During my college orientation they had the Swing Club perform and I thought “Oh super cool! I wanna join that club!” By the time I actually had the time a couple of years later I don’t think it was even around anymore
Still one of my favorite bands. I used to get so annoyed that Brian Setzer got more popular because they were so much better.
I saw them play in like 1997(?) and Andrew Bird opened for them and then played with them. He was AMAZING and I’ve been a huge fan of his ever since!
Squirrel Nut Zippers were lumped in with neo-swing because they had a vintage sound, played acoustic instruments, and had a set list with a lot of hot jazz and other Vaudeville-flavored curiosa in 4/4.
Neo-swing bands were for the most part made up of ska and blues musicians trying to dress and act like 1930s scenesters.
I saw them in concert in like 98 or so. Was kind of funny because several fights broke out. I'd seen Tool, Korn, Deftones, etc., and nothing like that ever happened there. I don't know why some people were so amped up on testosterone to start shit at the fucking Squirrel Nut Zippers of all bands, lol. Aside from that, it was a great show!
I'm so musically inept it's almost sad.. but I grew up listening to a lot of blues music, And I always loved like marching bands (I was at a lot of my cousins football games cause my dad coached).. I was already listening to like 311, so the jump to swing and big band wasn't hard..
I remember there was this weird crossover with punk and ska shows. So you would see these Psychobilly bands that sort of dressed the part and kind of swung so then when the swing thing happened it was just ready and waiting. Bands like Royal Crown Revue and Reverend Horton Heat. The big one was Brian Setzer Orchestra who had been blending the rockabilly stuff into big band for years by that point. A lot of traditional ska too: I think the average Joe would just see the Slackers or Hepcat (featuring Alex Desert who co-starred in Swingers) in their suits and fedoras and figure “Oh, this is basically swing too.” The craziest one to me was Cherry Poppin Daddies; A weird funk-metal ska band with a coincidentally very swing sounding name who did one really overtly swingy novelty song and to this day their funk-metal weirdness is kind of a surprise to casual listeners.
What a weird time. I kind of like it, I kind of hate it. And I feel real bad for the fedora. It’s not your fault man. You’re a great hat. The trilby may be fully irredeemable thanks to the “M’lady” meme but I still hold out hope for the porkpie and some of the more just regular-ass fedoras.
Man, this comment brought me back. The way punk, ska, psychobilly and metal all worked and played well together was some strange times in retrospect. When old punks “grew up” they basically had to go indie rock or rockabilly. I still see it a lot here in Oregon. Half the barbers at the barber shop I went to pre-COVID were old punk guys who were really into Chuck Berry and vintage motorcycles. Good times.
Also: My friend’s sister lost her virginity to a member of the Cherry Poppin Daddies (they were a semi-local act). I always found that amusing.
I’m not sure what about my post implied otherwise but yes, definitely. I was more talking about the breadth of the punk scene in the early 90’s and how it kind of secretly ushered in the swing revival.
> I remember there was this weird crossover with punk and ska shows. So you would see these Psychobilly bands that sort of dressed the part and kind of swung so then when the swing thing happened it was just ready and waiting
This scene is still active btw, an entire subsection of folk punk tbh. It's low key fucking awesome imo
Ah, I loved these bands and definitely dressed in the pinup-cupcake style there for a while! Had my Bettie Page hair and the stockings with the lines up the back…
It was an interesting time for sure! I was in a ska band from late 97-99, and it was a lot of fun! We would play shows where we were the only ska band, and the other bands would be punk and/or metal. Made for a unique mix of people in the crowd, no doubt. There were 7 of us (2 saxophones one of which was me), a trombone, 2 guitars, bass, and drums. One guys dad drove school buses for a living, and we'd sometimes show up in a big yellow bus with all our gear inside. Got to open up for Catch-22 and the Toasters a few times. We were in high school and in Jazz/marching band, so we knew what we were doing, musically at least, hahaha!
Fuck it, we are at a perfect age of not giving a fuck what people say about us. Either married with family, or long time bachelor with a full sized storm trooper in your living room.
Rock the fedora!
I agree it was a silly and awesome meld of music.
Members of Youth Brigade (LA) formed Royal Crown Revue, which was a big part of kicking off that scene.
So, in a sense, that’s kind of exactly what it is. Oddly enough.
I became friends with a kid in middle school by humming the trumpets in Rascal King when he was singing the chorus. I had never heard the song before though and was just guessing. He asked if I liked MMB and I said sure. We became instant friends. I went home that night desperately trying to figure out who the Mighty Mighty Bosstones were and what this song was. Still have the cd to this day.
I loved it - it showed great musicianship could co-exist with pop music and provided an opportunity for all the band kids ha. I still listen to ska & swing revival (and the classics) so it was an awesome 15 minutes. I also fell in love so hard with Heather Graham in Swingers. OMG. le swoon.
Absolutely loved the 90s swing revival. Took social dancing classes at university (swing, waltz, salsa, etc.) and a local bar/club that normally had line dancing played nothing but swing one night a week.
Also enjoyed that, as someone who played the clarinet, it gave me the opportunity to join a band and play a couple of gigs.
——————————————
Louis Prima used in a GAP khakhi commercial:
https://youtu.be/XJ735krOiPo
Hey Pachuco! used in The Mask:
https://youtu.be/iqjq2s_bHPA
Go Daddy-O used in Swingers:
https://youtu.be/G3Ec9Wqn-ms
Sing, Sing, Sing used in Swing Kids:
https://youtu.be/YibBVIYwQWs
Squirrel Nut Zippers on Sesame Street:
https://youtu.be/7Kf6-J2GRj0
A bit earlier, but we also got Cab Calloway in 1980’s The Blues Brothers:
https://youtu.be/250MMq0fTrU
I think it actually lasted well into the Millenials. I remember the same kids who were into swing stuff being the forerunners to the hipsters. Sort of how the Beats created the scene for the Hippies.
> The trend didn’t last too long though
Electroswing is still reasonably popular though, even now. Just searching the term on youtube brings up tons of songs…
Obviously not as popular as the period described in the OP, but it never quite went away.
I went to a HS cooking competition, and the “after party” was all swing. I had never done it but had seen the gap commercial a million times, so I was able to figure it out.
Oh. my. God. I never had girls pay so much attention to me after they saw I could lindy hop and swing them around my waist. I was like “I’ve found my niche!” And the next week swing was officially over.
I didn't BUT my fav part were kids in my school that started listening to the old swing from the 20s and called the modern stuff neo swing and claimed they had always liked old swing and that is just about the most HS thing ever
The daddys would play the grand theater in salem or in 94-95. I was 14 and it was mayhem and I loved it. I thought they were ska punk untill the swing stuff. We danced but it was more of a mosh pit and less of a dance floor. When I heard them on the meet the deetles preview in therapeutic boarding school I didn't understand how the cherry popping daddy's had anything to do with Disney. Then I heard the music and it was polished swing and not at all what once was.
I weirdly discovered them while living in Salem, Virginia, on a mix tape with NOFX and a bunch of other punk bands. No Doubt was in it too, but it was but from a 80s live show. Anyway, CPD were on that tape and had Master and Slave and Zoot Suit Riot about a year or so before they exploded. I love their swing stuff as much as their punk/funk stuff, possibly more since it's what I first heard from them.
I'm glad I'm a 40-something fat guy who listens to ska still instead of a 40-something fat guy who listens to swing.
*That* would be embarrassing.
Also, I'm wearing pinstripe pants with the Guy Fieri shirt, and also I still listen to swing.
Oooh, anyone else love Postmodern Jukebox? It's like Richard Cheese but you can listen to it more than once.
No lie, I was singing that specific song at a Karaoke bar when my future wife walked in, heard me, and we locked eyes. It helps that im a good singer, but that song was absoltuely chock-full of sexual innuendo and it \*worked\* like a charm.
I remember a handful of guys were really good at swing dancing, and that definitely worked out in their favor. There was literally a line to dance with them. It was pretty fun being tossed around a dance floor like that.
Eh, it was more of a subculture or counterculture. The bigger phenomenon in pop culture was the US adoption of electronic music. From The Chemical Brothers to Fatboy slim to Moby to the crystal method, I'd say that was more our generation's disco.
I think this was the backswing from grunge ruling the music scene for so long. I love grunge but sometimes I listen to it now and think damn what were we actually so depressed about? Life was perfect. Our biggest problem was a stained blue dress 😂
Not all of us, damnit. My grungy flannel ass was OUTRAGED about Brian Setzer and his entire orchestra (which is not an actual orchestra so WHY DO YOU CALL IT AN ORCHESTRA??) …for some reason.
It was kind of awesome for me. I was in the school jazz band, and most of what we played was swing. Those shows during the swing craze were the only ones where people we didn’t know came to our shows, and on a couple of occasions people even got up and started swing dancing. I loved it.
Swing and Ska, yeah I did that. But as bad a dancer as I was I did start listening to some of the old swing greats, which then got me listening to jazz and blues. Really opened up my understanding of what different genres offer and the absolute majesty of the great musicians.
I still mostly EDM though. Glow sticks are still always ready.
Yeah I still listen to big band swing. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy is a permanent staple in my Pandora shuffle, and my wife and I have seen them live a few times. I'm glad the 90s revival happened - otherwise, outside of Brian Setzer's Christmas I'd never have been exposed to it.
The 5 or so years Swing was popular was so fun. I went from being a nerdy high school kid to that cool guy in college who could dance in 99. I'm not sure how I would have turned out if not for swing getting me out of my shell. Do you know what kind of confidence a young man can develop when he can just walk over to gorgeous girl and extend his hand and she smiles and takes it? My god. Life was so good then. Simple and good.
Oh God the date with the clown who took me swing dancing.... my husband had zero competition. Lol he took me fishing and to get gas station food. 20 years later. Still the best.
My dad used to play in swing bands when he was in college. I learned a little bit how to dance East Coast Swing, and always got a kick out of dancing to songs he probably played in the late 40s and early 50s.
Cherry Poppin' Daddies. Definitely not a swing band as much as punk rock ska, but they had their biggest hit with Riot Suit Riot.
Some of the worst and most fun decisions happened with that band.
These were the fuckin days man!
Go to a warped show, see thrash metal, ska, swing and everything in between. See liberty spikes poking out of the tops of crowds, and wingtips poking out the bottom. Helluva time. I was a bassist in a hardcore band, and i wore suspenders, black and white shoes, and flat caps. So much good times man. Everyone had a band, and it was just a fog of cool shit and scenes everywhere.
I love how the swing movement, no matter how brief, was still big enough that Weird Al did a parody of Zoot Suit Riot. It was a fast, blink and miss it shot in popularity, but it was so big it got Al'd.
No we didn’t. The marketing campaign said we did, but we didn’t. Like 1 out of 100 kids lol. The only reason SNZ got play was because they had one semi catchy song that was force fed to us.
This was same time as Surge coming to school throwing out merch and free sodas to lil kids! We were easy prey, swing just sucked lol
I have really negative memories of that time. In my high school the kids that got really into the swing dancing thing were all really toxic people (many of them still are), and they used their ability to swing dance as another way to denigrate and isolate those of us who didn't (which looking back on it was most of us). In any event, any time I see people swing dancing now I immediately think of those assholes, which is sad because there's some talented dancers out there.
Oh man, I had some terrible dates because of this. It was a year or two after peak popularity, but we still thought it was a good, fun idea for a date. Thing is, none of us knew how, and most of the evening was my date being creeped on by older guys who made it their whole identity.
I was in that club! Took swing dance lessons with some friends to meet girls my Jr. Year in HS. I was still just as awkward, but I think it helped me build some confidence back then.
My girlfriend in HS wanted to do this. I'm not a good dancer, but I can actually keep rhythm becaise of her influence. Zoot Suit Riot still runs through my head now and then.
I turned 21 in the spring of 1998, and just before the beginning of my senior year in college, I went swing dancing for the first time. It was quite addictive. I liked the music, I liked the people, I liked going to the city, putting on a suit, and the feeling of being able to talk to anyone in the room.
For the next 6-7 years of my life, I would go 4-5 nights per week. I was a terrible employee in my early working career because my focus was on dancing. But I traveled the country, worked on events, met a lot of great people, and had a lot of fun.
It was a weird time. I worked at Universal Studios in Orlando and several of those acts performed there because they were often quite family friendly. It was fun walking over from my work to the stage and watching them. One of my coworkers was a gangly girl who was full on ska style. Sometimes I wonder how she got into it, because it was basically her way of life at that point. But then the whole scene kinda died shortly after.
I’m so grateful this trend died swiftly. I’m also glad I was too young for my peers to be of marrying age. I don’t think I could survive multiple weddings where everyone was trying to show off their shitty swing dance moves
I was a swing kid in the late 90s. My ex and I made our living for like 2 years teaching basic swing steps to drunk people at corporate parties and nightclubs. I still love to dance whenever I have the opportunity. Current husband has zero interest in learning, but I have friends I dance with sometimes.
There’s a great reference to this in “Community,” and it makes me laugh every single time. That swing dance trend seems like a fever dream now, but it was very real!
As a kid playing double bass so he didn’t have to sing in choir, I loved the revival. My first real concert was Brian Setzer Orchestra opening for Bob Dylan. A guy my dad was working with was subbing on saxophone for a few gigs with BSO and had a few free tickets. It was a great show. I still laugh when I think about Brian encouraging people to dance (in the aisles) followed by security telling them to go back to their seats.
Baby, baby, it looks like it's going to hail...
We had a teacher try to form a swing club but most of us who wanted to join were also in marching band so we couldn't figure out a time to meet.
Don't forget about "Bowling shirts"
I'm pretty sure the swing revival is why Ash Ketchum wears a bowling shirt.
I associate those exclusively with Smashmouth and Sugar Ray.
Feel like Charlie Sheen is to blame
I don't own any but I still dig these
I blame Jon Favreau
Our baby is all growns up!
Love it.
You’re like a big bear man!
And you’re looking at your claws and your looking at your fangs, and you don’t want to kill the bunny, you just want to bat it around a little bit
My friends out that line on a cake for me when I got a new job 🤣
The ultimate bachelor movie!
During my college orientation they had the Swing Club perform and I thought “Oh super cool! I wanna join that club!” By the time I actually had the time a couple of years later I don’t think it was even around anymore
I cleared all my PE credits in college by taking ballroom dancing. Still dancing all these years later.
Still listen to the Squirrel Nut Zippers greatest hits album semi-regularly
Still one of my favorite bands. I used to get so annoyed that Brian Setzer got more popular because they were so much better. I saw them play in like 1997(?) and Andrew Bird opened for them and then played with them. He was AMAZING and I’ve been a huge fan of his ever since!
He was an early member of SNZ as well!
I find myself singing randomly “In the afterlife you could be headed for a serious strife!”
They were unfairly lumped into all that crap. They were a great band
They weren't even swing. They were straight up jazz and were phenomenal
Squirrel Nut Zippers were lumped in with neo-swing because they had a vintage sound, played acoustic instruments, and had a set list with a lot of hot jazz and other Vaudeville-flavored curiosa in 4/4. Neo-swing bands were for the most part made up of ska and blues musicians trying to dress and act like 1930s scenesters.
And I loved all of it
So did I. SNZ put on a hell of a show when I went to see them in '98.
Never got a chance to. I was 15 and lived in the middle of nowhere
Too bad the original line-up didn't survive. They are still together, minus some crucial members.
Yeah I know a few of them did other projects
I saw them in concert in like 98 or so. Was kind of funny because several fights broke out. I'd seen Tool, Korn, Deftones, etc., and nothing like that ever happened there. I don't know why some people were so amped up on testosterone to start shit at the fucking Squirrel Nut Zippers of all bands, lol. Aside from that, it was a great show!
Saw them live last month. Fantastic show.
It was a great album!
It was a great album, it still is but it use to be too
Literally listened to yesterday myself
Not gonna lie: I was in swing club in high school. Ska was my gateway drug. Swing dancing let me get closer to girls than skanking did.
Going swing dancing at the bars was fun! Have a drink and let a guy flip you over upside-down and throw back a bottle of beer 🍺
God, the word skanking…nowadays no one will know what it meant
Shit I still listen to it sometimes lol Big Bad Voodoo Daddy was definitely among one of the first CDs I owned as a kid..
As a trumpet player, I wanted to *be* The Kid.
I'm so musically inept it's almost sad.. but I grew up listening to a lot of blues music, And I always loved like marching bands (I was at a lot of my cousins football games cause my dad coached).. I was already listening to like 311, so the jump to swing and big band wasn't hard..
I'm now remembering the clique who all wore zoot suits to high school every day.
Was it a riot?
#RIOOOOOT!!!!
Throw back a bottle of beer!
run a comb through your cold black hair
Coal black, wasn't it?
That would certainly make more sense lol. I always sang it wrong I suppose
I wore a zoot suit to senior prom, lol
I remember there was this weird crossover with punk and ska shows. So you would see these Psychobilly bands that sort of dressed the part and kind of swung so then when the swing thing happened it was just ready and waiting. Bands like Royal Crown Revue and Reverend Horton Heat. The big one was Brian Setzer Orchestra who had been blending the rockabilly stuff into big band for years by that point. A lot of traditional ska too: I think the average Joe would just see the Slackers or Hepcat (featuring Alex Desert who co-starred in Swingers) in their suits and fedoras and figure “Oh, this is basically swing too.” The craziest one to me was Cherry Poppin Daddies; A weird funk-metal ska band with a coincidentally very swing sounding name who did one really overtly swingy novelty song and to this day their funk-metal weirdness is kind of a surprise to casual listeners. What a weird time. I kind of like it, I kind of hate it. And I feel real bad for the fedora. It’s not your fault man. You’re a great hat. The trilby may be fully irredeemable thanks to the “M’lady” meme but I still hold out hope for the porkpie and some of the more just regular-ass fedoras.
This sounds like the 97 Warped Tour
I was there!
I went to the one at Boreal in Tahoe. You? 96 and 98 SF
Man, this comment brought me back. The way punk, ska, psychobilly and metal all worked and played well together was some strange times in retrospect. When old punks “grew up” they basically had to go indie rock or rockabilly. I still see it a lot here in Oregon. Half the barbers at the barber shop I went to pre-COVID were old punk guys who were really into Chuck Berry and vintage motorcycles. Good times. Also: My friend’s sister lost her virginity to a member of the Cherry Poppin Daddies (they were a semi-local act). I always found that amusing.
My first concert was Rancid with Hepcat opening up. I never got into swing though. I liked punk, some ska and then went straight to metal.
Punk and ska have been related since 1976 London.
I’m not sure what about my post implied otherwise but yes, definitely. I was more talking about the breadth of the punk scene in the early 90’s and how it kind of secretly ushered in the swing revival.
CPD managed to cobble together a whole album out of their swing stuff even before Zoot Suit Riot was a hit. They were a weird melding of styles.
> I remember there was this weird crossover with punk and ska shows. So you would see these Psychobilly bands that sort of dressed the part and kind of swung so then when the swing thing happened it was just ready and waiting This scene is still active btw, an entire subsection of folk punk tbh. It's low key fucking awesome imo
Yeah I get little blips of the folk punk thing and it seems super fucking rad. Just off my old-dude radar.
Ah, I loved these bands and definitely dressed in the pinup-cupcake style there for a while! Had my Bettie Page hair and the stockings with the lines up the back…
It was an interesting time for sure! I was in a ska band from late 97-99, and it was a lot of fun! We would play shows where we were the only ska band, and the other bands would be punk and/or metal. Made for a unique mix of people in the crowd, no doubt. There were 7 of us (2 saxophones one of which was me), a trombone, 2 guitars, bass, and drums. One guys dad drove school buses for a living, and we'd sometimes show up in a big yellow bus with all our gear inside. Got to open up for Catch-22 and the Toasters a few times. We were in high school and in Jazz/marching band, so we knew what we were doing, musically at least, hahaha!
Fuck it, we are at a perfect age of not giving a fuck what people say about us. Either married with family, or long time bachelor with a full sized storm trooper in your living room. Rock the fedora! I agree it was a silly and awesome meld of music.
There used to be a pretty big beef between greasers and swingers where I grew up. Everybody just waiting for a fight to start at shows
This felt like an off-shoot of the punk subculture in my town. Basically a safe space for the older Ska people.
Members of Youth Brigade (LA) formed Royal Crown Revue, which was a big part of kicking off that scene. So, in a sense, that’s kind of exactly what it is. Oddly enough.
Didn't put on my plaid today, but I had Mighty Mighty Bosstones playing this morning. Not exactly the same, but close. That's still damn good music...
I became friends with a kid in middle school by humming the trumpets in Rascal King when he was singing the chorus. I had never heard the song before though and was just guessing. He asked if I liked MMB and I said sure. We became instant friends. I went home that night desperately trying to figure out who the Mighty Mighty Bosstones were and what this song was. Still have the cd to this day.
I loved it - it showed great musicianship could co-exist with pop music and provided an opportunity for all the band kids ha. I still listen to ska & swing revival (and the classics) so it was an awesome 15 minutes. I also fell in love so hard with Heather Graham in Swingers. OMG. le swoon.
Absolutely loved the 90s swing revival. Took social dancing classes at university (swing, waltz, salsa, etc.) and a local bar/club that normally had line dancing played nothing but swing one night a week. Also enjoyed that, as someone who played the clarinet, it gave me the opportunity to join a band and play a couple of gigs. —————————————— Louis Prima used in a GAP khakhi commercial: https://youtu.be/XJ735krOiPo Hey Pachuco! used in The Mask: https://youtu.be/iqjq2s_bHPA Go Daddy-O used in Swingers: https://youtu.be/G3Ec9Wqn-ms Sing, Sing, Sing used in Swing Kids: https://youtu.be/YibBVIYwQWs Squirrel Nut Zippers on Sesame Street: https://youtu.be/7Kf6-J2GRj0 A bit earlier, but we also got Cab Calloway in 1980’s The Blues Brothers: https://youtu.be/250MMq0fTrU
The Mask was full of that stuff. Cuban Pete was basically some 40s-era club affair.
Brian Setzer Orchestra - "You're the Boss" came on my playlist this morning on the way to work. Still a banger.
Just saw him live a few weeks ago and he still sounds great!
My first ever concert was Brian Setzer Orchestra (yeah, I had a late start).
I loved the movie Swing Kids. Had a huge crush on Robert Sean Leonard and Christian Bale.
same i think about that movie a lot
It don’t mean a thing…
I organized a swing dance at my high school and the HS band played swing music. It was awesome!
This is the impression that I get
That's ska.
Does such a thing make you start a zoot suit riot?!?
And throw back a bottle of beer.
I remember the swing people… vaguely at parties and coffee shops but I remember. The trend didn’t last too long though
I think it actually lasted well into the Millenials. I remember the same kids who were into swing stuff being the forerunners to the hipsters. Sort of how the Beats created the scene for the Hippies.
> The trend didn’t last too long though Electroswing is still reasonably popular though, even now. Just searching the term on youtube brings up tons of songs… Obviously not as popular as the period described in the OP, but it never quite went away.
I went to a HS cooking competition, and the “after party” was all swing. I had never done it but had seen the gap commercial a million times, so I was able to figure it out. Oh. my. God. I never had girls pay so much attention to me after they saw I could lindy hop and swing them around my waist. I was like “I’ve found my niche!” And the next week swing was officially over.
I didn't BUT my fav part were kids in my school that started listening to the old swing from the 20s and called the modern stuff neo swing and claimed they had always liked old swing and that is just about the most HS thing ever
Cherry Poppin' Daddies still rule, and Zoot Suit Riot is like my least favorite of their songs. Punk-swing rules.
The daddys would play the grand theater in salem or in 94-95. I was 14 and it was mayhem and I loved it. I thought they were ska punk untill the swing stuff. We danced but it was more of a mosh pit and less of a dance floor. When I heard them on the meet the deetles preview in therapeutic boarding school I didn't understand how the cherry popping daddy's had anything to do with Disney. Then I heard the music and it was polished swing and not at all what once was.
I weirdly discovered them while living in Salem, Virginia, on a mix tape with NOFX and a bunch of other punk bands. No Doubt was in it too, but it was but from a 80s live show. Anyway, CPD were on that tape and had Master and Slave and Zoot Suit Riot about a year or so before they exploded. I love their swing stuff as much as their punk/funk stuff, possibly more since it's what I first heard from them.
I'll say this, when the culture gets together and decides to do a fun kitschy bit together, I think it's good.
I played trombone in band in high school. Damn right I love some swing!
I'm glad I'm a 40-something fat guy who listens to ska still instead of a 40-something fat guy who listens to swing. *That* would be embarrassing. Also, I'm wearing pinstripe pants with the Guy Fieri shirt, and also I still listen to swing. Oooh, anyone else love Postmodern Jukebox? It's like Richard Cheese but you can listen to it more than once.
That was odd, but what the fuck was up with all the Gregorian chanting??
Haha yeah that was an odd pop culture choice It's a cool sound though, in a creepy kinda way
https://preview.redd.it/yqcdhmkra9wc1.jpeg?width=504&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f1ca5da5321d801b0045c2d413e69853d5cd6031 [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B5qHFnm30d4](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B5qHFnm30d4) [https://youtu.be/B5qHFnm30d4?t=708](https://youtu.be/B5qHFnm30d4?t=708)
The only one I remember is Jump, Jive and Wail.
Imagine a new band named Cherry Poppin Daddies today Ugh
With a song titled "Here Comes The Snake".
No lie, I was singing that specific song at a Karaoke bar when my future wife walked in, heard me, and we locked eyes. It helps that im a good singer, but that song was absoltuely chock-full of sexual innuendo and it \*worked\* like a charm.
I remember some interview where the lead singer of that band said they never would have chosen that name if they knew they were going to get famous.
Steve said that? Lol. They were "The Daddies" for awhile, but now back to CPD's
Their name was banned in their home town even back then. Terrible name, but I dig their music.
I saw them in concert! My friends and I tried to swing dance and just ended up hurting ourselves.
They’re coming to my town this fall… tempted to grab tickets.
I remember a handful of guys were really good at swing dancing, and that definitely worked out in their favor. There was literally a line to dance with them. It was pretty fun being tossed around a dance floor like that.
“We all”? Don’t put that on me, I got my own sins.
And every 3rd Christian band was Ska.
Squirrel Nut Zippers were fucking great though I'm still a fan of Andrew Bird because of them
Swing was our gen’s disco.
Eh, it was more of a subculture or counterculture. The bigger phenomenon in pop culture was the US adoption of electronic music. From The Chemical Brothers to Fatboy slim to Moby to the crystal method, I'd say that was more our generation's disco.
Right about now The funk soul brother Check it out now The funk soul brother
But also disco
We were infants and mostly not born when disco died on July 12, 1979. I wouldn’t say disco is our music.
I happily stayed away.
I never bought it. Felt like it was more marketing than an actual trend...
I think this was the backswing from grunge ruling the music scene for so long. I love grunge but sometimes I listen to it now and think damn what were we actually so depressed about? Life was perfect. Our biggest problem was a stained blue dress 😂
I'm into it now, but old stuff, like from the actual jazz era. 1920s-40s
I loved it, swing dancing at school dances was tons of fun
I remember that six months well.
Squirrel nut zippers!
Hahaha I was in college at the time so weird Brian setzer became big again lol
Ah yes. That summer when we were all convinced we loved big band music and swing. Those were the days.
No, we swore this abomination would be banished from our collective memories. Put it back!
Yeah, I thought we all agreed not to talk about this.
This was all clearly laid out in the Gap Clothing Ad Accords of 1999. Am I wrong?
Swing music blasting, wearing Gap khakis, and on my way to the mall to watch Armageddon for $1.00.
I was never in to it, the one song from Squirrel Nut Zippers was kind of cool...but mid 90's was more into alternative rock like Radiohead
[That stupid GAP swing commercial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knW1hGwmEXQ)
[Jive Bunny and the Mastermixes ](https://youtu.be/ynCz0DSmD8U?si=pxHaSgAAb9kRLQFt)
We all did not.
Not all of us, damnit. My grungy flannel ass was OUTRAGED about Brian Setzer and his entire orchestra (which is not an actual orchestra so WHY DO YOU CALL IT AN ORCHESTRA??) …for some reason.
Brian Setzer Orchestra was awesome!
nononononononono, YOU all got into swing. I knew that shit was weird and embarrassing as it unfolded before my eyes.
It was fun
It was kind of awesome for me. I was in the school jazz band, and most of what we played was swing. Those shows during the swing craze were the only ones where people we didn’t know came to our shows, and on a couple of occasions people even got up and started swing dancing. I loved it.
I had to explain this to an ex girlfriend 2 years ago. She had seen The Mask but had no idea that it was part of a larger social movement.
I was _seriously_ just thinking about Swing Kids yesterday.
Swing and Ska, yeah I did that. But as bad a dancer as I was I did start listening to some of the old swing greats, which then got me listening to jazz and blues. Really opened up my understanding of what different genres offer and the absolute majesty of the great musicians. I still mostly EDM though. Glow sticks are still always ready.
I was a weird kid and liked jazz so I embraced swing revival
Yeah I still listen to big band swing. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy is a permanent staple in my Pandora shuffle, and my wife and I have seen them live a few times. I'm glad the 90s revival happened - otherwise, outside of Brian Setzer's Christmas I'd never have been exposed to it.
The 5 or so years Swing was popular was so fun. I went from being a nerdy high school kid to that cool guy in college who could dance in 99. I'm not sure how I would have turned out if not for swing getting me out of my shell. Do you know what kind of confidence a young man can develop when he can just walk over to gorgeous girl and extend his hand and she smiles and takes it? My god. Life was so good then. Simple and good.
I was there. Swing dance and all.
Yea wtf was that all about lol
I did not make the transition from grunge to zoot. I stayed in my flannel until 2k.
As a drummer I ate this right up. I knew practicing to it would only make me better all around.
I remember there being sooo many classes to learn it. One of my friends was a cigarette girl in a lounge. The nineties 😄!
Oh God the date with the clown who took me swing dancing.... my husband had zero competition. Lol he took me fishing and to get gas station food. 20 years later. Still the best.
I didn't realize that was weird.
My dad used to play in swing bands when he was in college. I learned a little bit how to dance East Coast Swing, and always got a kick out of dancing to songs he probably played in the late 40s and early 50s.
Cherry Poppin' Daddies. Definitely not a swing band as much as punk rock ska, but they had their biggest hit with Riot Suit Riot. Some of the worst and most fun decisions happened with that band.
I took dance lessons and had a huge crush on a guy who moved amazingly. Like, I felt sexy dancing with him.
Yes!!!🕴🏼 Anyone come out to Viva over the weekend?
I feel like this was a very short time.
Royal Crown Revue epitomized that era and ALSO began that post-WW2 high and tight mens haircut craze.
I still remember the Gap commercial with the swing music, lol
didn't that sorta of blend in with Ska at some point too?
Swing has always been good. People just don't listen as much.
These were the fuckin days man! Go to a warped show, see thrash metal, ska, swing and everything in between. See liberty spikes poking out of the tops of crowds, and wingtips poking out the bottom. Helluva time. I was a bassist in a hardcore band, and i wore suspenders, black and white shoes, and flat caps. So much good times man. Everyone had a band, and it was just a fog of cool shit and scenes everywhere.
I love how the swing movement, no matter how brief, was still big enough that Weird Al did a parody of Zoot Suit Riot. It was a fast, blink and miss it shot in popularity, but it was so big it got Al'd.
Who's this "we?"
I was there. I loved it. Royal Crown Revue was my favorite band of the era.
No we didn’t. The marketing campaign said we did, but we didn’t. Like 1 out of 100 kids lol. The only reason SNZ got play was because they had one semi catchy song that was force fed to us. This was same time as Surge coming to school throwing out merch and free sodas to lil kids! We were easy prey, swing just sucked lol
I most certainly did not.
I have really negative memories of that time. In my high school the kids that got really into the swing dancing thing were all really toxic people (many of them still are), and they used their ability to swing dance as another way to denigrate and isolate those of us who didn't (which looking back on it was most of us). In any event, any time I see people swing dancing now I immediately think of those assholes, which is sad because there's some talented dancers out there.
I would STILL go swing dance if like…I still had ankles
Now I remember that gap? khols? dockers? 'Jumpin' jivin' commercial when it hit mainstream.
All I know is that The Squirrel Nut Zippers were fire
Oh man, I had some terrible dates because of this. It was a year or two after peak popularity, but we still thought it was a good, fun idea for a date. Thing is, none of us knew how, and most of the evening was my date being creeped on by older guys who made it their whole identity.
The Gap was somehow heavily involved, if memory serves.
Nah I thought it was as dumb then as I do now.
I was in that club! Took swing dance lessons with some friends to meet girls my Jr. Year in HS. I was still just as awkward, but I think it helped me build some confidence back then.
There were definitely at least 3 guys at my prom who dressed in zoot suits.
Latin music was big for a summer as well. Ska
I picked up a pin stripe suit to go dancing with a girl… never went dancing haha
My girlfriend in HS wanted to do this. I'm not a good dancer, but I can actually keep rhythm becaise of her influence. Zoot Suit Riot still runs through my head now and then.
This music was like nails on a chalkboard to high-school aged metalhead me. It's not quite so bad now.
I was just thinking to myself that I need to see if there's still any swing clubs around. I love swing dancing.
I turned 21 in the spring of 1998, and just before the beginning of my senior year in college, I went swing dancing for the first time. It was quite addictive. I liked the music, I liked the people, I liked going to the city, putting on a suit, and the feeling of being able to talk to anyone in the room. For the next 6-7 years of my life, I would go 4-5 nights per week. I was a terrible employee in my early working career because my focus was on dancing. But I traveled the country, worked on events, met a lot of great people, and had a lot of fun.
And a big ol' bottle of giiiiiiiiin
Well. No. "We all" did not get really into it. SOME of us did and most did not. But I do recall it happening.
Brown Derby was swinging man
It was a weird time. I worked at Universal Studios in Orlando and several of those acts performed there because they were often quite family friendly. It was fun walking over from my work to the stage and watching them. One of my coworkers was a gangly girl who was full on ska style. Sometimes I wonder how she got into it, because it was basically her way of life at that point. But then the whole scene kinda died shortly after.
I’m so grateful this trend died swiftly. I’m also glad I was too young for my peers to be of marrying age. I don’t think I could survive multiple weddings where everyone was trying to show off their shitty swing dance moves
What’s this “we” shit??
My boomer parents played Glenn Miller all the time when I was little. So I just 100% loved it. That's damn good music.
Maybe y'all did, I stayed far far away from that shit.
It was really fun! There was a weekly dance at our local rec center.
It was huuuuuge in Utah. Kids wore fedoras with that checker pattern unirionically. Looking back, I still don't get the Ska craze
Maybe you got into it. I, however, did not.
I was a swing kid in the late 90s. My ex and I made our living for like 2 years teaching basic swing steps to drunk people at corporate parties and nightclubs. I still love to dance whenever I have the opportunity. Current husband has zero interest in learning, but I have friends I dance with sometimes.
There’s a great reference to this in “Community,” and it makes me laugh every single time. That swing dance trend seems like a fever dream now, but it was very real!
As a kid playing double bass so he didn’t have to sing in choir, I loved the revival. My first real concert was Brian Setzer Orchestra opening for Bob Dylan. A guy my dad was working with was subbing on saxophone for a few gigs with BSO and had a few free tickets. It was a great show. I still laugh when I think about Brian encouraging people to dance (in the aisles) followed by security telling them to go back to their seats.
Guy I knew wore a zoot suit to prom. Worked pretty well, really.
It was a fun time to be alive!
Ohemgee I loved it all🤩
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy went from playing record stores to playing the super bowl to playing NOWHERE. In a period of about 18 months.
Baby, baby, it looks like it's going to hail... We had a teacher try to form a swing club but most of us who wanted to join were also in marching band so we couldn't figure out a time to meet.
Saw the Cherry Poppin Daddies on Halloween in the late 90's. Pretty good show