Smash Mouth wrote All Star for fans who were being bullied
Topics: Music, Film and TV, US News, Celebrity
Katherine Sidnell
Featured Image Credit: YouTube / Smash Mouth/Interscope
Topics: Music, Film and TV, US News, Celebrity
When you think of Smash Mouth, it’s hard not to think of Shrek.
The band’s anthem ‘All Star’ became synonymous with the classic kids' film and was the soundtrack of the noughties.
However, there's actually a heart-warming reason behind the iconic tune.
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Despite it being Smash Mouth’s biggest hit, ‘All Star’ wasn’t initially included on their album Astro Lounge.
Rather ironically, it was only added after their record label, Interscope, pushed for more single-worthy songs.
As you can imagine, the pop-punk group quickly turned to unused tracks to pitch to the execs - including their 1999 anthem.
Guitarist Greg Camp later explained that ‘All Star’ had originally been penned for fans who were being bullied.
The band had been inspired after reading through hand-written fan letters while on tour, which often had heart-breaking stories.
"We would get these big bags of fan mail, and we would take them to the Laundromat and do our laundry and read all this mail while we were sitting around waiting for our clothes to get dry," he told SongFacts.
“About 85-90 per cent of the mail was from these kids who were being bullied, or their brothers or older siblings were giving them s**t for liking Smash Mouth or liking whatever they’re doing or the way they dressed and stuff."
Camp added: “…So we were like, ‘We should write a song for fans.’ It was sort of like a daily affirmation. It was designed to be an uplifting, self-confidence-building song.”
While it’s pretty heart-warming stuff, ‘All Star’ nearly had a much darker tone.
In fact, Smash Mouth even confirmed this and shared a photo of the original lyrics on Twitter in 2017.
Though the majority of the song remains the same, it’s the iconic chorus that is noticeably different.
Uploading an image of the original piece of paper the song was written, they read:
"Hey now, get the show on,
"You're a rock star; go play.
"And all that glitters is gold..."
However, there was a line that had been crossed out, which said: "Wave bye bye to your soul."
Thankfully, Camp replaced this with the line: "Only shooting stars break the mold."
It would help Smash Mouth make musical history, with the upbeat lyrics being used in Shrek and with the song going on to become insanely popular after the film’s release.