The Fury of The Aquabats!

Overview

Much like their debut album, The Fury of The Aquabats! is driven by its blatantly "wacky" comedic sensibility, anchored by The Aquabats' characteristic songwriting staples of self-referential anthems ("Theme Song!"), songs developing characters in the band's stage shows (e.g. "Powdered Milk Man!"), cartoon and comic book-influenced narratives (e.g. "Captain Hampton & the Midget Pirates!") and pop culture satire ("Idiot Box!").

While the album is also predominantly rooted in ska music, it features noticeably emphasized elements of surf rock and punk rock over that of its predecessor, as well as featuring streaks of eccentric genre experimentation The Aquabats would continue to develop on further releases: among its sixteen tracks, The Fury includes two instrumentals, pastiches of tango ("Attacked By Snakes!") and ragtime music ("Lobster Bucket!"), and extensive use of unconventional instruments including clarinets, electric sitars, banjos, sousaphones and even hand music.

The Fury was the first Aquabats album to feature dual keyboardist and saxophonist Jimmy the Robot (James Briggs, credited under his then-stage name of Jaime the Robot) and the only album to feature drummer The Baron von Tito (Travis Barker), who would amicably part ways with the band in 1998 after accepting an offer to join pop punk trio Blink-182.

Release and reception

Released at the height of the late 1990s American ska revival which The Aquabats were originally a part of, The Fury proved to be the band's minor commercial breakthrough, peaking at number 172 on the Billboard 200, their highest placement on the chart to date, as well as reaching number 12 on Billboard's Top Heatseekers, which would eventually be surpassed in 2011 by their fifth studio album Hi-Five Soup! debuting at number 5.

The song "Super Rad!" was issued as The Fury's lead single, receiving heavy rotation on modern rock stations such as Los Angeles' influential KROQ-FM, while its music video - directed by comedian Bobcat Goldthwait, who was then involved with the band's 1998 television pilot - was regularly played on MTV. Despite decent airplay, "Super Rad!" failed to achieve any significant chart success, nor did the album's follow-up single "My Skateboard!".

Critical reception to The Fury was mostly positive. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic rated the album with four stars out of five, writing that it "fulfills the promise of their debut, offering an infectious collection of ska-punk. Although the group's songwriting is a little uneven, and they have the tendency to wallow in sophomoric, 'wacky' humor, they have enough hooks and energy to satisfy ska junkies."

Track listing

All tracks written by The Aquabats, except where noted otherwise.

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Personnel