Say Something Nice or Interesting about: Smash Mouth (or possibly Sugar Ray)

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yeah, whatever. Smashmouth are nothing like XTC, apart from the fact that all concerned parties are white males who play music.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 17:58 (twenty-one years ago)

...and wear pants.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:00 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd love to hear what it would sound like for Smash Mouth to do a cover of "Life Begins at the Hop" (One the other hand, I suspect that a Smash Mouth cover version of "Dear God" or "Chalkhills and Children" would suck worse than a Celine Dion cover of "Iron Man")

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Dominique did you see the specific songs I compared? Are people just seeing the number of new messages and jumping in screaming "NOW ME!" without reading what's already been said?

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:00 (twenty-one years ago)

a Celine Dion cover of "Iron Man"

That I'd be curious to hear.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Anyone who brings up Skylarking after this post is ignorant, inattentive and needs to learn how to read before engaging in an online discussion (or somebody just trying to get my goat).

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:02 (twenty-one years ago)

haha I had to erase about five epithets from that last sentence.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:03 (twenty-one years ago)

The singer for Smashmouth, based solely on the idiosyncracies of his voice, reminds me of that one random somewhat plump guy at the party that is constantly attempting to start a game of spin the bottle and everyone's trying to ignore him, even though he's actually kind of a nice guy, where the singer dude for XTC sounds like the guy that sits quietly near the stereo, waiting 'til no one's paying attention, so he can put on some obscure Animals album in place of "Party Hard", which has been on repeat for the last three hours.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Lead Smashmouth meatneck dude is NOT the vocalist Andy Partridge nor Colin Moulding (nor even Barry Andrews) are/were.

Smashmouth's lyrical oeuvre does NOT stand up to XTC by a fuckin' country mile.

Smashmouth's bass player couldn't keep up with Colin Moulding's bass playing if his very life depended on it.

Smashmouth are all tiki drinks with paper umbrellas and hawaiian shirts and Vans. Nothing more.

And YES, I'm referring to the first few albums, Anthony, not Skylarking or even Black Sea. I take it you mean White Music through Drums & Wires.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:05 (twenty-one years ago)

OK, now I saw your list. From it, I've only heard "Walking On the Sun", but I still don't see the connection. "Statue of Liberty"? In that time, on that song, XTC were like these vaguely nerdy guys who were probably dumbing everything down so they wouldn't alienate all their punk neighbors, but still couldn't hold down their hyperactivity, so it came out all herky and jerky, and also kind of old-fashioned since they were really just a 60s pop band all along anyway. "Walking on the Sun" is like what a marketing exec would come up with in response to Odelay-period Beck. "All-Star" is like that too. It's a halfway realized genre exercise, kind of like Poochie from the Simpsons. And yes, I am trying to find ways of working Poochie into my posts.

x-post

― Dominique (dleone), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Can we get back on topic talking about how cool Sugar Ray are?

― The Good Dr. Bill (Andrew Unterberger), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Okay, lets make this thread completely fall apart

Andy Partidge == Robert Smith without the weepy gothishness
Smash Mouth Guy == Frank Black with a tan and a tequila

(I tried to build some kind of comparison between Smash Mouth Guy and Andrew Elridge, but I fear that if I had succeeded in crafting a comparison that worked, the entire universe would collapse in on itself and we'd all be killed.)

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:13 (twenty-one years ago)

i have no doubt that andy partridge and colin moulding, like any savvy songwriters with a '60s pop fixation, would've loved to have written "walking on the sun."

and i have no doubt that smashmouth would've loved to have written any of 100 or so xtc songs.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Smashmouth's lyrical oeuvre does NOT stand up to XTC by a fuckin' country mile.

this is the one point I'd seriously debate (I'll concede that XTC were perhaps flashier musicians, but it's a compliment to XTC that I'd never think to laud them for Rush-like qualities) and I brought up the vocal difference before anyone else.

I think Andy Partridge would look at the lyrical puns and subject shifts within tracks like "All Star" and "Walking On The Sun" and be very impressed. The second verse of "All Star" is a hysterical example of intentional self-contradiction:

It's a cool place, and they say it gets colder
You're bundled up now, wait till you get older
But the media men beg to differ
Judging by the hole in the satellite picture
The ice we skate is gettin pretty thin
The water's gettin warm so you might as well swim
My world's on fire, how about yours?
Cuz that's the way i like it and i never get bored

A lot of Smashmouth's tracks are cynical in the same manner as XTC, ESPECIALLY "Walking On The Sun," which I consider their most XTC like track. I doubt any of you have actually paid attention to the lyrics of a Smashmouth song, so I don't know why you're claiming to know if they have any value.

Dominique, there's LOTS of secret intelligence bubbling forth underneath Smashmouth's Shrek-sellage. The lyrics of "Walking On The Sun" (which I didn't even notice back when the video was all over) are railings demanding responsibility and a lack of political apathy. Andy P would SO approve.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:14 (twenty-one years ago)

I never really got into Smashmouth until a year after Astro Lounge came out, when someone pointed out the lyrics to "Walking On The Sun". Beforehand I just wrote them off as dopey party boys. A more playful and poppy Lit.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:17 (twenty-one years ago)

(ILM in glossing over inoffensive-sounding pop not not done by a woman with her ass and tits out SHOCKAH)

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:18 (twenty-one years ago)

My biggest problem with Smashmouth is their lyrics; while I appreciate that they write songs with adult subject matter, it doesn't change the fact that the style of their writing is incredibly base and adolescent. I guess I like my lyrics bloated and obscure and pretentious or something.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, I certainly wasn't even thinking in terms of lyrics. They could be similar, for all I know. Musically, I don't hear it.

― Dominique (dleone), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:20 (twenty-one years ago)

XTC still has better lyrics.
"The fur is genuine, but the orgasms fake"

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:20 (twenty-one years ago)

The one valid difference I can see to being offended in the XTC-Smashmouth comparison IS that XTC did engage in more complex musicianship, while Smashmouth relies on fleshed-out production and sound effects for sonic interest. It's a proggy complaint (both were just making dancey ska-acknoweldging party music with witty lyrics), but based on reality.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:20 (twenty-one years ago)

(ILM in glossing over inoffensive-sounding pop not not done by a woman with her ass and tits out SHOCKAH)
Would YOU like to see Andy Partridge dressed up like Christina Aguilera?

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:21 (twenty-one years ago)

I'll concede that XTC were perhaps flashier musicians, but it's a compliment to XTC that I'd never think to laud them for Rush-like qualities

Style does not always equate with technical chops. Being a great musician, I think, doesn't necessarily mean you are the most technically versed player.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Even as far as "dancey ska-acknowledging party music", I don't hear XTC that way. I mean, AP was definitely into some ska and reggae, but mostly I hear his stuff as being pogo-y because he happened to be a hyper, pogo-y guy. Like, I hear more Sparks, Kinks and Eno (especially circa Tiger Mountain) in early XTC than ska. You just have to imagine it all sped up.

― Dominique (dleone), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Smashmouth sound like teenagers laughing over the fact that they've just eaten fifteen cheeseburgers in five minutes.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:29 (twenty-one years ago)

If you took away Smashmouth's bells and whistles they quite possibly couldn't compete with the rave-up break on "Are You Receiving Me?" or the stop-start blitzing on live TV performances I have of XTC added on my bootleg video tape of Look Look (I have no idea how flashy Smashmouth could get, just cuz they don't bother doesn't mean they can't do it), but then again XTC would never hold studio tomfoolery against another band these days, would they? (dig "We're All Light" for proof)

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:29 (twenty-one years ago)

(Still waiting to know what "OC" means as a musical adjective.)

― OAH SEA BICH, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:29 (twenty-one years ago)

i don't really hear smash mouth-xtc connex either but i'm in interested in why alex hasn't really been able to debunk miccio except by spewing hyperbole (alex fawning over pussy new wave shit that doesn't rock shocker). talk about the music maaan.

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:32 (twenty-one years ago)

'oc' as musical adjective - socal + suburbia, probable retro tendencies?

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:33 (twenty-one years ago)

These days, XTC couldn't hold studio tomfoolery over anyone (except to say, "we could do that if we could afford it"). Early XTC didn't do it more only because AP felt his songs had to work live. When he stopped caring, they went baroque.

― Dominique (dleone), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:34 (twenty-one years ago)

oc = more comfortable with commercialism, smiling for the cameras, hip-hop happened

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:35 (twenty-one years ago)

success via McG video more important than people getting the song's message is very OC

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:35 (twenty-one years ago)

seven years ago maybe

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:37 (twenty-one years ago)

There's also a very important aspect of XTC as a band who at no point was ever really very comfortable with being popular. Smashmouth seemed designed to be popular, at least on TV during the summer.

― Dominique (dleone), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:38 (twenty-one years ago)

well andy partridge was definitely more self concious about his paunch than smash mouth dude (manthony tell me you know his name), but that's oc vs. uk

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:40 (twenty-one years ago)

does anyone know what Andy Partridge sang on The Residents' Commercial Album?

― big chaki (chaki), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:40 (twenty-one years ago)

" 'ow's about a wee more pudding guv"?

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Google says "Margaret Freeman"

― Dominique (dleone), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:43 (twenty-one years ago)

fuuuck his name is like Harwell or something (the guitarist who writes all the songs is named Greg Camp), lemme check...Steve Harwell.

XTC totally WANTED to be popular. Partridge admits to being pissed and jealous when Moulding's songs started being hit singles with Drums And Wires. When they saw the work was too hard they went headlong into cult world.

Smashmouth were also witty little hoppy cynics, they just wanted to get PAID more than they wanted to be respectable. Again, OC.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:43 (twenty-one years ago)

btw if we were doing Smashmouth vs. 4-piece XTC. I'd pick XTC. This is about similarity not superiority.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:44 (twenty-one years ago)

thanky Dominique !!!! xoxo

― big chaki (chaki), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I was about to say that XTC were never gonna be movie hawkers but then I remembered "Take This Town."

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:48 (twenty-one years ago)

they wanted to be popular inasmuch as they signed a record contract, toured and released singles. They just weren't suited for it, in a way that, say, The Jam, the Clash, Talking Heads, the Police - all their peers and rivals - were. If you're saying Smashmouth is somehow the OC version of this, then you could basically say any rock band with (apparently) moderately interesting lyrics is the OC XTC.

― Dominique (dleone), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:49 (twenty-one years ago)

plus similar organ sound. I also think that Harwell and Partridge's vocal rhythms are similar (even if the timbres are way different). They could cover each other's big early hits and nobody would have noticed a change in songwriting style.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Ugh. Is this debate still going on? Look, comparing Smashmouth to XTC is like comparing Hoobastank to fuckin' King Crimson. It's like comparing a water pistol to a howtizer.

plus similar organ sound

Have you ever actually listened to Go 2 by XTC?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:53 (twenty-one years ago)

good comeback alex

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:53 (twenty-one years ago)

king crimson -> adrian belew -> talking heads -> eno -> u2 -> hoobastank

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:54 (twenty-one years ago)

and they're lyrical perspectives are similar, though Harwell seems a little more well-adjusted. Smashmouth also resemble elements of those other "new wave" bands, because they're totally new wave. Though XTC and Smashmouth are more "Wooly Bully" than the other bands.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I thought referencing my bootleg copy of Look Look would have silenced the XTC-knowledge claims but ah well

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:56 (twenty-one years ago)

they're lyrical perspectives are similar

What fucking planet do you live on?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Other people who use "96 Tears" sounding organs: Beck, B-52s, the Austin Powers soundtrack. Smashmouth are really the OC ? and the Mysterians, ie, garage psyche-pop in an era when that could only be kitsche.

― Dominique (dleone), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:57 (twenty-one years ago)

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