[[quoteright:220:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fishbone_9476.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:220:The debut EP]]

->''"Fishbone is a group of brothers that play that heavy metal music. It's the stuff that you see on Creator/{{MTV}} and turn from.''"
-->--'''Creator/DamonWayans'''

Fishbone are an African-American Punk-Funk-Reggae-Ska-Rock band from UsefulNotes/LosAngeles who formed in 1979. They are best known for their songs "Party At Ground Zero," (about WorldWarIII) and their [[CoverVersion cover]] of Curtis Mayfield's "Freddie's Dead" (from ''Film/{{SuperFly}}'').

As usual, the basics about their career can be found at [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishbone That Other Wiki]]

!!! "Tropes and Soul":

* AlbumTitleDrop: "Junkie's Prayer", from ''The Reality of My Surroundings,'' ends with "The rest are the reality of its surroundings."
* TheAlcoholic: "Alcoholic," "Beergut," "Drunk Skitzo"
* [[AnimalMotifs Animal Motif]][=/=]DemBones: Their logo is a fish skeleton
* AntiChristmasSong: "Just Call Me Scrooge"
** BadSanta: "Slick Nick You Devil You"
-->"Spillin Jack Daniels all over the drapes\\
Spray-painting a [[FlippingTheBird bad finger]] over the fireplace\\
Tattoos on his arms and knees\\
I never thought SantaClaus would be such a sleaze"
* [[AsHimself As Themselves]]: Performing "Jamaican Ska" in ''Film/BackToTheBeach''
* [[BunnyEarsLawyer Bunny-Ears Guitarist]]: Literalized, as seen in some performance clips near the end of ''Everyday Sunshine''.
%%* ClusterFBomb: Some of their songs
* CoverVersion: "Freddie's Dead, " on ''Truth And Soul''
** Music/SlyAndTheFamilyStone's "Everybody Is A Star," on ''The Psychotic Friends Nuttwerk''.
** Music/{{Sublime}}'s "Date Rape," on ''Still Stuck In Your Throat''
* DaysOfTheWeekSong: "Sunless Saturday"
* DeathByMusicVideo: The band gets nuked at a party during the "Party At Ground Zero" video, leaving white shadows on the walls.
* DrugsAreBad: "Junkie's Prayer," "Pray to the Junkiemaker"
* EmergencyBroadcast: Mentioned in "? (Modern Industry)."
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: The nuclear anxiety of TheEighties is reflected in "Party at Ground Zero".
* FatalFlaw: From "Lyin' Ass Bitch," as sung by guest Lisa R. Grant:
--> "I still care and that's my fatal flaw"
* GoshDangItToHeck: From "Hide Behind My Glasses":
--> "Incompetent... Moron... Son of a... Son of a... Son of jerk!"
* TheGrimReaper: Mentioned in "Junkie's Prayer"
* ImprobableHairstyle: Norwood
* InkSuitActor: Lacking any footage of themselves from when they started the band in high school, the documentary ''Everyday Sunshine'' uses animated recreations instead.
* {{Instrumentals}}: "Post-Cold War Politics," "V​.​T​.​T​.​L​.​O​.​T​.​F​.​D​.​G​.​F.", "Interlude 1," "Interlude 2" and "Pre Nut" (all three from ''Chim Chim's Badass Revenge''), "One Planet People" and "Dear God" (from ''The Psychotic Friends Nuttwerk'').
* IntercourseWithYou: "Bonin' in the Boneyard," "Naz-tee May'en"
* JekyllAndHyde: Mentioned in "Hide Behind My Glasses"
* ListSong: "? (Modern Industry)" rattles off the call letters of various radio stations.
* LiveAlbum: ''Live In Bordeaux''
* MinimalisticCoverArt: From ''Fishbone'' through ''The Reality of My Surroundings''
** DesignStudentsOrgasm: From ''Give a Monkey a Brain...'' to now.
* NewSoundAlbum: To some extent, ''Truth and Soul'' is this, since it introduces FunkMetal, AlternativeMetal and HardRock aspects to their previously mostly SkaPunk (with the odd stab at {{Funk}}) sound.
* PreClimaxClimax: "Party At Ground Zero":
->"Johnny goes to Sally's house to kiss her goodbye\\
But Daddy says to spend the night\\
They make love 'till the early morning light\\
For tomorrow Johnny goes to fight"
* ProtestSong: "Party At Ground Zero," "Slow Bus Movin' (Howard Beach Party)," "Subliminal Fascism," "Give It Up," "Movement in the Light," "Fight the Youth," "Change," the list doesn't end. Their alt-radio hit "Sunless Saturday" counts as well.
** Notably averted with "Post Cold War Politics," from 1985's ''In Your Face,'' which is an instrumental. However, as this was four years before the end of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, and six years before the collapse of the [[UsefulNotes/HistoryOfTheUSSR Soviet Union]], it is understandable.
* RecordProducer: David Kahane, at least for their first few albums.
* RevolvingDoorBand: 17 different members over a 30+ year career.
* RockStarSong: "Rock Star"
* {{Rockumentary}}: ''Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone''
* SelfTitledAlbum: The debut EP
* SexinessScore: "I Wish I Had A Date" has the fictional date being imagined as a "ten" that could impress everyone.
-->Show her off to all the rest of my friends
-->I'm not good lookin' but at least she's a 10
* ShoutOut:
** "V​.​T​.​T​.​L​.​O​.​T​.​F​.​D​.​G​.​F." stands for "Voyage Through the Land of the Freeze Dried Franchise/{{Godzilla}} Farts"
** ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife (Gonna Have A Good Time)''
** "Junkie's Prayer" is modeled on "The Lord's Prayer" as presented in ''[[Literature/TheFourGospels The Book Of Matthew]]''
** The fade-out of "Party At Ground Zero" repeats the line "[[Film/TheKentuckyFriedMovie this is not a chawade!]]"
* SingerNamedrop: From "Party At Ground Zero":
--> "Please do not fear\\
Cause Fishbone is here to say"
* SingleStanzaSong: "One Day"
* SlutShaming: "Lyin' Ass Bitch"
* SpecialGuest: The music video for "Sunless Saturday" was directed by Creator/SpikeLee.
* StageName: Frontman Angelo Moore is also known as "Dr. Madd Vibe"
* StuffyOldSongsAboutTheButtocks: "Cholly"
* TakeThat: In ''Everyday Sunshine'', Perry Farrell talks about how Fishbone's lack of success in the mid-90s led to the record industry deciding, "No more freaks. Let's just get a little girl with a song," followed by pictures of Music/BritneySpears and Music/ChristinaAguilera.
* {{Theremin}}: According to the documentary ''Everyday Sunshine,'' Angelo's discovery of this led to him developing his "Dr. Madd Vibe" persona, which annoyed everyone else in the band.
* TheVillainSucksSong: Some of their songs fall into this category.
* WantonCrueltyToTheCommonComma: The superfluous apostrophe in "Let Dem Ho's Fight"
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