Revisiting the Classix: Squirrel Nut Zippers

Did the swing revival really happen or was it all a fever dream? I remember Listmaker sharing his copy of Squirrel Nut Zippers' 1995 debut The Inevitable and quickly falling in love with the sound of a bunch of North Carolinians doing the Lindy hop. I remember seeing "Swingers" and developing a serious man crush on Vince Vaughan. I remember hearing tales of an absurdly named band from out west called Cherry Poppin' Daddies and thinking that name would get them exactly nowhere. And then all of a sudden Gap ads are on tv showing squeaky clean kids leap frogging each other to the crazee sounds of Louis Prima and "Zoot Suit Riot" is somehow a national hit and the words "Cherry Poppin' Daddies" are on everyone's lips? I guess the revival really did happen but now I wonder was it all as lame as it seems in retrospect and were all these bands just cashing in on a trend?

The only group lumped into the whole "swing revival" movement that I cared about was Squirrel Nut Zippers and they never seemed to jive with all the rest of the bowler behatted dapper fellows in bands like Big Bad Voodoo Daddy or Royal Crown Revue. Instead of looking to Louis Prima or Cab Calloway for inspiration, they seemed more obsessed with Billie Holliday and Django Rienhardt. More gypsy jazz, less 23 Skidoo.

Hot is the album that put Squirrel Nut Zippers on the map. It still holds up incredibly well probably because it seems less like a band riding a fad and more like a bunch of young jazz freaks somehow stumbling into the national spotlight for a brief period before resuming their anonymity. This album came out in 1996 and 2 short years later when the followup Perennial Favorites was released, Squirrel Nut Zippers were a distant memory in American pop culture, handily replaced by Limp Bizkit and their mook rock brethren. I don't mourn for the short career of Squirrel Nut Zippers but I do still have fond memories of my infatuation with them and the 3 albums I have are all fantastically played and extremely listenable. They, for the most part, avoided the horn saturated silliness that tainted the neo-swing groups and that consistently works against all modern ska bands.

What I like best about this band, and this album in particular, is their restraint. Groups like The Brian Setzer Orchestra are always trying to turn it up to 11 with their squawking horns and amped up in-your-face energy but Squirrel Nut Zippers understand that they don't need to stick your head in the bell of trumpet to get you excited. Album opener "Got My Own Thing Now" is a brilliant beginning full of incredible interplay between the musicians and will get you dancing straight away without the need for a giant neon sign reading "SWING!" Along with their toe tapping, revved up numbers, they are also able to write gorgeous ballads as long as you can stand Katharine Whalen's bizarre, Billie Holliday aping vocal mannerisms. "Meant to Be" is an incredibly tender and lovely song that I can't imagine coming from any other band from the era. Squirrel Nut Zippers are a sadly underrated band tainted by the bad memories of the plastic 90s. They really captured the heart and the joy of the music of the 20s and 30s without being a cliche or a parody. More jump and jive, less of the wail.