returned by buyers, as the rest of it sounded very little like the single. For the creation of Astro Lounge, the band decided to shift their musical style away from the ska punk sound that characterized Fush Yu Mang. Greg Camp, Smash Mouth's guitarist, was tasked with writing all of the songs for Astro Lounge due to his pop sensibilities. After seemingly completing the album, Smash Mouth presented it to their record label Interscope, but the label declined a release because they felt there was no viable first or second single. Robert Hayes, Smash Mouth's manager, offered Camp advice in writing additional songs by pointing him to a copy of Billboard magazine. Hayes showed Camp the top 50 songs on the chart, which featured artists such as Sugar Ray and Third Eye Blind, and told him he wanted "a little piece of each one of these songs". Over the next two days, Camp wrote "All Star" and "Then the Morning Comes", which would become the first two singles from Astro Lounge. For the writing of "All Star", Camp considered what he had read in the fan mail the band frequently received. Many of the fans that had written to Smash Mouth considered themselves outcasts and identified strongly with the band, and Camp "set out to write an anthem" for them. He also incorporated more melancholy lyrics as well, which contrasted with the upbeat instrumentation. Smash Mouth did not have much time to record the song and brought in Michael Urbano, a session drummer, for recording instead of their regular drummer. According to Valentine, additional drum loops from older songs were used on top of the main drum track. Bassist Paul De Lisle performed the whistling on the song. Manager Robert Hayes quickly licensed the song out for use in various media, resulting in its appearance in the film Mystery Men just a few months later. Composition "All Star" is set in the key of F♯ major, with a tempo of 104 beats per minute. Writers have described it musically as alternative rock and power pop. During a 2017 interview, Camp stated he was interested in exploring several layers of meaning with the stripped-down song; the social battle cry, the sports anthem, the fanbase affirmation, the poetic lyricism, the sweeping melody, the inclusion, the artistic music videos, and more. Camp described the song as "a daily affirmation that life is, in