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Smash Mouth is the third studio album by American rock bandof the same name. It was released on November 27, 2001 by Interscope Records. It is notable in that it was their first album with new drummer Michael Urbano and its release was delayed a few months due to the death of Steve Harwell's infant son and the September 11 attacks. The album was eventually certified Gold by the RIAA for sales in excess of 500,000 in the U.S.
Smash Mouth held a contest on their website in the fall of 2000 to name their third album. The result was a two-way tie with the winning suggestion being to self-title the album. It was released in the fall of 2001 along with the single "Pacific Coast Party".
Smash Mouth received generally favorable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 67, based on 7 reviews.
Entertainment Weekly writer Tom Sinclair praised the album for Steve Harwell's "real Zen wisdom" vocals and the band's "sunny, goofball approach" to creating "hooks, humor, and high jinks" throughout the track listing. J. D. Considine of Blender wrote that "even though there's nothing new, the album offers enough in the way of big-beat guitar and sing-along choruses to keep Smash Mouth on the charts (and MTV) for another two years." AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine also found "no new tricks" on the record but felt it was done "sharply, melodically, and happily", especially on the album cuts, concluding that: "If you've grooved on Smash Mouth's singles and want more of the same, this delivers reliably, which may be an unadorned pleasure for some and a guilty one for others."
Sean Richardson of the Boston Phoenix wrote that: "Underneath all the bells and whistles, Harwell shows more lyrical depth than your average family-themed rocker — Smash Mouth aren't meant to be taken too seriously, but they're not easily written off, either." A writer for E! Online critiqued that the record's "Xeroxed batch of overproduced, hyperactive pop songs" was prepared for backyard parties and mass media consumption, but highlighted "Out of Sight" and "Sister Psychic" for hinting that there's "some substance" amidst the "light-as-air pop flightiness". The A.V. Club's Stephen Thompson felt the album lacked the "overdriven polish" of Astro Lounge and noted that the addition of the Monkees' cover smacked of "chart-hungry desperation", but commended the band for being able to "offset its bald-faced mercenary intentions with a refreshing lack of pretension." David Peisner of Maxim was dumbfounded by the band's ability to make their songs sound "more disposable than the one before it", criticizing the "bouncy melodies and cheery demeanor" for overshadowing the "inconsequential" lyrics.
Track listing
All tracks are written by Greg Camp, except where noted
