As a reminder, these Geeky SKAturday posts have two main goals this year: (1) Take a look at some great ska and ska-related tunes that have come out in 2025, and (2) Ramble about how to work ideas from these songs into a work-in-progress RPG setting in which the denizens of Skaville (metaphorically) travel through time to protect the multiverse (literally). Today's new(ish) song: "Naughty Boy (Not Rude)" by the Dutch offbeat purveyors known as the Sybians!
I've just discovered the Sybians this year. Hailing from Amsterdam, they are self-described as "the new dark horse of 60's reggae," and that seems like a fair description. The band includes some Dutch veterans of Jamaican music and plays an infectious take on early reggae that hits pretty hard and sticks in your brain.
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| From here |
I went with this song today because I wanted to finally feature one that references that most iconic of concepts in the ska-sphere: the idea of being rude. Now, that word is thrown around in ska circles, but I would imagine the meaning behind it could fuel many dissertations at this point. There is a Wikipedia page devoted to the rude boy (and variants)...but it's pretty short, and I would definitely encourage anyone with interest to explore how the term has been used over the years. In summary...rude boys were originally rebellious young men in Jamaica who became closely associated with ska's first wave in the 1960s.
During the 2 Tone era in the UK, the term shifted to more broadly encompass the subculture associated with ska. Over the decades in the ska scene, the word rude has taken on a connotation that is almost undeniably positive, but also really hard to pin down exactly. Being rude likely means you have an appreciation for the music that brings us together, and it might still refer to a questionable association with lawful living, but it also has implications of being courageous and street-smart. Today's song is a good example of its subtlety of meaning...the subject of the song is naughty but decidedly not rude.
I guess that to me, being rude at this point broadly means sharing some degree of similarity to this archetypal Rudie that has been built up in the lore of ska. This is part of what makes it perfect for gaming! Not only is there a story behind the word, there's an aesthetic! Visually, Rudies are probably represented most prominently by the mascots of 2 Tone bands the Specials and the Beat: Walt Jabsco (based on an early photo of Peter Tosh) and (the) Beat Girl (based on first wave rude girl and trans pioneer Brigitte Bond...go here for some of the great work that has been done in uncovering her story!).
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| From this Reddit thread about "The world's best relationship"... :) |
To get deep in the nerd weeds, in working on a "ska RPG," I've thought about different ways of approaching the concept of being rude. I made the Rudie class for 5e a while back, and in thinking about a "Big 4' of RPG attributes, I've considered having a set that form RUDE as an acronym, so that I could play the RUDE System (Reasoning, Understanding, Dexterity, Endurance?). I'm also wondering if Rude/Rudeness should be a completely separate attribute in a game, like Sanity in Call of Cthulhu. After all, if you look at the classic six stats of D&D, Rudeness is a little bit Charisma, a little bit Wisdom, and probably dashes of both Intelligence and Constitution. So, maybe it should be its own thing...perhaps even influenced by all of the attributes...?
Eh...like I said...there are dissertations waiting to be written about this historically rich term (and maybe already have been). I mean...I haven't even gone into how the term is likely still used at times in Jamaican dancehall and various British dance genres...which probably complicates the archetype I'm following here, and maybe even opens up some questions of cultural appropriation (with which I am always willing to engage). I think I'll just stop rambling about it now. That's not very rude of me, after all.
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