''Why Do They Rock So Hard?'' is the third full-length studio album by the
ska punk
Ska punk (also spelled ska-punk) is a fusion genre that mixes ska music and punk rock music together. (sometimes spelled skacore) is a subgenre of ska punk that mixes ska with hardcore punk. Early ska punk mixed both 2 tone and ska with hardc ...
band
Reel Big Fish
Reel Big Fish is an American ska punk band from Orange County, California. The band gained mainstream recognition in the mid-to-late 1990s during the third wave of ska with the release of the gold-certified album ''Turn the Radio Off''. Soon af ...
.
This is the only Reel Big Fish studio album where the band line-up has not changed from the previous album.
Aaron Barrett has said in two interviews that this was his favorite album until the release of ''
Our Live Album Is Better than Your Live Album
The following is a complete discography of the band Reel Big Fish.
Studio albums
Live albums
Compilations
EPs
*''Keep Your Receipt EP'' - July 1, 1997, Mojo Records/Jive Records
*''Sold Out EP'' - 2002, Mojo Records/Jive Records (#62 UK)
* ...
''. The album was mixed at Scream Studios by
Tim Palmer
Timothy J. Palmer (born 4 October 1962, in North Shields) is an English record producer, audio engineer, guitarist and songwriter of rock music, rock and alternative rock, alternative music. He Audio mixing (recorded music), mixed Pearl Jam's d ...
Take On Me
"Take On Me" is a song by the Norwegian synth-pop band A-ha. The original version, recorded in 1984 and released in October of that same year, was produced by Tony Mansfield and remixed by John Ratcliff. The 1985 international hit version was p ...
" (2:54) appears on some international releases in between "Somebody Hates Me" and "Brand New Song".
: Titled "In the Pit" on subsequent albums.
: On the clean version of this album, "Song #3" is stripped of its vocal track and called "Sleep All Day".
: Hidden track; begins with 5:20 silence. On the Japanese release, a cover of the Duran Duran song "
Hungry Like the Wolf
"Hungry Like the Wolf" is a song by English new wave band Duran Duran. Written by the band members, the song was produced by Colin Thurston for the group's second studio album ''Rio'' (1982). The song was released on 4 May 1982 as the band's fi ...
" (3:39) appears in place of this track.
Personnel
Reel Big Fish
*Aaron Barrett – guitar, lead vocals,
synthesizer
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
Scott Klopfenstein
Scott Allen "Scotty" Klopfenstein is an American musician and a former member of the band Reel Big Fish. He sings and plays trumpet, guitar, and keyboard.
Before joining Reel Big Fish, Klopfenstein played trumpet in Nuckle Brothers and trump ...
Tavis Werts
Reel Big Fish is an American ska punk band from Orange County, California. The band gained mainstream recognition in the mid-to-late 1990s during the Third wave ska, third wave of ska with the release of the gold-certified album ''Turn the Radi ...
Coolie Ranx
Coolie Ranx (born Obiajula Ugbomah; 9 March 1965) is a British-Jamaican actor and singer best known for his membership in the third wave ska bands The Toasters and Pilfers. He is a long-time resident of New York City.
Biography
Ranx was born in ...
(
Pilfers
Pilfers are an American ska band formed in 1997, when former Toasters vocalist, Coolie Ranx, at the urging of Pietaster's vocalist Steve Jackson, joined with former Bim Skala Bim trombonist, Vinny Nobile. To complete the lineup, they recruit ...
) – vocals on tracks 6 & 10
*Brandon Werts –
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
John Avila
John Avila is an American bassist and music producer, best known for being in the new wave band Oingo Boingo from 1984 to 1995.
Career
Avila co-founded the music group ''Food for Feet'' in 1981, and played with them until 1991.
In 1984, he ...
– piano
*True: 129 –
scratching
Scratching, sometimes referred to as scrubbing, is a DJ and turntablist technique of moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable to produce percussive or rhythmic sounds. A crossfader on a DJ mixer may be used to fade between two record ...
Tim Palmer
Timothy J. Palmer (born 4 October 1962, in North Shields) is an English record producer, audio engineer, guitarist and songwriter of rock music, rock and alternative rock, alternative music. He Audio mixing (recorded music), mixed Pearl Jam's d ...
Jay Rifkin
Jay Rifkin is an American record and film producer.
Rifkin co-founded the company Media Ventures with Hans Zimmer, a childhood friend. As CEO of the company from 1988,executive producer
*Steve Baughman –
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
* Jay Gordon – engineer
*Steve Gamberoni – engineer
* Jenny O. – art direction
*Dave Holdredge – digital editing
*David Holdrege – digital editing
*
John Avila
John Avila is an American bassist and music producer, best known for being in the new wave band Oingo Boingo from 1984 to 1995.
Career
Avila co-founded the music group ''Food for Feet'' in 1981, and played with them until 1991.
In 1984, he ...
– producer, mixing
*
Donnell Cameron Donnell Cameron is a record producer known for his work with Sublime, Blink-182, and Avenged Sevenfold
Avenged Sevenfold (abbreviated as A7X) is an American heavy metal band from Huntington Beach, California, formed in 1999. The band's cur ...
– engineer, mixing
*Kevin Dean – engineer
*
Lisa Johnson
Lisa Johnson is a rock photographer known for her work with bands such as Reel Big Fish, Nirvana, Rage Against the Machine and Smashing Pumpkins.
In 2014, "Decades: Warped Since 1995-Through The Lens of Lisa Johnson Rock Photographer" was display ...
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...