20 Years Later, The ‘Shrek’ Soundtrack Still Hits

Twenty years ago today, thousands of millennials across the country were having their world rocked by the now-iconic sound of Smash Mouth’s Steve Harwell singing “SomeBODY once told me,” perfectly timed to the rhythm of a violently green ogre bursting through an outhouse door. It felt cool, it felt counterculture, it felt rock ‘n’ roll. Or at least, it felt that way to impressionable 11-year-olds who had grown up on Disney musicals. And thus Shrek—which released wide in theaters across the United States on May 18, 2001—became the soundtrack of a generation.

While ’90s Disney movies like Mulan and Hercules had catchy singalong songs that taught kids important life lessons, Shrek gave its young audience permission to rock out with the big kids. In fact, Shrek was one of the first major animated films for kids to feature contemporary pop songs, as opposed to original ballads or scores. In an interview with Variety, co-director Vicky Jenson said that she and co-director Andrew Adamson were inspired by the way indie movies used soundtracks. “We’d seen it in indie movies and loved it,” she said. “The idea of doing that here to help push forward an emotion that’s already there in the characters and on-screen but captured in a known song felt modern and different.”

That was a key part of Shrek‘s appeal—it spoke to you like an adult by gently mocking the cutesy fairy tales you grew up on, while still embracing a simple, kid-friendly fairy tale-esque plot. Bangers like Smash Mouth’s “All Star” for our unconventional hero’s introduction and Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation” for the scene where said unconventional hero beat the crap out of conventional knights made the familiar feel exciting and new. Shrek rescues the princess from her tower, and that’s a comforting given. But rather than a romantic duet, their love story plays out over the harsh, grungy electric guitar of “My Beloved Monster”, an alternative rock song by The Eels, from their album Beautiful Freak. As with the latrine-slamming opening scene, the editing in this montage caters perfectly to the song: Shrek and Fiona inflate frog and snake balloons to the beat of the song’s distorted guitar. (Major props to the Shrek editor Sim Evan-Jones for that timing.)

And, of course, you can’t talk about the Shrek soundtrack without mentioning Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” performed by John Cale in the film and by Rufus Wainwright on the soundtrack. Cale’s stripped-down, almost tortured cover of the song—which many, including Wainwright, used as a basis for future covers—is now better known than Cohen’s own soulful folk-rock version recorded in 1984. It’s hard to believe the song that inspired a generation of intense introspection and heavy eyeliner was originally meant to reflect the angst of a computer-animated ogre. “Shrek was angry and bitter and didn’t realize how much he was longing for friendship,” Jenson told Variety in the same interview. “John Cale just seemed to capture the crusty skin that Shrek wore around protectively.”

The closing number of Shrek brings back Smash Mouth with a hard rock version of The Monkee’s hit, “I’m a Believer,” performed by Eddie Murphy. It’s the closest the first Shrek movie comes to a musical singalong number—the big, fun, collaborative song with the whole chorus that puts you great mood before you go home. For me, it works every time: Murphy’s cover of the song is so deeply embedded in my brain, that I consider his wild laugh and “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe” to be part of the song’s official lyrics. I’m not the only one the soundtrack appealed to, either—the album went 2× Platinum in the U.S., and remained at the top of Billboard’s soundtrack chart for years.

These days, Shrek the movie teeters on the edge of “beloved classic” and “internet laughing stock.” The 3D computer animation was a novelty at the time but nowadays looks painfully bad. Poor-quality stills of that pointy-eared ogre and the bizarre faces he makes have become a meme. But no one can argue that the Shrek soundtrack has withstood the test of time. Pull up the album on Spotify in a room full of 28-year-olds, and watch how their eyes light up in recognition. Better yet, drop the recorder onto your turntable; Universal Music Enterprises released a vinyl edition in 2019. Or just whisper the word “someBODY”—emphasis on the “BODY”—to any passing millennial. Chances are, they’ll know exactly what you mean.

Where to watch Shrek