Offspring Month: Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace (2008)

Good evening, my fellow Americans. 

It has come to my attention in recent weeks, that the state of our union is deteriorating. Every day our friends and neighbors are losing their jobs, their homes - their jet skis! 

And their girlfriends. 

To put it mildly: Shit is Fucked Up.

President Holland's tour announcement

The Offspring - Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace (2008) - singles marked with red,

video links provided where available

• Half-Truism ♪  ♪  ♪  ♪  ♪ - Ten seconds of a bittersweet intro with the same pseudo-scratchy vinyl quality that we left off with at the closing of Splinter, than it transforms into a pretty straightforward and typical Offspring song, although you can already catch early signs of the album's individualism. Musically it's somewhat of a departure from pop-punk, and a slow, but certain turn toward generic rock, with more and more varied tracks as the record progresses. Here, instead of  the usual whoas, we get pro-longed Aaaah chants in the background that really catch your ears during the artsy, epic breakdown. It's a surprising moment, but sounds rather good and it fits well enough with the lyrics. I just wish they brought back some of the energy, speed and hard-hitting mixing of the heavier Splinter pieces for this one.
• Trust in You ♪  ♪  ♪  ♪  ♪ - This one sounds like the love child of Smash and All I Want, but that's why we like it. Some of the guitar work has a strange, but enjoyable twist to it, the bass is freaking amazing, and one of their greatest solos is played in this one. Lyrically it operates with an age old punk-rock-emo-pop whatever topic, although they try to shake it up and putting the whole thing into a grand-scale, sort of holy perspective. Ever since the summer of '08 I have no idea what the hell are they trying to say with that "quomodo" thing in the chorus.
• You're Gonna Go Far, Kid ♪  ♪  ♪  ♪  ♪ - mv - One of their most successful singles (we'll have a few words on this later), this one is a highly enjoyable pop piece, with catchy riffs and a disco beat for drums, yup, you've read that right. And we also got the now classic "Dance fucker, dance!" line in the pre-chorus... luckily rest of the lyrics are still enjoyably dark, offspringish and serious. All in all, it's no favorite of mine (although it has earned a sweet spot in my heart a few years ago: the band opened with it the very first time I saw them live) but when it comes to their pop efforts, this is definitely one of the better ones.
• Hammerhead ♪  ♪  ♪  ♪ ♪ - mv - The first single, easily my favorite and arguably the best piece on the album. After a longer than usual intro, it takes off as your average heavy 'spring song, seemingly about the story of a soldier who's taking care of his war duties, but halfway through they pull a Have You Ever on us: enter a neat bass solo with a serious change of pace into this morbidly feelgood melody, as we find out that the aforementioned lyrics were only the thoughts of a school kid. A school kid, who is right now very busy shooting his classroom and classmates into tiny pieces. Powerful stuff, both lyrically and musically.
• A Lot Like Me  ♪  ♪  ♪  ♪  ♪ - Very-very Linkin Park-esque, modern nu-metal stuff, definitely not your usual fast Offpunk, but don't let this put you off. (Heh.) The piano intro is really surprising, so is Dexter's low and soft singing voice in the verses, but the latter goes well with that rocking bassline. I like the lyrics, and the overall song itself has a good punch to it, although it has to find you in the right mood. It's one of those tracks that feel different every single listening, sometimes on meh, sometimes on OHMYGODIT'SGODDAMNEPIC levels.
• Takes Me Nowhere ♪  ♪  ♪  ♪ ♪- Almost as if it was a modern Ignition song (if that makes any kind of sense), this is a straightforward, powerful, dark pop-punk piece, celebrating the fall of man to alcohol. The Worst Hangover Ever, this ain't; we've got great and sadly relatable lyrics about that strong, but quickly fading guilt you sometimes get after a drunken night, that could swiftly change into craving for further booze and parties as another weekend arrives. Themes that are probably more familiar from my life than I'd like to admit, even to myself. This could be one of the reasons why I love this song so much.
• Kristy, Are You Doing Okay? ♪  ♪  ♪  ♪  ♪- mv - Sounds eerily familiar, like your average acoustic driven Green Day song, the very definition of radio friendliness. Nothing special there, musically, but if you know the backstory behind the lyrics and this little girl called Kristy, they can hit your guts really hard. Also, these are some of Dexter's finest singing moments. He really put his heart into this one.
• Nothingtown ♪  ♪  ♪  ♪  ♪ - My, oh my, Dex is doing his Want You Bad voice again, run for your lives. Seriously, I'd crap my pants if I ever tried to force this amount of fake happiness into my voice. Nothingtown has this unique, classic sound, like a rockabilly tune merged with Blitzkrieg Bop. I didn't like it at first, and I almost never do at re-listenings, but by the second minute that catchy melody always sucks me in. It's a decent little song, and as of right now, I can relate to the lyrics, a lot.
• Stuff Is Messed Up ♪  ♪  ♪  ♪ ♪ - mv - Or Shit If Fucked Up, going by its maiden name. Wasn't a single, but received some airplay and had a video. As an equally sad and funny view on today's media culture and everything that's wrong with it (kudos for that L.O.L. in the breakdown), this one finally has some old-school Offspring fun in it. With that AC/DC-esque drumbeat and hard hitting, but still chilled, laid back melody it could've come straight off Americana. La la lala laaa, we like that.
• Fix You ♪  ♪  ♪  ♪  ♪ - Now this is a real departure from their usual sound. A beautiful pop-rock ballad, which takes itself way too seriously, and isn't afraid to shoot the worst clichés of its genre into your ears, like those fading reversed sounds during the end. Seriously, we all heard this song many-many times before, why did none other than The Offspring feel the need to reinvent it? Not a bad track, really, but not one I particularly care for, either. And definitely not what you hope for when you put on a record from this band.
• Let's Hear It For Rock Bottom ♪  ♪  ♪  ♪  ♪ - Starts out a bit awkward with that first verse, but by the time the second chorus hits, you can't keep that smile away from your face. This is an insanely likable feelgood song, way up there with their other "ska without ska" tunes from the 90's, despite the Bob Rock-influenced sound and the almost complete lack of cynicism  Keep your ears open for Noodles' laugh in the background at 1:58.
• Rise and Fall ♪  ♪  ♪  ♪  ♪ - I would call this a complete American Idiot rip-off, in case American Idiot wasn't a rip-off of both Doublewhiskeycokenoice by Dillinger Four and Joan Jett's Bad Reputation to begin with. The Offspring's incarnation hasn't got many redeeming qualities: the music is as clichéd, as you'd expect, the lyrics are basically one statement dragged out for 3 minutes, and the whole thing feels somewhat tiresome, lacking any real energy except for the solo. Why the hell was this chosen for the title of the album (besides so it can have a printed outro message in the booklet), I do not know. Simply their most disappointing album closer yet. sdsds

Other Stuff:

• O.C. Life - Bonus track, sadly only on the Japanese versions. The band takes on D.I.'s already widely covered song, and goddamn, does it sound really cool, or what? A much better ending than Rise and Fall. 

The hit and miss departures from the usual Offspring style and the tracklist order (all the serious and dark stuff for the beginning, lightweight joking around and ballads for the second half) aside, there's one thing terribly wrong with this album: the sound quality. 

Not sure how much producer Bob Rock (the man behind Metallica's St. Anger) had to do with the mixing, but one thing's for sure, it's way behind the sound of the previous three albums. The drums are muddled, sometimes the guitars kill each other, but often get shadowed by Dexter's vocals. While Hammerhead is a thankful exception, both Half-Truism and Trust In You gets ruined by this, at least to my ears. In my opinion, you better get a lossless FLAC rip if you really want to experience this record.

Because it has its moments. Sure, after five years of absence, this genre-bending effort could come off disappointing, it's among the weakest albums, even in my eyes, but I still found some favorites on it, and it was enough to get the band back into the mainstream knowledge - and good for me, to get them on a worldwide tour, during which they finally got their asses into my little country. Because of that, I am more than thankful towards RAFRAG.

Also, You're Gonna Go Far, Kid was a big fucking deal at that time. Choose any pop-culture franchise that is popular among teens and it's guaranteed that you will find a YGGFK fan music video for it on YouTube.And really,who would've thought that ten whole years after the reign of Pretty Fly they could come out with a single this successful? This song was huge, just some random statistics straight from Wikipedia: it owned the number one spot of Billboard magazine's Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart for eleven weeks, has sold over 1,6 million copies and received Gold clarification from the RIAA. The important thing is, however, it reached the internet generation in the very same manner as the White Guy did during the glorious MTV times and that meant a bunch of new, young listeners.

All in all, RAFRAG meant great two years in Offspring terms. 2008 saw successful singles, proving both the band and the fandom to be alive and well, and In 2009, I saw them not any less a-live and well. Mmm, I especially enjoyed that one. Let's see what's next.