The Mighty Mighty BossTones are very, very broken up
The classic ska band announced they were closing up shop after more than 20 years together today
Silence the trombones and the saxophones; ne’er knock on wood forevermore. Shun your Clueless soundtracks and forswear the skank; the Mighty Mighty BossTones are no more.
Yes, that’s the impression that we’ve gotten today, on account of the famed ska band—that wasn’t other, somewhat more famous ska bands—announcing on Facebook that they were breaking up this week. (And not 20 years ago, like you might credibly have assumed.) The news arrived today despite reported plans for the band to play at Slam Dunk Festival this June. But the dunks will now have to slam without the strains of “Someday, I Suppose” or the whimsical leadership of The Rascal King to guide them towards their homes.
As to reasons for the break-up, well: The band didn’t really give any, beyond saying “we have decided to no longer continue on as a band.” (They also sweetly thanked their fans for years of support.) Rolling Stone has some speculation, admittedly, which is rooted in a recent controversy in which someone named “Dicky Barrett”—i.e., the name of the band’s long-time frontman (and, until recently, Jimmy Kimmel’s announcer over on ABC)—was listed as a producer on a video promoting Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s upcoming anti-vax rally.
The band itself didn’t respond to questions about that particular line of speculation, though, so we can’t definitively comment on whether Barrett’s politics, in whatever direction, might have impacted the decision to break up. (That being said, if you roll the odds on 9 guys in their 50s in America not having at least one annoying anti-vaxxer lurking in their ranks, the numbers come up as “astronomically low.”)
The BossTones previously went on hiatus back in 2003, before reuniting in 2007. They released 11 studio albums over that span, most recently putting out When God Was Great last May. And, given that the last track on that album was “The Final Parade,” in which various characters bemoan holding on too long to something that’s been dead for years… Well, maybe this wasn’t as unprecedented as all that.