Formed in 1994, Smash Mouth took their name from the term "Smash Mouth Football" coined by Chicago Bears' coach Mike Ditka. Original drummer Kevin Coleman wanted to call the band Smash Mouth au GoGo however the rest of the band -- Steven Harwell (lead vocalist), Greg Camp (guitarist/songwriter) and Paul De Lisle (bassist) - mixed the longer version and shortened it to Smashmouth, which they then changed to Smash Mouth when they signed with Interscope Records. The band released their debut album Fush Yu Mang in 1997 which spawned their first No.1 hit single and is one of their all-time biggest hits, "Walkin' on the Sun", which helped Fush Yu Mang ultimately achieve double platinum status.
Their second album, Astro Lounge (1999), a more mature and poppy sounding album, was Smash Mouth's biggest success both commercially and critically. Its singles "All Star", "Waste" and "Then the Morning Comes" all did very well in the charts and "All Star" was featured during the opening titles of the blockbuster-film Shrek. Astro Lounge eventually reached triple-platinum status and with it Smash Mouth spun more success. In edition to "All Star" featuring in Shrek and the films Mystery Men and Rat Race, their cover of the Monkees hit "I'm a Believer" for their third studio album Smash Mouth featured in the hit film Shrek
Their fourth studio album (Get The Picture? 03) and fifth release (All Star Smash Hits 05), a compilation album released on Universal Records, both showed moderate success for the band. Their sixth album, Old Habits was originally scheduled for release in 2005, however the band have put that date off many times, claiming they are unhappy with the album's sound. It is now scheduled for release sometime in 2007.
