Smash Mouth
Biography
Smash Mouth is an alternative rock band from San Jose, California, United States that formed in 1994, the bands lineup consists of founding bassist Paul De Lisle, keyboardist Michael Klooster (1997-present), drummer Randy Cooke (2010-present), guitarist Sean Hurwitz (2011-present), and lead singer Zach Goode (2021-present). Their hit songs include "Walkin on the Sun" (1997) and "All Star" (1999).
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 "Im a Believer" and Wars "Why Cant We Be Friends" as well as cult favorites such as ? and the Mysterians "Cant Get Enough of You Baby" (though their version owes more to The Colourfields interpretation; in fact, the band at first believed it was a Colourfield original). Smash Mouths first album Fush Yu Mang came out in June 1997. This album could be said to be "neo ska". Its top position in the charts was #19 (on Billboard). The promo for this album said that "While the twelve songs on Fush Yu Mang sound like they belong side by side, each has its own feeling like the very 60s "Walkin On The Sun," the surf n turf of "Nervous In the Alley," the Buzzcocks like "Pet Names," the Mafia rock of "Padrino," and the fret rock of "Lets Rock"." Smash Mouths second album Astro Lounge was released two years later, in June 1999. It is the bands most critically and commercially successful album to date. It reached #6 on the Billboard charts and it featured the massive hit All Star.
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Smash Mouth released their third album Smash Mouth (Self-Titled) in November 2001. It has been said that this is the bands most experimental album to date. It reached #48 on Billboard charts. Smash Mouths fourth album Get the Picture?, released in August 2003, wasnt as well-received by fans or the critics as previous albums (it only reached #100 on the Billboard charts). Smash Mouth released a Christmas cover album in November 2005 (The Gift of Rock). Their newest album is called Summer Girl, and, after being delayed for over a year, was released on September 19th, 2006. Smash Mouths music was used in the film "Shrek" and they starred on-screen as themselves in the turbulent finale of the all-star-comedy "Rat Race", while performing "All Star" on stage during the showdown.
In May 2011 lead singer Steve Harwell agreed to eat two dozen eggs in one sitting for charity. That June, Harwell apparently backed out of the challenge -- with over ten thousand dollars for overseas childrens hunger charities at stake -- potentially because he is afraid to eat the eggs. Fans continue to demand Harwell eat the eggs.
Two albums were released in 2012, The Gift Of Rock and Magic. A best-of compilation, Playlist: The Very Best of Smashmouth was released in 2016. A comeback single, Unity, was released in 2018.
In 2021, the band collaborated with Timmy Trumpet for the song "Camelot". This would be the bands last song with original lead vocalist Steve Harwell before his retirement later that year and his death 2 years later.
Steve Harwell retired in 2021 due to health issues and was replaced by Divided By Zero singer Zach Goode.
On September 4, 2023, original lead vocalist Steve Harwell died at age 56 at his home of liver failure. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.
