If you were a teenager in 2002 with a wallet chain and a penchant for checkered Vans, you probably remember the neon-green cover of the fourth Reel Big Fish studio album. It was a weird time for ska. The "Third Wave" explosion of the late 90s had cooled off significantly, and the mainstream was pivoting hard toward garage rock and nu-metal. Yet, right in the middle of that identity crisis, we got Cheer Up! Reel Big Fish—an album that felt like a desperate, sunny, cynical, and ultimately brilliant middle finger to the music industry.
Aaron Barrett was tired. You can hear it in the songwriting. After the massive success of Turn the Radio Off and the somewhat polarizing Why Do They Rock So Hard?, the band was dealing with the typical major-label nightmare. Jive Records wanted hits. Aaron wanted to write about how much he hated everything. What resulted was an album that wasn't just "more ska," but a power-pop masterpiece that happened to have some horns on it.
The Sound of a Band Trying Not to Be Ska (But Failing Beautifully)
People always talk about the "ska-punk" label like it’s a cage. For Reel Big Fish, by 2002, it kind of was. If you listen closely to the production on Cheer Up!, handled by Val Garay and the band themselves, it’s much "wetter" and more polished than their 90s output. It’s slick. It’s almost... radio-friendly?
"Good Thing" kicks off the record with a drum fill that sounds like it belongs on a Weezer track. There are no horns for the first thirty seconds. That was a statement. They were proving they could write a straight-up rock song without the "skank" beat. But then the brass hits, and you realize they can’t escape who they are. Honestly, that tension is what makes the record work. It’s a tug-of-war between wanting to be a "serious" pop band and being the guys who wrote a song about beer.
The lineup for this record was pivotal. You had Aaron Barrett on vocals/guitar, Scott Klopfenstein doing those legendary harmonies and trumpet, Dan Regan on trombone, Matt Wong on bass, and Carlos de la Garza on drums. Tyler Jones was there too, adding to that wall of brass. This specific iteration of the band had a chemistry that felt untouchable. Scott's backing vocals on tracks like "Ban the Tube Top" or "Suckers" provide a harmonic depth that many of their peers just couldn't replicate. It wasn't just noise; it was composition.
Why the Critics Were (Mostly) Wrong
Reviewers at the time were a bit confused. Rolling Stone and Pitchfork weren't exactly lining up to hand out five-star reviews to a band still wearing Hawaiian shirts in the post-9/11 era. But they missed the subversion. Cheer Up! is actually a really dark record.
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Take "Suckers." It’s a breezy, mid-tempo track that sounds like a summer drive, but the lyrics are a scathing indictment of the music industry and the "suckers" who buy into the hype. It’s meta. It’s Barrett looking at his own career and realizing he’s part of the machine he mocks. Then you have "Where Have You Been?", which is a genuine, heart-on-sleeve power ballad. No jokes. No irony. Just a really well-crafted song about longing. It showed a vulnerability that fans hadn't really seen since maybe "Scott's a Dork."
The "Sell Out" Irony
The irony of the album title Cheer Up! Reel Big Fish is that the band was anything but cheerful. They were actually being dropped by Jive Records during the process, or rather, the relationship was disintegrating. You can hear the "fine, we'll give you a pop record" attitude in the production. Yet, because Aaron Barrett is a compulsive perfectionist when it comes to hooks, he accidentally made some of the best songs of his career while trying to spite his bosses.
"Rock n' Roll Is Bitchin'" is probably the most overt example of this. It's a parody of stadium rock, yet the solo is unironically great. It mocks the tropes while executing them better than the bands they were making fun of. That’s the Reel Big Fish secret sauce: being better at the thing you're mocking than the people who take it seriously.
Looking Back at the Tracklist: The Highs and the Weirdness
Twenty-plus years later, some songs have aged better than others.
"Monkey Man" is a cover, originally by Toots and the Maytals. It’s fine. It’s a live staple. But is it the heart of the album? No. The heart is in the weird experiments.
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- "Brand New Hero": A fast, aggressive track that reminds everyone they still have punk roots.
- "Sayonara Senorita": A bizarre, Latin-infused track that shows off the band's technical musicality. Dan Regan’s trombone work here is stellar.
- "What Are Friends For?": A cynical take on social circles that feels even more relevant in the age of "clout" and social media.
- "New York, New York": Yes, the Frank Sinatra cover. It’s chaotic. It’s loud. It’s probably the most "Reel Big Fish" moment on the whole disc because it’s so unnecessary yet so well-performed.
The production on Matt Wong’s bass is something we need to talk about more. On "Good Thing" and "Valerie," the bass is thick, driving, and incredibly melodic. Wong was always the secret weapon of that band. He kept the groove anchored while the horns were flying off into space. When people talk about the "ska sound," they focus on the upstrokes, but Cheer Up! proves that a great ska-pop record lives or dies by the bassline.
The Legacy of Cheer Up! in the Streaming Era
In the current landscape of the "Ska Revival" (or the fourth wave, or whatever we’re calling it this week), this album stands as a blueprint. Bands like We Are The Union or Jeff Rosenstock owe a debt to the structural choices made here. It showed that you could move away from the "cartoonish" elements of the 90s without losing the energy.
It’s also one of their most successful albums in terms of longevity. Songs from this record still dominate their Spotify "Most Played" lists. Why? Because they’re catchy as hell. You don’t need to be a ska fan to like "Good Thing." You just need to have ears.
However, there’s a segment of the fanbase that thinks the album is too "soft." If you came for the hyper-fast punk of Everything Sucks, this record might have felt like a betrayal. It’s slower. It’s more deliberate. But that’s what growth looks like. A band can only write "Alternative Girl" so many times before they go crazy. Cheer Up! was the sound of a band growing up, even if they were doing it kicking and screaming.
What Most People Get Wrong About This Era
People think this was the beginning of the end for the band because they left the major label shortly after. Honestly? It was the beginning of their independence. It gave them the catalog they needed to tour for the next two decades as an independent powerhouse. They proved they didn't need the Jive Records marketing machine to write a song that would stick in someone's head for twenty years.
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There's also this weird misconception that Aaron Barrett didn't like the record. While he's been vocal about the stresses of that time, the fact that so many of these songs stayed in the setlist for decades speaks for itself. You don't play "Where Have You Been?" every night if you hate the song.
Is It Their Best Album?
That’s a loaded question. If you’re a purist, you’ll say Turn the Radio Off. If you’re a chaos agent, you’ll say Why Do They Rock So Hard?. But if you’re a fan of songwriting, Cheer Up! Reel Big Fish is a very strong contender for the top spot. It’s their most "musical" record. The arrangements are more complex, the vocal harmonies are tighter, and the lyrical themes are more relatable than just "I'm a loser."
It’s an album about the disillusionment of adulthood. It’s about realizing that the things you thought would make you happy—fame, a record deal, "success"—are actually kind of exhausting. That’s a heavy theme for a band that people associate with checkered ties and silly dances.
Actionable Insights for the Modern Listener
If you’re revisiting this album or checking it out for the first time, don't just put it on in the background while you do dishes. You'll miss the small stuff.
- Listen to the Harmonies: Use good headphones. Scott Klopfenstein’s work on this album is a masterclass in pop arrangement. Listen to how his voice sits just under Aaron’s to create that specific "Fish" sound.
- Track the Bass: Ignore the horns for one full listen. Just follow Matt Wong. You’ll realize these aren't just three-chord punk songs; they are sophisticated pop compositions.
- Read the Lyrics Without the Music: It’s a totally different experience. The bitterness in "Suckers" and "Good Thing" becomes much more apparent when you aren't being distracted by a catchy trumpet line.
- Compare the Covers: Listen to the original "Monkey Man" or "New York, New York" and see how the band recontextualized them. It shows their ability to "Fish-ify" almost anything.
The best way to experience Cheer Up! Reel Big Fish in 2026 is to recognize it as a bridge. It’s the bridge between the youthful exuberance of the 90s ska scene and the seasoned, independent professional touring machine the band became. It’s not just a "ska" album. It’s a great pop-rock record that happens to have a horn section that could blow your head off.
Next time you’re having a rough day, put on the title track (well, the whole album, since there isn't actually a song called "Cheer Up"). You'll realize that the cynicism is the point. You're supposed to laugh at the misery. That’s the most "Reel Big Fish" lesson of all.
Practical Next Steps
- Check out the "Skacoustic" versions: If you want to see how strong these songs are at their core, listen to the acoustic re-recordings the band did later. "Where Have You Been?" sounds even more heartbreaking with just a guitar.
- Watch 2002-era Live Footage: To truly understand the energy of this album, find old concert footage from the Cheer Up! tour. The band was at a technical peak, and the horn choreography was at its most ridiculous.
- Dig into the Credits: Look at the guest musicians and engineers. This album had a lot of "pro" polish that later independent releases lacked, and it's interesting to see how that shaped the sound.