69. Goldfinger
I have to check my info a little, but I’m pretty sure Goldfinger was the band that introduced me to Ska music (nope... probably No Doubt). I was watching The Box and suddenly Here in my Bedroom came on. Being a fan of punk music I quickly fell in love with the song and it’s catchiness.
When I went out and bought the album I loved half of it and felt indifferent towards others. It wasn’t until a few years later that I started to appreciate songs like Anything, Nothing to Prove, Mind’s Eye and Anxiety (which is now my favorite song on the album). It was through this album that I started to dig deeper for more ska bands. I was obsessed with songs like King For a Day and Pictures.
A few months later bands like Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Reel Big Fish helped lead to the Ska Explosion of the mid-90’s. Now ska is basically dead in the public eye but bands like Less Than Jake, Streetlight Manifesto and Five Iron Frenzy still have a devoted fanbase.
The record became a favorite among me and my neighbor/friend Jay. We listened to it all throughout the summer of 1996 (even the songs at the time I hated). We discussed about how weird the last 30 seconds of the song Anything is (where two guys discuss touching each other’s dicks).
In just 40 minutes this self-titled masterpiece just explodes and never stops. It was extra helpful during my short-lived move to Los Angeles, because everytime I got annoyed I’d sing City With Two Faces (aka Fuck LA).
The best song on the record though is either Anxiety or Mable (the second single which should have been WAY bigger). If you are a fan of 90’s punk/ska and you haven’t heard this... you need to make a major change to your CD collection and add this among it.
Matt Kelly can also be found hosting The Saint Mort Show, Co-hosting the Reddit Horror Club Podcast, Writing for Geekscape,Tweeting and running Dollar Monday Promotions.
Oh Goldfinger, I remember so vividly how you got my sister in deep, deep shit for our listening to this song when we were kids. So very worth it.
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