Cheer Up

Cheer Up is the only studio album by Plexi, released on Sub Pop on October 8, 1996.

The packaging is an elaborate fold-out design, encased by a slide-off black external slipcase. There are three large photos of band members preening in front of bathroom mirrors; there is also "BYE PLEXI & PALS (adios, amigos)" written on one of the mirrors with lipstick in guitarist Michael Barragan's handwriting. Though "Star Star" shares a title with a 1973 Rolling Stones song (the uncensored title of the Stones' song is actually "Starfucker"), it is not a cover. "Peel" and "Magnet" are re-recorded versions of songs from prior Plexi EPs. "Peel" was given a radically different 2nd half with lyrics, instead of the instrumental noise coda called "He" with which it had previously ended. After a few minutes of reverb-heavy, hypnotic droning about how "she can't stand her hair, she can't stand her face," "Peel" now had a chorus of, "She was gonna swing/ She was gonna swing from her neckbone..." "Bunny" is a 2-minute ambient segue apparently based on a sampled loop of an orchestra, with sounds of explosions in the distance; it concludes with a muffled, echoing scream of "We're gonna die..." Barragan handled the vocals on "56", a song said to be inspired by his love of numerology; the album's sleeve also had cryptic "23" artwork on it.