Part 8/11

As a kid, I was very lucky to get to go on a summer vacation with my family every year. Each summer you could guarantee we were going on vacation, and each summer until I was 16, you could also guarantee that vacation was going to be at Myrtle Beach. I’m not much of a beach person these days and have no desire to return to Myrtle Beach, but as a child, I thought it was cool.

And apparently so did everyone else. Myrtle Beach was THE place to go on vacation despite there being so many other great beaches a shorter drive from our East Tennessee home. Every once in a while you’d hear someone talk about going to Virginia Beach or Hilton Head but touristy, dirty Myrtle Beach was where everyone from East Tennessee flocked every summer. Sometimes someone would go to North Myrtle Beach and say so with the arrogant bravado of one proudly proclaiming they’re from West Hollywood, not that grimey east side, which I thought was funny. People visiting North Myrtle usually drove south to do everything anyway.

My trips to Myrtle Beach were memorable, though it’s hard to determine what memory happened what year since the typical day at Myrtle Beach was the same no matter when you went: Wake up, have a little breakfast and go to the beach. Parents would sit on the beach while I surfed for an hour or two, then we’d retreat to the swimming pool (I’d later stay in the ocean the whole time). There’d be a short break to eat a cold sandwich and Doritos before going back to the pool for an hour or two longer, a nap up in the room, then showers before you headed out to dinner. Staple restaurants included K&W Cafeteria, Dirty Dicks, Pineapple Willys or some other chain restaurant that was overpriced but felt “nice” because it was different from Applebee’s in Kingsport.  

I don’t mean to diss this very popular tourist destination (not too hard, at least) because I really did have a lot of great times there. I have wonderful memories of surfing until my nipples bled (literally), of visiting the Pavillion, trying VR for the first time and visiting my very first Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Probably the single greatest thing that Myrtle Beach did for me, however, was introduce me to my favorite kind of music.

It was 1997 and I had just wrapped up my last days of 6th grade. I was at Myrtle Beach with my parents, riding in the backseat of the car. We’d been listening to the local modern-rock radio station and every day as we were on our way to dinner, sirens would wail and a loud voice would boom IT’S FIVE O’CLOCK!! followed by the energy-packed intro to a wild song that included more horns than I’d ever heard in rock music paired with a fun little guitar lick. I’d never heard anything like it and I’d be comfortable saying it changed my life more than any other song I’ve ever heard.

The song was called “Sell Out.” The band was called Reel Big Fish. And the album was called Turn the Radio Off.

8) Reel Big Fish – Turn the Radio Off

Released August 13, 1996; Produced by Jay Rifkin and John Avila

Look, I get it. If you’re a “true” fan of Ska, Reel Big Fish and their one-and-only mega hit “Sell Out” is one of the most generic, basic and cliche songs in the whole genre. Hell, I’d even go so far as to say most of the people who rocked that song in the 90s probably didn’t follow any other Ska, never actually learned what Ska was and probably only listened to it because MTV pushed it however briefly. True though these things may be, if it weren’t for Reel Big Fish’s radio song (ironically about getting on the radio), I wouldn’t have discovered other Third-Wave Ska bands like Less Than Jake or the Aquabats, which means I wouldn’t have discovered 2-Tone Ska (my favorite movement) like the Specials or Madness, which then means I wouldn’t have discovered Traditional Jamaican Ska like the Skatallites or Byron Lee and the Dragonaires.

Things were much different back in those days. I never heard the DJ say the name of the song (though I assumed it was “Sell Out” based on the phrase’s repetitive use in the chorus) or the name of the band so when I got home, I knew my work was cut out for me. There were no modern-rock radio stations in Kingsport at the time and even though Reel Big Fish were MTV’s sweethearts for a brief season I somehow missed it. All I had to go on was a song title that I wasn’t entirely sure about and a general description of the sounds the band were making.

I had signed up for a class at Lynn View Middle School that fall semester that was generically called “Computer Class” where we had access to 28k internet via Windows 95 that we booted up with MS DOS. We didn’t really learn anything in this class and most of our time was spent surfing the web or playing this strange golf game that also had to be launched with DOS. I used my time tirelessly searching for the mysterious band using search phrases like “Sell Out, band with horns” and other search terms that yielded very unhelpful results (likely via Yahoo! Search because Google didn’t exist yet).

After about a week of dead ends, I came across a lead that said this song was called “Sell Out” and it was from Reel Big Fish’s second full-length album Turn the Radio Off. Somehow, some way, I found the CD at Wal-Mart in Johnson City, though I was confused by the album art. The record’s proper artwork depicts a deranged woman pointing a revolver at a DJ, imagery that Wal-Mart deemed offensive, prompting them to refuse to carry the album. Reel Big Fish responded by releasing an edited version of the record with a plain white cover, the band’s logo in black and the first constitutional amendment. Regardless, I bought it.

Fortunately for me, even though the album was edited and the front artwork changed, the innards of the record remained intact, including photos of the band members and a large, fold-out booklet with the lyrics to each song. It was there, in the lyrics to “Everything Sucks,” that I saw the word Ska for the first time – “There’s a Ska band on my street; a little Ska band – everybody thinks that they’re so fucking neat.” SKA! Was this the name of the musical style? Bet your ass I was searching for it in Computer Class the next day! It’s been all downhill for me since then.

Reel Big Fish got their start in 1991 when high schoolers Ben Guzman, Aaron Barrett, Lisa Smith, Zach Gilltrap, Matt Wong and Anderw Gonzales formed a band to play covers. A short time after, Guzman, who had been on lead vocals, left the band, prompting guitarist Barrett to fill the role and officially convert the group into a ska band. Smith (rhythm guitar) and Gilltrap (keyboards) also left the band before Dan Regan (Trombone), Travis Werts (trumpet), Robert Quimby (trombone) and Adam Polakoff (Saxophone) came on to flesh out the Ska sound. This lineup self-released their debut record Everything Sucks in 1995 and the word-of-mouth success led to their record deal with Mojo Records.

By the time Turn the Radio Off was being recorded, Quimby and Polakoff were out while Grant Barry (trombone) and the great Scott Klopfenstein (trumpet) were in. The album is largely made of rerecorded songs from Everything Sucks and included a promotional video for the lead single “Sell Out.” The Third-Wave Ska Revival was beginning to heat up around this time in the United States, started by bands like the Toasters, Skankin’ Pickle and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. The release of “Sell Out” came at a time that allowed it to perfectly ride that wave. Before you knew it, Reel Big Fish were all over MTV with the band even being a featured act on their famous Spring Break promotion.

Strong Points

Trendy

Reel Big Fish’s brand of Third-Wave Ska is nothing if not self-depreciating. “Trendy” pokes fun at the reality that was how hip Ska was starting to become by the mid-90s. And while the song makes fun of the act of following trends, the band simultaneously label themselves as an active part of the problem with the opening chant “Everybody’s doin’ the Fish – yeah, yeah yeah!” It’s definitely a very strange phenomenon in popular music how one band does something innovative and interesting, piquing the interest of the public and thereby forcing record labels to look for other bands who are doing (or trying to do) the same thing for an easy cash-grab. Even though nobody did it quite like RBF, it’s possible that they thought their time at Mojo was going to be a similar circumstance.

Everything Sucks

“Everything Sucks” is one of the band’s most well-known non-hits and has been a concert staple forever. Interestingly enough, the song “Everything Sucks” wasn’t included on the band’s previous effort despite the album bearing the same name. The band would go on to release a song called “Turn the Radio Off” a full three albums later when they released We’re Not Happy ‘Til You’re Not Happy in 2005. My favorite part of this track is the floor-tom opening drum solo that counts in the song. They continue their self-depreciation with nihilistic lyrics about giving up on everything because it all, as the song title suggests, sucks.

241

I’d later find out that much of early Jamaican Ska was instrumental with the Skatallites producing instrumental tracks almost exclusively. Vocals would come in, of course, but over time the instrumental would have its day in the limelight again when dancehall DJs would spin the instrumental B-sides of hit singles with a variety of sound effects and overdubs, creating an entirely new genre of music simply called Dub and arguably setting the foundation for what would eventually be known as Hip-Hop. Many Ska bands have included instrumentals on their albums (most notably “One Step Beyond” by Madness) and Reel Big Fish continued this tradition with “241.” It has that quintessential Ska sound with the drums continuing the rhythm with few fills, a guitar part that’s a simple background with those key upstrokes on the downbeat and the bass, while funky, is never front-and-center. The instruments many would consider primary are merely forming the bed of this song with the band’s brass section doing all the jumping. It’s a serious Ska banger.

Favorite Songs

Join the Club

This is a fun jam that checks all the boxes for a classic Third-Wave Ska “chune.” The intro begins with Aaron singing a heartfelt solo with his guitar about how he wanted to do something special but doesn’t see the use since it’s already all been done before. The rest of the band comes in, almost as if cheering him up, slowly at first then kicking the song into high-gear. It really is like Aaron has gotten an attitude adjustment at the hands of Ska. They’ve included a very easy-to-sing “yeah, yeah, yeah” bridge and a very smooth sax solo but it’s all rounded out by a balls-out punk rock outro.

All I Want is More

“All I Want is More” is one of my favorite RBF songs of all time. The overall vibe is definitely Ska-Punk with each element getting equal time. I think it’s the lyrics that do it for me here – a song all about being the problem in a relationship and continuing to mess it up despite the love interest being flawless – “Someday, maybe she’ll come back to me; And I’ll say, Why don’t you go fuck yourself? Everybody’s talking, they know that I’m lying. She gave me everything and all I want is more.” Aaron even gets a bit in the middle of the song to rip a shredding guitar solo – something he’s very good at but something for which he rarely gets the attention he deserves.

Nothin’ 

One thing Reel Big Fish has proven themselves the masters of is finding extremely fun ways to get the audience to sing dirty words at the top of their lungs in the most playful and carefree way. “Nothin’” is not a Ska song at all – it’s a full-on punk rock fiasco with more nihilistic themes about trying really hard and getting nothing in return. It all comes out in the wash by the end, however, as Aaron, his band and his audiences for the last 27 years lament, “I don’t fucking care anymore” over and over until the song ends with various tempos and intensities. This one was especially interesting for me with my “edited” version of the record since they drop the F-bomb a whopping 18 times in the last 45 seconds.

You can say what you want about Reel Big Fish but no one can deny the impact Turn The Radio Off had on the genre and on pop-culture in general in the 90s. And even though they have released seven studio albums and an incredible live double-record since the release of this one, their sold-out concerts still mostly consist of songs from this piece of sonic gold from the mid-90s. 

There’s also a question of how much longer they can keep it up. Frontman Aaron Barrett has suffered from some well-documented alcohol issues in the past and is the only member who performed on Turn the Radio Off who is still in the band (Andrew Gonzales left in 1999 to spend more time with family, Grant Barry was dismissed shortly after due to personal differences, Travis Werts quit the band in 2001, Matt Wong left in 2007 to be with his family then Scott Klopfenstein did the same in 2011. Finally, Dan Regan left the band in 2013 to be a family man and open a brewery). There have been a number of great guys who temporarily joined the band like trumpet player Tyler Jones and drummer Ryland “Rabbit” Steen – and many who are still in the band like trumpet player John “Johnny Christmas” Christianson, bassist Derek Gibbs and saxophonist Matt “Saxl Rose” Appleton. Regardless, having such a revolving door of musicians (24 in its lifetime, counting Barrett), one can only wonder how stable that foundation can continue to be.

Turn the Radio Off remains Reel Big Fish’s only record to receive any RIAA Certification (Gold status), is the best performing record for the band in the US (peaking at number 57) and lead single “Sell Out” remains the only song they’ve ever released that hit the US Modern Rock charts (peaking at #10). 

Despite it not necessarily being a major commercial success and not putting Reel Big Fish on top 40 radio anywhere in the country, it immediately made them one of my favorite bands, made Ska my favorite genre of music and opened the door for me to discover a laundry list of other similar bands from the past and into the future that I maybe wouldn’t have been exposed to otherwise. I’ll be in debt to RBF forever for this and have paid homage to their contribution with an “angry fish” tattoo on my right arm. I was also speechless when I met Aaron in Norfolk in 2007.

Now somebody get out here and do The Fish with me!