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cover of episode Decoder Ring | Jump, Jive and Fail: The ’90s Swing Craze

Decoder Ring | Jump, Jive and Fail: The ’90s Swing Craze

2025/1/29
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Slow Burn
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People
C
Carl Byrd
C
Christian Perry
J
John Bunkley
M
Mando Dorame
M
Michael Moss
S
Scotty Morris
S
Steve Perry
S
Sylvia Schuyler
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Tom Maxwell
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Willa Paskin
Topics
Willa Paskin:我起初觉得90年代的摇摆舞复兴很俗气,但深入了解后发现它比我想象的更复杂有趣。它展现了一个地下文化如何走向主流,以及成功如何掩盖当时以及之后发生的事情。 Mando Dorame:我从小就喜欢爵士乐和旧式风格,并以此为乐。我组建了Royal Crown Review乐队,尝试将旧式音乐与我的生活体验结合。 Michael Moss:Royal Crown Review乐队的音乐非常独特,与当时流行的音乐截然不同。我被他们的音乐深深吸引,并开始关注这个新兴的摇摆舞复兴文化。 Scotty Morris:我组建Big Bad Voodoo Daddy乐队,希望将爵士乐和朋克摇滚结合起来,创造一种更狂野、更充满活力的音乐。 Tom Maxwell:90年代初的北卡罗来纳州的音乐场景非常独立和DIY,乐队都独具特色。我们Squirrel Nut Zippers乐队从老式爵士乐中汲取灵感,但我们并不认为自己是摇摆乐队。 Sylvia Schuyler:我一开始不喜欢摇摆舞,但后来被其独特的氛围所吸引,并成为了一名摇摆舞教师。 Christian Perry:我一开始以为摇摆舞课是成人内容,后来爱上了摇摆舞,并发展出一种独特的“街头摇摆舞”风格。 Steve Perry:我们Cherry Poppin' Daddies乐队最初不被看好,但我们的摇摆乐歌曲《Zoot Suit Riot》意外走红,这出乎所有人的意料。 John Bunkley:我认为其他摇摆乐队的音乐不如我的乐队更具有黑人音乐的特色,他们的音乐缺乏灵魂。 Carl Byrd:我参与制作了盖普的摇摆舞广告,这个广告让摇摆舞复兴达到了顶峰,但也标志着其衰落的开始。 supporting_evidences Mando Dorame: 'I definitely knew I was different, but in a way I didn't mind it. I embraced it. So I knew playing the saxophone was different.' Michael Moss: 'And my god, I'd never heard anything like it. We were the most different band. I mean, this is very far away from what was on the radio at that time. This is the era of fucking hair metal.' Scotty Morris: 'This hybrid, like, swing thing that's kind of bigger than life and wild and has punk rock energy. I could see the songs. I could see the look of the band in my head.' Tom Maxwell: 'The thing that you need to know is that Chapel Hill was a fiercely indie scene and a DIY scene. Everybody was in a band. No band sounded like anybody else.' Sylvia Schuyler: 'Everybody was just so nice. We were goths. I mean, they were all so much older than us. I kind of liked the dancing. I thought it was kind of fun.' Christian Perry: 'He'd never danced before, and he knew so little about Swing, he thought the class was X-rated. But he, too, fell in love.' Steve Perry: 'After our first show, we were banned from just about every place to play. Just the name alone was like, we're not booking you. Just the name.' John Bunkley: 'I feel like their music was basically not as Black as my music, you know, just to be blunt. Their music was just not as blues-inspired.' Carl Byrd: 'I started in a store at The Gap. I was folding T-shirts.'

Deep Dive

Shownotes Transcript

When we recently got a couple of listener emails asking about the swing revival of the late 1990s, host Willa Paskin’s first, knee jerk reaction was just: no. She lived through it, and remembers it as being so incredibly corny and uncool. Insofar as the swing revival persists in the cultural memory, it’s usually as a punchline or as head-scratcher, a particularly odd-seeming fad. 

But then we started talking to everyone who was anyone in the swing scene, from Big Bad Voodoo Daddy to the dancers in the infamous Gap khakis commercial. It turns out the 90’s swing revival is more involved, more interesting and, OK, maybe cooler than we ever imagined. It’s about an underground scene that went above ground in a major way, and how that level of success can obscure what’s happening while it’s happening—but also long after it’s over. 

This episode was written and produced by Willa Paskin, Evan Chung, and Sofie Kodner with mix help from Max Freedman. Decoder Ring is produced by Willa Paskin, Evan Chung, Max Freedman and Katie Shepherd. Derek John is Executive Producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.

Thank you to listeners Lorraine Denman and Alex Friendly for originally asking us about the ‘90s swing revival.

In this episode, you’ll hear from Mando Dorame), Michael Moss, Scotty Morris,) Tom Maxwell), Sylvia Skylar, )Christian Perry, Steve Perry, John Bunkley,) and Carl Byrd).  

Thank you to Kerstin Emhoff, Tom Breihan, Stephanie Landwehr, and Ken Partridge, whose conversation and book Hell of a Hat: The Rise of '90s Ska and Swing) was extremely helpful.

If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at [email protected]. Or you can also call us now at our new Decoder Ring hotline at 347-460-7281. We love to hear any and all of your ideas for the show.

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