Billy Corgan answered some fan questions on his Instagram story today and, as Exclaim points out, when asked if he had ever seen Shrek, he responded with a fun fact, which is that the Smashing Pumpkins were apparently originally offered the end credits song for the film, but that their offer was withdrawn and given to Smash Mouth instead.
In a follow-up question, he said that, if they had appeared on the Shrek soundtrack, the song that had planned to use would have been "Untitled," which was the last song the band released before they broke up temporarily in 2000. Could Shrek have kept the Smashing Pumpkins together?!
Of course, the coveted Shrek end credits soundtrack spot ended up going to Smash Mouth's cover of "I'm A Believer," and cinematic history was born. (The band also had another song, their original "All Star," featured in the movie.)
For what it's worth, Smash Mouth dispute Corgan's telling of the events. On Twitter, the band said that they were pursued by production company Dreamworks from the beginning, and Smashing Pumpkins were only a fallback choice.
Actually we said no and Michael Austin from Dreamworks kept calling. That went on for over a month. We assume multiple bands we're asked. If it feeds Billy's ego to think they we're first let him think that. Def would have been a darker approach. @THE_EELS are on it & others.
— Smash Mouth (@smashmouth) August 16, 2018
Either way, let's be thankful things worked out the way they did or else we would never have gotten this:
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