Worse Than the Sum Of Its Parts: Smashmouth “Days Like These” Isolated Vocal Track
I used to think that any band who had any sort of fame has to be somebody’s favorite, just to amass the band’s base enough to push them onto the charts.
Not Smashmouth. Admittedly, I’m a bit of a music snob, but I’ve never met a SINGLE person who’s ever said “You know who really rocks me? Smashmouth.” Maybe those folks are out there, somewhere …
Smashmouth’s popularity is one of life’s great mysteries — like the popularity of “Two and a Half Men.” They have this kind of lukewarm appeal — the kind of appeal that stops me from changing the channel on a Clear-Channel-choked car radio while driving to the down-at-the-mouth outlet store when I’m visiting my parents.
Smashmouth is the music version of the best t-shirt at Hot Topic, the best of a rotten lot when choice is utterly not an option.
But this track, it’s something else entirely. It’s the singer’s isolated vocal track from the song “Days Like These” … and if you thought the band in aggregate was craptacular, this little gem is a white dwarf of sheer sub-par suck-rock.
It is Kool-Aid without sugar, a burger on bread without ketchup or salad. It is peanut butter on Wonder Bread, eaten in the back seat of a hot car on family vacation … there are good times to be had, but this is the space in between.
But, still, hilarious. And BEGGING for a mashup. Post ‘em if you got ‘em, download below:
Smashmouth’s “Days Like These”, isolated vocal track.
If you’re into stuff like this, and want to hear real quality — check out this bunch of unaccompanied drum tracks by John Bonham — from the recording of Led Zeppelin’s “In Through the Out Door.”
UPDATE:Hear mashups using the track here
Popularity: 15% [?]
February 18th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
That was shite on a stick!
February 18th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
note that this appears to be an unreleased track… i’m not defending smashmouth, just noting that this might explain the suckitude of this song.
February 18th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Wow, if he auditioned for American Idol, he wouldn´t pass.
That´s a crappy voice.
I can sing like that and I am not talented nor a singer.
February 18th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
my sister is one of those benighted souls who has actually stated “Smashmouth rocks!” she even traded paper currency for a plastic disc with Smashmouth ‘music’ on it.
there’s no accounting for taste i guess.
February 18th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Oh that’s a special kind of funny. But, why do I feel like I just walked in on some grease-coated, hirsute trucker-dude taking a shower? Really… All it needs is the sound of running water and maybe a few beer cans getting kicked around.
February 18th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
So what is so funny about this? Apparently, you are not paying attention to most of the music out there… the words are meaningless most of the time. The fact is, some people (like me) find that the music itself is catchy and fun. Classical music has *no* words at it is still good music. I don’t even understand why this made it to boing boing.
February 18th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Wow, that’s awful.
February 18th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
These guys are frat boys who ‘made it’. They should thank jesus above for 12 year old girls because that is the only kind of entity that could ever think these guys are any good.
Now you know why products like this one exists -
http://www.antarestech.com/products/auto-tune5.shtml
What would be funny is to play the final mix and compare it against this, bet it has been processed to hell and gone.
February 18th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Sorry, I don’t hate it like you do. Maybe it seems weird to people who haven’t heard many solo’d rock vocals … but hey, it works in context. Nobody’s saying the guy’s Pavarotti. It’s not pretty but he’s got an interesting voice. That’s what rock’s about, right? Maybe you’ve heard of Bob Dylan? Or Marianne Faithfull? Or … oh, forget it. Keep on snickering.
February 18th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
dude, trent reznor does vocals for smashmouth!?
February 18th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
this is good, but what i reaally want to hear is an isolated track of kid rock’s vocal from ‘only god knows why.’ even on the pitch-corrected produced track he sounds off. i can’t imagine how bad the raw recording was.
February 18th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
A couple of Smashmouth songs are “fun”, and little kids love their music. That’s why the band has played for Nickelodeon TV shows.
February 18th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
That made me throw up in my mouth a little….
February 18th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
*awkward silence*
*gaping mouth*
It almost makes you feel bad for the poor little sap.
Almost.
February 18th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Awww poor thing… sounds like he could use a hanky for a good nose blowing.
Cars still have FM radios? ;D
February 18th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Ouch, ear drums…..bleeding.
February 18th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Meh.
He’s carrying the (albeit simple) tune in a proverbial. Better than me in the shower.
SM succeed because they end up on soundtrack and (official and unofficial) “party” mixes . You nailed it with your comment about catching them while psinning across the AM/FM wasteland (some of us remember those halcyon days when FM was “different.” Sigh.) Will they have staying power beyond this minute?
Only time will tell.
Meanwhile, bathroom and bedroom rockers alike can bop along to their sing-alongs. I do hope a you attract some mash-ups, though!
February 18th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Eh, that doesn’t sound too bad to me…Much better than I could do anyways.
And BTW, 6 years ago I would have said Smashmouth was my favorite band. I had a couple friends that were the same way too. Of course, we were in 6th grade, so….
February 18th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Did not really see the humor. I’m a audio tech so I spend a good part of my time listening to isolated tracks. I guess you would find all isolated tracks funny.
February 18th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
The track literally gave me shivers (not the good ones) down my spine. It was akin to discovering a day old pile of barf on the ground after a heavy night of drinking and feeling a sympathy barf coming on.
February 18th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
It’s amazing how much worse some people sound when there’s no band to hide them. I mean, I knew he was bad, but, this? Seriously!
February 18th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Any vocal track on its own sounds vulnerable and is easy to make fun of.
How’d you like it if someone did that to you?
It’s easy to make fun of stuff when you aren’t putting yourself out there and actually creating something .
February 18th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Man — I put this up, went out for the day, then came home to see that it got BoingBoinged. Rather than respond to all comments one at a time, here’s the chunks:
1) I know this isn’t fair - the track, alone, wasn’t meant for public consumption. Yes, most isolated audio tracks sound weird or silly and it’s a cheap laugh at best — but this is a really, really dramatic example. And I’m sure that the guys in the band can take it. Anyone who puts something out in the world all the time (like, hello, a blogger) gets this kind of stuff. It’s not a big deal, it’s a cheap laugh, pipe down …
2) I think there’s a big freaking difference between hearing Dylan vocals alone and knowing the power behind them — or Diamond Dave, who was meant to be silly and awesome simultaneously anyway — and commercial butt-rock that’s just kinda good enough. Things in a new context — or removed from their original one — are always pretty funny.
3) Thanks for reading!
February 18th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Eh, that’s not particularly bad. Certainly not as bad as that dude from Van Halen’s grunting and shrieking.
February 18th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Back when Smashmouth was a comedic punk-band, they were like a dollar-store version of “Dead Milkmen”. They were funny, but not “Taking Retards to the Zoo” funny.
Then they turned into this twisted pop-punk-ska act, and who the hell knows what happened.
@Tom Nixon: Be quiet before you hurt yourself. I put stuff out there, and if it gets roundly mocked, I take that as a sign that I need to do better- not some ego-assaulting affront. Adults get over that crap. Someday, you’ll become one, and know what I mean.
February 18th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
What I find fascinating is how this isolated vocal has managed to draw out opinions that look equally awkward when I read them.
I would have to conclude having listened to it and noticing that it’s really.. not so bad, that these are really just the insecurities of those being smarmy/critical coming to the surface.
It’s always fun to have an opinion that makes you look smart and others look dumb. This is human nature.
I guess my trained ears are missing something that the more snide comments are referring to.
It sounds more like a very distinctive voice that is not pitch corrected - which is always a bonus. I don’t think this guy will win any awards for physical prowess as a singer but that does not always make for the best music either.
Ygwie Malmsteen can do amazingly things with his guitar. Of course they’re also amazingly difficult to sit through because he’s a horrible song writer.
I will always prefer listening to someone like BB King who while is certainly an accomplished guitarist, is not as technically proficient as others.
I’m obviously not comparing Smash Mouth to BB King as that would be ridiculous. I’m simply saying that it is possible to entertain without getting muddled down in technical intricacies.
Smash Mouth must be doing something right because they put out songs that are entertaining and memorable in a way that is instantly identifiable.
Where some could wonder why at this point in their career they aren’t doing musical exploration - I applaud them for sticking with what works for them. I bet they quite enjoy their line of work. It is certainly not line of work that favors the musicians since only so many are able to achieve any amount of success.
So I guess the question realy is.. Who are you really more annoyed with? Smash Mouth for being successful? Or are you simply just annoyed because no one wants to listen to an isolated vocal track of you?
February 18th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
Man, that was hilarious. I can’t enough of these.
February 18th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
[…] you’re looking for a acappella to remix, andiamnotlying has a craptacular for you: Smashmouth is the music version of the bet t-shirt at Hot Topic, the […]
February 18th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
another phrase that should be isolated and then completely deleted:
“That made me throw up in my mouth a little….”
February 18th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
@rickygee — I totally agree with you.
@fender — There’s a great hierarchy of creative pursuits in the world, I think. You probably agree with me. Writing a novel, being in a band (whether or not I like them), making movies, painting, what have you — that’s pretty much the top shelf. Writing/editing a blog, maybe that’s a little further down the totem pole.
But leaving long-winded, high-minded comments on someone else’s blog … that’s the bottom shelf right there. I mean, really. Look at yourself. Yeah, they put out some music, and yeah, me and others are taking the piss. It happens ALL THE TIME — people like or dislike things and like to share their opinions, and other people like to make fun of them. By writing this thing, day after day, year after year, I’m putting myself out there, too, and taking my lumps for it from pompous tards like yourself. And thus the cycle is complete, the great snake of criticism swallows its own tail.
February 18th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
hah! great find - thanks for posting!
February 18th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Not a big deal - bare vocal tracks usually sound like rubbish.
February 18th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
“Not a big deal - bare vocal tracks usually sound like rubbish.”
if you and your songs suck, yeah.
February 18th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
forget how he sounds. smashmouth’s genius is in the lyrics. sheer poetry! not even dylan reaches these heights of surreal subtly.
February 18th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
walking on the sun. great track.
February 18th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
Jesus! Why’s everybody rushing to hate on Smash Mouth? They were seriously popular for several albums back in the day. They were born sellouts, sure, but if you can’t appreciate the occasional pop song you’re a soulless elitist monster.
And another thing, it’s just too damn easy to make fun of them. I’m sick of that stupid All-Star song too, but pick on somebody who fanbase will fight back. They’re not the worst band ever, they’re not even bad. It’s like you picked the easiest, safest choice possible to avoid offending anyone while still getting the opportunity to make fun of some popular band.
Sorry man, you’re just lame. Make fun of the Eagles or Styx and earn some respect.
February 19th, 2008 at 12:16 am
[…] Link […]
February 20th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
How is this humorous or worthy of posting? This is a raw, dry vocal track (obviously through a quality pre and with compression applied). There is no music and no discernible reverb applied to the vocal. It seems most of the negative commentary on this comes from folks who have no experience in the audio field, or comes from people with little experience with music production. This would sit nicely in a rock mix — nothing funny about it.
February 20th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
To the humorless commenters on this blog post, I’d like to send you all a big personal
“NNNEEERRRDDDSSS!!!” shout. Remember when that happened to you throughout high school? Well, it’s happening again right now. We are all laughing AT you.
Kindest regards,
Lonnie Bruner
February 20th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Here’s the same vocal with a little treatment, placed in a mix:
http://rapidshare.com/files/93542542/SmashMouthDC.mp3.html
February 20th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
@Jeremy — thanks for this … I really appreciate your efforts here. But the point here isn’t just that it sounds silly while isolated — it’s that the song is just a really bad song, in my opinion. I’m not saying that I’m capable of writing a better one, but bad lyrics + the way that guy sounds = bad song, and that’s all. Good music rarely saves bad songwriting.
February 22nd, 2008 at 9:26 pm
I made a mashup!
Let me give you the context behind it first: With an acapella as terrible as this, I wanted to pair it with the hardest electro song I know. Hearing them together makes me giggle. Enjoy!
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9WSU05WQ
February 27th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
i too thought that his vocals reminded me a little of trent reznor so i took a recent NIN remix and added Steve Harwell’s vocals on top, made a purdy nice mashup
http://www.fileshost.com/en/file/36337/j1mb0—Nine-Inch-Mouth-mp3.html
as far as the whole “man this sux, smash mouth sux” argument, i personally am not a fan of their music, but from my experience in audio recording, it’s actually not too bad of a dry vocal track… not my style, but a decent start of a recording… oh, and in my mashup, i didn’t use autotune
April 6th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
So much for your logic, jackass. I happen to be a very big Smash Mouth fan and I’m also not a 9 year old. I’d like to see a 9 year old understand a song like Right Side, Wrong Bed. Smash Mouth means alot to me. Major memories of my childhood and teenage years are tied to Smash Mouth’s music and your assessment that no one cares for the band is narrow-minded. The vocal track, as others have said, only sounds awkward because it is unaccompanied. The majority of vocal tracks do. I’ve heard Smash Mouth live and Steve Harwell most definitely knows what hes doing. The lack of even the most basic instrumentals would show that Steve probably hasn’t even sat down with the rest of the band to work on this song, and therefore probably doesn’t even have much practice for this song under his belt anyway. More so than that, I’m not even sure this is a Smash Mouth song in the first place. If you did any research beforehand, you might have discovered that Steve is in another band called Radio Angel, and since Smash Mouth has long been stagnant (aside from the sparce show), it is quite possible this track is for that band. Another thing to consider is that Steve does not usually write the lyrics to Smash Mouth’s songs. I’ll concede, as a big fan, that these lyrics are far from Smash Mouth’s best. But that would only make me suspect that they weren’t written by Greg Camp.
April 6th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
BTW, that electro track sadly fits perfectly with the vocals. It sounds hilarious.
May 23rd, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Hmm… I found one of these of Diamond Dave. Loaded it into Tracktion, added just a little Delay and Reverb and it sat in a mix very easily.
I’d be this track would too.
So here’s the question, what exactly has been done from mic to track. The goal being to replicate it with my own voice.
I tinkered with EQ, compression, Reverb, Delay, ad nauseum on my voice and can’t get it to sound pro. Yet the Daimond Dave track making the rounds, though not sounding particularly special in isolation… mixed in with so little effort it was amazing…
So if anyone knows what the story is, I’d appreciate knowing what it is.
flmason@earthlink.net