St. Louis Band Will Cover “Smooth” 10 Times Friday In Tribute To Santana And Rob Thomas
In recent years, many of the corniest inescapable late-’90s hits to emerge from the carcass of alternative rock have taken on meme status among the millennials who grew up with them. Smash Mouth’s “All Star,” for instance, has gotten all sorts of wacky tributes, including one by lowest common denominator king Jimmy Fallon. Santana and Rob Thomas’ “Smooth” enjoyed a bit of a moment last summer, too, and even though that moment seems to be over, one St. Louis musician is aiming to prolong it in extravagant fashion.
The Riverfront Times reports that Matt Basler and friends will perform a concert Friday consisting of “Smooth” 10 times and nothing more. The event, at St. Louis venue Off Broadway, is the latest conceptual gimmick from Basler, whose band Tok has recorded songs by cult surrealist musician Tonetta and who plans to perform a show next month in which he’ll eat a different spicy food between each song.
For the “Smooth” gig, RFT reports, “Smoothies will be sold, naturally, and for the cost of admission attendees will also get a t-shirt with all of the song’s lyrics printed on it.” As Basler explains, “I said, ‘You know what would be funny is if someone played “Smooth” ten times in a row.’ And then instead of going, ‘Oh yeah, that would be funny. Oh well’ — I did it. I made it a reality. That’s my new goal, is when I say dumb jokes, to go all the way.” I think we can all agree that this joke is pretty dumb and that he’s going pretty far with it.