Smash Mouth: The Story Behind All Star From Shrek to Internet Meme

The story of Smash Mouth's All Star

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Smash Mouth would appear on everyone’s radars in 1997 with the release of their debut record Fush Yu Mang which featured the massive hit Walkin’ On the Sun. The song, which was actually inspired by the LA Riots shot to number 2 on the mainstream top 40 charts and helped push the group’s first record to go double platinum. Given that Walkin On the Sun sounded so drastically different from the rest of the album, which was more pop-punk and ska-punk, it had the dubious distinction of being one of the most returned album in recent history. .T he band would also admit to Spin magazine that some people thought they were a christian band, but they weren’t.
Despite their success out of the gate, many wrote off smash mouth as a one hit wonder who would never have repeated success, but the next several years showed that the band had plenty of more hits in their arsenal, one of which would be the biggest song of their career. Allstar. Today, let’s talk about the history of the song, how it nearly never made it into the Shrek movie, how the author of the song wasn’t a fan of it and thought it would pigeon hole the band, and it’s lasting impact on our culture. Smash mouth;s classic lineup would be made up of Steve Harwell on vocals, greg camp on guitar, paul de lisle on bass and kevin coleman on drums. They would form in San Jose, California in the mid 90’s. They owed much of their early career success to Carson Daily who was a DJ in San Diego and LA who promoted the band’s material. They would nab a record deal with Interscope who put out their debut record Fush Yu Mang.

Following the success of the group’s first record they were enlisted to do a cover of the four season’s song Can’t get enough of you baby for the 1998 teen comedy can’t hardly wait. It was another hit for the group and the song would appear on their second album as well.
In late 1998 Smash Mouth would hand in their second record, named Astro Lounge to their label. But there was a problem. The head of their label Interscope Tom Whalley didn’t hear a hit. He sent the band away and told them to write a few more songs with the aim of them being radio friendly. The band were in a do or die situation. They didn’t want to be known as one-hit wonders, but at the same time GUITARIST Greg Camp who was the principal songwriter in the band was conflicted. Having come from a punk background he didn’t like being told what to write by the label andand there was always this pressure on him to deliver.
Camp found inspiration from a few places when crafting a few more songs for the record. He got an issue of billboard magazine and looked at the Camp would present the songs to his bandmates telling them “There’s one I really like (referring to then the morning comes). One I kinda hate”—(referring to “All Star”)—“but I think it’s gonna work.” Camp had originally written the line in Allstar “Say bye bye to your soul” a reference to abiding by his label’s wishes, but it would be (later changed to “All that glitters is gold …

Upon hearing the song the group’s frontman Steve Harwell knew Allstar was going to be a huge hit, recalling to the baltimore sun “We were going, Gatorade, football, baseball, basketball,”This song’s going to be everywhere.” But their producer Eric Valentine had a dire warning for the band adding. it is going to sail this band straight into the sun. Like, there’s no turning back. You cannot put that toothpaste back in the tube.” He was referring to the fact that the band would now be pigeonholed if they put out the song.
When Allstar was presented to the label, they had some suggestions on changing it. Since the song begins with vocals, before the music comes in,the the label and some radio stations were concerned that radio DJ’s would just talk over the song. Camp would tell the Ringer [Radio DJs] like to talk over the beginning of your song,. “Which made me fight for that even more. You know: ‘Well, they should shut up when our song plays.’”
Smash Mouth would release their sophomore effort AstroLounge in June of 1999, The record was more cohesive this time around focusing more on the pop sound., disappointing some old fans. Also they would change drumemrs during this period as Kevin Coleman left due t