“All Star” by Smash Mouth — the defining song of modern youth culture

In 2001, DreamWorks Animation released the modern classic film Shrek, which tells the tales of an ogre living in a fairytale world. The opening credits defined the tone of the film, with a sequence of the titular character Shrek going through his daily routine set to the hit song “All Star” by American rock band Smash Mouth. This song defines modern youth culture in ways few people realize, literally, culturally, and metaphorically.

From the most basic standpoint, the content and structure of “All Star” forecasted the development of modern youth culture. Its ironic and witty lyrics are similar to the current brand of humor on popular teen social media site Tumblr. Heavy doses of absurdism and aestheticism are common, just as they are in the hit Smash Mouth song. There is also a strong counterculture and antiestablishment movement that is still aware of how much its supporters depend upon the status quo, in an ironic fashion. This mirrors how the somewhat antiestablishment lyrics of “All Star” are used in many commercial endeavors such as movie trailers, credit scenes, and television commercials. Finally, this song has a very simple structure, with the same four chords being used repetitively throughout, creating a simple and catchy musical masterpiece. So too does current youth culture depend on minimalism, using the smallest amount of time, of space, of complexity to create the largest effect.

When considered through a cultural lens, “All Star” by Smash Mouth is an essential part of the lives and childhoods of many American teenagers and young adults. For many of them, Shrek was one of the first films they saw in theaters. Given the catchy theme and lyrics of “All Star” the song was basically branded into their minds from a young age. These days, due to the song’s extremely simple and straightforward structure, it is used to create many mashups, where two or more songs are matched together in an audio program to create a new song with elements of both (or all) songs involved. “All Star” has also had a rash of audio edits made of it, including my personal favorite, where from partway through the first verse through the end of the song the lyric “and they don’t stop coming” is repeated, with the instrumental backing still progressing through the rest of the song. This phenomenon has many interesting sociological implications upon this generation, the scope of which is to great to be encompassed in this piece.

Finally, from a metaphorical point of view, “All Star” by Smash Mouth is the defining song of this generation. In the song, an almost Oscar Wilde-like appreciation for enjoyment in life is expressed, which some say is reflected by the materialism of today’s youth. Upon deeper inspection, however, the aestheticism seen at first glance within the song reveals itself to be cold and empty, merely the product of the capitalistic drive for wealth. It shows that this quest for enjoyment falls flat, a mere distraction from the things that truly matter. In the final verse, the singer tells of someone who asked him for change for gas, saying “I need to get myself away from this place.” The singer kindly gives the stranger some money and reflects upon the fact that he could use a little gas himself and “we could all use a little change.” The double meaning of the word change here shows that while we could all use more money, what would be better would be a full-fledged overhaul of the system, ensuring that the wellbeing of all would be made sustainably good, rather than inherently unequal. Today’s youth recognize this; one of the ways this is shown is by the overwhelming youth support of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who promises significant change. Regardless of whether his approach is correct, the fact that he wants to remake the entire system appeals to youth, who are desperate for a fairer chance at success.

“All Star” by Smash Mouth and its ties to today’s youth show that unlike many have said, American youth of today are committed to positive, lasting change in the world to help everyone, not just themselves. The only problem is that we are all jaded by such cultural events as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the recession of 2008, and the rise of neoconservative rhetoric; we struggle to believe that we have any chance of being able to change the world at all. We cope with this through absurdism and aestheticism, but they are not lasting solutions. One day, when we’re ready, we’ll take the helm, and we’ll be able to make the world better. That day will come soon, because, “Well, the years start coming and they don’t stop coming.”