April 23
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, straight forward and bare bones play. The band played for the most part the then somewhat popular ska punk, although Harwell claims the band is variously influenced.
Smash Mouth got their break in 1996 when San Jose rock radio station KOME played a demo of their song "Nervous In The Alley" which became somewhat popular. They were signed by Interscope Records after a show, and Smash Mouth released their first album Fush Yu Mang the next year, sporting a title and font suggesting Oriental characters.
"Walkin' on the Sun" was Smash Mouth's first major single, released 1997. The song was thought by some to be loosely based on a relatively obscure song from 1966, "Swan's Splashdown" by Perrey and Kingsley. 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 their second album, Astro Lounge. This album involved much less of the band's previous ska influence. It was critically considered more laid-back, sophisticated and retro-sounding, and to a point, poppy. This was also the only Smash Mouth album that did not contain at least one swear word to any degree, which was particularly strange in that Fush Yu Mang had received a Parental Advisory warning from the RIAA. The band lost some of their original fan base by switching to this style, but gained many new ones, and this is definitely the Smash Mouth album best received by critics.
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.
Commercially, Smash Mouth did extremely well due perhaps only to "I'm a Believer", a smash single that some critics claim was better than the Monkees' original version. 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.
Following their signing to Universal Records, Smash Mouth released a greatest hits compilation All Star: The 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, getting rid of "Flo" and "Beer Goggles", and replacing them with a track not found on the true record, "Centerfold".
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, is expected to be released in early 2006. In September 2005 the band performed what is tentatively going to be the album's first single, "Getaway Car", on The Tonight Show.
The album has been 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 writing process to see if they could write songs that could replace other songs on Old Habits, in the hope of making the record better. In the end, they decided that Old Habits was to released as is, and the new songs from these sessions would be released sometime prior to Old Habits as an album entitled "Summer Girl"
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 has found a new drummer, Jason Sutter, best known for his work with American Hi-Fi and The Rembrandts.
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April 23
Smash Mouth is an alternative rock band from San Jose, California that formed in 1994, the band has been comprised of 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 "neo-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" and War's "Why Can't We Be Friends" as well as cult favorites such as ? and the Mysterians's "Can't Get Enough of You Baby" (though their version owes more to The Colourfield's interpretation; in fact, the band at first believed it was a Colourfield original 1). The band's 1999 release Astro Lounge is their most critically and commercially successful album to date.
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December 31
since this is not an actual date ill make this short im really am board so if u have any ideas give them to me now before school starts and i cant do any thing
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jakeellenbogen1328
Can you put allstar as a download. Please Your Fan JAKE
ELLENBOGEN.
posted Nov 06
truckerchick524
you guys wanna actually put some music up ther??
posted Oct 12