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Baloo would be rolling over in his grave if he heard this.
Human soul patch Smash Mouth rose to fame in the ’90s as the living ruination of nth-wave ska. They had the exasperating vibe of a braying white doofus in a porkpie hat demanding that you should totally hang out with him, but none of the pesky ska-punk trappings like “energy” or “excitement.” Somehow the malicious pricks who run movies saw a lot of wholesomeness potential in the band that made Fush Yu Mang, and started recruiting Smash Mouth to submit their shitty songs—or worse, original music—to every straight-to-punchline movie on the planet. Here’s how this awesome decade went for Smash Mouth:
Movie Studio: We’re making a movie about a talking dog that travels into the future to solve—
Smash Mouth: Shut the fuck up. Where do we sign?
Oh and they cover songs too. In 1998, these clowns released a dumbed-down, unfunky version of War’s “Why Can’t We Be Friends,” and it quickly became apparent that they were willing to mix a warm-ginger-ale version of any song. How about “Can’t Get Enough Of You Baby?” That could be annoying enough for Can’t Hardly Wait. How about covering the Monkees? Surely Shrek could shake his fat green ass to that! A Steely Dan cover? Throw it in Me, Myself And Irene!
Movie Studio: How about a Beatles song, guys? Wouldn’t that be beautiful? You guys could buffoon it up. And then we could jam it in this piece of shit live-action Cat In The Hat movie we’re making
Smash Mouth: Ooh, we can defile two beloved institutions at once! Synergy! We love it!
Movie Studio: We knew you would.
Smash Mouth: We’ll shit on an American flag too if you want.
Movie Studio: That won’t be necessary, Smash Mouth.
So when Disney came calling for the not-at-all-long-awaited Jungle Book 2, Smash Mouth got cracking on their most stupid track to date: a chilled-out cover of the 1967 film’s classic track “I Wan’na Be Like You.” Surely, the bong-sucking baby geniuses behind “It ain’t no joke, I’d like to buy the world a toke” could improve on Louis Fucking Prima, right?
If “improving” means slowing down the original’s hyperkinetic swing rhythm into a weed-soaked Crazy Town rap-rock daze—and turning an exciting song into the sound of a couch potato picking Cheeto dust off his crotch—then job well done, Smash Mouth. The wack rap part switches to a doofy pop-punk chorus so fast, you’d think King Louie stopped wanting to be human and actually wanted to be just like Bowling For Soup. And there’s also a Dick Dale guitar solo, some wacky scratch solos, and the bass player’s jazz runs. This mess has many disparate elements, it almost ruined Jungle Book 2 for me!
06. Smash Mouth – I Wanna Be Like You [YouTube]
Smash Mouth [MySpace]
F2K: Idolator Counts Down The 50 Worst Songs Of The ’00s, One By Ear-Splitting One
No. 32: Smash Mouth, “I Wan’na Be Like You (The Monkey Song)”
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Listing this song is payback for ‘Allstar’, isn’t it. If not, can it be?
Hm, Disneymania trainwrecks are definitely a subgenre for F2K, and of course there can only be one repped here, but I have a hard time believing this is truly the worst. As a representative track, though, it’ll do.
My fave of these is Skye Sweetnam’s “Part of Your World”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA6Dfz9nBPQ
Ironically, this song would be perfect for an uptempo ska, but instead it just hops from bad Bradley Nowell impersonation to shrill metal. Los Lobos did a pretty fun version for that Stay Awake comp in the ’80s.
Don’t forget Smashmouth did Cat In The Hat too! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKXlYYo_pNg
They also appeared at the end of Rat Race, possibly killing (or at least maiming) the love I have for “All Star”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU42iWcvTCg
Mystery Men, now that was a good movie.
@anthonyisright: Don’t forget Smashmouth did Cat In The Hat too!
Mentioned in one of the fake dialogues above.
d’oh! missed it, sorry.
This is your best writeup yet. Could not stop laughing at the movie studio conversation.
@Lucas Jensen: Srsly! This…
Smash Mouth: We’ll shit on an American flag too if you want.
Movie Studio: That won’t be necessary, Smash Mouth.
…had me laughing so hard coworkers were looking at me funny.
Me, before listening to this song (and reading the blurb): Smash Mouth still made new songs in the ’00’s?
Me, afterwards: oh.
I Wan’na Be Like You (The Monkey Song) < My Humps
Ok, I just followed that link dabug posted to Skye Sweetnam’s “Part of Your World.”
Smash Mouth, all is forgiven.
In defense of Smash Mouth, they only did what they had to do. There aren’t a lot of options for fat rock stars.
man, I haven’t logged in to post a comment in I-don’t-know-how-long, but this takedown is a Work Of Art. That you could start things off by referring to them as a “human soul patch”, and somehow get better from there, is a monument to shit talking.
Oh man, I have never heard it but their cover of “Do It Again” must be a fucking abomination.
@dabug: My childhood! She’s destroying it!
I like to pretend these guys never did anything other than “All Star.”
I don’t think one should expect anything more from an album with “Superstar Artists Sing Disney… Their Way!” written on the cover. I mean, Aaron Carter? Jessica Simpson? A-Teens? Smash Mouth? SUPERSTARS? Yeah, sure…