4 out of 5

Label: Lakeshore Records

Produced by: Skip Williamson and Brian McNelis (executive producers)

Whatever one may think of the film, Sharknado 3 soundtrack producers Skip Williamson and Brian McNelis put some care into the tracks they curated, leading to a breezy, silly – but surprisingly quality, and with some funny genre nods! – listen.

Yes, the fact that almost every song title has ‘shark’ in it, and that two heard-it-many-times covers appear probably pegs this as a certain type of music, but I’d push you to think again: even with parody movies, it’s not often that more modern takes on that – this came out in 2015 – have whole soundtracks dedicated to them, much less ones with Camper Van Beethoven and Dead Kennedy’s East Bay Ray appearing, the aforementioned nods. Sure, neither one of these acts may be the deepest cuts, but they’re not exactly pay for play, either: CVB do a punky toss-off that’s somewhere between Cracker croons and early stuff from Camper, but they also deliver Infinite Ocean, which might as well have been a B-side off of La Costa Perida-era works – it’s pretty dense and emotive, and may have been retrofitted for this set. Ray does some surfy stuff, initially pretty linear on Shark Beach, but opening it up even more on Shark Truck. These are good songs!

But it’s not just the old pros: Quint’s bookends are maybe the most unremarkable, but between that, the covers – Wave of Mutilation by Daniel Davies and Sebastian Robertson; That’s When I Reach For My Revolver by Geno Lenardo and Nina Bergman – do their own things without being kitschy, mixing up pace and tones of those tunes; and there’s a general love for early 00s popular genres – Eddie Cole’s damingly catchy R&B jam Shark Rain; Dave Days’ emo rocker Shark Fight; Martin Luther Lennon stretching back to the 90s for some complementary surf rock of a more punk vibe than East Bay Ray. Even a remix of the Jaws Theme by Justin Lassen pushes beyond expectations, breaking pretty far away from that massively recognizable tune.

No blame for not glancing twice at this set, except to maybe ask: wait, why did they put out a soundtrack for this? And maybe the movie was just an excuse to get some preferred bands together, but regardless of the rhyme or reason, it’s a legit set with a silly thematic thread that ultimately doesn’t distract from the fun.