So why is The Aquabats’ The Fury of the Aquabats! on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
I’ve seen The Aquabats live perhaps half a dozen times, and it’s always a ridiculously fun and exciting experience, replete with wild costumes and I’ve seen The Aquabats live perhaps half a dozen times, and it’s always a ridiculously fun and exciting experience, replete with wild costumes and special effects and weirdo hilarious antics.
What’s wild is that beneath all the costumes and comic-book mayhem, The Aquabats are a borderline virtuoso ska-punk band. The songs blast past at punk velocity, but the ensemble playing is laser-precise — the horns punch, the guitars skitter, and the rhythm section stays unbelievably tight even at frantic BPMs. Plenty of ska bands lean goofy; almost none execute at this level.
I wouldn’t quite call The Aquabats a comedy rock act along the lines of Flight of the Conchords or Tenacious D (both acts that I love and revere deeply, as you know if you’ve been playing along with the best 1,000 albums ever), but I’d say they live in a unique space – the shtick with them is that they’re “crime fighting superheroes” – that’s sort of wacky and fun and funny and deeply its own thing at the same time.
Just dig some of the band members’ names to get a flavor, via Wikipedia:
Throughout many fluctuations in the group’s line-up, singer the MC Bat Commander and bassist Crash McLarson have remained the band’s two constant fixtures. As of 2024, the Aquabats’ members include saxophonist Jimmy the Robot, drummer Ricky Fitness, guitarists Eaglebones Falconhawk and Chainsaw, the Prince of Karate, trumpeter Cat Boy and keyboardist Gorney.
“Super Rad” is something of an Aquabats mission statement and which also speaks to their Orange County, California roots.
It’s also an exquisite ska punk song, but this is music that’s not “aggressive” as much as super upbeat, sunshiny and exuberant, representing how ska can best be incorporated into other musical genres. People who are “down” on ska generally won’t care about this of course, but I encourage everyone else to check out The Aquabats if you’re not familiar.
You might just find that it’s… well, you know.
What’s particularly impressive about The Fury of the Aquabats is that it travels to some far-flung musical territories over its 16 tracks – and spoiler alert that some of it is flat-out strange (but fun! And funny!) – but it’s all fabulous stuff, a joyous and oddball/eclectic experience punctuated with hilarious moments every time I throw it on.
“Cat with 2 Heads!” brings an even more manic energy than “Super Rad!” (which is no easy feat) while being equally catchy and fun. Plus, bonus! It’s about a scientist who accidentally creates a massive two-headed cat who must be stopped before it can wreak havoc across the city.
Four years later, an experiment
To mutate domestic pets
It turned into a nightmare
So lock your doors
Hide your hot dogs
This cat’s obsessed
For another wild adventure – both musically and narrative-wise – check out “Captain Hampton and the Midget Pirates!”
But then there are more mainstream-ish songs like “Martian Girl!” which prove that The Aquabats can write wildly fun and catchy songs in different modes.
Martian girl from Planet V
Will you marry me?
Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa
She came from outer space
She came to see if earth was good
And then if you’re as big of a ska fan, songs like “Powdered Milk Man!” give you everything you could ever want in the form of catchy ska hooks. And this one just goes hard overall.
Pop culture stuff that has something to do with The Aquabats’ The Fury of the Aquabats!
Quick note that some of the same songs that appear on The Fury of The Aquabats! are the same songs that appeared on the band’s 1995 debut album, The Return of the Aquabats, but the versions on this album are much better produced, livelier, and tighter overall.
And here’s more fun stuff via Wikipedia:
The Aquabats have released seven studio albums, three extended plays, two compilation albums and one soundtrack album, among other recordings. To date, three of the Aquabats’ albums have charted on the Billboard 200: 1997’s The Fury of The Aquabats!, 2011’s Hi-Five Soup! and 2019’s The Aquabats! Super Show! Television Soundtrack: Volume One. The Aquabats’ seventh studio album, Finally!, was released on June 21, 2024.
From 2012 to 2014, the Aquabats also created and starred in The Aquabats! Super Show!, a live-action musical action-comedy television series which aired on American cable channel The Hub. The series ran for three seasons, earning a total of eight Daytime Emmy Award nominations and ultimately winning one. Following a successful Kickstarter campaign, the series was independently revived as a YouTube series from 2019 to 2021.
Some stats & info about The Aquabats! – The Fury of the Aquabats!
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Ska Punk, Third Wave Ska Revival, Alternative Rock, Rock Music, SoCal Bands
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 4 out of 5 stars
- When was The Fury of the Aquabats! released? 1997
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #113 out of 1,000
The Aquabats’ The Fury of the Aquabats! on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from The Aquabats’ The Fury of the Aquabats! that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
All systems go! Soon the world will know the fury of attack – feel the wrath of the super rad.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.