10 Bands Destroyed By "Selling Out"

Look, EVERYONE loves the Shrek soundtrack. It is an unparalleled, unquestionable compilation of wall-to-wall bangers, including the anthemic All Star by Smash Mouth. So please, do not misconstrue Smash Mouth’s inclusion on this list as some kind of hatchet job aimed at taking down such a beloved band with one of the greatest viral smashes the internet has ever produced.

That being said, the fact of the matter is that Smash Mouth got a whole lot worse after they appeared on the Shrek soundtrack and found widespread adulation.

Back in the day, when the group first started out and they were playing shows alongside the likes of No Doubt and Beck, their ska-infused, slightly novel schtick felt like it had a place. Sure, there were bands like Less Than Jake and Zebrahead treading a similar kind of path, but Smash Mouth were never as overt or serious as those two, and besides, the late ‘90s were a carefree time when people just couldn’t get enough of ordinary looking dudes with spiked up hair and wraparound shades singing about their terrible love lives.

But then, with their newfound ogre-sponsored success, Smash Mouth faced a dilemma. Suddenly, they had a legit hit on their hands, and one that would bafflingly become ever more popular the further after the fact we got. Should they revert back to type, or double down and try and shoot for the moon again with a more polished, marketable sound? They opted for latter, but sort of misfired, and when the missteps started coming they didn’t stop coming (sorry).

The band even acknowledged their mistake themselves in typically comedic fashion, changing their Twitter bio at one stage to: “F*ck you Shrek, you turned us into a joke, we were finna be the next Beatles”.