Smash Mouth - Why Can't We Be Friends

What this video is

Released in 1997 as the second single from Smash Mouth's debut album Fush Yu Mang on Interscope Records, this video arrived at the apex of the third-wave ska and alternative pop-rock crossover moment, when acts like No Doubt, Sublime, and Smash Mouth were converting Southern California underground scenes into mainstream MTV staples. Smash Mouth's cover of War's 1975 classic repackaged a soul-funk anthem of racial…

Why it matters

Represents the commercial peak of third-wave ska's mainstream absorption into alternative pop-rock. The cover format — reimagining a 1975 War funk classic — exemplifies the era's appetite for genre-blending irreverence. McG's rapid-cut direction established a visual template widely imitated in…

The director

Born August 9, 1968 in Kalamazoo, Michigan; raised in Newport Beach, CA. Earned a BA in psychology from UC Irvine. Launched career as a record producer and music video director in the early 1990s, working with Sugar Ray and accumulating over fifty music…