Party at Ground Zero

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, "Ground Zero" became known as the site where the World Trade Center once stood, but the term is generally used to mean the surface directly above or below the point at which a nuclear explosion takes place. Fishbone is very much a party band, and this song is about having a good time without worry or concern. This "dancing around Armageddon" theme showed up in another song of this era: "Neutron Dance."

This was written by Fishbone lead singer Angelo Moore, guitarist Kendall Jones, and bass player Norwood Fisher. In a Songfacts interview with Angelo Moore, he explained how it came together: "We started it out in the bedroom, Norwood and Fish's [drummer Phil Fisher] bedroom at their mom's house down in LA, around La Cienega and Cadillac - that's the aquarium. So I don't know who started playing that horn part, but somebody started playing it. Kendall wrote the lyrics, and he wrote the music. Norwood wrote a change, I wrote that change, [singing] 'That Fishbone is here to say,' I wrote that part. Kendall wrote all the other words, that [singing], 'Johnny, go get your gun, I'm going to party at Ground Zero,' he wrote that part, too. I think Norwood wrote a piece in there. Yeah, so it's just like while we're noodling around, some s--t'll come up and then we keep repeating it, and before you know it, you've got some kind of riff going on. Then somebody'll go, "Hey, let's add this here," and they just sing a little riff or something and then we go into that part. We play it from where we started and we go off into that different riff that somebody else has made up. Before you know it, you got a song."

"Party At Ground Zero" was the group's second single, following "? (Modern Industry)." Fishbone was one of the first American groups to make in impact with Ska music, which was the purview of British bands like The Specials and Madness. They were supported by the New York radio station WLIR and in Los Angeles by KROQ, both of which played "Ground Zero." They developed a fervent following but never had much sales impact, and when ska music trended in the mid-'90s, they weren't invited to the party. Fishbone's influence is undeniable, with No Doubt, Perry Farrell, Red Hot Chili Peppers and many others citing them.