SMASH MOUTH

:''This article is about the San Jose, California band. For their eponymous album, see Smash Mouth (album). For the Omaha, Nebraska band, see Smashmouth.''
'Smash Mouth' is a pop rock band from San Jose, California.
Formed in 1994, the band comprised Steven Harwell (lead vocals), Greg Camp (guitar), and Paul De Lisle (bass). The band has been through three 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.

Contents

History

Musical style and influences

Band members

Current members

Former members

Discography

Singles

Other media appearances

Links

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 hard, straightforward and bare-knuckles 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. (''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 animated film ''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 reality show ''The Surreal Life''. Some time after recording ''Old Habits'', Smash Mouth returned to 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, replaced by ''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 19, 2006.
Before the release of ''Summer Girl'', the Smash Mouth community was surprised to learn that drummer Michael Urbano, who seemed very enthusiastic about the band, left on February 14, 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.
Though Smash Mouth is now once again, sort of an "underground" band, the band is probably in better shape than they have been in years. Fans are citing ''Summer Girl'', largely a combination of ''Fush Yu Mang'' and ''Astro Lounge'' as the band's best material in years. This has a lot to due with the fact the band regained their own creative control (as Interscope Records, focusing on the bands more commercial side, was obviously pushing them in the more pop oriented direction of their early 2000s' albums). They are also now considered a part of 1990s nostalgia.
It is rumoured that Smash Mouth's new unreleased album ''Old Habits'' will be much more like the Ska Punk on ''Fush Yu Mang'' and ''The East Bay Sessions'' and the Alternative Rock from ''Astro Lounge''.

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 people's eyes, was mostly ska/rock with the exception of "Walkin' on the Sun", which earned the band their reputation as a "'60s rip-off 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. In a 2007 article on the blog Conclusive Sardines it was hailed as one of the "Most underrated band of our time and hopes that the next album will cure cancer to all the cleft lip children of India."
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 rip-off 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."

Band members

Current members

★ 'Steven Harwell' — lead vocals (1994-present)

★ 'Greg Camp' — lead & rhythm guitars, keyboards, backing vocals (1994-present)

★ 'Paul De Lisle' — bass, backing vocals (1994-present)

★ 'Jason Sutter' — drums, percussion (2006-present)
with

★ 'Michael Klooster' — keyboards

★ 'Mark Cerventes' — percussion

Former members

★ 'Kevin Coleman' — drums, percussion (1994-1999)

★ 'Mitch Marine' — drums, percussion (1999, 2007)

★ 'Michael Urbano' — drums, percussion (1999-2006)

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 illegally released

★ ''Smash Mouth'' (2001) - US Sales: gold (500,000) US #48

★ ''Get the Picture?'' (2003) - US Sales: No accreditation (33,000) US #100

★ '' (2005) - US #96

★ ''The Gift of Rock'' (2005) - charts unknown

★ ''Summer Girl'' - released September 19, 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	-	-	-
	"Can't Get Enough Of You Baby"	-	30	18	14	-	''Astro Lounge''
1999	"Then the Morning Comes"	8	26	5	2	-
	"All Star"	4	2	'1'	'1'	-
2001	"I'm a Believer"	25	-	15	4	-	''Smash Mouth''
2002	"Pacific Coast Party"	-	-	37	-	20
2003	"You Are My Number One"	-	-	40	25	11	''Get the Picture?''
2006	"Story of My Life"	-	-	26	33	-	''Summer Girl''
	"So Insane"	-	-	34	32	-

"Waste" was also released as a single from ''Astro Lounge''. It hit the Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 Chart for a short stint in 2000.

Other media appearances

★ 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 an 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'' in a charity contest.

★ Performed "Pacific Coast Party" on an episode of the ''Drew Carey Show''.

★ The song "Come On" was used in a school dance scene on the animated television series ''Kim Possible''.

★ Performed "AllStar", "Walkin' On The Sun", and "So Insane" on the ''Daily Buzz''.

★ Steve Harwell was on the sixth season of ''The Surreal Life''.

Links

★ Official website

★ The Smash Mouth Sessions