Smash Mouth
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 | It has been suggested that [[:Steven Harwell, Greg Camp, Paul De Lisle, and Jason Sutter|Steven Harwell, Greg Camp, Paul De Lisle, and Jason Sutter]] be merged into this article. (Discuss) Proposed since December 2006. |
Smash Mouth |
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Smash Mouth is a pop rock band from San Jose, California.
Formed in 1994, the band comprised Steven Harwell (lead vocalist), Greg Camp (guitarist/songwriter), and Paul De Lisle (bassist). The band has been through 3 drummers in the past, and their newest drummer, Jason Sutter, was hired to the band in March 2006. Their hit songs include "Walkin' on the Sun" (1997) and "All Star" (1999). Originally called Smashmouth, the band split their band name into two words after signing with Interscope Records.
Focused at times playing third wave ska music, the band has adopted retro styles spanning several decades of popular music, as well as performing covers of popular songs such as The Monkees' "I'm a Believer", War's "Why Can't We Be Friends" and The Beatles' "Getting Better" as well as cult favorites such as the Four Seasons "Can't Get Enough of You Baby", which was covered by ? & the Mysterians, (though their version owes more to The Colourfield's interpretation; in fact, the band at first believed it was a Colourfield original 1). They usually release one cover version per studio album. The band's 1999 release Astro Lounge is their most critically and commercially successful album to date.
History
In 1994 in San Jose, California, Steven Harwell was a veteran of a disbanded rap group called F.O.S. which had released only one single, "Big Black Boots", available only on vinyl. His former manager was Kevin Coleman. Harwell wanted to form a rock band, so Coleman introduced him to friends guitarist Greg Camp and bassist Paul De Lisle, both veterans of a local punk band called Lackadaddy. They met and held their first rehearsal later, with Coleman on drums. They named themselves Smash Mouth after a football term coined by Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka, describing a style of soft, not straightforward and bareribs rock and roll. For the most part, the band played ska punk, somewhat popular at the time, although Harwell has since claimed that the band is variously influenced.
Smash Mouth got its break in 1996 when San Jose rock radio station KOME played a demo of the band's song "Nervous In The Alley" which achieved some notoriety. The group was signed by Interscope Records after a show, and Smash Mouth released a first album, Fush Yu Mang the next year, sporting a title in a font suggesting Oriental characters.
"Walkin' on the Sun" was Smash Mouth's first major single, released 1997. The lyrics in "Walkin' on the Sun" present an ironic and implied Generation X view of the hippie movement, extolling ideals of peace and love, and the subsequent conversion of those ideals into simple commercial fads. The song was the lead single from Fush Yu Mang. The album combined light-hearted fun with songs exposing a darker side, such as "Disconnect the Dots" and the aforementioned "Nervous in the Alley". "Let's Rock" did moderately well as the third and final single, and the album went double platinum.
In 1999 Smash Mouth released a second album, Astro Lounge. This album involved much less of the band's previous ska influence. It is more laid back, sophisticated and retro-sounding, and to a point, poppy. Although the change drove away some of the original fanbase, many new fans discovered Smash Mouth, and Astro Lounge is possibly the most critically acclaimed album from the group. The album was also worthy of note in that it was the first Smash Mouth release that did not contain a single swear word, particularly strange in light of the fact that Fush Yu Mang had received a Parental Advisory warning from the RIAA.
The Astro Lounge single "All Star" became popular in mid-1999, and it was featured on the soundtracks for the movies Mystery Men and later Shrek and Rat Race. "All Star" was followed by another single, "Then the Morning Comes". "Stoned" and "Waste" followed and did moderately well as singles. Astro Lounge sold triple platinum, proving the band was not a one hit wonder as they had been previously tagged by critics for "Walkin' On The Sun". Kevin Coleman quit the band after Astro Lounge's release due to lower back problems. He was replaced by studio drummer Michael Urbano.
In 2001 Smash Mouth covered The Monkees hit "I'm a Believer". It was featured on the Shrek movie soundtrack. This was followed by the release of a self-titled album Smash Mouth. However, because this song was featured on the Shrek soundtrack, it caused many people to buy that album over Smash Mouth's own. [citation needed] (Smash Mouth was not released until November, and the Shrek soundtrack was out as soon as the song was released as a single.) Nonetheless, Smash Mouth had moderate success. With its singles "Holiday In My Head", "Pacific Coast Party" and "Shoes N' Hats" to support it, the album managed to go gold despite the relative competition of the Shrek soundtrack album.
In 2003 Smash Mouth released Get The Picture?, which they expected to be their comeback album due to somewhat disappointing sales on Smash Mouth. Unfortunately, the album sold a disappointing 33,000 units, especially compared to the way Smash Mouth has sold in the past. Moderately popular single "You Are My Number One" attracted some attention, while the singles "Hang On" and "Always Gets Her Way" flopped. Due to the low sales as well as the band's concerns of loss of creative control, Smash Mouth was dropped from Interscope. 2003 also saw the release of The Jungle Book 2 which features the band on the soundtrack singing the Sherman Brothers song "I Wanna Be Like You".
Following their signing to Universal Records, Smash Mouth released a greatest hits compilation All Star Smash Hits in 2005. The album contains some of the more popular songs from previous Smash Mouth albums, as well as songs from soundtrack albums which were not on the band's own releases. On certain networks and timeslots, the album was advertised as having 18 tracks, including Flo and Beer Goggles. Smash Mouth played at Gumby's Birthday Celebration in August 2005.
In December 2005, the band released a Christmas album Gift of Rock. It featured covers of Christmas songs by many artists, including The Kinks and The Ramones and one original song, "Baggage Claim".
Smash Mouth's fifth studio album, Old Habits, was expected to be released in early 2006. In September 2005 the band performed what was tentatively going to be the album's first single, "Getaway Car", on Last Call With Carson Daly. The album was delayed many times, in the hope of gaining publicity with Steve's appearance on The Surreal Life. Sometime after recording Old Habits, Smash Mouth went back into the studio to see if they could write better songs than the ones they had written for Old Habits, in the hope of making the record better. Old Habits was shelved and the album replacing it was titled Summer Girl, which included some remixed Old Habits tracks as well as new songs. After being delayed in much the same way Old Habits was for several months, the album was released on September 19th, 2006.
The Smash Mouth community was most recently shocked when drummer Michael Urbano, who seemed very enthusiastic about the band, left on February 14th 2006 due to creative differences. The band found a new drummer, Jason Sutter, best known for his work with American Hi-Fi and The Rembrandts. Smash Mouth also let Sony Pictures use much of their music from Summer Girl and other songs for the movie Zoom, whose opening titles credit the film's music to the band.
Musical style and influences
Smash Mouth's style and musical influences are a matter of debate by fans. Most people who only know the band's hit singles often label them as a '60s rip off pop band, however, the material on the band's albums is much more musically diverse.
Most fans consider them to be a "transforming" band who changes styles from album to album. Fush Yu Mang, in most peoples eyes, was mostly ska/rock with the exception of "Walkin' on the Sun", which earned the band their reputation as a "'60s ripoff band".
Astro Lounge was by far Smash Mouth's softest release. It featured space age/techno influences as well as sticking to a '60s throwback style. It also had some surf music influences.
Their self-titled CD was basically a mix of everything the band had previously done, some pop songs, some retro, some space agey, as well as a slight return to their punk influences on "Shoes n' Hats" and "Your Man". However, "I'm a Believer" furthered the belief that they were a '60s ripoff band.
Get the Picture was mostly a surf/pop/rock album, with most songs having surf influences to degrees no previous Smash Mouth album had. "New Planet" was somewhat punk, "Hot" bordered heavy metal, but Get the Picture? was considered the band's most surf influenced album and had Greg Camp playing in a Dick Dale-esque guitar style for most of the songs.
Overall, the band points a good deal of their influence to most classic rock, as well as Elvis Presley, Van Halen, The Beatles, punk acts such as Buzzcocks and The Clash, and surf acts like The Beach Boys and Dick Dale. However, Steve Harwell claims "I don't care what you call us, I just want to be considered Smash Mouth."
Members
Current
- Steven Harwell - lead vocals
- Greg Camp - guitar, additional keyboards, main songwriting, backing vocals
- Paul De Lisle - bass, backing vocals, songwriting
- Jason Sutter - drums (2006-Present)
Unofficial Members
- Michael Klooster - Keyboards
- Mark Cerventes - Percussion
Previous
- Kevin Coleman - drums (left in 1999)
- Mitch Marine - drums (joined and left in 1999, played on Astro Lounge tour)
- Michael Urbano - drums (joined in 1999, left in 2006)
Discography
- Fush Yu Mang (1997) - US sales: double platinum (2,000,000) US #19
- Astro Lounge (1999) - US sales: triple platinum (3,000,000) US #6
- The East Bay Sessions (1999) - collection of early pre-FYM material; independently and somewhat illegally released
- Smash Mouth (2001) - US Sales: gold (500,000) US #48
- Get the Picture? (2003) - US Sales: No accreditation (33,000) US #100
- All Star: The Smash Hits (2005) - US #96
- The Gift of Rock (2005) - charts Unknown
- Summer Girl - Released September 19th, 2006
- Old Habits - unreleased
Singles
| Year | Title | Peak Chart positions | Album | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Hot 100 | US Modern Rock | US Top 40 Mainstream | US Adult Top 40 | US Dance | |||
| 1997 | "Walkin' on the Sun" | - | #1 | #2 | #1 | - | Fush Yu Mang |
| 1998 | "Why Can't We Be Friends?" | - | #28 | - | - | - | Fush Yu Mang |
| 1998 | "Can't Get Enough Of You Baby" | - | #30 | #18 | #14 | - | Astro Lounge |
| 1999 | "Then the Morning Comes" | #8 | #26 | #5 | #2 | - | Astro Lounge |
| 1999 | "All Star" | #4 | #2 | #1 | #1 | - | Astro Lounge |
| 2001 | "I'm a Believer" | #25 | - | #15 | #4 | - | Smash Mouth |
| 2002 | "Pacific Coast Party" | - | - | #37 | - | #20 | Smash Mouth |
| 2003 | "You Are My Number One" | - | - | #40 | #25 | #11 | Get the Picture? |
| 2006 | "Story of My Life" | - | - | #26 | #33 | - | Summer Girl |
| 2006 | "So Insane" | - | - | #34 | #32 | - | Summer Girl |
Trivia
- Smash Mouth appeared on Charmed, Season 6 episode 1 singing You Are My Number One at a beach party.
- Every Word Means No is on the soundtrack of one episode of Friends, Season 6 episode 10.
- The band performed Walkin' on the Sun on an episode of The Larry Sanders Show
- They appear in the ending of the movie Rat Race on a charity contest.
- Performed Pacific Coast Party on an episode of the Drew Carey Show.
- Performed on an episode of Kim Possible at the school dance