On August 9th 2020, while the coronavirus raged through the US, the band Smash Mouth performed at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota. The band did not perform in masks, and most of their audience was also maskless. After the performance, videos circulated of the band’s lead singer saying “Fuck that Covid Shit.” Now while I’m not here to defend the singer’s irresponsible statements, I would like to point out, should we really be surprised at this? Are we shocked that the band responsible for one of the greatest protest songs of all time would be so cavalier with expressing their views? I am of course referring to their song All Star and its firm stance against the Vietnam War.

The song released in 1999, a good 24 years after the war ended tells the story of a soldier and their journey joining the US military at the peak of the conflict. Each lyric tells a piece of this ultimately tragic story. For Example:

Somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me / I ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed.

This is the army recruiter who met our hero. A large portion of the young men brought into this war were drafted by the US government, however, others felt the call of freedom or righteousness, a sense of duty to their country and enlisted themselves for the fight. The sense of Patriotism flowing through their veins inspired them to fight in a war the effects of which they could not have anticipated.

She was looking kind of dumb with her finger and her thumb / In the shape of an “L” on her forehead.

The she in this line is not a literal person, but instead is a representation of the idealized american. The “L” on her forehead is for Liberty. She is specifically gendered as the L also represents Lady. Perhaps a certain green lady who resides in the Hudson Bay. That’s right, you guessed it, Lady Liberty. She chooses this gesture, a symbol of everything that she is, to make a mockery of it all. At this point the song practically writes itself.

Well, the years start coming and they don’t stop coming.

A reference to the seeming endless cycle of violence and conflict of the war.

Fed to the rules and I hit the ground running,

is about the grueling and hasty training followed by the quick deployment. Hit the ground running being the exact moment when our hero exits the chopper and onto forgein soil for the first time. The first time he gets boots on the ground. He feels the heat and humidity of a land that is forgein to him.

Didn’t make sense not to live for fun. Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb.

This is clearly a reference to the rampant drug use of soldiers in Vietnam. The drugs managed to dull the pain and the senses, making their heads dumb. Soldiers trying anything to keep their minds off of the horrors of war, only for it to stay with them as they returned home. If they returned at all.

So much to do, so much to see, So what’s wrong with taking the backstreets?

All of this is a reference to the foregin nature of Vietnam. Many of these boys brought over from the states had never been outside of their small midwestern towns. The jungles and cities of Vietnam would have seemed like an almost alien world to them, and in return they seem like an alien force to the local population.

You’ll never know if you don’t go / You’ll never shine if you don’t glow.

A continuation of the forgein land idea. This war was an experience that, under normal circumstances, these boys never would have had. Many of the people drafted into Vietnam were those too poor to afford a decent education let alone been able to travel the world. A common thought in fighting wars on forgein soils is that it gives the soldiers a chance to see the world that they never would have known before. A place where they can not only see something new and different but also shine and thrive. Though, this being war and all, maybe these are not the parts of the world that one wants to be seeing.

Hey now, you’re an all star / Get your game on, go play.

The praise, the adulation, this is what awaits our soldier when he returns home.

Hey now, you’re a rock star / Get the show on, get paid.

Vietnam was the first first televised war. Photographers and filmmakers dropped from those choppers into the Vietnamise jungle alongside those soldiers. These brave men and women brought the images of the war to television sets around the US, turning the soldiers, the people of Vietnam, and the horrors of war into stars overnight.

And all that glitters is gold / Only shooting stars break the mold.

The stars, the awards, the metals, THE GLORY. All of this is waiting. The key of the second line is break. Break free, maybe for even just a moment. A break from reality as the person who he was before the war has been slowly torn away and something else has been put back together in its place held together by an all consuming thought of the glory and honor of becoming a decorated soldier.

It’s a cool place, and they say it gets colder / You’re bundled up now, wait ‘til you get older.

Time. The more time you’re in one place doing one thing, the more normal it becomes. Whether it’s war or pace. Whether it’s right, or wrong. The cold detachment from human life. He tells the new boys, the fresh faces of soldiers dragged into this conflict, they’re just bundled up, they don’t know what’s coming. Just wait he tells them, remembering for but a moment that he too was once in their shoes.

But the meteor men beg to differ / Judging by the hole in the satellite picture.

Holes are beginning to form in our hero’s perfect plan. The rose tinted glasses are beginning to fade. The voices of the protesters back home are ringing in his ears as the satellite picture reveals the bigger picture; the totality of the war.

The ice we skate is getting pretty thin / The water’s getting warm so you might as well swim.

Ice represents the line between what is right and what is wrong, but it’s all becoming so normal, what else are you going to do? He’s become like the frog, who when thrust into boiling water would jump out, but one slowly brought to a boil under the pressure of war will be cooked to death.

My world’s on fire, how ‘bout yours?

Napalm.

That’s the way I like it and I’ll never get bored…

I mean come on.

Hey now, you’re an all star. He hears in his head. Get your game on, go play. It’s the voice of his country. It’s his government. His sense of patriotism. His Duty. Hey now, you’re a rock star. Get the show on, get paid. H-he can’t just leave.

All that glitters is gold / Only shooting stars break the mold. Like a slithering serpent the voices whispers in his ear. Can he break that mold? Or is he the one being broken?

When he looks in the mirror, a stranger stares back at him. Somebody once asked, Could I spare some change for gas? / I need to get myself away from this place. He staggers, squaring himself up against this man who he swears he has never met and yet he feels that he knew at one point. For a second he closes his eyes. Suddenly he’s there, getting off the bus and feeling the warm midwestern sun on his skin again. He looks up and sees his family and they embrace. “Yep, what a concept” he replies to no one. I could use a little fuel myself. And we could all use a little change. He meets a nice girl. They marry and move to the city where he opens an auto body shop, and every night comes home to her and their dog. She tells him some good news. They smile and laugh. He goes to put on some nice music, something slow and romantic. The two share a dance in their moderately furnished living room. He goes in for a kiss. Suddenly her body is riddled with bullets. Warm blood hits his face . An explosion tears through the living room, deafening him to the music. Everything burns. As his fantasy collapses, he falls to his knees, the walls around him fall away to reveal the Jungles of vietnam. The night sky is painted red and orange with fire. He cries out holding the corpse of his dream life in his arms, while soldiers move and die around him,performing a horrific dance of carnage and bloodshed.

His image shatters. Again he’s alone. Alone in a foregein land fighting a war he barely understands. That wasn’t real. But this here and now is his new reality. Well, the years start coming and they don’t stop coming.

He picks up his weapon and he goes back out.

Fed to the rules and I hit the ground running. Didn’t make sense not to live for fun! What makes sense anymore?!

Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb. He’s learned to fight. He’s learned to kill.

So much to do, so much to see. So what’s wrong with taking the backstreets? WHAT’S WRONG WITH IT?!

You’ll never know if you don’t go (go!) He wouldn’t have known if he didn’t go!

You’ll never shine if you don’t glow! HE’S SHINING BRIGHTER THAN HE’S EVER SHONE BEFORE-

And then it’s over. The war ends. He goes home. “Hey now, you’re an all star. Get your game on, go play,” they say, as they award him medals.

“Hey now, you’re a rock star” They tell him, while they bury the rest of his platoon.

“Get the show on, get paid.” Now go back, fit yourself back into society. Move along and figure it out on your own. Fit yourself back into society because guess what, were done helping you.

And all that glitters is gold / Only shooting stars break the mold.

He realises that he isn’t the shooting star he thought he was. He won’t be breaking any molds. He’ll wind up like thousands of others returning from a war that did more harm than good, repeating the mantra burned into his mind since he first enlisted.

Hey now

Hey now

Hey, hey, hey now

Hey now

Hey now, you’re an all star

Hey now, you’re an all star

Hey now, you’re an all star

Only shooting stars break the mold