We're Not Happy 'til You're Not Happy

Untitled

We're Not Happy 'Til You're Not Happy is the fifth LP by Orange County ska punk band, Reel Big Fish.

The follow up to the band's moderately successful Cheer Up!, We're Not Happy 'Til You're Not Happy' was released on April 5, 2005 on Mojo Records. Songs such as "Don't Start a Band", "One Hit Wonderful" and "Your Guts (I Hate Em)", show that Reel Big Fish haven't lost their keen sense of dark humor which was found on their earlier works.

The band has been known to consider this album part three in a story which their albums tell. Part one took place during Turn the Radio Off, the band's breakthrough album. In that part of the story, a band had finally gotten signed and made it big time. The second part of the story is told on Why Do They Rock So Hard, in which the band is now at the top and the only place they can go is downhill. This chapter of the story is of the band once they leave the spotlight. They are filled with hate and anger, especially towards the music industry.

The album includes covers of Tracy Chapman's "Talkin' Bout a Revolution", Morrissey's "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful" and Social Distortion's "Story of My Life". Both the Chapman cover and the Social D cover were chosen as the first and second singles respectively.

The album was not particularly successful, especially compared to previous releases, due to very little record company promotion. It was so bad that Aaron Barrett continues to refer to the album as their "secret album", as he says the record company kept it a secret by not giving it any promotion. This led to their 2006 split with Jive Records.

Track listing

1. "The Fire" – 3:05
2. "Drinkin'" – 3:25
3. "Don't Start a Band" – 3:18
4. "A-W-E-S-O-M-E" – 3:32
5. "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful"(Morrissey cover) – 2:23
6. "Turn the Radio Off" – 2:38
7. "Talkin' Bout a Revolution" – 3:24
8. "The Bad Guy" – 3:32
9. "Story of My Life" – 4:10
10. "The Joke's On Me" – 3:49
11. "One Hit Wonderful" – 4:18
12. "Last Show" – 3:02
13. "Say Goodbye" – 4:09
14. "Your Guts (I Hate 'Em)" – 14:57 (2:06)
15. Bonus Track "Beer" - 3:53 (Japanese release. New version of song from Turn The Radio Off.)
16. Bonus Track "Way Back" - 15:27 (Japanese release.)
    • Hidden track, which is part of track 14 on general release, track 16 on Japanese release.

Personnel

The band

• Aaron Barrett - Guitar, Synthesizer, Producer, Lead Vocals
• Scott Klopfenstein - Guitar, Trumpet, Keyboards, Backup Vocals
• Matt Wong - Bass Guitar
• Dan Regan - Trombone
• John Christianson - Trumpet
• Justin Ferreira - Drums

Production

• Eddy Schreyer - Mastering
• John Halpern - Photography
• Chaz Harper - Mastering
• Vince Pileggi - Management
• Denise Trorman - Art Direction, Design
• Beau Burchell - Engineer
• Shawn Sullivan - Producer, Mixing, Engineer
• Jesse Alvarado - Engineer
• David Irish - Engineer, Mixing
• Lars Stalfors - Assistant Engineer, Beats

Hidden Message

After the track 'Your Guts (I Hate 'Em)', a long period of random sounds and noises plays. These noises include screaming, short excerpts from a song sung by Scott Klopfenstein and a hidden message on repeat, read by singer Aaron Barrett. The message says:

I love this band. This is my favourite band. I love Reel Big Fish. Reel Big Fish is my favourite band. I love this song. This is a great song. I feel good when I listen to this song. I will buy Reel Big Fish merchandise. I need Reel Big Fish merchandise. I feel good when I buy Reel Big Fish merchandise. I love this band. I want to tell everyone I know about this band. I love Reel Big Fish. Reel Big Fish is my favourite band. I love this album so much I want to buy it again. Reel Big Fish is my favourite band. I want to buy all my friends a Reel Big Fish album. I love Reel Big Fish. I love this band. This is my favourite band...

From here the message repeats.

Trivia

• "Turn the Radio Off" is named after one of the band's early albums.
• The song described in "One Hit Wonderful" is "Sell Out". You can clearly hear parts of the lyrics at the beginning and end of the song.
• This is the first official Reel Big Fish LP without an instrumental song (unless the hidden track is counted). Everything Sucks had the song "Jig", Turn The Radio Off had "241", Why Do They Rock So Hard? had "Victory over Peter Bones" and Cheer Up! had "Sayonara, Senorita".