Marc Wasserman is a ska Renaissance man. In a career spanning decades, he’s worn several hats. Musician, producer, label owner, author, podcaster. He’s also a self-taught bass player. His two most recent bands are Rude Boy George and Heavensbee. Together, both bands highlight Marc’s musical influences pretty well. With Rude Boy George, the focus is on covering ’80s New Wave with a ska/reggae flair.
Heavensbee, on the other hand, focuses on originals with more of a Version City Dub Reggae feel.
When Marc Wasserman isn’t working on his several music projects, his focus is on a podcast. a blog, and the upcoming book on American ska, Ska Boom! Releasing July 4, 2021 on DiWulf Publishing. Wasserman uses hundreds of interviews with the key players in the American ska and reggae scene’s development between the late ’70s and early ’90s.
The book, which took almost four years to complete, is structured as an oral history, allowing the reader to get firsthand access to the key players of the time. Some of the most important and influential American ska bands of the time are featured. You’ll hear what it was like to be part of the scene just as ska broke in America. Bands like The Untouchables, Mephiskapheles, Let’s Go Bowling, and Bim Skala Bim (and more) all show up in the book. All in, Marc interviewed over 100 interviews for this book. It’s definitely a must for any ska fan!
Ahead of the release of his new book, Marc talks about his favorite album. He also mentions one that is criminally underrated. His overrated pick may come as a bit of a surprise as well. After reading about those three albums, make sure you head over to DiWulf Publishing’s store to pre-order Ska Boom!
Favorite Album
“English Beat, I Just Can’t Stop It. As much as I adored the 2-Tone punch of The Specials and The Selecter’s first albums, it was the English Beat debut with its colorful pop art album cover (pink and black with a cute dancing girl logo!) that stole my heart and made me a bass player. Their jubilant mix of Jamaican ska and U.K. punk into three minute and 30 second stories about the ups and downs of love (“Tears of a Clown”), life (“Best Friend”) and politics (“Stand Down Margaret”) was the soundtrack to my teen years and beyond.”
Overrated Album
“The Clash, Sandinista! Though this triple album features several of my favorite songs by the only band that matters (“The Magnificent Seven” and “Somebody Got Murdered”) and dedicated the whole of side six to dub reggae versions of songs on the album, it’s a self-indulgent, meandering mess. I’ve owned it since it came out in 1980 and I still haven’t been able to make it through more than two sides at a time. There’s an amazing single album hiding somewhere in all that filler.”
Underrated Album
“Fishbone’s Self-Titled EP. A personal favorite that heralded the arrival of a uniquely American version of ska. The sounds on this EP went on to influence hundreds of bands that followed its punky ska sound, some of whom (see No Doubt, Sublime) later went on to enjoy the widespread success that Fishbone should have reaped. While later albums by the band became more popular and generated more mainstream interest, this EP helped set the standard for genre jumping among pop, punk, funk and ska that defined the 3rd wave sound of the mid 90s.”
