Smash Mouth Totally Explained

Everything about Steven Harwell totally explained

ť 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 Steve Harwell (lead vocals), Greg Camp (guitar), Paul De Lisle (bass), and Kevin Coleman (original drummer). Their hit songs include "Walkin' on the Sun" (1997) and "All Star" (1999).
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 The Four Seasons' "Can't Get Enough of You Baby", which was covered by Question Mark & 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

Early years

In 1994 in San Jose, California, Steve 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.

Fush Yu Mang

"Walkin' on the Sun" was Smash Mouth's first major single, released in 1997 (see 1997 in music). The opening riff and backbone of the tune is borrowed from the opening riff of "Swan's Splashdown", from the 1966 Perrey and Kingsley album The In Sound From Way Out! (considered to be the first-ever mainstream electronic music album). 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. The song "Can't Get Enough of you Baby" was featured in the film Can't Hardly Wait, and the video was included as bonus material on VHS. The video included an appearance by Jennifer Love Hewitt.

Astro Lounge

Smash Mouth released their second album, Astro Lounge, in 1999 (see 1999 in music). 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 didn't 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 films Mystery Men and Inspector Gadget 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 was certified triple platinum, proving the band wasn't a one hit wonder as they'd been previously tagged by critics for "Walkin' on the Sun". Kevin Coleman quit the band following the release of Astro Lounge due to lower back problems. He was replaced by studio drummer Michael Urbano.

Smash Mouth

In 2001 (see 2001 in music), 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 wasn't 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 was certified Gold despite the relative competition of the Shrek soundtrack album.

Get the Picture?

Get the Picture? was the next Smash Mouth album, released in 2003 (see 2003 in music). The album sold a disappointing 33,000 units, especially compared to the way Smash Mouth has sold in the past. A 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 (see 2005 in music). 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.

Gift of Rock

In December 2005, the band released a Christmas album Gift of Rock. It featured covers of Christmas songs by many artists, such asThe Kinks and The Ramones, and one original song, "Baggage Claim".

Hiatus, Summer Girl

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'd 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.

Future

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.
The band has said that the unreleased album Old Habits is much more like the Ska Punk featured on Fush Yu Mang and The East Bay Sessions.
In early 2007, just one year after joining the band, Jason Sutter left Smash Mouth to play drums for former Soundgarden/Temple of the Dog/Audioslave frontman, Chris Cornell. Mitch Marine returned to Smash Mouth and is again the current drummer.

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.
   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, 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

Steve Harwell — lead vocals (1994-present)

Steve "Smash Mouth" Harwell January 9 1967, Santa Clara, California) is an American musician. He was the lead vocalist for bands Smash Mouth and Radio Angel before walking out in March 2008.
Harwell has credited Van Halen, The Waterboys, and Elvis Presley as musical influences. He formed the band Smash Mouth in 1994 with Greg Camp, Kevin Coleman, and Paul De Lisle. He was previously a rapper in a group called F.O.S.
Harwell was featured in the sixth season of VH1's Surreal Life, and has appeared on many other television and radio shows, as well as making an appearance in the movie Rat Race.

Personal life

Harwell's 6 month old son Presley died in July 2001 from acute lymphatic leukemia. Subsequently, Harwell created a medical research fund in Presley's name.

Greg Camp — lead guitar, backing vocals (1994-present)

Greg Camp (born Gregory Dean Camp on April 2, 1967 in West Covina, California) is a guitarist and main songwriter for the band Smash Mouth.

Background

Camp has written some of Smash Mouth's most memorable songs of the later 1990s and early 2000s, including "All Star" and "Then the Morning Comes". He also provides backup vocals to lead vocalist Steve Harwell. Like the other members of the band, Camp usually appears in public wearing sunglasses, no matter what the weather. Camp is recognizable for often donning outrageous, neon colored glasses.
Camp credits KISS and Van Halen as his early influences. He insists that he reads every bit of fan mail that the band receives. Camp believes checking the mail helps him keep track of how many people love Smash Mouth, and how many people hate them. Camp's favorite venue is any club in Canada during the dead of winter. He has nothing against downloading music over the internet, and admits that he frequently gets his music in that fashion. Camp believes that the key to succeeding in the music industry is to be able to constantly reinvent oneself.
======

Further Information

Get more info on 'Steven Harwell'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://smash_mouth.totallyexplained.com">Smash Mouth Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.