meshing different styles of music, such as metal, rap, funk, ska and to some extent, reggae, takes a lot of ingenuity, originality and a lot of sleepless nights. while some of the newer bands are realizing that this kind of style is addictive, as well as media catch, bands who began the trend like the mighty mighty bosstones and fishbone hide in the shadows and make their appearance in front of those people, who already know of them or to the drunken passers-by. while the mighty mighty bosstones have maintained their hardcore ska/ funk fusion attack, fishbone has metamorphosed into an even more diverse and interesting combination of styles that allures their fans and defies the laws of music.

the scales, which make fishbone up formed with a nucleus, created around john norwood fisher (bass), fish (drums), kendall rey jones (guitars), christopher gordon dowd (vocals, trumpet), angelo christopher moore (vocals, saxophone) and walter adam kibby ii (trumpets). these six youths from the california area, each brought their affinity for the reggae/ska/funk fusion into the core of fishbone in early 1984. (thank god they're black, "cause a bunch of white guys tryin" to do this kind of thing would look and sound funny. don't 'cha think') they broke through in 1985 with their debut release, the ep "fishbone." this mini-album featured their rhythmic drums, jazzy saxophones and trumpets, twiddly guitars, funky bass lines and jazz-style vocals with the affectionately evident eighties element on "ugly, lyin ass bitch" and a classic of theirs, "party at ground zero." (it seems like you can tell what is and isn't an early eighties album, because they all have this upbeat attitude to them.)

after this, they came back with their "in your face" release, which features more of their crazy eighties style music on "when problems arise," "in the air," "i wish i had a date" and "simon says" the kingpin. then they released truth and soul the following year, which had the same style elements on ma and pa, mighty long way and another classic of theirs, bonin in the boneyard. both these releases would show a side of fishbone before the eighties switch. the eighties switch is the period, where all bands realized a need for a louder, looser attack that was less intricate and more powerful. before this time, the eighties was littered by keyboards, symphonies, cheesy dance songs and rhythms in the mainstream. although they were never anywhere close to being a cheesy eighties love song/ballad outfit, there was a marked change between this release and the following one. fishbone was one of the first to change their style up and this is when their fanbase began to grow. the old was good, but the new was even better.