The warm weather months have officially arrived, the perfect time for possibly the sunniest and most upbeat song ever written, Smash Mouth’s immortal 1999 hit, “All Star.” But even spring and summer can have their gray, overcast days. Is there an appropriate “All Star” for those occasions, too? Thanks to DJ Cummerbund, a master of bizarre remixes and mashups, there is. His latest creation is “The Sound Of Smash Mouth,” a downbeat, minor key remix of “All Star” that takes Steve Harwell’s growly lead vocal track and layers it over a melancholy piano accompaniment. A new chorus has also been appended to the song, one sung to the tune an old Simon & Garfunkel number: “This is the sound… of Smash Mouth.” Naturally, a song as depressing as this needs a mournful video to go with it, so there’s a suitably somber, black-and-white clip for “The Sound Of Smash Mouth.” Funny how lighthearted footage from the original music video seems so gloomy now. That kid making the “L” sign on his forehead seems to have wandered in from an Eastern European art film.
Just making Smash Mouth sad wasn’t enough for DJ Cummerbund, so he has opted to make this entire video a smorgasbord of sadness. There are tear-jerking scenes from Up, Bambi, Platoon, My Girl, The Lion King, and more on display here. Remember poor Macaulay Culkin dying from bee stings? Yeah, well, it’s all happening again. Oh, look, there goes Mufasa, falling to his death. Those familiar with DJ Cummerbund know that professional wrestling is a major motif in his work. In this video, appropriately enough, there is some footage of the late, great Randy “Macho Man” Savage, who passed away in 2011. Who’d have guessed that the internet’s umpteenth “All Star” goof would provoke such strong emotions?