Ska music was an early musical influence in my life. I played the trombone for eight years and had aspirations of starting a ska band at one time. Back at the beginning of my music journalism career, I had the opportunity to interview Reel Big Fish. I didn’t have an issue of being starstruck when meeting a band up to that point, but because “Turn the Radio Off” was one of my first CDs I ever purchased, it happened.

I booked an interview with the band at a Warped Tour stop and it was over 100 degrees in Chicago that day. They wanted to go inside their tour bus to do the interview. It was one of the first times I went on a band’s tour bus, but certainly not the last (I’m sure I will write a future post about some of my concert adventures with bands).

Aha’s “Take On Me” was one of the first music videos I remember watching on MTV. They are one of the first one-hit wonders people think of when hearing that term. When I heard Reel Big Fish cover the song for the first time, I saw Heaven. The cover has been released for over 15 years and I’m sure you have heard it before, but I had to post this song during ‘Cover Song Month‘.