All Star

Album

Astro Lounge

Label

Interscope Records

Genre

Power Pop

Composer(s)

Greg Camp

Entered Chart

May 22, 1999

Peak Date

Aug 14, 1999

Released

May 4, 1999

Recorded

1999 Studio H.O.S. (Redwood City, California)

Catalog #

Interscope Album Cut

B-Side

"Walkin' on the Sun""Then the Morning Comes"

When Smash Mouth released their debut album Fush Yu Mang in 1997, they built a fanbase thanks to the hit "Walkin' on the Sun." They heard from many of these fans when they were writing songs for their second album, Astro Lounge, which inspired "All Star." Like most Smash Mouth originals, it was written by their guitarist, Greg Camp, who told the story in a Songfacts interview. "When we were on tour for the first record, it's still when people were writing fan mail, like, in the form of paper and pencils and typewriters and stuff," said Camp. "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. And about 85-90 percent 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. 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." This song about someone who excels at his or her endeavors was used extensively in movies, TV shows and commercials. Its commercial appeal was not lost on the band - lead singer Steven Harwell said that after recording the song, his first instinct was to sell it to advertisers. Some popular uses of this song: The 1999 film Mystery Men. The opening credits to the film Shrek. The movie Rat Race, where Smash Mouth performs the song at the end of the movie. Digimon: The Movie, where it is the last song played before the movie ends. The 1999 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, where Smash Mouth performed it. The movie Inspector Gadget. The voice that says "go for the moon" came from an album of sounds from the Apollo moon mission issued by NASA. Greg Camp cooked up the song in his basement studio where he would use turntables to get beats and scratches. These audio clips are public domain, so Camp didn't have to pay to use it. NASA has made many of these audio files available online. The phrase "All Star" often applies to sports, where the best players are chosen for all-star teams. The band name Smash Mouth is a football reference, meaning an aggressive and bellicose style of play. Greg Camp didn't write this song with sports in mind though, as he's not much of a sports guy (the band had their name before he joined). The song can certainly apply to athletes, but it really encompasses anyone trying to do their thing in the face of naysayers. The first prominent use of this song was in the 1999 movie Mystery Men, about a group of superheroes with questionable powers. Scenes from the film were incorporated into the video, and some of the stars of the film, including Janeane Garofalo, Ben Stiller and Dane Cook, appeared. Report this ad The video was directed by McG, who went on to direct the films Charlie's Angels, Terminator Salvation and The Babysitter. In the '90s, he directed several notable music videos, including "Shoots And Ladders" by Korn, "One Week" by Barenaked Ladies, and "Fly" by Sugar Ray. On July 11, 2006, this was played to wake up the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery. >> Jon Sudano became a YouTube star with videos of him singing the lyrics to "All Star" over the melodies of various hit songs, including Adele's "Hello," Bastille's "Pompeii" and John Lennon's "Imagine." "All Star" writer Greg Camp connected with Sudano on Facebook and gave him the thumbs up. "It works on every single song," Camp told Songfacts. "I just think he's fabulous. He's this big, overweight buy who sits in front of his computer and just kind of does stuff like this all day long. The song was written for people like him, who may be a little bit of an outcast or not accepted socially because of their appearance. And he's just going for it. He gets it, completely. He is the person that that song was written for." The band performs a snippet of this song in a 2020 Progressive commercial where the spot is interrupted by "the Progressive commercial halftime show featuring Smash Mouth." The ad aired during football playoffs, giving the company exposure to football fans without buying a pricey Super Bowl ad. The song's use in Shrek spawned lots of audio remixes and image-based memes related to the green ogre in the late 2000s. One of the earliest parodies, however, was the 2009 YouTube video "Mario, You're A Plumber," which used the song to tell the life story of the Super Mario Bros. character. A soundalike version is used in the 2020 movie The Last Blockbuster. In the film, both Greg Camp of Smash Mouth and Darren Hayes of Savage Garden talk not about music, but about video stores, with Camp explaining how they were part of his dating strategy (spaghetti and a video).

Oh (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh)
Oh (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)

(Go, go for the moon)

Somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me
I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed
She was looking kind of dumb with her finger and her thumb
In the shape of an "L" on her forehead

Well the years start coming and they don't stop coming
Fed to the rules and I hit the ground running
Didn't make sense not to live for fun
Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb
So much to do, so much to see
So what's wrong with taking the back streets?
You'll never know if you don't go
You'll never shine if you don't glow

Hey now, you're an all-star, get your game on, go play
Hey now, you're a rock star, get the show on, get paid
And all that glitters is gold
Only shooting stars break the mold

It's a cool place and they say it gets colder
You're bundled up now, wait 'til you get older
But the meteor men beg to differ
Judging by the hole in the satellite picture
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?
That's the way I like it and I'll never get bored

Hey now, you're an all-star, get your game on, go play
Hey now, you're a rock star, get the show on, get paid
And all that glitters is gold
Only shooting stars break the mold

(G-G-G-Go)
(And all that glitters is gold)

Somebody once told me (now, now, now)
T-Told me, T-Told, Told me (now, now, now)
Told me, told me, told me, told me (now, now, now)
Hey now (go!)

Hey now, you're an all-star, get your game on, go play
Hey now, you're a rock star, get the show on, get paid
And all that glitters is gold
Only shooting stars

Somebody once asked could I spare some change for gas?
I need to get myself away from this place
I said, "Yup" what a concept
I could use a little fuel myself
And we could all use a little change (go)

Well, the years start coming and they don't stop coming
Fed to the rules and I hit the ground running
Didn't make sense not to live for fun
Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb
So much to do, so much to see
So what's wrong with taking the back streets?
You'll never know if you don't go (go!)
You'll never shine if you don't glow

Hey now, you're an all-star, get your game on, go play
Hey now, you're a rock star, get the show on, get paid
And all that glitters is gold
Only shooting stars break the mold

(Some-bo-bo-body told me)

And all that glitters is gold
Only shooting stars break the mold

Oh (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh)
Oh (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)

(She was looking kind of dumb with her finger and her thumb)
(In the shape of an "L" on her forehead)

And all that glitters is gold
And all that glitters is gold
And all that glitters is gold
Only shooting stars break the mold