The Potty Training Years

In 1991 third wave ska was a rather small niche music that had not yet found its way anywhere near the mainstream. At the time, groups like the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, No Doubt, and a select few others were putting out records for a rather small audience. While dubbed ska, the music had very little influence from its Jamaican music, instead it drew most of its influences from the British second wave, as well as the hardcore reggae outfit Bad Brains. The Voodoo Glow Skulls, another band that falls into this mold, never released most of songs on The Potty Training Years, which was recorded in 1991. The main reason for this was they thought the material was sub par. Unbeknownst to them the album was released by one of their record labels in 1993, but they had it pulled rather quickly. The CD shifts from hardcore punk to punk ska rather effortlessly, but after a few tracks it becomes obvious why the band choose not to release this material -- most of it simply isn't that good. Still it does act as an interesting time capsule for the early years of punk ska. But with such a low end recording and some weak arrangements from the pitiful horn section, all but the most intense Glow Skulls fans could probably find better examples of punk, ska, and/or punk ska from this time somewhere else. ~ Curtis Zimmermann