You are most likely already very familiar with this album, or at least its stand-out track. I don’t need to give my thoughts on Smash Mouths biggest hit All Star, because you’ve definitely heard it enough to have your own thoughts on it. So instead, I’ll be focusing on the rest of the album. Astro Lounge is kinda punk, kinda ska, kinda rock, but mostly goes for that late 90’s radio hit sound that you see from acts like The Backstreet Boys and N-Sync.
You can tell from the way songs like Radio, Can’t Get Enough Of You Baby and Road Man are written that the riffs and lyrics are designed to get stuck in your head. Of course, none of that is by any means a bad thing, for me this album fills a niche only Smash Mouth can. It’s energetic, upbeat, and often optimistic. Except for all star, which quickly becomes a song about climate change. Whenever I’m cleaning or doing work and I need something to put in the background that I can sing along to, it’s Astro Lounge. Even the songs that got little or no radio time are great, it’s an album thats all bangers.
I first bought this album in 2018 I believe, I had some money left over from an iTunes gift card and this was only $6.99. Of course, I imagine you’d have no trouble finding this album new and used on CD, as I did very soon after buying it at full price. Moral of the story is if it’s as well known as Smash Mouth, you’re probably gonna find it out in the wild. And of course it goes without saying that Astro Lounge is available to stream everywhere, and All Star fills compilations and soundtracks to this day. Theres also releases of All Star on both Hit Clips and Hit Clips Discs, if you’re really in need of a bit crushed minute long cut of a song you can probably find in better quality stuck between the couch cushions.
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