Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).
Ruby Soho (1995)
In rock music, there's a fine line between homage and rip-off. We're far enough into rock (70+ years!) where even the bands you thought were derivative have bands copying them. But just because you sound a lot like another artist shouldn't automatically disqualify the validity of your music. When I first heard Rancid's "Roots Radical" in 1995, I kind of dismissed them as Clash ripoffs, but then I heard the next few singles off ...And Out Come the Wolves and I realized these guys were really good.
Rancid was formed in Berkeley, California in 1991 by Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman, who had previously been in Bay Area ska-punk legends Operation Ivy. After some lineup changes, the band was solidified by adding Lars Frederiksen on guitar and Brett Reed on drums. They released a self-titled debut album on Epitaph in 1993, but it was 1994's Let's Go that put Rancid on the map, riding the wave of younger punk bands that was led by Green Day and the Offspring. The band was pursued by several major labels, including Madonna's Maverick Records.
Ultimately, Rancid stuck with Epitaph and released ...And Out Come the Wolves in August 1995 and found immediate success with its three singles, "Roots Radicals," "Time Bomb" and "Ruby Soho." The album leaned on the band's ska roots with songs like "Time Bomb," but it also embraced pop punk with the ridiculously catchy "Ruby Soho."
Armstrong's raspy growl tells the tale of two lovers dealing with an uncertain future.
"Echoes of reggae/Comin' through my bedroom wall/Havin' a party up next door/But I'm sittin' here all alone/Two lovers in the bedroom/And the other started to shout/All I got was this blank stare/And that don't carry no clout at all/Go/Destination unknown/Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, Ruby Soho/Destination unknown/Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, Ruby Soho."
You can play spot the reference with these guys, but they play with such heart and energy, it's hard not to like them. Once I picked up the album, I was sold. They're great musicians and they can write a gang-vocal chorus that'll stick in your brain until the end of time.
"He's singin'/And she's there to lend a hand/He's seen his name on the marquee/But she will never understand/Once again he's leavin'/And she's there with a tear in her eye/Embraces with a warm gesture, it's time/Time to say goodbye."
The song hit #13 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart and the album went gold within six months, and eventually went platinum. Rancid performed both "Roots Radicals" and "Ruby Soho" on Saturday Night Live.
The band toured the album heavily for two years before recording its fourth album, Life Won't Wait, which came out in June 1998. It didn't perform as well as its predecessor, but it leaned into roots reggae, dub and funk and has held up well. Rancid's next few albums received mixed reviews and in 2004, the band took a hiatus. Armstrong played with his side project the Transplants, guested on a Cypress Hill album and released a solo album, A Poet's Life, in 2007 (which is excellent, btw). Frederiksen worked on his band Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards and Freeman briefly toured with Social Distortion.
Over the years, "Ruby Soho" has been covered by everyone from the Dollyrots to Vampire Weekend to the great Jimmy Cliff (see below) to Phish's Mike Gordon.
Rancid reformed in 2006 and has released four albums since, including last year's Tomorrow Never Comes, which was pretty good. So yeah, they sound a lot like bands that came before, but they also brought a lot to the table. Which can't be said for the many Led Zep clones that have popped up over the years (see Kingdom Come and Greta Van Fleet, for examples). And honestly, I feel like they've held up better than their contemporaries like Green Day and the Offspring. So they've got that going for them, which is nice.
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