The Aquabats!
When I was really young, maybe like, 5-8, my dad introduced me to a show starring a crew of 5 lovable silly superhero goofballs that wore blue suits by a band he really liked. They went on wacky adventures in their van which they called the "Battletram", and it was somehow the size of a house on the inside.
I was hooked IMMEDIATELY. I watched the episodes a lot and loved the show dearly. Watching through some of it now as an older sentient entity, I realize that it's actually- STILL REALLY GOOD! Also, most of the episodes scared me at least a bit as a younger kid, and I think this is a good thing. More kids' shows need to be scary. This monster scared me way more than the rest, by a lot, for some reason. (From episode 2)
Just from the memory I still kind of hate looking at it.
Now I'll explain why this kids' show is really cool and great! Most of it is the vibes. These guys are just so wholesome and silly, and it's fun to watch the character dynamics and ridiculous stories unfold. Also, watching with more awareness as an older lifeform, I've realized how truly unheroic these heroes are. Which isn't meant to be a criticism of the show, it makes for a lot of good laughs and stuff, it's just funny because I totally don't remember that being the case.
Every episode, the Aquabats find a small tv embedded somewhere and then they'll watch a minute or so of a cartoon about the Aquabats. This mini series, running parallel to the actual show, actually has a coherent plot (as far as my memory serves, anyway). Which is in complete juxtaposition to the rest of the show, which is completely episodic as far as I remember.
There's also usually an ad from a company called Gloopy, that sells satirical gag products. Today I learned it is actually a real company the Aquabats own, but as far as I'm aware they only use it to sell normal, real, products.
Some highlights are:
Also, the music is expectedly really great, as these guys are a band in real life that eventually created a TV show. I love the intro and my favorite episode growing up was the floating eyeball of death. It's an episode where this giant... floating eyeball of death starts grabbing and posessing people to work for it to grab more people to hypnotize more people. Something about this entity siezing control and spreading its influence was a really captivating and interesting idea to me. It scared me but I was also intrigued by the concept.
The practical effects and stuff were really impressive, I love the effort and creativity that obviously went into the show. I don't have much more to say about the Aquabats Super Show, I haven't watched many episodes recently. I'm more interested in their music.
Speaking of...
Their Music
Some time ago (idk like, a few years ago?) I got back into their music again because it's really great and I love ska. Their songs, like the show, are quite silly and I love them for that.
Uhhh what else to say, I don't really know how to talk about music, I just think it's very good and awesome. I like the trumpets n shit and the goofy lyrics. My favorite albums are Charge, The Fury of The Aquabats, The Aquabats vs the Floating Eye of Death, Hi-Five Soup, and Finally. You'll notice this is like, 70% of their discography. I really like their songs, what can I say.
I've also been to a few of their concerts. One or two when I was really small, and then another recently, I think in the summer of 2024? I was kind of nervous before hand because I don't like loud noises or crowded rooms but when I got there I felt less anxious (I'm anxious about most things, especially relatively new experiences) and more excited to hear them play, and it was a really great night. It's on a whole nother level hearing your favorite band play live and singing your heart out with them. The Aquabats do really great live shows, I recommend going to one!
I remember they opened with Shark Fighter, one of my favorites*. That was super duper epic.
*Whatever Aquabats song I like more than some arbitrary threshold and am currently thinking about is my favorite. This is a phenomenon that extends to almost all media by all people for me.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I should really animate one of their songs someday. Also, I listen to lots of music when working, so there's a good chance content you've enjoyed from me was created while listening to an Aquabats song! Also, content from me you didn't enjoy! There's actually no correlation between how much you enjoy various pieces of my content, and what song happened to be playing when I created it. Thanks for read-