Geeky SKAturday: Gettin' RUDE with the Sybians...

Happy SKAturday, all!  Thank you for stopping by to hopefully make it just a little bit brighter, nerdier, and more skankable with me.

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.

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!).

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.

Haruto Suzuki, Three Minute Hero

Okay, it's time to get serious about creating some Agents of SKA.  First up is Haruto Suzuki, who came to be thanks to a little randomization and AI decision-making.  He's a trumpet player from Japan.  His band?  Hmm.  I reserve the right to say this is one that he was just in for a few weeks in high school or something, but let's go with Ringo SKARR.

Yep, still faceless.  I mean, he has a face.  Just not an official one yet.

Because I like to come upon RPG specifics that aren't critical to the story at hand via (1) randomness, (2) undeniable destiny, or (3) other people's ideas that I can bring to life (all perhaps pointing more toward laziness than a devotion to principle), I asked my buddy Jake, who lives in Japan, to write a brief background for Haruto.  Jake isn't an RPGer and probably had a bit of a wtf reaction to the request, but he was gracious enough to toss that aside and help me out.  I found out Haruto was born in 1980.  Some more details:

Haruto Suzuki loves natto for breakfast. He loves the stir of the sauce and the mustard, and he likes that it’s slimy. He likes slimy things. Later, he’ll go to the studio to practice his trumpet, but first he’ll hit the 7-11 for cigarettes. At night, he has a show at Salt Peanuts. He’s not feeling his best, but he’s gonna give it a go. Ganbarimasu!

Stats (3d6+1 in order, no rerolls): STR 11  DEX 9  CON 9  INT 17  WIS 12  CHA 12

Class:  Hmm.

Pretty sure I want classes for this game, but I don't think everyone should just be a Rudie.  So, I'm looking at basing them all on classic ska (and related) songs:

Monkey Man - The big bruiser.

Gangster - The clever rogue.

Three Minute Hero - The magical charmer.

Keasbey Knight - The paladin of making the best of life with your friends.  (Thanks for the idea to whoever it was who has/had that as their handle on some forum or platform...!)

Maybe some more.  I'm thinking about a Special Brewmaster/Brewmistress (but probably not).  I also think the negative connotations of the Monkey Man class may require a rename (or scrapping it).  We shall see.

Haruto is a Three Minute Hero.  He's a star!

Geeky SKAturday: A Kick in the Bits have an anthem for 2025 (and...every year before it, I suppose...)

It is Geeky SKAturday!  Welcome!

Today's song comes from the Leicester, UK, band A Kick in the Bits, who released the EP Don't Break It last month.  This MIGHT be their first album (I'm not sure), but either way it has become an early contender for favorite ska-ish record of the year here at Monstrous Matters.  (So, y'know, me.)

The album is eight tracks and about a half an hour, and the tune that really caught my attention upon first listen is this one, "No Surrender."  It's really more punk-reggae than ska (a lot of their songs wouldn't sound out of place on a Clash album), and it could truly be an anthem for 2025 America:

You can find A Kick in the Bits on Bandcamp, Facebook, and maybe live near you.  They are definitely worth a listen!

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Now, I'll get down to the really good stuff...connecting this to an RPG campaign in which ska bands are time-traveling protectors of multiversal order.  The key to today's song: Politics.  Ska has always been a genre expressing cultural awareness.  You can listen to songs coming out of Jamaica in the '60s and hear both the optimism that accompanied independence from Great Britain AND both adoration and warnings directed toward the original Rude Boys who often found themselves on the wrong side of the law.

In the late '70s, when ska was revived in the UK alongside the punk movement, its political nature was sealed.  It won't all be serious music -- and some of the greats, like Bad Manners, had little serious about them at all -- but the political undercurrent solidified by the 2 Tone scene has had a lasting impression on the music.

And there are going to be folks who disagree with this (I believe them to be wrong), but I'd also argue that the political leanings of ska have almost universally been to the left.  Some of the easiest evidence?  Well, here's the (English) Beat performing in 1982:

I realized that I wasn't sure if that specific tendency was found in A Kick in the Bits' songs...maybe they're more just general, "the system sucks, we have to fight back to make things better"...?  (Which is already pretty broadly left wing, btw.)  But then I realized they have a song called "Tory Bastards"... ;)

So with that said, I am not going to shy away from having the shenanigans of the Agents of SKA tip into political territory.  Well...okay, I might shy away a little.  I'm not looking to make a political game/setting here.  But the main beliefs expressed within the genre are sentiments I can usually get behind, and they may just show up in the game.

In my next post (hopefully before next weekend!), I think I'll actually start detailing our first agent, Japanese trumpeter Haruto Suzuki.  He is thus far faceless, but some small pieces of his life are starting to emerge.  I have a feeling we'll see that he's a bit political himself...

Geeky SKAturday SKAliday: Oi to the World!

Next in line for ska songs that should probably be enjoyed every holiday season:  "Oi to the World!"

I only first heard this one when No Doubt covered it on a Christmas album in the late 90s, but I would later learn that it's actually a cover of a 1996 song by SoCal punk band the Vandals.  I like this song a lot, and I also have thoughts about it, so first I'll just share the video No Doubt made for it, and then if you want to see some of my thoughts (and I bet you'll have some of the same ones), you can read on.  I promise I won't go on for too long.

Okay, that was pretty fun.  Now, No Doubt is a band that's sure to elicit plenty of eyerolls among ska fans the world over.  However, their early years saw them much more connected to the fairly insular ska scene than many people realize, even finding their way onto some ska compilations around the late '80s/early '90s...and back then, comps were HUGE and among the major ways for ska bands to get their name out there, maybe even more than zines and shows.

And despite exploring a spectrum of new wave-y and punk type sounds...and wtf is wrong with that, btw...No Doubt began out of love for 2 tone bands, and my memory of guitarist Tom Dumont shouting out to the Specials and Fishbone on MTV back in the '90s was a tiny formative memory for me.  Although I have to acknowledge, at 47 years of age, that I might not even remember that correctly.

Now...it must also be noted that part of the modern view of No Doubt is shaded by shifting views toward lead singer Gwen Stefani, and this video isn't a bad example of that.  I'll say it up front...the bindi seemed like a much better idea for a white California lady back in the '90s than it does today.  I can't even completely put my finger on all the reasons why, but that video just oozes cultural appropriation (not to mention I'm not sure how to feel about the use of the elephant).

Part of this is, admittedly, connected to ska itself, and its weaving with punkrock.  As I think I've mentioned before, when I dressed up to go to ska shows in the '90s, I was basically cosplaying late '70s British kids who were cosplaying '60s Jamaican tough guys and sharp dressers.  And with this song (and it's discussed nicely here in a lengthy analysis on the Kerrang! website), you also have the white California lady putting on a tiny bit of a British accent (a punk tradition, of course), but that's because it's a cover from a California band that really went out of their way to be British in the original version:

The theme of the song is undeniably positive.  Unity.  Oi to the world.  Drink some bourbon with your new mate!  It also sounds like the kind of anti-racist story I would have found much more meaningful as a 19-year-old in south Georgia than here and now, as the complexities of racism around the world and throughout history have thankfully become a bigger and more nuanced part of the conversation.

It's just so simple...those racist skinheads such as Trevor "liked the music, but not the unity," and it just took standing up to them and ultimately being kind to change the ways of at least one of them.  I guess it also took a few well-placed oi!s, but we did it!

It's also just too convenient to rhyme "turban" with "bourbon," and I can't help but think that the reference to Indiana Jones (arguably a really stupid line, btw, but it entertains me) makes the whole thing a little more problematic, since those films aren't exactly known for their cultural progressiveness, and the fact that "Haji had a sword like the guy in Indiana Jones" seems a little like a Sikh caricature that I probably shouldn't pretend to be qualified to evaluate in terms of sensitivity.

BUT...

Y'know what...

This song also reminds me that I should probably be okay sometimes just accepting a hokey anti-racist vignette for what it is.  In this world where a growing recognition of the complexities of racism has made the conversation all the more difficult at times, we've somehow allowed blatant racism to come to the forefront again and gain acceptability in forums far wider than I would have expected.  I think I should just be happy to enjoy a song where a narrow-minded white dude ends up as a drinking buddy to a presumably brown dude who wears a turban.  That's still a win, especially in today's world.  We can still worry about all the complexities, but until this simple message is actually the fucking baseline we're building from, I'm not gonna hate too hard on something like "Oi to the World!"

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Now...No Doubt deserves at least one or two sounds to be cast by those who are able to harness the power of Rudeness...in OGL games or using Monstrous6 magic.  I couldn't decide which song would be best to use, so here are two.  One is among the best-known tunes by the band (and it's a good one!) that also retains a heavy dose of their 2 tone roots; you'll probably recognize it as a common D&D spell, very thinly reskinned for Rudies.  The other is a pretty early No Doubt song that made its way onto some ska compilations back in the day, as they say...

Spiderwebs

2nd-level Sound

Casting time: 1 action

Range: 60 ft (20 ft cube)

Duration: 1 hr

Saves: Dexterity/Strength

You conjure a mass of thick, sticky webbing at a point of your choice within range. The webs fill a 20-foot cube from that point for the duration. The webs are difficult terrain and lightly obscure their area.

If the webs aren't anchored between two solid masses (such as walls or trees) or layered across a floor, wall, or ceiling, the conjured web collapses on itself, and the spell ends at the start of your next turn. Webs layered over a flat surface have a depth of 5 feet.

Each creature that starts its turn in the webs or that enters them during its turn must make a Dexterity saving throw vs. your magic save difficulty. On a failed save, the creature is restrained as long as it remains in the webs or until it breaks free.

A creature restrained by the webs can use its action to make a Strength check vs. your magic save difficulty. If it succeeds, it is no longer restrained.

The webs are flammable. Any 5-foot cube of webs exposed to fire burns away in 1 round, dealing 2d6-2 fire damage to any creature that starts its turn in the fire.

Everything's Wrong

3rd-level Sound

Casting time: 1 action

Range: 60 ft (10 ft sphere)

Duration: 1 min

Save: Presence

This sound causes all willful creatures within its area of effect to second-guess everything they do for the duration of the spell.  Once the creature determines what it will attempt for the turn, it must succeed on a Presence saving throw vs. your magic save difficulty or be rendered confused and unable to take any actions for that turn.

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Geeky SKAturday: It's "Christmas Time Again"! (Bad Manners)

December is here.  It's Christmas time again!

I think I'll share some of my favorite holiday ska tunes this month.  Here's one I've posted before that is always worth revisiting, from the band that is probably the goofiest and maybe my favorite of the 2 tone era...

No notes.

And while I definitely have a big interest right now in turning Christmas songs into spells...that's a whole different project.  Instead, here's my favorite Bad Manners tune and a sound to accompany it...

Special Brew

2nd-level Sound

Casting time: 1 action

Range: 30 feet

Duration: 1 hour

Save: Presence

This sound targets one being that can see you and has a Knowledge score of at least 1.  On a failed save, the creature regards you as their best friend.  We're talking soulmate type feelings, although no romantic notions are necessarily involved.  They know that you want to spend all your money on them.

When the spell wears off, the target will remember what has occurred but will not necessarily feel deceived unless you have coerced them into doing things contrary to their usual wishes.  You will simply be regarded as a former friend.

Geeky SKAturday: Moon Hop (Derrick Morgan)

In preparing my magnum opus, I'm trying to nail down a simple yet flavorful way to handle spellcasting.  My approach for now (in addition to looking at how it's handled in games like Mini Six and FIE, I SAY!) is just to develop ideas I've had for the 5E Rudie class I wrote about a while back.  If I can make it work for the spell-like Sounds of a Rudie, I'm pretty sure I can make it work for the stuff a wizard or cleric would cast.

So here's more low-hanging fruit, reskinned and rephrased from that SRD we all know so well.  The song is Derrick Morgan's 1969 classic "Moon Hop," which celebrated the moon landing (is that obvious? apologies if so).  It might be a bit more well known to many through the variant performed by Symarip, which apparently became a hit in the UK in like 1980 on the heels of 2tone's popularity.  And of course, the place I heard it first (and which I would imagine is the way many people learned of the song) was the Specials' incorporation of it into their sets during the height of their popularity.  (I heard recordings; I didn't see those sets.)  All three of these versions are below...

The disclaimers:  (1) Yeah, it really isn't a ska song (other than maybe the Specials' version), but it is certainly in the very-closely-related early reggae style.  (This is often called skinhead reggae, of course...I just avoid that term sometimes, depending upon the audience, since the term skinhead has taken on a very different and very problematic meaning for many people.)  And (2) I know an accusation came out toward Derrick Morgan about a year ago that is also pretty terrible.  Obviously this doesn't impact the quality of his music from 55 years ago, but for some reason I feel like it has to be said, and for what it's worth, I haven't seen any resolution to the issue that makes me believe it has to be true.

Wow...okay, that was way too long...here's the Sound and the songs...!

Moon Hop

1st-level Sound

Range: Touch

Duration: 1 minute

One creature's jump height and distance are tripled for the duration of the sound.

The original:

Symarip's version:

The Specials' take:

Terry Hall, 1959-2022

News broke yesterday of the death of Terry Hall, singer for one of my favorite bands, 2 tone legends the Specials.  This is truly a loss, and at only 63, clearly much too early.  I like this sentence posted on the band's Facebook page: "His music and his performances encapsulated the very essence of life... the joy, the pain, the humour, the fight for justice, but mostly the love."  If folks can say something that's anywhere close to that when I leave this world, it will probably have been a life pretty well spent.

From his Facebook page...

I've been listening to some of his work today and wanted to share a few songs here.  While much of the greatness of this first one is defined by its group vocals, I have to post the most iconic version of one of the most iconic ska or rocksteady songs of all time, the Specials' take on "A Message to You Rudy":

The Rude Boy archetype and the "character" of Rudy are a topic I've long thought I should write about in a Geeky SKAturday, and this tune probably leads the way in representing Rudy's image in a lot of people's minds.

There are a couple of songs, though, that I think exemplify Hall's strengths as a vocalist and will be forever imprinted on the musical portion of my mind.  "Dawning of a New Era" might have been the first Specials song I ever heard, and I really never get tired of it...

And then Hall's performance in the grand alloy that is the Specials' epic "Ghost Town" is absolutely timeless:

Of course, Hall had projects other than the Specials, with Fun Boy Three being perhaps the most well known.  Even many who have never paid much attention to his musical performances would probably recognize this pop gem that he co-wrote with Jane Wiedlin of the Go-Go's:

Finally, I know I'm not the only one recognizing today how poignant Hall's performance in this classic cover is...especially considering the young age at which the world lost him...

I definitely hold some regret that I never seized an opportunity to see Hall perform live.  And I would love to honor him in a very Monstrous Matters way, by statting him up for a game, but I'm not sure I have the tools and chops (yet?) to do that well.  If I were to go the 5E route, I think I'd put him close to the max (if not THE max) level used in the campaign world at hand.  Of course, he'd be a Bard.  And he'd be the first one I construct that belongs to the College of Ska.  But I haven't put all that together yet.  One day, maybe, and hopefully soon, and until then, I'll enjoy the incredible art he left for us.

Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think.

2 Tone Tuesday: Everyday

 Somehow, this song usually makes me feel better.  Feelings are weird.

2 Tone Tuesday: Ghost Town

Many have noted how appropriate this song feels these days...

2 Tone Tuesday: My favorite video on YouTube

If not my favorite, it's pretty darn close.

Is Buster Bloodvessel the greatest entertainer of the 2 Tone era?  I'm really starting to think so.  Here's Bad Manners performing the song at the height of ska's second wave...

2 Tone Tuesday: Too Much Pressure

This obviously isn't a political blog, but the state of America these days makes it difficult to not say something, in acknowledgment at least.  But then it's hard to figure out what to say that isn't just stating the obvious.  We need to start facing these issues head-on before the momentum slips away and I have to live the rest of my lifetime seeing this same horrific story play out.

Since the 2 Tone movement was defined, in part, by attempting to tear down barriers based on race, I thought maybe I could at least find a great, fitting song in my listening time today.  But...no real luck there. (Not a huge fan of the Specials' "Racist Friend," if you thought I was missing the obvious.  It's a good song, but not next-level good.)  So here's one that at least reminds me how unnecessary it is that we've gotten ourselves into this position as a country...

2 Tone Tuesday: A Message to You Rudy

One of the most iconic songs of the 2 Tone era (although a cover of a much older Jamaican song)...

2 Tone Tuesday: Special Brew

I've decided to let Tuesdays be a day to remind myself that as much as I love traditional '60s Jamaican ska and modern music in that style, there are times I could probably convince myself that I love its late-'70s (largely British) descendant even more.  My AM work was accompanied by a pretty killer 2 tone mix.  Here's one of my favorites from this morning...hopefully it'll brighten someone else's day as well...

Holiday Music Fest: Bad Manners - Christmas Time Again

Tiny bit of background here (although I completely disagree with the "not a great song" comment).

A little holiday cheer(?)...

Here's one of my favorites to put on rotation each December...