Smash Mouth' s Steve Harwell is Nearly Dead to Me

I would imagine he was on quite a few celebrity death pools given the scare he had on stage a few years ago.

Didn’t his young son die years ago? Not that that’s an excuse.

But not that’s it not.

Jesus. Sounds like he was on a suicide mission for years and years

Harwell had a son named Presley who died in July 2001 from acute lymphocytic leukemia at the age of 6 months. That might have sent him round the twist.

He was a heavy heavy drinker?

Karma for creating the worst one hit wonder of the 90s?

Yeah. He's in late-state liver failure, R5

Aww that’s too bad. I enjoyed smash mouth’s 90s feel good music.

I loved All-Star. The video for it has 457 million views on You Tube.

r9 It's amazing how that song was originally in Mystery Men but is most popular for being in Shrek.

This news comes almost 2 years after a troubling incident involving Steve ... where he appeared incredibly disoriented during a live performance, slurring his words and yelling at the audience. It was concerning at the time, and shortly thereafter ... he said he was retiring.

A manager for the Smash Mouth lead singer tells us Steve has been struggling with alcohol abuse throughout his life -- and now, he's reached the final stage of liver failure ... for which he'd, up until recently, been receiving treatment at a hospital.

Steve's manager says he likely has only a week or so to live.

Late stage alcoholism is so hard to watch.

He has Wernicke’s encephalopathy (alcohol wet brain) and liver failure.

The former is a heart breaking descent into brain damage from vitamin B1 deficiency from malnutrition, causing short-term memory loss and confabulations.

One minute they can be themselves and the next have no idea what just happened.

Jesus. How incredibly sad. And to pass from such an advanced state of liver disease at what we now consider to be a relatively young age. R.I.P.

Alam Wernicke

Woke up and saw this news after yet another huge argument with my husband over his alcohol abuse, and it made me extremely sad and frustrated. My husband is 49 years old, and can't/ won't go a day without beer. He thinks he's not an alcoholic because: A) he only drinks beer B) He never drink drives C) he goes to work daily (except for the occasions where he has completely written himself off and can't get out of bed)

Never mind though that he cannot remember what he is saying mid sentence, repeats himself over and over, dribbles piss all over the toilet floor because he can't stand up straight. But yeah, he's got it totally under control 🙄

My heart goes out to everyone dealing with the effects of problem alcohol use. A damn waste of a life.

Sweetheart at R17, what are you getting out of this relationship? It hurts so much when the person you love with all of your heart chooses their addiction over you. It's very sad and frustrating.

You can't change him. But you could have a beautiful, shining future where you aren't partnered with an alcoholic. That is a choice.

Walkin On The Sun is a fun song. I have a soft spot for unpretentious musical acts who don't try to act like they're more than they are. They remind me of block parties in the 90s.

Hear hear, R19. Walking On The Sun was a jam! Wholesome, rockin' fun. I miss that whole vibe.

Was it a bop?

Was it a whole mood?

[quote]"Never mind though that he cannot remember what he is saying mid sentence, repeats himself over and over, dribbles piss all over the toilet floor because he can't stand up straight..."

Why do you stay? Don't you want to be with someone that you can have an actual conversation with? Honey why?

Yes, R21. It was a bop, and it was a whole mood, actually.

What is he dying of?

R17 Beer can be just as damaging. My stepfather was a "functioning" alcoholic. He drank beer daily for years. Eventually it increased and he started drinking hard liquor. He would hide his mickeys around the house. He died at 49 years old from liver cirrhosis. As someone mentioned already, it's a terrible way to go. There's nothing you can do at that point. He seemed fine one day then suddenly one night he started hallucinating so my Mom took him to the ER. Dead only a month or so later.

Glad

Fuck you, faggot R16

Smash Mouth was one of those one-and-a-half hit wonders that encapsulates a time in my life (my senior year at college) without my being able to explain precisely why.

Sad to hear this news and about his son.

Looks as though the years are finally about to stop comin'.

56 is a pretty okayish run for an alkie. I've lost a lot of my booze buddies in their 30s and 40s. I realized as more of them died that i was getting closer to being the biggest drunk of our group so I finally quit.

can't he get a liver transplant?

did they say what kind of booze he drank? wine? whiskey? vodka??

R17 If you haven’t, consider trying an Alanon meeting, either in person or online. You can go and passively listen. You can grab some fliers and leave, or participate. There are meetings searchable online. You learn things like the 3 Cs.

You didn’t cause it You can’t control it You can’t cure it

You have no obligation to stay in the relationship. Whatever happened/happens is his fault going back or forward, not yours.

If you stick it out it’s nice to go to meetings to hear you’re not the only one dealing with fear, filth and crazy. They also don’t tell you what to do or judge. They just say, “Thank you for sharing”.

Some of the people I saw, who remained with partners, carved out ways to let them wake up to their own messes, be it leaving them passed out on the floor or leaving their vomit on the stairs for them to clean. It sounds gruesome but relieved some of their burden and let their person see sober what they do drunk. I have no clue if this is typical. But others found ways to reclaim some life outside of the home. For some, it was the free therapy and support of the meetings.

Based on that face, I bet he could clog a toilet as well as Jason Aldean or Gene Rayburn.

Imagine having to use the crapper after him.

What’s wrong with him? I mean aside from the music.

I never would have expected him to have a drinking problem given his public persona. That’s sad

Sad. I enjoyed his music in the 90s

R32 Most liver transplant programs require 6 months sobriety before an alcoholic/addict can get on the waiting list.

R17

One of my closest friends was a functioning alcoholic who died three months after our 30th high school reunion. He looked toxic that night, I told him so a few days later, and he never spoke to me again. I don’t think he was mad at me but he knew he was dying and he was right: he ended up bleeding out in a Baton Rouge hotel room at 48.

Scott was able to go to work every day, made a lot of money, gambled a ton (he was a brilliant mathematician and always, somehow ended up doing OK. He even drove a convertible Mercedes that the Bellagio gave him). Anyway, I found out later that Scott drank a bottle of wine before heading into work. Every single morning. And drank two or three more at night. Once you’re that sick, your body can’t recover and when I saw Scott at our reunion, he was actively dying.

Please take care of yourself if your husband won’t allow you to take care of him. Go to Alanon or find a good therapist to protect your psychological safety. The end is very, very bad and I hope you don’t have to go through that.

The world did indeed roll him.

This is weird for me. He is the spitting image of my father, a man I never met because my mother divorced him even before she knew she was pregnant with me. My mother left my father because of his womanizing... and his drinking. The tales of his anger when he was loaded were the stuff of legend in our community. He once picked a fight with a total stranger, broke his arm, then laughed it off when he learned of it the next night. My father worked for city utilities and was well connected, so nothing came of it.

I've inherited so much from my father, especially his looks, I've always been afraid to drink because I don't want to become the raging monster he was when drunk. Unlike him, I couldn't laugh off hurting someone. I'm 51, and never had a drop of alcohol. My father died fifteen years ago at the age of 71 from complications of diabetes, which they said his chronic alcoholism was a factor.

My friend is married to a boozed addict for 28 yrs as well. She said she can't leave him coz he'll die without her. She helps him with everything and he's able to hold down a job etc.

All Star is also good in minor.

Saw them at the Viper Room right before they hit it big.

Fatty, fatty, two by four, couldn't get in the AA meeting door!

R32, once a person has Wernieke’s (sp) Encephalopathy, I don’t think its progression can be stopped. He could get a liver transplant but his brain is dying from the WE, so there’s no point, he’d be good as dead soon from that alone.

Alcoholics, there’s a lot out there that can help you quit— it doesn’t have to be the end of the world anymore. In the meantime, take a multivitamin and B-complex.

I was reading an article about this, and it linked to a TikTok video of him at a performance, completely plastered, couldn't sing, and slurring his words.

He retired after that performance.

Poor guy.

Ennui, R24

It's sad. Alcoholism is so rampant in the US, I wouldn't be surprised if every reader on DL didn't have a friend, relative, or lover who is an alcoholic. I have read that some people lack the gene for tasting the bitterness in alcohol, and others lack the gene that most bodies have which recognizes when a toxic level of alcohol has been consumed, and which triggers vomiting. Those folks are more likely to be alcoholic. Although I have many alcoholics in my family, I have both of the above in spades. Can only drink strong alcohol well-disguised with something sweet and I will definitely vomit if I down 3 strong mixed drinks too quickly. (So I haven't done that since my mid-twenties). Lots of other people seem to drink to cope with mental illness (self-medication) or out of despair about something that has gone very wrong in their lives. I suppose that fact that alcohol consumption is sort of a rite-of-passage for Americans and indeed for people of many cultures, without much stigma, contributes to its abuse.

^whoops, I would be surprised!

Ours is a drinking culture. I don’t drink. I can’t tell you how many times people have looked at me as if I’m the weirdo because I’m not drinking. I’ve never made someone uncomfortable for drinking, but some people have had no problem making me feel uncomfortable for not drinking. A lot of insecurity out there.

R35 Was Gene Rayburn known for clogging toilets?

r53 — someone on here related a story about Gene Rayburn and an airplane toilet and it was grisly.

[quote]You can’t cure it

Obviously. Lack of self control and poor decision making isn't a disease. Best thing to do is get rid of them. It's not worth it.

He looks like the patron saint of every douchebro with a pair of Oakleys and a backwards baseball cap.

🎶Somebody once told me the drinkin's gonna kill me.

I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed. 🎶

He’s dead to us all now, OP.

May he RIP.

He’s dead, Jim.

Kind of ironic that Jimmy "Margaritaville" Buffett died of skin cancer and the "Walking On The Sun" guy died of liver failure due to alcohol abuse.

R60, don't cha think?

R36 Are you able to read?

I always confuse their music with Sugar Ray. The normies loved both when I was in high school

yep. that was fast. RIP.

he's better off dead really

Sugar Ray was worse.

Thank god

Wow that was really quick

I think I would choose Sugar Ray over Smashmouth but both are awful. I hate them.

RIP

Still dead?

RIP. I know most people associate "All Star" with Shrek, but it always reminds me of Rat Race.

He had to be one major boozer to die from (I assume cirrhosis) at his age.

R70 I don’t think shriek. For one I always think 90s. And I associate it with that Ben Stiller superhero comedy movie that flopped big time. It is one of the worst movies I ever seen.

The black guy from True Blood also died from alcohol associated liver failure. It is still a thing and very sad.

r73 it's reported that Nelsan Ellis died of heart failure following sudden withdrawal of alcohol use, not liver failure.

R74 oh ok. I knew it was alcoholism related. That’s for letting me the facts straight.