23 Things That Totally Made You A Ska Kid In High School

Put on your plaid, grab a cabbie hat, and slip on some Vans, because Reel Big Fish are opening for The Aquabats and the minivan’s leaving, dude.

1. Right off the bat, do you know the difference between ska punk…

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Rancid, “Time Bomb”

2. …and traditional two-tone ska?

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The Specials, “Ghost Town”

3. Do you remember how to skank? Because if you couldn’t skank, you were dead meat in the circle pit.

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Spunge, “The Skanking Song”

4. Seriously, if you aren’t skanking, get out of the pit, dude!

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Less Than Jake, “All My Best Friends Are Metalheads”

5. OK, off the top of your head, how many summers in a row did you see Reel Big Fish in concert?

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Reel Big Fish, “She Has a Girlfriend Now”

6. Were you an Aquabat cadet?

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7. Follow-up, did you and your friends ever recite the spoken word intro to The Aquabats’ “Pool Party”?

Video available at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=zzVB3zHeh4U.

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8. OK, did you and your friends cram into your parents’ car to check out local ska bands?

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Arrogant Sons of Bitches, “Last On My List”

And did they look like this?

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…or this?

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…or, uh, this?

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9. AND DID YOU BUY MERCH? How would anyone know you went to the show if you didn’t bring back some pins for your messenger bag?

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Bomb the Music Industry!, “No Rest For the Whiny”

10. Awesome, local shows are the backbone of the ska community, you were totally rude! (That’s a good thing, btw.)

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The Specials, “A Message to You Rudy”

11. Do you still know who Tom Kalnoky, former lead singer of Catch 22 and current lead singer of Streetlight Manifesto, is? And do you kind of hate him and love him at the same time?

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Streetlight Manifesto, “Here’s To Life”

12. Now, in high school did you have at least one friend who was too punk to listen to ska with you and totally ragged on you for it?

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Catch 22, “Dear Sergio”

13. Bonus points if he was a (non-racist) working-class skin.

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14. Were you oh-too-familiar with that uncomfortable feeling of finding out your new favorite ska band is a Christian band?

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Five Iron Frenzy, “Every New Day”

15. Did you ever play in a ska band yourself?

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Reel Big Fish, “Don’t Start A Band”

16. Bonus points if no one from your school ever wanted to come to your shows.

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Goldfinger, “Superman”

17. Did the popular kids at your school just think you were in a Sublime cover band?

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The Toasters, “The Beat”

18. Have you ever heard this before?

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The Planet Smashers, “Super Orgy Porno Party”

19. Did you ever have to say this?

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I Voted For Kodos, “She Hates Ska”

20. Did you ever own any clothes with checkers?

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21. Or with a patch on it?

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The Suicide Machines, “Islands”

22. Or covered in plaid?

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The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, “Where Did You Go?”

23. Then congratulations, you were a ska kid and everyone probably thought you were a dork and that’s SUPER RAD because that was just the way you liked it!

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Propaghandi, “Ska Sucks”