In a recent interview, Smash Mouth frontman Steve Harwell revealed something unexpected. Morrissey—former lead singer of The Smiths and lyricist of cheerful ditties like “Girlfriend in a Coma”—digs the band responsible for grandiosely obnoxious songs like “All Star” and “I’m A Believer” (a grotesque cover of the Monkees’ original). We are all rich tapestries, to be sure, but this is damned silly.
And yet, as the A.V. Club reports, it’s true—or so Harwell claims. Both Smash Mouth chansonnier and Morrissey appeared at The Roxy Fest in Mexico, where the two briefly met. And who among us can resist Harwell’s nasally vocalizations, so grating they could only be explained by gargling with gravel? Not Morrissey!
“He was very complimentary toward us,” Harwell told Stereogum. Their short meeting was, he recalled, “super weird and cool.”
Harwell also remarked during the interview that he doesn’t “love” the way “All Star” has become the stuff of memes and mockery. That’s understandable—who would? The problem is simply that “All Star” is an absurd song, and Smash Mouth is a very bad band.
But hey! Why would my opinion—or anyone else’s—matter when Morrissey is on your team? Buck up, Steve-o. Get your game on, go—no, I’m sorry, I really can’t.