much. There's not enough kicks. Not enough kicks. There's a lot of hats. Too much hats. All hats and snares.
00:48:33
Speaker
Yeah, this is pretty good. Yeah. Definitely more modern sounding. Yeah, we're getting as close to the modern era as we're going to do. um i have uh something to add please i have facts please i love facts there is show what southern charm has an electro swing intro and same with all of the like interstitials or electro swing it's like southern charm and the birds and the bees and the one two three Mm-hmm. Yeah, it is a reality show. He's got more honey than any honey bees. Rich people from Charleston, South Carolina. Gotcha. Like me. Yeah. It's really easy to admit. I know. And the birds and the bees and the one, two, three. It's really good. It truly is, like, it's a bad girl. The southern charm intro.
00:49:22
Speaker
And another video to watch on Celine's recommendation. Just the intro. It'll be on YouTube somewhere. We're going to close this off with one last track. This is, you knew I was going to do it, guys. I wasn't going to play 14 songs without getting to the cherry pop and daddy. Yeah, I was worried. I wasn't going to play Zoot Suit Riot like some kind of simp. I was going to play a new fucking song. This is from 2024. They still do it. Kings of swing, cherry pop and daddies. They're proclaiming themselves kings finally, after all these years. hey
00:49:57
Speaker
Black Live Matters really shook them up.
00:50:03
Speaker
So they're still woke, as hell. I keep calling people woke. I will say they're based as fuck. This song is about factories being closed down in his hometown. And him fighting people about it? Kind of, yeah. A couple of fighting people really just has to come up eventually.
00:50:25
Speaker
It's good though. It's like a good solid through line. This is giving Christmas.
00:50:34
Speaker
Now it's not but it was giving Christmas.
00:50:40
Speaker
That's a little spooky. The whole album is super dark. I listened to it the other day, and it's an old, like it's swing, like their classic swing sound, but all the lyrics in the sound is super dark. Yeah. Highly recommend it. Listen to it.
00:51:00
Speaker
The Rockabilly kids need shows to go here. Yep.
Evolution of Swing with New Music
00:51:05
Speaker
Bass player's getting his steps in for the day.
00:51:11
Speaker
It seems like it would be fun I don't know what the guitar player's doing. Probably fun. They do vamps. They play jazz chords every now and then.
00:51:28
Speaker
Yeah, it's not really a guitarist. No, that's something to know. Definitely not. It is a drummer's band for sure. The rhythm section. The rhythm section is owning. um But I think to your point is that if you have a funny voice, you don't necessarily have to sing very well. No, you just have a lot of fun. Hey, I like a swing. Whoa, I got some shoes. Hey, what's over there? Oh, it's cold.
00:51:51
Speaker
and but yeah I love this song. Is this a new Femboy U song? Hey, what's over there? It's just me combing my black hair. Someone needs to take this out. Oh, man. I like a swing song being like surprised in the first. Oh, what's happening? Oh, God. Oh, it's just my shoes. He's All right, swing revival, we did it. What do you guys think? Any new thoughts? We like electro swing. Yeah, electro swing is great. Electro swing is awesome. Yeah, it's good. I mean, I'm not going to go listen into a bunch of swing now, but it's fine. I might listen to some electro swing. I always have them... When I was prepping this, I actually had a moment where I just listened to a whole bunch of swing. just been tripping. I was like, actually, shit. Yeah, this is awesome, listening to a bunch of electro He's like having a bad trip. swing, some revival, some old stuff. And then like a week later, I was like, I'm not listening to it anymore. It's really a thing that I'm just like how the entire genre happens. But then I probably will come back to it at some point and be like, I'm going to listen to a bunch of it because it's fun. It's great. The Lone Digger Caravan Place music video has 424 million views on YouTube. 250 million streams on Spotify. 424.
00:53:11
Speaker
Massive, it's a big song. It's a big video. It's an even bigger video. Do you know what the biggest YouTube videos are? Can you guess? Do you know who's got the biggest YouTube videos? The ones that are like 24 hours of this sound. No. That's the biggest one. Well, no, I mean like most streams, like most views. The long ones are the ones that are not going to have the most. They're the biggest ones, though. Biggest file, dude, off the road. No, what are the... Baby Shark number one. Oh, yeah. That makes sense. Like just kid stuff. Yeah. And then it's like Cocomelon five times in a row. Yeah. Yeah, it's wild. Billions. You can see Mr. Beast just shaking his head, or shaking his... his head. I meant fist, but I like shaking his head with his weird fake smile.
00:53:59
Speaker
Yeah, totally. Sorry, Mr. Beast, if you're listening. Jimmy doesn't have time for this. Obviously, there's so many more scenes we didn't talk about. um and We didn't talk about Lave Smith and her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, which is an amazing name for a band. The Lucky Strikes, Blue Herom, Eight and a Half Souvenirs, The Deluxe Tone Rockets, Johnny Favorites, so much more. Big shout out to Ken Partridge's book, Hell of a Hat.
00:54:26
Speaker
where he also talks about swing as well as Scott in the mainstream revival in the 90s. And that'll do it for today. Hell of a hat. Hell of a hat. Hell of a hat. That's funny. Thanks for listening to Checker Pass. Hit us up on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and Blue Sky at Checker Pass Pod, or send us an email at checkerpasspod at gmail dot.com. Support the podcast so you can sign up for the Checkerhead Patreon to get the episodes uncut in both audio or video format, or you can buy some merch at checkerpass.ca.
00:54:51
Speaker
Our trombonuses are engineered and edited by Joey. That's me. And our trombonus theme was provided by Keelan.
Conclusion and Next Episode Preview
00:54:57
Speaker
Next week we continue our January Primer series with a primer on folk punk. And until next time, I'm Rob. Celine. And Joey. In the mortal words of the Atomic Fireballs, you can't take us out of this wreck.