Offspring Month: Baghdad (1991)

"HEEEEEEEEYYEEEEEEEE-EEEEEEEEYEEAAAEEEEEEY!" 

Lyrics from The Blurb 

Baghdad (7" EP, 1991)

• Get It Right  ♪  ♪  ♪  ♪  ♪  - Offspring history right there! In the chorus of this piece the band has started exploiting the infamous punk tradition of singing/shouting whoas in the background. Since then it became kind of a trademark thing for them. It jokingly referenced in the NOFX song Whoa On the Whoas. Get It Right was re-recorded for Ignition.
• Baghdad  ♪  ♪  ♪  ♪  ♪  - Basically Tehran from S/T, but with the word "Tehran" (capital of Iran) switched to  "Baghdad" (the capital of Iraq) in the chorus.
• Hey Joe  ♪  ♪  ♪  ♪  ♪    - Cover of the song that's been made famous by Jimi Hendrix, a lot angrier, harder, more distorted version than the one found on the Gone Away single and Happy Hour.
• The Blurb  ♪  ♪  ♪  ♪  ♪  - A cool, creepy, almost instrumental track. Although the drumbeat is somewhat similar to the one that would later appear in the song Change the World, Dexter's screams and the chanting in the background makes it really unique. You could see it as a love child of their horror and Eastern stuff. Could have been a minute longer.

Baghdad was the band's latest release with Nemesis, and reportedly the record that convinced Epitaph Record's Brett Gurewitz (also the guitarist of Bad Religion) that The Offspring deserved a shot in their studio. This way this rare, out of print seven inch EP was the reason the guys could record two fan favorite albums with Epitaph, including Smash (1994), the CD that got them into music history books. And this is how you change your life with four songs.

Next time: things will get hot.