Smash

Offspring is like Taco Bell for Punk. If someone said "I want Mexican food" it isn't my recommendation, but it deserves it own category for just how tasty it can be, ya dig?

It’s been nearly 30 years since I listened to this album. I remember sitting on the bus down to Washington DC for my 8th Grade class trip and playing this on my Walkman. As an angsty 14 year old, this album was the shit. In my 40’s it just reminds me of being an angsty teenager. Musically, it’s aggressive pop-punk of its time, and more enjoyable than the music The Offspring would later have hits with, they still had a bit of indie cred on this one, if you will. Damn you, generator, for reminding me of the unstoppable passage of time. I still can’t believe 1994 was almost 30 years ago. Oooh…and it’s got a secret song. How 90’s is that?

Was never a fan at the time and hasn't aged any better. Barely made it to the end.

This came out when I was 13-14 years old. I was pretty much the target audience for this and it never really grabbed me back then. Still doesn't. I have a certain nostalgic thing for "Self Esteem" but that's about it. That one in particular has a more Nirvana like feel which is probably why I'm more attracted to it. Oh man the "secret track" at the end - forgot about those and how they'd translate to modern streaming. So of it's time.

Nails on a chalkboard

Great album. It really shows off the sound that is the offspring. Not a radical departure from their previous works but enough to freshen up their music. This also contains a lot of singles that were, for most people , their intro to the offspring. Well worth a listen and for anyone looking to get into some good punk rock.

super nostalgic crazy taxi tony hawk's pro skater vibes. I can smell the round table pizza, and these songs are catchy gritty fun. a simpler time

Really don’t like his voice I felt like my brain was being drilled at one point

The Offspring are a bit of a mystery to me. They're clearly capable of elevating and in some ways redefining punk, but often content to settle down and succumb to the laziest tropes of the genre. Fortunately, most of their best work is captured in one album. If you were to make a true best of compilation, you might grab one or two from elsewhere, but the collection would start and end with Smash. It's filled with allusions and wordplay that reward repeated listens, and you'll want to listen again, because it fucking rocks. I don't know if it's a shame that they couldn't replicate that success or a blessing that they did it once. Best track: Come Out and Play

I forget how good this is. Messy mid-90's skate punk, the stuff that got me properly into exploring music

Smash is definitely the right title for the album, because every song is like a smash to the face of pure punk ferocity. The Offspring walk the fine line of being tonally aware, hardcore, pissed off, and a little funny all at the same time and it’s flawlessly executed. This was the jumping off point for every 90s kid who didn’t know where to start with punk rock.

I don't hate this, it does remind me of uni students with long greasy hair and plans to drink lots of beer once they finish studying with this blasting out and rollups filling their ashtrays. It is a big cheesy lyrically but it has great rhythms and it is really melodic vocally. I honestly am very happy to keep listening to the end.

The mere fact that The Offspring is in this list and NOFX isn't perfectly encapsulates what's so goddamn wrong with Dimery's book sometimes. Commercial success is definitely favored over artistic merits once in a while. Usually, punk rock isn't too plagued with that sort of 'commercial concern', which makes a lot of punk albums in the list relevant. But here, it's pretty much the opposite that's going on... And it's quite frustrating. Just so you know, I really tried to listen to the album with fresh new ears, but this didn't really change my initial assessment of this record (and band) when it came out: because that thing's not so good, is it? To be clear, the problem is not merely that the band's music was way overrated by my generation. The problem was that as a songwriter, Dexter Holland was just a shrewd, cynical, opportunistic fox, and it shows. Never bought that pretense that the band didn't see their success coming, by the way. Everything in *Smash*'s singles is formatted so that said success could happen. And by "formatted", I mean *ripped off* from other 'trendy' bands at the time. Which gives an interesting subtext to some of Holland's lyrics. Are his claim that he's not a "trendy asshole" on the song "Smash" to be taken ironically, for instance? You tell me. I mean, how can you listen to *Self-Esteem* and *Gotta Get Away* and NOT see that it's a soulless attempt to replicate's Nirvana's formula? 'Soulless' being the key word to remember here. I know Kurt Cobain himself ripped off a few bands to create his timeless songs--so I guess there's still that to take into account--but at least he ripped off arcane stuff released by Killing Joke or Boston a decade or more before *Nevermind*. He didn't rip off a band that had a massive breakout success a couple of years ago. Well, Holland and his band did. OK, Cobain readily admitted that he also ripped off Pixies, not a breakout success into the mainstream at the time, but still a very important band. But at least Kurt brought his own subtle and elegant vocal harmonies to the whole thing. That's the reason most Nirvana songs sound great on an acoustic guitar and ones by The Offspring don't. What did Holland bring to that template, in comparison? To me, he brought a few simplistic, hackneyed melodies signalling his thing was all about style, not *substance*. And how much more cynical and opportunistic than that can you get, huh? About Dexter Holland's "opportunistic" tendencies, a quick sidenote: when the Nirvana tap petered out, The Offspring had to find other sources of inspiration, obviously. For a subsequent hit single a few years after *Smash*, Holland thus elected to rip off The Beatles' "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da"! How can you rip off The Beatles and choose one of their WORST SONGS EVER??? (instead of their many marvels)... Oh I have the answer: because it annoyingly lingers in people's heads, just like most of the famous songs recorded by The Offspring. Checks out. If enough people remember said tune--even if it's annoying to an extent--a lot of folks in general audiences will buy the damn thing anyway. Simple, eh? To return to *Smash*, it's got a couple of other memorable tracks at the start of the record, "Nitro' and "Bad Habit", and they're more in line with what the Epitaph roster was doing at the time. So I guess those two tracks are less opportunistic than the singles, at least. Speaking of singles, cheek-in-tongue "Come Out And Play" is not so bad, to be honest, but it got overplayed on the radio at the time the album was released, so I can't listen to it anymore. And apart from those few highlights I've listed here, everything else is pretty lame. There's even a mandatory ska-punk track on side two. Just in case that other trend might be useful to sell a few more unit shifters to a few more 'alternative' kids out there, I imagine. Ugh. 🙄 One last thing: Dexter's voice is quite grating in many parts of the record, even in the few good tracks in it. 'Punk' means raw or rough, I get that. Yet, there's also a whiny quality to his vocals that actually goes against the intended energy he displays while singing those songs. Maybe that whiny grain made the whole thing palatable for young mainstream audiences at the time, I don't know. To be fair, those sorts of 'flat', whiny vocals were to be found in many other skate-punk albums released around those years, so this is probably only a matter of personal taste here. But mine says such vocals didn't age well anyway. Holland is still a very talented man, don't get me wrong. It takes a lot of skills to manage the sort of shrewd success he's had with The Offspring. Besides, I've just read on Wikipedia that the man has many other assets I would never have imagined from a guy like him. He's a plane pilot, an entrepreneur, a charity fundraiser, a cook, and a science researcher. The last area is the most impressive endeavor, by the way. Working in molecular biology to potentially help find a vaccine against AIDS is worthy of all the praise you can give someone. So who cares if you never wrote a *truly* essential album when you were younger (and yet had a lot of success with it)? Trying hard to end on a *positive* note here. But it's not enough to make me include this LP in my own list. 2/5 for the purposes of such a list (which means 7/10 for a more general assessment: 5+2). Next, please. Number of albums left to review: 596 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 193 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 90 Albums from the list I will certainly *not* include in mine (many others are more essential to me): 121 (including this one)

More melodic than some punk music, but still not worth sitting through. No matter what the narrator says. The desert riff from Come Out and Play was the best part of the album, but there are no bonus points for playing it again after making me sit through five minutes of silence. Nice try.

"Ahh, it's time to relax." This album is amazing. I first listened to it when I was around 10, and it really got me into a lot of the rock and punk that I love now. If I could rate this album higher than 5, I would.

4.5 stars. Fantastic album. Could do with fewer "ooohhoohhh's and yeaaaheeaaahhs" but this is just a great punk rock album. Lots of energy, catchy choruses. Takes a little edge off of some of the rawer punk, but not overly pop-y. Standouts are "Bad Habit", "Gotta Get Away", and "Self Esteem".

Быстро! Мощно! Драйвово! Легендарно! Это то, что было есть и будет со мной! Без лишних слов и красивых метафор)) просто идите нахуй ))

Etant un habitué des albums de musique, j'avais avant même de lancer l'album reperé le derneir son de 10mn, et savait déjà que l'objectif était de cacher une chanson, comme de nombreux illustres groupes l'ont fait par le passé. Cette pratique extrêmement chiante il faut bien le dire, permet toujours au groupe l'utilisant de caler un sample egyptien de pyramide dans la plus grande discrétion. Ici, The Offspring vont plus loin, se déguisant absolument tous en sphynx, et restant immobiles a quates pattes pendant de longues minutes. L'un des membres va même jusqu'a se couper le nez. Un spectacle original, se déroulant donc dans l'intimité la plus totale d'une fin d'album des plus secrètes. Un délice.

“You know who’s good? Nirvana, y’all should try to sound like them” It didn’t work

Come out to play and self esteem are particular highlights for me as they are more the vibe of offspring I prefer. The rest of the album is filled with the more thrashier side of punk which I'm less bothered about.

Yikes 90s American skate punk is not really me. Bit like Green Day. Bit angry and sweary and shouty. Gonna try my best bit may not last tbe whole album. Ok got to track 8 then gave up because I'm not enjoying it and lm a bit tired tbh..Hard to compare i know but I prefer it to that Slice in Chains album..

If you're into funk and angsty rock this album is probably for you. I enjoyed a few songs but after a while, it becomes quite dull.

For this album, The Offspring's goal was to convince everyone that they are a one trick pony. In this case, every song sounds nearly identical to the next. Each one was basically guitar banging and yelling. You only need to listen to one song, any song, to check the box for this album. Scale: 5 - My absolute favorites. 4 - Albums I like. 3 - It was ok to listen to but I wouldn't seek it out. 2 - Didn't like. 1 - Absolute shit.

I tried really hard to like this. But almost every song sounded the same.

This music garners the slightest of shrugs from me, but their faithful cover of the Didjits' "Killboy Powerhead" has given the great Midwest rockers an income for life, to which I raise my beret. Otherwise, to my ignorant ears this is all “you like chicken, I like bread, yeah ya-yeah-yeah yeah-yeah yeah”.

In "Gotta Get Away", Dexter Holland shouts "Life is like a riddle and I'm really stumped". Replace life with music, songwriting, or art and you get the thesis of this album: a group of guys stumped about making music, but for some God-forsaken reason trying to do it anyways. Sometimes the songs aren't half bad ("Come Out and Play (Keep 'em Separated)"; "What Happened to You?"). But, those songs hardly redeem this album. "Bad Habit" sounds like a Bleach C-side where Holland has a quarter of Cobain's charisma and none of his songwriting ability. I assume "Genocide" was some sort of protest against the Rwandan Genocide, but it is filled with trite cliches and meaningless words that are supposed to convince the listener of what exactly? If it wasn't meant as a protest song to the Rwandan Genocide, then these guys are fucking tone deaf idiots. Judging from "It'll Be a Long Time", they probably are. The song says nothing meaningful, and is filled with truly poetic lines like "Superpowers flex their wings/Hold the world on puppet strings". Someone should tell Holland that protest songs are supposed to say something meaningful about the present day (a la System of a Down) and that sarcasm is only effective if the writer has an interesting point to drive home (a la Green Day).

Just a regular Offspring album, in other words, horrible

Never really got into this band. Too metal for my taste. Too Midwest college frat bitch. I dont like spending time with the people who listen to this.

I would avoid this kind of thing when it came out, how right I was. Boring, tuneless and juvenile; dreadful from top to bottom. Lowlights are the appaling vocals and the rhythm section - simultaneously amateur and unmusical, whilst timid and tedious. This is punk in the way LOL dolls are Simone de Beauvoir

this is pretty much the best album of all time and i've heard it a kazillion times, it never gets old yewww

Exactly what i think of when i hear the word punk

Awesome album

I've heard this album 100s of times. One of my best friends wore out 3 copies on CD when we were younger. Still great. Favorite tracks: "Bad Habit", "Killboy Powerhead", "Self Esteem"

Best selling independent label album for a reason

Fuck yeah

I love it. I love this music. I love it.

Fantastic album - their best.

Fav Song: Come Out and Play

OH Yes.

The first CD I ever owned. It brings me back to that specific moment in time, even after all these years. It's affirming to me that I have good enough taste for this record to be on this list.

Bei ricordi

geilgeilegeilgeilgeilgeil. Mit diesem Sound verbinde ich 0,66 Despo, Rofaschlange 21:00 und weinende Emos. Und explizit diese alten gebürsteten Metalltische vor der Tanze vor der Bar zur Dj-Kanzel (die mit der Tribünenmäsigen anstieg), wo ich zum ersten mal mal verschiedene Dinge erfahren durfte: 1. BHs sind viel stabiler als ich dachte. 2. Kaschieren viel mehr dazu als ich dachte. 3. Brüste sind wirklich sehr weich. 4. Isy kann wirklich nicht gut küssen (ich kanns ja wohl nicht gewesen sein) 5. Leuten ist wirklich scheissegal was mal in dem Laden macht. 6. Saufen macht mich zum Aufreisser. 5* Liebs ganz ganz arg

Ist halt geil. Würde auch jede andere natürliche Zahl >=5 geben als Rating, aber is halt aufgrund der programming boundaries nicht möglich.

Daniel: “I’m down for that. That was good.” Diane: I fucking love The Offspring. Americana was the first cd I ever bought for myself. Really like the energy of this album. I think some of the instrumental stuff is really well thought through.

Excellent one of my favorites

Best album ever!

My favourite offspring album.

This could totally use a remaster

I’ve always loved this album. One of my favourites and reminded me of how great The Offspring are. I still like them and enjoy the odd song but discount them because they aren’t the same band I grew up with.

Superb

My first journey into The Offspring world! a huge load of adrenaline!

one of the best punk album of the 90's!

front to back great. authentic 90s grunge mixed with fast punk rock riffs. classic.

Classic!

Nostalgisch album om luid op te zetten

Tämä levy on vuosien saatossa tullut kuunneltua läpi monet kerrat. Tämä oli kova juttu silloin aikanaan ala-asteella ja kulkenut mukana myös opiskeluaikoina ja ihan viime aikoinakin, edelleen timanttista tavaraa. Eihän tämä mitään korkeakulttuuria ole, mutta energiaa ja asennetta on sitäkin enemmän. Self Esteem on tässä se tärkein biisi.

An all time great. Probably the best punk album to come out of 1994. Right at the blossoming of my musical tastes as a child. This is nostalgic for me. Probably listened to this album 100 times. Just as good as the first time.

One of my all-time fav punk albums

Love this album have it on cd and vinyl.

I loved this album as a teenager. I still love it.

I love it …

Punk-rock de los Offspring.

Gun in the glovebox <3

-”Nitro (Youth Energy)” is nice and fast and catchy with great drums -”Bad Habit” totally rips -The chorus in “Genocide” is very catchy. “Dog eat dog/Every day/On our fellow man we prey/Dog eat dog/To get by/Hope you like my genocide” -I’ve definitely heard “Come Out and Play,” specifically that “You gotta keep ‘em separated” line -Literally just a silent gap from 4:04 until 9:04 on “Smash.” The song is 10:40 and 5 entire minutes are just silent. -This has some seriously catchy and great stuff, I think it has a decent likelihood of getting a good number of listens from me. I’m going to give it 5 stars because I think it has some serious potential to get me much more into punk.

Story time. This album came out my junior year of high school. My first boyfriend (Jeremy) and I listened to it incessantly. Listening to it now brought back all these fun memories of screaming the lyrics at the top of our lungs as we drove around or hung out with friends. After high school Jeremy got addicted to heroine. It was a long slow decline. He OD a few years ago and he’s dead now. RIP Jeremy. I can’t see or hear anybody but you when I listen to this album. And when I do, it’s nothing but joy.

HELL YEAH

Lekkere punkrock! Yeah!! Ik houd wel van die lekker snelle muziek, waarbij de overkoepelende melodie niet eens zo heel snel gaat. Ik kan niet zeggen dat dit het beste punk-album is wat ik ooit gehoord heb, maar het klinkt wel cool. Favorieten zijn "Bad Habit", "Genocide", "She" of eigenlijk alles behalve "Self Esteem" :-) *****

Student times are the best

Much nostalgia. Great album

Flashbacks to cruising around in Ralph's Volvo and blasting this with the windows down. It may have been a cassette tape!! Album's still great.

I'm not sure what more you can expect from pop-punk-rock. The hooks are catchy, the harmonies are solid, the energy is great and it absolute carries a dose of snarkiness and humor. Really enjoyed

A dirtbag masterpiece The Offspring being one of the only groups to come out clean after that Woodstock 99 documentary

Discazo de punk-rock con temas melódicos, guitarreros y muy bien producido.

Turns out I’ve heard a few of these songs but never really heard of Offspring or this album. I missed a lot of the 90s due to drinking a lot and living in a trailer. This album was hot. Quality punk sound fast clean dirty rock really solid album I loved it.

Great album. The melodies don't sound tired; the guitar parts are interesting, and the lyrics fit the vibe of the music.

sonzeira, curto das antiga já

Absolute classic!!!

A long-standing favorite of mine, particularly my favorite pop-punk album. Just a great blast of energy, attitude, and catchiness.

17 year old me is screaming right now. Nitro still kicks ass, Bad Habit is still morbid fun. I find a lot of the albums brightest songs are the non-singles. Something To Believe In, Killboy Powerhead, So Alone are all fun songs. The singles on the album I feel are pretty dusty and tired but there is still a lot of nostalgia driven love for this album.

Ehkä eniten kuuntelemani levy kautta aikojen. No brainer

Timanttia tai ainakin puhdasta kultaa. Tätä tuli jo penskana luukutettua 24/7 ja eipä ole mihinkään kulunut. Toimii edelleenkin.

love it! bestselling independently released album of all time for a reason :)

Classic album. Lots of bangers on this one.

Great album 10/10

SMASH! I particularly enjoyed that one, lets see what's next...

The soundtrack to my early teenage years..

ya ya ya ya ya

So fucking good.

One of my favorites growing up.

Very nostalgic sound, love it a lot. this, Ixnay On The Hombre and Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace are great albums. the others have some good tracks but also a lot more complete misses (like Pretty Fly (For A White Guy))

my mum use to listen to the offspring. i think she still does every now and then. I will always have this memory of when i was maybe 13 and was listening to You're gonna go far kid, and my mum said she liked the song. I looked at her with utter shock going 'you know The Offspring?' and she gave me this incredulous look and said 'Hazel I've been listening to them before you were even born'. I was born in 1998, I like to believe she was talking about this album.

I like this album

A classic

Absolute classic. Top to bottom inspired, politically biting, aggressive, scream-along, and funny too.

Quin fenomen místic o planetari va passar en les vides dels components de Green Day i Offspring al 1994 no el sabrem mai, però per la raó que sigui totes dues bandes van donar aquell any llum dos dels discos més importants de la década, van donar fi als anys del grunge i van encetar una nova etapa en la vida social i musical dels '90. Tot el que van fer abans i després està molt lluny del que van aconseguir aquell any. Això és més clar en el cas d'Offspring, els discos dels quals precedents i posteriors a 'Smash' queden tan per sota d'aquest que un es pregunta si realment pertanyen a la mateixa banda. 'Smash', però, és una obra perfecta del punk hardcore, ram de singles contundents i vibrants que van donar vida i èxit a tota una generació de bandes que vivien de la repetició del patró, de vegades amb certa gràcia, la majoria copiant amb insistència una mateixa idea. Aquest, però, és EL disc del génere i una obra per ser disfrutada sempre

Great album, solid throughout with practically no filler. Every song is a banger

Goes incredibly hard. The best 90s punk album - Dookie can eat a dick. Too bad it's the only good Offspring album. I have to give this a 5/5 or else "The Skeleton" shall deem me unworthy of my skin.

Decent album

Such solid music.

Yea