My Favourite Front Man: Honouring Steve Harwell

Today we wake to the news of 90s alt behemoth, and lead singer of Smashmouth ,Steve Harwell's untimely death.

As I have talked about on these pages, I am a music nerd. I'll listen to anything once, and many things twice. A lot of things, several. I've played piano since I was a child, so the ear was prepped, but still, Smashmouth remains the most pleasing to the ear for decades, and true masters of the story song - genre jesters doing their thing on every single one of their tracks, whilst staying true to their 1960s, easy listening vibe, even incorporating ska and punk elements, with that 90s edge. To me, true pioneers.

But I loved Smashmouth. I really did. Not in a meme-y way, not in an ironic way - I respected their craft, loved how they were so playful in their lyrics, so ingenious with their varied and inspiring clashes: bossa nova style beats with rocky hair-rock chords, cherry-picking ideas that really shouldn't come together so well and presenting an amazing and alive mix that never ever bored me. Which as a musical magpie, contantly attracted to the next shiny thing, is some feat.

What I loved also, was Steve's voice. No matter how far they stretched the concept of rock, edging into unashamed 60s twee pop, or easy listening swing - Steve's voice was always there to remind you just who you were listening to with that voice full of gravel, and intention. Grounding and conforting to a 7/8 year old figuring out what they liked, Steve would always be there to light the way home. And he will very much be missed. This will then, be a celebration of his voice, ingenuity, how he fronted the band, and five of my personal picks form their many amazing albums that you might not know to raise a glass to the rasp king.

Where it started and Fush You Mang

Not at all with Shrek, sorry to disappoint. Like me, my sister is a music fiend also, so along with Steve's trademark rocky rasp, I was also introduced to the Space Cowboy (Cosmic Girl 4life) and Bjork (I used to scream along with her It's Oh So Quiet like a fiend) and I have her to thank for introducing me to Fush You Mang, released in 1997. Specifically, their wolf-in-sheeps-clothing hit, 'Walking On The Sun':

Just listening to that opening. A castanet! That rolling drum beat! It starts almost Beach Boys like, until Steve comes in in that typical way, bursting through the plywood door that way he always did, almost as if to go 'unh unh unh! It ain't that, my dudes! We're in the 90s, my bros!' Deceptively upbeat, almost illeagally catchy, it lulls you into a 60s' trance while actually being straight up political in tone in that clever spinning of plates only Smashmouth could chaotically deliver:

25 years ago they spoke out

and they broke out

of recession, and aggression,

and together they toked

and they folked out with guitars around a bonfire just singing and clapping,

man, what the hall happened?

Basically, it's just a total hand-wringing of how the social and political climate has become so permissive of corporate, economic greed, and that if not careful, we're going to expire. Wrapped in a catchy four note go-go progression. I mean. Beat that, Ed Sheeran. I love also how Steve alters his voice in the bridge for the stark warning before the reprise showing his genuine mastery of his instrument, singing, it sounds, directly into the mic. Epic.

I also love this track as it totally gave me a social leg-up as a very very awkward teen at a stage school, a literal fish out of water, and charged with bringing in a song to choreograph to for a threatening-sounding assessment we were forced to completeevery few weeks without prior warning. I remember burning a CD from my iTunes (yes, this is early 2000s, how did you know?) and adding this track to my list, hoping my fellow dancers would take a liking, and validate me in the process. To my relief they did, and the smugness I felt the day we rehearsed in one of the studios, in front of the class, those four chords interrupting conversation, and causing feet to tap, and ripples to form in the minds of the kids who had only steadfastly known top 40 chart hits. I mean, it was geiger-counter breaking. There was a two week period where I couldn't walk into a room without someone humming it. I was insufferable.

'That' song, and Astro Lounge

Listen, we all know which one I mean. I'm steadfastly keeping it off the list only because it's so well-known and probably Steve's legacy, which is great, but he and the band were so much more than that. (Although, just to say, a pure pop anthem that quotes Shakespeare shows the depth of lyricism of Smashmouth in such an awesome way. All that glitters, indeed)

My next pick is 'Then The Morning Comes' from the 1999 album 'Astro Lounge'- around 2004, I had one of those brick iPods, you know the ones, with the clicker interface, that I miss terribly, and should probably search my cupboard for - probably could get a small fortune for that...anyway. I would go into a fugue state often laying my head off the bed with my earpods in, listening to the same song on repeat, like a true baby neurodivergent would. And this was always very high up on the '25 Most Played' playlist:

I mean, try not swinging your hips to that beat - and yes please xylophone. Steve's pure Americanism, his flat As, his drawls, his full voice, the twang, its all on full display. Pair that with the stings from the organ, the record winding down before the start of the next verse: it is a pleasing mix of acoustic skill and slick producing. You can always count on Smashmouth to provide a dirty, almost grunge-inspired bass utilised just so, and a good ol' key change. Oh, the key changes.

At 1:57, something magic happens. We are lifted, and we get a kind of new desperation or appreciation for the woman and the relationship by moving up a semi-tone and a most Smashmouth-esque display of harmony, an understated skill that Smashmouth was a deft hand at during these early albums. Steve remains the most characterful and heard voice in any chord he is part of: showing once again how great and adept he was at musical depth and dynamic.

It's a sultry one, this one, and when the strings come in in that pulsing beat, its hard not to imagine a beautiful woman walking away - with Steve compounding the image by intoning: tomorrow's gonna hurt!

The longing perhaps for more from this strings only relationship puts Steve on this spinning wheel of desire, with an amouous tone that is also tinged with a sadness that there will never be anything more....but he kinda likes it? It's a hypnotising rythm, unabashedly 60s easy listening with their now familiar stings, tropes and acoustic touches, which makes this track total Smashmouth. Classy, intoxicating, harmonically complicated - to think: this swinging beat was doing its thing the same time as Britney, NSYNC, Mmmbop....it boggles the mind.

2003: new fame and movie soundtrack demand

After Shrek, there could be no doubt that Smashmouth, and Steve were in-demand stars, and they would work with Mike Myers again on his Cat in The Hat movie with their original song 'Hold On' - to my mind the least cash-grabby made for movie soundtrack original I can think of - real themes of growing up, struggling to find who you are, what your identity is, and taking your time to do it. Steve uses his incredible voice, a very emotive pallete you would assume a traditionally 'rock' voice not capable of depth or emotion, in a very comforting genuine way. I believed every word of these touching lyrics at a time when I was navigating my teenhood, and felt that comfort come through in waves. Pair that with the now-assumed catchyness, as well as a softening of their more bold and brash barn-stompers, this to me shows how dynamic Smashmouth and of course Steve could be:

gather round, I'm here to say

You'll never make everybody's day

But while you're around you might as well

Cacth a tiger by it's tail

Think about it - grown men in their early thirties, totally tapping into a teen girl's psyche and understanding, though pop, mind you, the stress of familial pressure, societal expectation and imbalance that comes with that age in a neat bow of accessible pop that isn't a sell-out. Tightrope stuff indeed, and Steve was backflipping all over it. A key part of their legacy and a shining moment for the other side of Steve's amazing vocals.

The Plot Song, Smashmouth's Secret Weapon

There's a famous book titled 'The Seven Basic Plots' you are told to purchase on any creative writing course. I have it. It's great. It backs up all literature, breaking down the rags to ritches, the odyyseey, the hero's journey, all of em. I would posit though, there's a secret eighth - Smashmouth-universe vignettes. They are among the best in music that aren't stright up comedy or vaudeville tunes. And here's one of my faves:

Flo. The super fast ska-inspired tale of a woman who is settling for a man when she really is a one-woman woman. Steve managed to inject just enough initial disbelief, then realisiaiton, then desperation throughout the verse - chorus - verse- chorus format in a way on Smashmouth can - hey, he's just a guy that has noticed that his girlfriend is calling out her ex's name every time they're in bed, and has a suspicion there may be more to the story, here:

It's super clever to set it to ska as it really adds to the urgency and desperation, and it utilises the famous technique of not naming the narrator, only ever naming the main plot of this unfortunate love triangle, Flo - in the spirit of Niles' Maris from Frasier, Du Maurier's 'Rebecca' - giving these women the power of a name and how much havoc they are causing in this poor guy's life.

And I would pray/ that you would have the common courtesy/ to take her away

That will never fail to make me laugh as Steve tries desperately to rid himself of this tricky situation. His ability to tell a story was unmatched and will be sorely missed. A little jem and a prime example of how a song can expertly world build. Brilliance.

When Smashmouth got dark: The Fonz

Yes, that Fonz. Trust Steve and the guys to take a happy-go-lucky sitcom from the 70s and make it into a tragi-comedy of 90s teen movie proportion. Steve's on fire here with his deranged sounding vocals, as the protagonist slips into even more bitter depression and jealousy in a tale of peer-worship gone very very wrong. Appearing mid-way through their first album, sandwiched between Andy Williams/Beach Boys style tunes, comes pure unadulterated rock, power-chording all over the place in a total left turn from their usual light touch. I remember it shocking the hell out of me every time.

I wanna try your shoes on/ and wear 'em for a day

Is the craziest start to a song, possibly ever? But it's just a seven course of lyrcisim, as ever - a truly bitter essay on why him? why is he the best? I play the tuba and they shake their heads, what makes him so special?

From a music perspective - I love they still have the staccato guitar sound that harks back to their happier, lighter songs, paired with a grungy baseline to show how discordent and on uneven ground we are here. Pair that with Steve's unhinnged deceptively calm tone, the unbridled anger and rage just simmering under the surface right until the end when the narrator, now in heaven, is pushed over the edge by the idol's own suicide getting more attention than his.

I mean. Concept cocaine for me. Epic.

The song ends with Steve spitting out 'BECAUSE YOU ARE THE FONZ' as if its a curse, a cuss, the worst thing you could call anyone, which to me, shows the genius, almost masterful acting technique of what I call an epic and incredible front man. One of Morrissey's faves too, if you count such a dubious honour.

Honourable mentions to Steve's covers:

How could we end this essay without their cover of The Monkees, 'I'm a Believer' - a cover that gets my mother's stamp of approval, hard-sought and rarely given, as better than the original. He had a way of honouring originals and making them his own - and to be honest, Smashmouth's version sounds fully like something they created.

Also way up there is an offbeat one, War's 'Why Can't We Be Friends' which in Steve's hands sounds absolutely adorbale and a very genuine question: why indeed can't we? I would have been, Steve. It's also a callback to their ska and reggae roots, something they do very very well as a band, and a side to them I've always loved.

My last callout from the ouvere of their many covers is Frankie Valli and Four Seasons' 'Can't Get Enough Of You Baby' on Astro Lounge in 1999, another song that hadn't I known it was a cover, I would have assumed it was theirs, it's that much in their wheelhouse: that infectious freedom and expression that was so unashamedly them. There was any posturing with them, they were novelty, clever, witty and alt, and you other vibed or didn't. To be honest, if you didn't love them, I judged you, hard. I mean, who couldn't love this one, and Steve's acrobatics all over it?

Few more...

Padrino is so perfect for it's send up of Godfather-esque, You-talkin-to-me, ness - that starts off like it belongs to the soundtrack of the seminial film before doing a circle back and going into Smashmouth's seminal ADHD-esqe infectious rhythms and Steve's in his wheelhouse with quick almost cadence like lyrics that are just so brilliant and shows what an asset it is. Though how it never got them in trouble with the mob, is a mystery. 'Leave the singing to Sinatra and always keep your big trap shut' indeed.

Satellite: Hands down their most sultry, Bond-esque song, Steve sounds very different here, flirting obviously, giving it a lot of hoke and succeeding it must be said, as it made me blush many a time. Its got a beautiful guitar solo in it, solidifying its Astrid Gilberto-esque bossa nova credentials, showing the range of this band, and Steve's ability to lead you there.

Also, if you have never heard Steve shout 'PUMPKIN FACE!?' in pure dumped misery at the end of 'Pet Names' - frankly you haven't lived. There's also of course so much more to his amazing, ecelctic, hilariousl clever, music catalogue, I really tried to narrow it down. I did!

And oh, god. Okay, here we go. Here's All Star, at the end of 'Rat Race' with Steve doing the the damn thing in person:

So there we have it. I feel immesurably sad we will never hear more of Steve's incredible lyricism, dynamic voice, one-in-a-million tone and ability to tell a story like no other. He's been in my life since I was seven and I will miss him terribly. Much more than a meme, he's a myth, a man, a legend. Rest easy, brother in the Astro Lounge. We will miss you.

'Til Next Time, and remember: you're an All Star. Get Paid.

Jx