Is Smash Mouth Praxis?
- Peter Gaughan
- Jan 31, 2021
- 4 min read
Updated: Feb 21, 2022
It is sometimes funny what pieces of culture end up resurfacing or sticking around past their prime.
Smash Mouth might be an example of one of those odd cultural phenomena. There was a lot of white boy rock that came out of the West Coast in the 80s and 90s... so if you had told the ska and new wave fans of the 90s that Smash Mouth would be the one that w0uld still kicking it in 2021... they might not have believed you and if they did, they probably wouldn't have been very happy about it.
But thanks to the popularity of Shrek, their release of nonstop remixes and some well timed covers, along with plenty internet jokes that just never seem to die, Smash Mouth has become one of those bands everyone knows even if they don't know they know.
"All Star" is easily their most successful song and their song with the greatest staying power.
The melancholy outcast anthem paired with an upbeat backtrack fit the pop-punk culture of the 90s better than OJ's glove. Since its release, subsequent generations have since been able to resonate with its celebration of coming up short and being disappointment with the hand you've been dealt.
"All Star" has served to keep Smash Mouth relevant, but has it potentially accomplished more? Smash Mouth's "All Star" has been "meme-d" to the sun and back, and one of the most common and reoccurring jokes has been in reference to the lines;
"The ice we skate is getting pretty thin
The water's getting warm so you might as well swim
My world's on fire, how about yours?"
Though there isn't much evidence to support the claim that Smash Mouth was trying to warn us about the dangers of climate change in 1999. Young people's concerns about the realities of global warming and the oversaturation of "All Star" in our media has brewed the perfect opportunity for a "meme-ing" frenzy.
The band has also encouraged this behavior, often sharing the jokes themselves and even making references to climate change at concerts, on social media, and in public statements. So is Smash Mouth increasing consciousness over the issue of climate change? That might a hard argument to wholeheartedly sell but they certainly are using the popularity of song and their platform increase awareness of the issue which is at least pretty rad thing to do.
A better example of Smash Mouth being down for the cause is probably their first breakout hit, "Walkin' On the Sun". Though the song was released in 1997, it was written years prior in response to LAPD's brutalization of Rodney King, an unarmed black man.
The Rodney King incident and subsequent lack of justice sparked a nationwide outrage, including riots in multiple major cities. It also made an impact Smash Mouth's lead guitarist, Greg Camp, who wrote a song as an observation of what was happening around him and as a rallying cry to support of social and racial justice.
Camp said, following the tragedy, the world "might as well be walking around a planet on fire". And thus, "Walkin' On the Sun" was born.
I strongly urge you to read through all the lyrics because the song because it makes amble references to injustices and turning words into action. But I want to specifically highlight the seventh stanza:
"When a mama's handkerchief is soaked
With her tears because her baby's life has been revoked
The bond is broke up
So choke up and focus on the close up
Mr. Wizard can't perform no god-like hocus-pocus"
These lines paired with up-beat ska sounds while being delivered melodically in a pop-punk spoken-word style does a surprisingly effective job communicating the dichotomy between injustice and the "ignorance is bliss" attitude of the late 90s/early-2000s.
It is almost too bad that "Walkin' On the Sun" didn't have the same staying power as "All Star" because it might've served as better avenue for informing "memers" and "shitposters". Still, "Walkin' On the Sun" was a huge success at the time of release and remains a popular song today, popping up on the radio or in television from time to time.
So, with all of this taken into consideration, is Smash Mouth Praxis?
Well, I should first probably define "Praxis".
Praxis is one of the three basic human activities, as described by Aristotle. They are theoria (thinking), poiesis (making), and praxis (doing). Karl Marx (along with like over a dozen other philosophers and sociologists) took this concept and used it to describe how humans interact with their own theory. So, in a left-wing political philosophy context, "Praxis" is shorthand for taking Marxist theory and translating it into action.
In recent years, as the far-left has cultivated our internet community and developed our own lingo and jokes, "Praxis" has become shorthand when you agree with or want to celebrate (either genuinely or ironically) what someone said or did.
So, again, is Smash Mouth Praxis? I personally firmly believe tackling issues of justice through art and using one's platform to highlight important fights are examples of taking the theory of justice and translating it into action. A position their later work corroborates.
Their 2018 single titled "Unity" with Kool Keith and Darryl McDaniels (from Run-DMC) incorporated rap genres into their pop-punk and ska styles. The song admonishes former-President Trump, the culture of lies in American politics, and the power divide between the wealthy and real people.
But Smash Mouth being down for the cause is undercut by their own behavior. On August 9th of last year (2020), Smash Mouth performed for thousands of people at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota. The crowd was not socially distanced and almost entirely maskless.
It was reported by health departments in at least eight states that over a hundred COVID cases could be attributed to the event. So, the band received well-earned backlash. After having posted on social media that as a band they believe Black Lives Matter, Women's Rights are Human Rights, and that Science is Real" many commenters took to reminding them that epidemiology is a form of science.
So, on a scale from not Praxis with "gatekeeping Bernie Bros" to overflowing Praxis with Angela Davis, Smash Mouth scores a "r/LeftistMemes" level of Praxis.
Tonight's selection pairs well with a lighthearted and flowery Pinot Gris.
Photos: By Me.Me
From Twitter [@cottoncandaddy]
From Tumblr [@stripedgreenrabbit]
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