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

hey! you can do it!
hey! or they can do it to you!
hey! you can do it!
hey! or you can do it
HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
everybody get the club

In a game where you ride on a motorcycle and beat fellow cyclists with implements like cattle prods, lead pipes, and, of course, THE CLUB.

Yes, I have Fush You, Mang. Largely yawny Cali rock with makes the Surf Punks first record sound like No New York.

XTC, by contrast, took the adrenaline and aggression of Brit Punk and Ska and fused it into an entirely original hiccupy style that many have attempted to replicate (from Oingo Boingo through Skeleton Key), but have never matched. They also bothered to write amazing songs in the process.

(x-post)

Mark McGrath made clear on some I Love The Whatever show that he can drop all the original Pretenders' names at the drop of a hat.

(x-post) yeah cause smashmouth didn't mix rock and ska in their sound, uh uh no way. also how could they sound like another band? they weren't original or authentic!

oh yeah, that was Smashmouth i was talkin about

that doesn't quite capture how he responded. he responded by having a 5-minute-long meltdown/tirade, all caught on camera, that suggests he's a lot less secure with himself than the average pop star. the heckler won that encounter easily.

Anthony's wrong, though; Third Eye Blind is the band that sounds like XTC.

I just did. (have both on my iPod). shrug?

Play "This Is Pop." Play "Till The Morning Comes." Play "Life Begins At The Hop." Tell me what's so goddamn different. And don't throw irrelevant terms like "orginality" in there. I'm talking about what you hear.

You're original claim: Smashmouth are the OC XTC.

Tell me how relevant "OC" is as an adjective, and I'll gladly claim "originality" is irrelevant in this discussion.

That said, it's a bit disingenuous to compare two bands just because certain songs from the newer band are familiar to a small fraction of the older band's oevre. Many many Lenny Kravitz songs sound like the Beatles, but with modern production and all that hoo-ha. Does that make Lenny Kravitz the "NYC Beatles"?

Also, XTC has had several more albums and several more phases than Smashmouth have had albums, period. This is not discounting Smashmouth by any means. I just think the comparison point is just really odd. Again, I think there was more similarity between Sublime and XTC circa English Settlement than any of the above, and that's saying something.

It's perfectly OK to say that Smashmouth has a lot of songs that ape XTC, but when you claim that "Smashmouth are the OC XTC", that's a re far more bold statement, and you'd better know damn well enough about both bands if you're going to validly support that claim.

How is my alleigance to Killing Joke any different from your constatn, foundation-free defense of Limp Bizkit, Good Charlotte and Warrant. If I'm a cartoon character, you're no different.

I know lots about XTC, Oah Sea. I've owned and heard plenty of albums throughout their career. There's reason I quickly amended my statement to reaffirm I'm discussing the early period of XTC (which, if I included English Settlement, would take up HALF of their Fossil Fuel comp), but the later years of XTC aren't very OC, so I'm tempted to say that part of Smashmouth being the OC XTC is that they turned into movie plug-in Burger King endorsers rather than boring reclusive puds (though Wasp Star was refreshing).

Qualify that. I'm only vitriolic at the claim that they are in some way equivalent to XTC. Smashmouth are otherwise fine little insects, but nothing more.

While I'd argue I've laid down plenty of foundation in the threads where these artists were discussed, if you read my post I was saying I found it odd you would use the same unwarranted techniques that are used upon you.

You're being presumptious, as always. You have no idea how/why I appreciate the bands I like. But speak ill of them or make ludicrous claims about them and you're likely to get me firing back.

That's a very strange distinction to draw.

no way was there 120,000 people there.

RIP Steve Harwell
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/04/arts/music/steve-harwell-smash-mouth-all-star-dead.html

damn, RIP

It’s sad that he had a son who died at 6 months.

https://banhmiverlag.bandcamp.com/album/all-star-mixtape

xpost yeah I'd drink myself to death too if that happened to me

the prospect of losing my daughter terrifies me. I’d probably drink myself to death too. Wasn’t aware of any of this prior to his death and now I feel depressed about the whole situation.

RIP steve. he deserves better than that nytimes obit imo

Music wise “staring at the sun” one of my favorite songs to hear on the radio when I was like 12. Wish that one was more popular with the new generations.

“All star” one of the most fun songs adopted by meme culture, I still see it used and it’s still funny for me. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to listen to it without feeling a bit sad now.

RIP

I definitely dug Walking on the Sun at the time, i liked the retro vibe

RIP

I always thought 'Walking on the Sun' sounds like what the Animals would have sounded like in 1997. Always dug that tune.

yeah that feels kinda otm, i like that

I always assumed it was built around a Doors sample.

now that you mention it, it does sound a lot like "Soul Kitchen"

As mentioned upthread they used a Vox Continental for that 60’s organ sound.

it’s groovy, man

Always loved the way the chorus mimicked an infomercial

and yea "All Star" had some real legs, can't really think of another 90s tune that's been memed/mashed up so much. wonder how much Neil Cicierega had to do with that. still speaks to what a well-written hit that was, just full of memorable parts to the point where you could quote any of it and people would instantly know what you were talking about.

The NYT "harder-driving guitars" is not a description I would think of for "All Star." (Perhaps accurate but the guitar is the most forgettable part.)

Like every other millennial the chorus plays in my head when I read the name and I chalk the longevity up to being a perfect kind of kid's song. "And all that glitters is go-ooh-ld/only shooting stars break the mo-ooh-ld" is tailor-made for a group of 7-10 year olds to sing along to.

"Walkin On The Sun" reminds me of Fastball's "The Way" - more energetic but both doing a '70s lounge thing.

Astro Lounge actually quite a bit more entertaining than I expected it to be. "All Star" doesn't really fit at all on it