SKANK YOUR ENTHUSIASM (25)
By:
December 28, 2025
One in a series of enthusiastic posts, contributed by 25 HILOBROW friends and regulars, analyzing and celebrating our favorite… ska records! PLAYLIST HERE. Series edited by Josh Glenn.
Someone, I don’t know who, has put together a playlist on Spotify called ’80s Stalker Songs, and it’s pretty much exactly what it sounds like. It’s got “Somebody’s Watching Me,” “Obsession,” “Private Eyes,” and at least one Police song that you already guessed when you heard the words “’80s Stalker Songs.” Not sure what was in the water during that decade, but I know what was on the air, and it was a particularly unsavory brand of people-watching.
But there is at least one song missing from that list. “I Spy for the FBI” by LA’s Untouchables was not an original – it was first released by Luther Ingram & The G-Men in 1966, and later covered by John Hiatt, among others. But the UTs took a boppy soul song that was already about “an X-ray camera hidden in your house / To see what I couldn’t see,” and they made it faster, cooler, and creepier. “I’m watching you from my satellite,” sings the unbelievably charismatic Jerry Miller, wearing a tight grey suit, porkpie hat, and classic black Wayfarers. “I’ve got your name and your number / Your address, your dress size… / there ain’t nothing about you that I don’t know!”
You listen and the walls close in. But for all that menace, the song bounces – it’s all horns and snare drums and upbeat espionage-themed fun. There’s a reason it played in regular rotation on KROQ in 1985. And though it did chart in the high 50s in the UK, mostly the song seems to have stayed contained in the Southern California mod scene. If you heard of the band, it’s most likely because of the lyrically obverse “Free Yourself,” which has also aged beautifully. Come to think of it, the two songs make for an excellent double-feature.
SKANK YOUR ENTHUSIASM: INTRODUCTION by Josh Glenn | Lucy Sante on Margarita’s WOMAN COME | Douglas Wolk on Millie’s MAYFAIR | Lynn Peril on Prince Buster’s TEN COMMANDMENTS | Mark Kingwell on The [English] Beat’s TEARS OF A CLOWN | Annie Nocenti on Jimmy Cliff’s MISS JAMAICA | Mariane Cara on The Selecter’s ON MY RADIO | Adam McGovern on The Specials’ GHOST TOWN | Josh Glenn on The Ethiopians’ TRAIN TO SKAVILLE | Susannah Breslin on The [English] Beat’s MIRROR IN THE BATHROOM | Carl Wilson on Prince Buster / Madness’s ONE STEP BEYOND | Carlo Rotella on The Mighty Mighty Bosstones’ THE IMPRESSION THAT I GET | Rani Som on The Bodysnatchers’ EASY LIFE | David Cantwell on Desmond Dekker’s 007 (SHANTY TOWN) | Francesca Royster on Joya Landis’ ANGEL OF THE MORNING | Mimi Lipson on Folkes Brothers’ OH CAROLINA | Alix Lambert on The Specials’ TOO MUCH TOO YOUNG | Marc Weidenbaum on Dandy Livingstone’s RUDY, A MESSAGE TO YOU | Heather Quinlan on Fishbone’s MA & PA | Will Hermes on The [English] Beat’s WHINE & GRINE / STAND DOWN MARGARET | Peter Doyle on The Skatalites’ GUNS OF NAVARONE | James Parker on The [English] Beat’s SAVE IT FOR LATER | Brian Berger on The Upsetters’ RETURN OF DJANGO | Annie Zaleski on The Mighty Mighty Bosstones’ SOME DAY I SUPPOSE | Deborah Wassertzug on The Bodysnatchers’ TOO EXPERIENCED | Dan Reines on The Untouchables’ I SPY FOR THE FBI | PLUS: AL Deakin on SKANKING FOR YOUR LIFE.
JACK KIRBY PANELS | CAPTAIN KIRK SCENES | OLD-SCHOOL HIP HOP | TYPEFACES | NEW WAVE | SQUADS | PUNK | NEO-NOIR MOVIES | COMICS | SCI-FI MOVIES | SIDEKICKS | CARTOONS | TV DEATHS | COUNTRY | PROTO-PUNK | METAL | & more enthusiasms!