The Offspring: The Offspring
Released in 1989, five years before “Come Out And Play,” their hit about butt cheeks (“You gotta keep ‘em separated”), installed itself seemingly permanently in the CD player of every radio station in the country, the eponymous debut album by The Offspring took two-and-a-half years to sell the only 1000 copies printed.
This re-release from 1995, for which King Buzzo’s wife Mackie Osborne did the art, serves as evidence that the band hadn’t changed much from their inception by the time they sold a copy of Smash to every man, woman, and child in 1994. It’s fast, fast, and more fast punk performed with technical mastery by guitarist Noodles and drummer Ron Welty, unrelenting accuracy by bassist Greg K., and annoying shouting by lead singer Dexter Holland. Much like I was with Smash, I was initially put off by the rough edges and punishing speed but learned to love the tunes-at-dangerous-speeds once I adapted and once the record finds its groove, which it’s a bit slow to do, also like Smash.
The lyrics are almost single-mindedly focused on violence, but schizophrenically so. “Jennifer Lost The War” bemoans a murdered six-year-old, but “Behaded” gives us an almost sympathetic first-person view of a serial killer. “Demons (A Mexican Fiesta)” describes some kind of sacrificial ritual. “Tehran,” with grandiose elements of Iron Maiden-esque metal, decries our involvement in the Middle East (“Will you ever wonder if the man in your sights/Kissed his girl goodbye) and “Out On Patrol” mocks a dying soldier while the album’s final, very uncomfortable track, which I’m not even going to name here, calls for assassination as a way to end war.
But, hey, you can barely understand the lyrics anyway, so jump around, break s**t, and blow off steam with this at high volumes.
Rating:
Mixers: “Tehran,” “A Thousand Days“
Keepers: “Jennifer Lost The War,” “Elders,” “Crossroads,” “Blackball,” “I’ll Be Waiting”
Filed Between: Oasis (Definitely Maybe) and The Offspring’s Smash
Tags: 1989, 3.5 lunchboxes, CD reviews, J-mez' collection, music