In this instalment of Stereogum's "Alternative Number Ones" column, critic Tom Breihan looks back at the Mighty Mighty Bosstones' ska-punk hit "The Impression That I Get," which topped Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart for one week in June 1997. He frames the piece around Ben Carr, the band's non-musical "dancer" member, reflecting on his own experience as a similarly redundant member of his high school punk band and on the cultural moment ska-punk enjoyed in the late 1990s.

Breihan recalls his short-lived band, which played only two shows in spring 1997 under the names American Standard and American Substandard, and his own role as the group's designated dancer with no instrumental or vocal duties. He draws comparisons to other "non-playing" band members such as Bez of the Happy Mondays, before recounting the Bosstones' scene-stealing performance at Lollapalooza 1995, including a quote from Pavement's Bob Nastanovich describing the band's high-energy stage presence.