Ska is one of those things you either really like or want to kill with fire. It’s hard to find middle ground with the fans and detractors in that genre.

And then there was Reel Big Fish. Specifically, Cheer Up!

Don’t let the lead here fool you. Reel Big Fish is a ska band. They always have been. Cheer Up! is a ska album. But at the same time, it’s not. It’s got a much harder edge that anything the Fish have done before. And you gotta love them for it.

It’s almost like someone was making a big ska cake and they clumsily knocked the entire bag of rock and roll into the mixing bowl. Instead of throwing it out, they said “meh” and popped it in the oven.

It’s not quite what the rude boys were used to, but there wasn’t enough skank on the music to generalize it. People were confused.

Songs like “Where Have You Been” and “Ban the Tube Top” weren’t traditional Reel Big Fish. But hey, it felt right. Why not just let it happen?

Then they threw on an a cappella version of Old Blue Eyes’ “New York, New York” and upped the “out of left field” quotient by about four flying Japanese hotdogs. You know… out there.