It's Cool to Hate

Obscure cross-reference time! I fell asleep listening to Ixnay, had a dream with the cast of The Breakfast Club, and came up with this T-shirt design in the morning:

Needless to say, but actually I'm far from hating Ally Sheedy. The freak basket case was easily the best character, and she looked incredibly hot in that 80's goth outfit.

This reminds me, after T-Rez announced the long-awaited return of NIN, I came up with another design. Be careful though, it's full of irony - watch it too long, and your screen might begin to rust...

Shirt templates stolen from here, some of the polaroid frames from here. 

Offspring Month: Days Go By (2012)

"Part of why I chose 'Days Go By' as the single and the title of the album is because it really kind of shows – not only with me – that the world has been through a shitty few years and it's been really tough on a lot of people," Holland says. "People have really gotten hurt and, at the end of the day, no one's gonna pick you up. You've gotta pick yourself up and figure out how to move on. So I guess acknowledging that it's been tough, but also having a message of hope, is what I really wanted people to take away from this record." [rs]

Offspring Month: Happy Hour! (2010)

This one's a Japanese exclusive compilation, featuring some B-sider stuff, live versions, covers and a few remixes. Some rarities included, so it's worth a trip to Japan, on a ship. If you know what I mean.

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

Offspring Month: Greatest Hits (2005)

Compilation album including the highest charting singles from the Smash to Splinter era. Far from being complete (no S/T or Ignition stuff at all), but it comes with a few new goodies. Definitely worth a listen.

Offspring Month: Splinter (2003)

In its own time, Splinter was the band's most diverse, fan-splitting, experimenting album. I starts out with a great punch, but it's over even before you could say "Wait, where the hell is Pass Me By?"...

Offspring Month: Conspiracy of One (2000)

Ah, the good old days:  

Two men, from opposite sides, bond together by a siamese ripcord tethered to their souls. Who will pull first, knowing that it will destroy them both? 

Nowadays: 

One man, from opposite sides, struggles to keep the dangling ripcord from the reach of a little man who does not hesitate to pull, knowing that the falling carcass will destroy them both.

CO1 booklet Conspiracy of One's illustration page

Offspring Month: Americana (1998)

'The songs on Americana aren't condemnations, they're short stories about the state of things and what we see going on around us. We want to expose the darker side of our culture. It may look like an episode of Happy Days out there in America, but it feels more like Twin Peaks.'

Dexter Holland, SFGate.com

Offspring Month: Ixnay on the Hombre (1997)

... lyrics which might actually make you think, and will also insult your intelligence at the same time.

Disclaimer guy knows what he's talking about. From Hail Maries to doggie doo, Ixnay has everything.

Offspring Month: Smash (1994)

Nomen est stupid dumbsh*t godd*mn motherf*cking omen, this record contains some of the band's biggest smash hits to date, and - with 12 million sold copies worldwide - currently recognized as the best-selling independent label album of all time. 

For the tru punx crowd this meant the beginning of their sell-out era, for everyone else, Smash is the definitive sound of one-nine-nine-four, the unforgettable year in which mainstream air got completely taken over by punk, grunge, alternative & popular rock and rocking pop songs.

And The Offspring ('xcuse me, I meant simply Offspring, as all Smash-era artwork dropped the "the") had all of the above.

Dividing By Zero & Slim Pickens

A little intermission (heh) among the great Offspring reviews, here's something to subside (double heh) all the pain Cruising California has caused. Introducing the two closing tracks of DGB, played in a live show yesterday:

And there's something streaming down @ Rolling Stone's...

Offspring Month: Ignition (1992)

Ignition, they call it an obsession, I think it's kinda bitchen, 

I think it's kinda neeeeeeeeeeeeat!

Offspring Month: Baghdad (1991)

"HEEEEEEEEYYEEEEEEEE-EEEEEEEEYEEAAAEEEEEEY!" 

Lyrics from The Blurb 

Offspring Month: Self-Titled (1989)

A simple message released through Nemesis Records in 1989, and two more times via Epitaph and Dexter's own Nitro Records: War, politics and untrustworthy people suck, all hail Aliens, Fender and bloody axes. Let the carnage begin. 

Offspring Month: Early Years

Among Offspring fans who spend most of their time online, chatting about their songs, watching, ripping and sharing  music and live videos or say, writing blogs with titles heavily inspired by the band (how could someone be so unoriginal?) there's an ongoing meme/joke/obsession/thing about bassist Greg K. - or, as we like to call him, The Badass Motherfucker or more simply, The Man. Among other names.

This usually calm, silent, least exposed member of the band posseses an almost mystical presence of power and otherworldly coolness, and not too surprisingly, a bag of Chuck Norris facts type legends are known about him...

Launching Offspring Month

Skull lifted from marpli.

Okay, Offspring Month? Who am I kidding here? I mean, this band and their upcoming record have been my most resilient topic in the last three months or so anyway.

But now shit is about to get real: June is finally here, summer officially begins, Days Go By comes out on the 26th, so quoting the 25-sec classic, it's time to relax. And you know what that means: glass of coke, your favorite browser, and of course, this weblog shining on you computer screen.

So go on, indulge yourself! That's right, open YouTube or another video site, put on your headphones! Lean back, and just enjoy the melodies - which I'm going to review song-by-song in the following weeks.

Yup, you got it, this is what you can expect from this month: with my little to none musical knowledge, I'm going to give my two cents about every important piece of The Offspring's discography, starting from their early Manic Subsidal days, closing the whole thing with a review of the new album, not long after it hits the digital and IRL shelves. I've never did anything like this before, hopefully it turns out to be a neat little project...

After all, music soothes even the savage beast.

And Blow the Candles Out, Whoah

Today on Offspring Weekly:

Exclusive: DGB's cover is here! It's been leaked out in 64 pieces through twitter, Facebook and the official forums, where fans put the picture together as sort of a puzzle game. You know, the kind that thoughts you patience.

A tad clichéd, but a very-very neato cover, I gotta say. All it needs now is a creepy Slender Man figure in the background.

Early review: A Spanish site had the opportunity to hear the full record. According to their twitter we can expect one more crap special song like Cruising California, otherwise it's mostly good old Offspring material. They found it to be slightly better than Splinter (which is IMO a vastly underrated album even among fans) and RAFRAG (which was half good, half meh). Huge thanks to Castormut from the boards for translating it.

Video: Ignition show at Alex's Bar!

You see, their second (and my second favorite) album, Ignition had turned 20 years old, and they are celebrating it with a series of special shows. Held in relatively small clubs, the setlist mostly contains songs from that record - some of which they've never played live previously. I'd love to see one of these gigs, but for now videos like this have to do it. Even watching it like that, Forever And A Day sent a chill down on my spine.

Seems like every fan or has-been fan cries for a Smash Part 2. My bravest dream would be a new Ignition. But you know what they've been singin' since 2005: Those days are gun and we can never get them back.

Well. A re-recorded Dirty Magic is something, isn't it? Come on, late June (and pirate rippers of early June), hurry up.

Britney Spring

Damn it, seems like Europe got Cruising California as the first single instead of Days Go By. Here's what Dex has to say about the song:

When asked about the track “Cruising California (Bumpin’ In My Truck),” featured on The Offspring’s upcoming album Days Go By, Dexter Holland and Noodles broke up in laughter. They must have known the song title would get some chuckles. KROQ morning show host Bean was happy to deliver the question, “Did you run into Snoop Dogg at the medical marijuana store? How did that title happen?”

Dexter, the band’s frontman, was more than happy to offer some insight into the fun rap-laden track, “For whatever reason I felt kinda serious writing this record… there was a lot of serious songs and when we got close to the end I felt like I wanted to have a few kinda fun songs on it too because that’s both sides of who we are as a band. That song was really about where I live. I live in Huntington Beach and I’ve never written a song about what it’s like to go down on an average summer day in my home town.”

When asked if this was their Ice Cube “It Was A Good Day,” the duo laughed and responded, “Yeah, I guess it is… The white guy nerd version.” Via kroq

Hey, in case it really is a sole accident, an epic train crash of a joke, it's all good. But fans still have the right to feel disappointed, I think.

Joke songs on the previous records were different. They had the a rocking edge, lyrics actually mocking the subject, and that kind of trademark Offspring sound of good hooks and sarcastic voice, even Pretty Fly or Why Don't You Get a Job did. CC sounds such a lazy attempt compared to them. Man, I even like When You're In Prison, but let's face it, crap on purpose always was, and always will be crap.

Seems like their new album will be their most experimenting, diverse and daring stuff since... well, the last one. Not sure, what to think as of now. We just have to wait and listen.

All Your Anger, All Your Hurt (Bumpin' In My Ear)

Catchy as shit, but nothing more than your average generic stadium poprock song (which is actually kind of an alternative thing on the air nowadays). That's The Offspring's Days Go By, the first radio friendly single from the new record with the very same title. It debuted this weekend on KROQ, with reworked - still a tad too Foo Fighterish - sound and brand new lyrics. It's actually the third public version since that little video snippet from two years back.

As I said earlier, it definitely won't be a long-time favorite of mine, but that nice offspringish artwo taste we all dig is definitely there, although the overall tone and the lyrics (basically a huge, romantic fuck you to all those 'oh-god-why' moments from one's past, but that's just my interpretation) are still surprisingly positive for this band. Just compare it to Hammerhead, RAFRAG's debut single, deeply influenced by both the trench coat mafia and some serious military angst. Bang-bang.

Aaaaand... ready for the saddest/funniest thing? Australians got => this <= as a single. It's supposed to be a joke song like Why Don't You Get A Job or When You're In Prison, but as a track sent out to radio stations, well. Something just died inside me. I hope to Good Ol' Life, Fate, God Or Whatever that it won't suck itself to the top charts (otherwiese it's a guaranteed number one), so Offspring fans and the rest of the world can forget about it. They call it the new Pretty Fly. I call it crap irritating poppy shi oh fuck you autotune and Bob R easily the worst song I've heard from them so far. Not much shall be said about it right now.

Anyway, Days Go By, the full album comes out in June, and the full tracklist was released too. Not that it gives us too much to work with now, but the last entry, Slim Pickens Does the Right Thing and Rides the Bomb to Hell is actually a reference to Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, which is way cool. I love obscure long titles anyway.

The one called Dirty Magic is a classic piece from Ignition, freshly polished and re-recorded (that's something they've been teasing us with for yeas now), which ignites - ba-dum-whoah - mixed feelings in me. First, this song is fine as it is right now, being arguably the best track from its era, and it comes off as somewhat a cheap filler among the new stuff. But if its reappearance serves as a harbinger of live Offspring shows with Dirty Magic on the setlist again, well, hell yeah.

Here's the single's cover. Like the song itself, it's filled with sunshine, something I miss from my life. Summer, hurry up, yo bastah'

It makes a cool wallpaper, too.

The Future Is Now

Why would this blog be interested in The Offspring, one of the pioneer bands of the 'let's put cool stuff, like post-punk, industrial and grunge into the mainstream' '90s movement, which has long been forgotten by everyone 'cept for hardcore fans, who - paradox as it is - seemingly became their biggest haters since the beginning of the new millennium?

I don't want to overstate how much I love their music, but here's a hint: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manic_Subsidal

Anyway, the ninth 'spring album is supposed to come out this year, and my excitement finally started showing lifesigns this week. Days Go By (AKA You Will Find a Way or November Song), the first new track they've been playing live didn't do much for me (although I dig the changed, less Foo Fighter-esque intro) but this new The Future Is Now footage is pretty neat:

The Rip-Offspring phenomenon is once again present - it sounds kinda like a Rise Against song, then again, Rise Against sounds pretty much like The Offspring to begin with, save for the dime a dozen vocals -, but oh man, it is so much better than the last album's Green Day influenced pop-punk efforts. Plus that dark solo is like something straight out of Ixnay or Americana. Quoting their president by something he probably never said: Not bad.

Also, Dexter was kind enough to post the lyrics on their forum. Noodles on twitter is also a recommended source on news and bits about the upcoming record, which I'm telling you, can't arrive soon enough.

Putting the song's dark message aside, have you ever (zing!) wished that the future was now already?