OK, you know that brief period in the late '90s where swing and ska music was literally EVERYWHERE? All over radio, TV commercials, sitcom theme songs, even movies.

The subject of my next graphic novel will be on the swing and ska revival of the late 1990s, as told by the band members that lived it. I'll be interviewing dozens of current and former band members from bands with weird names like Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Squirrel Nut Zippers and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, and then having an artist illustrate this oral history in graphic novel form. I'll be learning all about what really happened during those formative years, as well as what the bands and band members got up to when the craze went away.

I've already gotten in touch with about 17 band members and I only started getting in touch on Friday. This thing's going to be huge (and very entertaining).

I was a huge fan of this style of music in college and so were several of my friends. We had all the CDs and I watched the movie SWINGERS over and over again. What about you all?

Loved the cool little revival in the 90's and looking forward to reading your novel.

Sounds fun. I never much listened to ska in the 1990s. But I very much enjoyed
MADNESS in the late 1970s and early 1980s. I picked them up again around 2008.

I prefer the Ellington original of the same title Johnny Hodges solo on the 1932 original is to die for, imo.

A fan of the original swing era, I was a big fan of the swing revival during the 1990s, too. My favorites were the Squirrel Nut Zippers, The Big 6, Big Bad Voodoo Daddies, the Royal Crown Revue, Cherry Poppin' Daddies, and, of course, the Brian Setzer Orchestra.

Covering all these plus Reel Big Fish.

My sister sang in a ska band out of San Francisco for years (they finally broke up a year or two back). They did put out one CD and I believe they played a few dates on the Warped tour, as well as touring Germany.

Crazy 8's from Portland Oregon. Great band. Remember following them from record store to record store where they would perform a short set list from a flatbed on day of the 8's (8-8-88) when they released Big Live NutPack

One of my favorite live albums.

Is the group Love Jones considered as part of the 90's swing craze? I really liked their 2 albums Powerful Pain Relief and Here's To The Losers.

Are the swing and ska revivals actually the same thing? Were they part of the same scene? I thought the ska revival was an off-shoot of punk, whereas the swing was more mainstream and really part of the early stirrings of what would now be termed "hipster" culture, for lack of a better word. But maybe I'm misremembering, or totally out to lunch, seeing as I live in a snow-covered, gosh-forsaken back-water of about 13,000 people.
But I did own a music store during that time. Still could be wrong though.

They're related in that there was a lot of bands that crossed over, and they both had horn sections, but you're right that they have different origins and influences.

to me Ska was punk/hard new wave + reggae.

I always think of the swing revival as a mostly American thing and the ska movement as more of a British thing, However, No Doubt's early stuff shows a lot of ska influence, so maybe there was more out there than I realized at the time.

Heard from about 20 band members including the frontmen for both the Squirrel Nut Zippers and Cherry Poppin' Daddies.

i loved the ska and swing revival of the '90s. It all seemed to occur when surf instrumental had its revival as well as rockabilly. I got into these genres as I was getting tired of grunge, and alternative wasn't doing anything for me at the time. Seems like I was ordering albums from Moon Ska regularly- a favorite band being Skavoovie and the Epitones. If I remember right, it seems the early to mid 90's ska albums were more reggae based whereas later '90s albums mixed ska with a variety of sub-genres.

The swing albums I liked best also mixed in other sub-genres. BadaBing BadaBoom's Vol. II album was a great one. I knew some people who were once heavy into punk that got got heavy into swing, mostly for the culture. They're into bluegrass now, from what I hear- so go figure!