10 good/great songs, 3 poppy songs that most punks hate.
I personally like it, although it's not something you'd expect to hear from them. Americana - Very dark and well written song, not really as punk as some of their other stuff but it is VERY VERY good.ġ3. No Brakes - Another great song, very fast and very hard.ġ1. But back to this song, it's one of the best on the album.ġ0. This reminds me of Dexter's incredible writing (especially in his older albums) - he's one of the best songwriters in all of punk music. The End of the Line - Incredible fucking song. Too fast to be a single, although it does get old kinda fast.ĩ. Three pop singles from one album is enough to ruin any punk bands reputation for a long time.Ĩ. Another example of a good pop song, but it really killed the Offspring's reputation. She's Got Issues - By the time this was released, I was already into the punker side of Offspring and turned the radio off whenever it came on. Feelings - This was a cover of a real bad song that was made in the 70's. It didn't get as much radio airplay because it wasn't a pop song, funny huh? Definately one of the best on the album.Ħ. The Kids Aren't Alright - This was also released as a single, but it's one of their best songs on the album. The song itself is a great pop song, by the way.ĥ. I hate this song with a passion, because its the reason so many people consider the offspring a horrible band. Pretty Fly (For a White Guy) - Well, what can I say? It's what got me into punk music, which is fucking ironic. By this time, I started to think "maybe these guys aren't just another pop band".Ĥ. Staring at the Sun - Another good punk song. Very well written, exploiting all that teen angst (or middle aged angst, depending on the listener) you might have.ģ. How anyone could listen to this song and not love it is a mystery. Have You Ever - Possibly one of the best songs they've ever made, and a great choice to be a first track. For those of you who assumed Americana sucked after hearing the three "radio airplay" singles, as I call them, let me give you a mini review of each song.Ģ. These guys are, sadly, the most underrated punk band in the world because they made the mistake of trying to sell albums to the mass. Each time, I started to dislike the songs that were huge radio hits (with the exception of Smash's "Come out and Play" and "Self-Esteem" because those were just really fucking good songs, not like Americana's singles which had the sole purpose of getting airplay). I bought each album in reverse chronilogical order, and each time I thought "this is the best album I've ever heard". Albums like Ixnay on the Hombre, Smash, Ignition and self/titled were taking their turns. I then bought their older CD's, and soon enough this album (after about 4 months of listening to it daily, and I'm seriously not exaggerating) stopped going into the CD player. Suddenly I was in love with their punker songs on there, and I couldn't get enough of them. They were all poppy little bubble-gum tracks thats main objective were to attract the preppy crowd into buying their CD. which were 3 of the 4 singles released by the offspring from the album. Those songs were: Pretty Fly for a White Guy, She's Got Issues, and Why Don't You Get a Job.
Soon enough, I'd skip tracks #4, #7, and #11 each time. However, listening to this album changed me for ever. Every song on the album was good, which is something I'd never expirienced in the mainstream music scene before (seriously, buy ANY album that's recently been released - and chances are the non-singles will suck). The second I put it into my $50 sony cd discman, I was amazed. This is the day, for me, I become a punk. Still, it was enough for me to buy their album. Their second single, "Why Don't You Get a Job" was equally poppy. Hell, I didn't know anything about the scene, really. but little did I know a huge resistance was being formed from the punk rock crowd, spouting the term "sell-out" whenever anyone mentioned the band. The song itself was actually very intelligent and funny. The first single to Americana, as everybody knowns, was "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)", and I fell in love with it. Before that, I enjoyed listening to the somewhat slow and bland alternative mix of bands, with the occasional rap/rock crap that was played on the local radio stations. That day, of course, is when The Offspring released "Americana". I'm not as punk as you, because I discovered punk music on November 10th, 1998.