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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Bumbershoot Why Aren't Fishbone as Big as Red Hot Chili Peppers?

Posted by Charles Mudede on Wed, Aug 29, 2012 at 2:11 PM

People who believe their knowledge of American popular music is up to snuff are in the habit of stating, when the opportunity presents itself, that Fishbone should have been bigger than Red Hot Chili Peppers. Both bands were born in Los Angeles around the same time (the early '80s), regularly toured together, and approached music in roughly the same way—blending genres. Fishbone blended punk and ska; RHCP blended punk and funk. Fishbone was a black band that didn't make R&B, and RHCP was a white band that didn't make rock. Almost everyone knows RHCP, and only critics know Fishbone. What the hell happened? Why didn't Fishbone become huge? Was it a race thing? No, I don't think this was the case. We know RHCP not because they're white but because the music they made was far more accessible to the common ear than Fishbone's. Being good at music is one thing, being popular is another. The two must never be confused as one and the same thing.

Fishbone fell apart in the early '90s. They had been together for a decade, had toured with bands such as Jane's Addiction and Beastie Boys, received nothing but praise from the press, but, despite being signed to a major label, did not have a big hit attached to their name. Every effort they made to be more commercial and obtain radio appeal failed because they didn't have it in them to make a tune as bad as "Under the Bridge"—Red Hot Chili Peppers' biggest hit and a load of crap. The Sony corporation eventually dropped Fishbone. Its members started going nuts and leaving. By the late '90s, they were completely forgotten. During the '00s, the remaining members sank into poverty. Yet the band kept going, hoping and dreaming in the face of dwindling audiences in smaller and smaller venues.

Fishbone play Bumbershoot Monday at 6:15 pm in the Exhibition Hall. See more Bumbershoot coverage here!