"Get The Show On, Go, Play!": Smash Mouth Was The Last Voice Of The 20th Century And The First Voice Of The 21st Century....For Better And For Worse

The 1960's had The Beatles. The 1970's had many of Queen's greatest hits. The 1980's had a bevy of hugely successful music ranging from Aerosmith to Journey. And among the biggest musical acts at the tail end of the 20th century and in the first few years of the 21st century was...Smash Mouth. A band that's mainly a punchline today and has only released one album since 2006. From 1997 to sometime around 2002 though, man, these guys were everywhere. They tapped into the zeitgeist of the era like fee bands at the time did. In fact, I'd argue their work was so linked to the era in which they were produced that it's hard for their music to work in a modern context. Not only is there not a whole lot in terms of vocals or interesting lyrics to take in, but it truly feels like only in the brief era in which they were so popular could they have flourished so greatly.

Rocko, Meet Ren & Stimpy! NickToons Movie From Napoleon Dynamite Director In The Works!

As a kid, when it came to youth friendly animated programming, I was always more of a Disney kid, with stuff like TaleSpin, DuckTales (a-wooo!) and Darkwing Duck being my bread & butter. Of course, I was acutely aware of the animated shows over on Nickelodeon, dubbed NickToons, but their more abrasive nature (and the fact that the voices on Rugrats always irritated me) rubbed me the wrong way at an early age. I will say though I do love Rocko's Modern Life, and of course, SpongeBob SquarePants, which arrived at the tail end of the 90's and the NickToons era.

Two Of Quest For Camelots Songs Managed To Ape Disney While Creating Something Unique

Welcome to a new bi-weekly column called When Good Songs Happen To Bad Movies, in which I look at pretty well done songs that just so happened to debut in more subpar features.

Animation, like many other aspects of Hollywood that spawn success, seems to be a fertile ground for imitation, as seen by the surplus of fairy tale skewing animated features that were released in the wake of Shrek's phenomenal success or the insane amount of CGI animated films released in 2006 thanks to the success of Finding Nemo three years earlier. The 90's followed this sort of trend to a tee, with The Lion King's humongous box office managing to get every movie studio to create their own animation company to churn out would-be animation blockbusters.

Garth Brooks Returns to Country Music With A Middling New Song

I'd heard that Garth Brooks had a new song out earlier in the week, and like any sane human being, became overwhelmed by anticipation. Whenever I heard it was about to be played on my radio this morning, I nearly lost my mind. Who wasn't eagerly awaiting the first new tune from the legendary singer who took the artform of country music to the next level in the 90's? Friends In Low Places, Unanswered Prayers, Two Pina Coladas....the list of great songs he brought to life goes on and on. His newest piece of music, People Loving People, is a strong departure from those past songs, in that it's just not that good.

So, I Was On Netflix: Reservoir Dogs Review

This is quite a monumental review for me, for you see, this is the very first Quentin Tarantino movie I've ever seen. And when one is going to start watching one of the most iconic directors of all-times work, why not start at the very beginning? In this case, that is indeed a very good place to start, as this movie not only shows why the director is so beloved, but is also just a damn fine piece of cinema on its own merits. Gripping, terrifying, unflinching, shocking, astounding; those are the words that come to mind when considering this movie like no other.