As we move into the late Eighties and towards the Nineties, there are more artists on this list that I have at least heard of, if not really heard. There are still pleasant mysteries, however, and Fishbone are one of them.
Question: What genre of music do Fishbone play?
Answer: Yes, they do.
Although the underlying theme is a kind of rocky funk, this album brings in all sorts of different musical styles. The track Ma And Pa is ska, while Question Of Life is more reggae. A track like Pouring Rain is funk, while Deep Inside is more punk. Mighty Long Way has the sound of Steely Dan with a bit more hard rocking in the guitars, and Change is a piece of folk rock.
Such a scattergun approach may sound like it dilutes the music and although there is a certain aural incoherence to the album, there is an underlying theme of funkiness overlaid with rock guitar, especially on the second half of the album, and I was reminded most of a George Clinton / P-Funk kind of project. Arguably, John Norwood Fisher on bass underpins the whole endeavour; all band members have vocal credits, and three also play brass, so it’s a very rich sound without bringing in session musicians.
They’re also a little like Zappa in that the musical playfulness sometimes masks an underlying serious political commentary. Take the track Slow Bus Movin’, which sounds a little like the theme from Rawhide. It’s musically jokey but the lyrics mention different uses of the bus in race relations in America, both segregation (and the Bus Boycott) “Brothers in the back seat, caucs in the front” and forced bussing - "Well, the overlords thought it would be a good idea, to mix the black with the white. But if you're a fly in the buttermilk, they'll chase you all through the night”. In case you didn’t notice, the members of Fishbone are all gentlemen at the higher end of epidermal melanin content. The theme is continued in Ghetto Soundwave about systemic racism in policing. Subliminal Fascism warns “The plan is subtle but it's in the open. Kingpins Nazi scheme getting under your skin. So you better wake up US”.
The “bus” of social justice in the USA is, as Fishbone tell us, “movin’ mighty slow”. Their music, though, really kicks.
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