Reel Big Fish suck. Their five minutes of fame expired some time between "The Impression That I Get" and "Jump, Jive An' Wail," and now they're scratching their goatees in bemusement, contemplating a bleak future filled with bargain basement CDs and frat party gigs.

That's the way Reel Big Fish tell it, anyway. |

Just in time for the release of Why Do They Rock So Hard?, the ska cynics are playing Nostradamus -- predicting a miserable undoing at the hands of greedy radio programmers and fickle teenage audiences. Reel Big Fish's seventy-four minute, seventeen-track sophomore effort literally reeks of betrayal and ruin with songs like "The Kids Don't Like It," "Down in Flames" and "You Don't Know," a keen little ditty that suggests all music critics go shove their heads up their asses.

"'Down In Flames' is about the summer of '97 -- the summer of ska, not the summer of swing," says vocalist/guitarist/songwriter/heartthrob Aaron Barrett. "It's about how we were a part of that, and how all the mainstream types were all 'Oooooh, hooray,' and all the underground people got mad at that. Now that the ska thing is over, nobody likes us."

Oddly enough, hundreds of skanking, screaming kids crammed into Chicago's House of Blues last Wednesday to see the hyperactive, hyper-sarcastic septet face its self-proclaimed impending doom. Young enough to mistake Oingo Boingo for a Slinky, the adolescent crowd hopped, moshed and surfed throughout the entire set -- all of this despite Barrett's earlier gripes that "the first time you play a new song in front of people who want to hear your old songs, they just stand."

The spectators' jubilance during this short North American club tour seems to suggest that the band may be setting themselves up for yet another bout with rock radio success. Buttressing their blather about commercialism, the loud-mouthed outfit recently converged in Southern California to film a video for"The Set Up (You Need This)," the first single from Why Do They Rock So Hard? A pop culture-friendly anthem with a catchy chorus and a simple "love stinks" theme, "The Set Up" may well torment Reel Big Fish with more money, more fame and even more references to their first radio hit, "Sell Out."

"I'd love to be on the radio again. I like it," says Barrett bashfully. "I wish we could play in stadiums. Size does matter. I want to be super rich and famous, and not be able to walk down the street, and date models, and drive in limos all the time and have my own private jet."

Following two years of long and loose tours with the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Cherry Poppin' Daddies and MxPx, among others, Reel Big Fish headed into the studio with longtime friend and producer John Avila to hash out another Mojo Records release. A harder rocking album than its predecessor, 1996's Turn the Radio Off, Why Do They Rock So Hard? meshes ska with reggae ("Song #3"), while serving up straight up rock & roll ("She's Famous Now") and acoustic folk ("Big Star").

Although Reel Big Fish have clearly taken a real big step towards broadening their musical spectrum, the group's juvenile approach, Beavis and Butt-head- like vocabulary and, of course, contrived cynicism remain intact.

"The last album was about being in a band and not being able to make it and nobody liking you or giving you a chance," Barrett says. "This one's about how we got our chance and now it's over. We skipped over that part where we were happy."

ANNI LAYNE (October 21, 1998)