I’m pretty sure Leonard Cohen wasn’t really your average teenager’s jam at the time Shrek came out. A lot of us knew the song, but I’m pretty sure a lot of us wouldn’t be able to tell you who sang it. Smash Mouth didn’t really get much airtime over here either before Shrek, as far as I can remember, and the movie was amongst the top grossing movies of the year IIRC, so it’s not that surprising that many people discovered them both through the movie.
I’m pretty sure Leonard Cohen wasn’t really your average teenager’s jam at the time Shrek came out. A lot of us knew the song, but I’m pretty sure a lot of us wouldn’t be able to tell you who sang it. Smash Mouth didn’t really get much airtime over here either before Shrek, as far as I can remember, and the movie was amongst the top grossing movies of the year IIRC, so it’s not that surprising that many people discovered them both through the movie.