Reviews (page 11 of 13)
Favorite songs: Come Out and Play (Keep ‘Em Separated), Self Esteem
It’s fine. The hits are fun but it’s all very uniform and not exactly groundbreaking
I have to be in a particular mood to enjoy this one cover to cover, and there's better options when I'm in that mood.
I can tell that this is a good genre album, but it's not my typical favorite.
Four stars for the music. Minus two for Dexter's voice. I've never been able to listen to The Offspring, his voice just makes no sense for this type of music.
I didn't like it for the most part, but I also didn't think that it was absolutely terrible. I did like the song What Happened to You? and could see myself listening to that one.
niet mijn muziek
Not my cup o'tea
Has some fun songs but not really an album I need to listen to before I die ngl!
Too loud for me
Pass.
not for me
Nah. Not for me (except for the bassline on "Self-Esteem"). Has a lot to answer for in terms of the godawful unlistenable "pop" "punk" that followed, but at least that one song I really hate isn't on here.
I don’t love rock
I have no idea why this band became as popular as they did, Because after listening to this I can honestly say that there's nothing that makes them stand out from nearly every other wannabe pop punk band of the era that was trying to ride the coattails of Green Day's success. There are a couple of songs on this album that stick out for sounding different than the rest, but the singer's voice is just so grating that it ruins pretty much every song.
Album Review 085 Smash by The Offspring (1994) Rating 1.5/5 Call me cynical, but here we have a band whose main songwriter is clearly a very intelligent person (PhD in molecular biology no less), but decided to cash-in with diluted pop-rock cos-playing as punk. Sure, the drumming is powerful and fast and the distorted guitars are there, but Smash is lacking in any sort of spirit or substance. It’s performative, entry-level noise, manufactured by a 30-year who's target market is middle schoolers with faux anger and a skateboard they don't know how to use. And the lyrics are crap too.
Being into a lot of Epitaph/Fat Wreck at exactly the time that this was blowing up, you would think that I love this record. This exercise would be the first time I’ve ever listened to it all the way through. Most of these have not aged very well and the hits just benefit from being super familiar. Plenty of other bands and albums within range of this genre that are much better and probably deserved the success these guys had.
Post Green Day alternative rock was weird. Labels tried to make punk a thing. Not sure that leaning into Epifat bands was the right decision. This is another part of the list where Dimery made some choices. If he wanted to ad SoCal punk to the list he could have done better by putting Suffer or Living in Darkness or Milo Goes To College or the Adolescents Blue Album. Anyways this is SoCal Epifat alt rock that ripped off Agent Orange and kinda ripped the Breeders. Not essential.
#292/1001. I think Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic nailed it by saying: "solid record, filled with enough heavy riffs to keep most teenagers happy". For me Offspring are just one another offspring of Bad Religion.
This was fun. I'm glad to have come across this one
I'd encountered the Offspring in the early '90s via compilation that had a song of theirs. It was bad, so I was baffled when they suddenly started getting a ton of airplay on MTV in 1994. My bafflement continued, even though I could recognize the catchiness of "Self-Esteem" (which I heard roughly 3 billion times 1994-1995). I never listened to this album, and it's exactly what I expected: by-the-numbers BroCal punk with a few novelty flourishes. For a smart dude, Dexter Holland has nothing to say, and his double-tracked vocals are grating. I'm clearly in the minority though, because this album sold a zillion copies.
I used to LOVE The Offspring, then I turned 15.
I do quite like The Offspring, but I dont think I could ever describe them as goodd. They also really shouldnt be in this list.
Was okay first but got so repetitive
classi c for 13 year old boys and competitive hot dog eaters. if you broke your front teeth skateboarding or suffered a non athletic-related CTE, you probably heard this one already 6.7/10
In one ear and out the other
Whatever
Poppy alternative that gets boring
At times this band sounds like a polished punk band that’s been together for a decade and at other times they sound like teenagers that just figured out how to play and want to be angsty. Take that for what it is. But overall, I just couldn’t get into it. Didn’t hate it, but I didn’t like it either. I’m more su surprised that Self Esteem on this album has more streams than Pretty Fly For a White Guy
Punk Rock Chaos
..
No es mi estilo
I'm not 14 anymore. :(
Self esteem and smash were good, everything else sounded the same
not terrible but why so shouty & whiny
Great for nostalgia, still not much of a fan of the songs that’s aren’t ’come out and play’ and especially ‘self esteem’
It's bog standard for teenagers with long hair and smelly armpits, I just got too used to the vocalists groaning manner (probably derived from Kurt) to the point where it becomes draining. Not that consistent of a tracklist for me and the intro and outro skit is a little cringe.
🎧Good punk rock is great. Bad punk rock is horrible. This pretty firmly in the latter category.
It's... okay.
I vaguely remember really liking The Offspring when I was younger. I no longer do.
Is "mainstream punk" an oxymoron?
Offspring. Punk for early 90's 14 year-olds. I suppose I was too old for Offspring when they surfaced. I certainly wasn't into their brand of fast food punk. I'm a lot older now and a lot more forgiving. I still don't like Offspring, but I understand the appeal. And this even holds a couple of decent tracks. Gotta Get Away is really good. Come Out And Play still stands up and is a rare Offspring track I always rather liked. Good fun. Self Esteem is a decent single. Not one of the 1001 albums I personally had to hear.
Individually, I like some of these songs. The songs all sound exactly the same when listening to an entire album though.
Meh. What a tepid album. I was curious if it's inclusion meant it might be better than I anticipated, but no. It didn't speak to me when I was 17 when it came out, and it doesn't speak to me now.
Pass
This was an interesting listen from my post-college years. Seb and I used to lift weights to this music. Kmart grunge. Clever ideas about road rage and school shootings but not something I choose to seek out these days. I am always happy to hear The Offspring if they are on the radio but I would not choose to put this album on the turntable. I also wonder to what degree the self-pitying low self-esteem of this era led to the emo stuff about 10 years later? A highlight for me was the road rage tune Bad Habits - found that funny and enjoyable. All this said, I am going to be more assertive in giving 1 or 2 stars and keeping room for music that appeals to me in the 3 to 5 range. Learning how to calibrate here. If I could give it 2.5 I would but since I have to choose on a whole number I plan to grade down a half point so this is a 2 for me.
Some bangers, but I hate the narrator guy. Really took me out of the listening experience
A lot of the same. I know some Offspring songs and obviously they are super influential, but this just doesn't do it for me. Dude's voice is rough too
A lot of great songs on this record, but if I make a list of 1001 albums, this ain't on it. That said, I forgot how good Gotta Get Away is. What a banger. The whole record takes me back to playing Crazy Taxi on Gamecube. Bonus tracks are also pretty funny in the streaming era
the inclusion of this album raises significant questions about the creation of this list. what about this album qualifies it as music that I must hear before I die?? especially considering the wealth of alternatives in this genre that relegate The Offspring to lower tier? I didn’t think this record was bad, but it doesn’t introduce anything new, nor does it push existing sounds to exciting new places. run-of-the-mill.
Not my fave though i think i liked not the one, hard to say though. Just didnt feel like it did anything all that interesting although as i say that it appears there is 6 minutes of silence at the end of the last song… what’s going on here do we think is this supposed to be a part of it? Intriguing
Can’t finish it but also don’t absolutely hate it. Brought back fond memories of listening to the Limewire rip of Come Out and Play on an iPod nano, at least. RYM: N Saved a song: N
“Music soothes even the most savage beast,” and Smash mostly chooses to pummel that beast into submission. Released in 1994, Smash sits squarely at the crossroads of punk urgency and post-grunge abrasion. The album borrows heavily from the era’s DNA: palm-muted, Nirvana-adjacent guitar riffs; shouted vocals that flirt with melody; and a lingering influence from ’80s hair metal in its muscular chord progressions and solo phrasing. The production is clean but aggressive—compressed guitars, punchy drums, and very little negative space—giving the record its relentless forward momentum. The interspersed DJ-style commentary is a smart structural choice, acting as brief palate cleansers between tracks that otherwise blur together in tempo and texture. At 14 tracks, the album rarely shifts out of high gear, relying on fast BPMs, straight-ahead 4/4 grooves, and power-chord harmonic language. Personally, I find the constant loudness and repetition grating, but it’s undeniably effective—and very much of its time. “Come Out and Play” stands out as the album’s most interesting composition. The song’s sitar-inspired guitar riff introduces a quasi-modal flavor that contrasts nicely with the otherwise standard punk tonality. The intentional pauses before the refrain—“you’ve got to keep ’em separated”—create tension through silence, a rare but effective dynamic move on the record. Lyrically, it frames violence as cyclical and performative, which pairs well with the song’s stop-start rhythmic feel. “Self Esteem,” understandably the album’s most popular track, leans further into melody. Its catchy, descending guitar line and mid-tempo groove make it more approachable, while the drums use heavier fills to emphasize emotional shifts rather than pure aggression. The song captures the stench of ’90s teenage love—self-aware but still wallowing—and closes with one of the album’s sharpest lyrical moments: “The more you suffer The more it shows you really care Right?” It’s sarcastic, unresolved, and just musical enough to stick. Smash may be sonically exhausting, but it’s also confident in its narrow focus. It doesn’t aim for subtlety or variety—it aims to hit hard, fast, and repeatedly. Love it or hate it, that commitment is what made it endure.
Loud
I’m a 90s kid so I have a few Offspring songs saved on Spotify. Those songs are good but they never really made me want to explore the band more. Turns out that was a good call. They keep the energy, and it sounds fairly polished, but doesn’t vibe with me.
Cheesy, juvenile punk-pop - is that a genre? If not, then it was invented by The Offspring. I've never liked them nor their music, which, as a punk purist, is of course completely acceptable. Still, I know nearly all of the songs on this album because of the massive airplay on even at festivals where they weren't even performing. In hindsight, compared with other punk-pop bands at that time like Green Day or NOFX, they weren't that bad, but in the end, it's all too repetitive. 2/5
The only thing I'm smashing is my head against the wall. 2/5
Not for me, not my scene. Liked while listening.
J'ai pas écouté jusqu'au bout, c'est pas mauvais mais c'est juste pas ma came
I put off listening to this today because I have shit to do and it looked like it might be noisy/angry. I must listen to stuff that is noisier and angrier as this felt quite contained/compressed really. More tuneful than I was expecting. Am I disappointed? I think maybe I am. Maybe that's why I'm not being very generous in my listening notes. Or maybe the stupid dumb fuck motherfucker is rubbing off on me and I want to tell them to go fuck themselves cos I've got shit to do and limited patience for their limited patience. Here's a mirror. Let's smash it. I think if I was in a more carefree mood I'd be vibing a bit more off on the angsty energy. I usually find this kind of stuff really funny. Trying to work out why it's in the 1001 list - is it about making punk more accessible to mainstream? Channelling Nirvana? What did they do with the music from those that went before them? [Shrugs] Went through a kind of bell curve listening to this. Amongst what is clearly some irritation as I listen to the first 2-3 tracks I write down "Some of the higher energy songs are super short, like they run out of energy really quickly. Nitro Youth Energy clearly doesn't last long. Production sounds like bands I listened to in low ceiling'd sweaty venues." Somewhere in the middle I realise that I am finding some of it funny and my grumpiness is wearing off. Either I had, or it had warmed up by Genocide and feeling a bit more generous and listening with a more tuned in ear. Are they singing 'Donkey Kong'??? Oh no, it's 'Dog Eat Dog'. hahaha. I decide I like the narrator. It's kind of funny and telling a story about the band not taking itself overly seriously. Then start going down the other side of the curve and thinking "Izzalright but a bit samey. Oh I think they noticed, as here comes some ska." And then there's a bunch of other songs that sound the same again. Album filler. Trying to pick out what I'll put down what my fave track is and I can't tell what the singles were. Is that telling me something? 2.5 stars. It's not shit, I'd give it another go in a better mood. I've given better (and more accomplished stuff) a 3 though. Total no. tracks: 14 Fave track 3: Bad Habit. Others: [I'll have to listen to it a few more times to see if anything actually stands out] Genocide seems first to switch my listening ears on. Like something interesting going on. It'll be a Long Time. Had some changes in time sig slowing down and speeding up. Twice through: Bad Habit maybe. Interesting space around the bass line and some variation in the track.
“Self-Esteem” will be playing on the radio during the apocalypse.
meh... just the same songs for 45 minutes, boring.
Didn’t hate it … don’t love it
Not my favorite. Great energy and rage along with upbeat punk sounds. jusy not my fave.
Nirvana ripp-off. Song #1 is the only one worth listening to, hence "2".
I did not like the fact that I enjoyed some of this. I was familiar with the radio hits, but did not know The Offspring had much “punk” in their “pop-punk” musical nature. That made me smirk and nod in approval…but the album lacked substance and made me feel 14 again. And not in a good way.
Rapping over rock music
Not for me
One of the all-time annoying rock voices.
For the uninitiated, it’s loud, it’s brash, it’s unrelenting in the melodies it presents. That doesn’t make it bad, it just makes it, well, a lot, which is exactly what an Offspring project should be. The runtime of 46 minutes is a misnomer, however, with the 10min title track actually only running for just shy of 4 minutes, which left a bad taste in the mouth. Literal silence, like what? Rating: 4/10 (2 Stars) Favourites: Gotta Get Away, Genocide, Self Esteem
Maybe if I was younger. But apart from their song Self Esteem, two songs from Blink 182 and Green Day...this punk rock era did not really click with me. Listened to before? No.....Listen to again? No.....Previously known songs? Self Esteem....New songs liked? Gotta Get Away
Nem terminei de ouvir, infelizmente não gosto desse genero
Gave me a headache
Some nice guitar riffs, singles are ok, but not awe inspiring and the remainder are a bit meh.
2.5 tbh not the genre im into lately. its good music tho
I didn’t catch the vibe this time. Maybe a second listen
The Offspring’s breakthrough album passed me by completely when it was released, and listening now, 30+ years later, it’s easy to understand why. I’d already grown-up listening to classic punk, US hardcore and UK thrash merchants like Discharge, what could a band like The Offspring offer that was in anyway new? The answer, not much. To be fair, the single Come Out and Play is alright, and a couple of other tracks seem ‘fun’ but really, there’s nothing much here for me. To generic, too polished, too safe and too juvenile. 4/10
I forgot to rate after listening, but wasn't a huge fan.
I'm not missing out. 2
I am not loving this at 8.56am
…eh
A few of their hits but otherwise the album sounds like the same song over and over again to me.
I'm so old that I know the music TV stations playing many different genres. The Offspring was very often out there. I didn't know much more about them. Now, listened more to them, they have some good songs and I appreciate some musical work (especially with that base). But most stuff is just too punk for me. And while their front man Dexter deserves all the props for being a decent being and having a PhD on top of that, I can't stand his singing voice so much.
Idk I only listened to the first three songs
Could do with being a touch more melodious.
Ha, ok. Obviously poznam sam tiste bl zajebantske komade k so bli znani v mojem otroštvu. Iz tega albuma pa pomojem absolutno nič. Začne se s spoken word interludeom, po pa sam šopa. "Come Out and Play' mi je prvi zanimivo zveneč komad in ne totalno enak vsem ostalim komadom. Me pa tud mal spominja na prej omenjene poznane komade ("Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)" in " Why Don't You Get a Job?"). A, moram se po dolgem cajtu posipat s pepelom: koj k se je začel, sem se ga spomnila: "Self Esteem" poznam od prej in mi je dejansko kul komad. In, lol, izdan je bil točno na današnji dan 31 let nazaj. Hmmmm, Dexter ma ful specifičen vokal. Zadnji komad je miks komada, spoken worda,reprize komade k je že bil in tišine. In vse skp traja utrajajočih 10 minut in 42 sekund.
I did not know just how much of Boston-area radio was Offspring. I have learned much.
Not my genre but it is good for the person who likes this genre 1/5 didn’t finish the album 2/5 didn’t keep the album 3/5 kept it and will listen when songs randomly show up on shuffle 4/5 kept it and will listen to it again front to back on my phone 5/5 buying the vinyl
Smash? Pass. Fave tracks: Come Out and Play, Self Esteem
Eh. Ok. If it weren't for Come Out and Play and Self Esteem this might land in 1 territory.
Dogshit pre millennial’pop punk’ . That said I tapped my toes at a few songs. All the imaginative prowess of an 80 year old dementia patient waiting at a bus stop. 2.5/5 based on appealing to the lowest common denominator
Meh. Didn't do anything for me. Not my style and every song sounded the same
a low 2. Its not witty or funny huh.
Wasn't my bag growing up, I always found the vocals grating. Now that I am older nothing has changed. It's a fine album, it's just not for me at all. Highlights: Self Esteem
When the thrash metal drumming, whiny vocals, and slushy overdriven guitars come together in a certain way The Offspring offer can a great song. But this hardly happened. 2/5
This hasn't really aged that well. I guess they're tight and a pretty good band, but the songs are mostly same sounding.
Gave up halfway through - sorry I didn't spend my formative years in the US
A few good tunes that stick out, but the rest is just stereotypical punk noise.
Not very distinctive, standard 90s fare.
Come Out and Play is a fun song, but I just don't care for the Offspring.
meh, extremely boring
Eh. Did not like it at all. Liked this band in middle school but wow they are annoying. Nirvana rip off
Yeah what the hell is this. The hits were fine, the only passable songs. Everything else was weird emo crap. Did not enjoy.
Kinda crazy how much of this album I remember. Back in 1994, "Self Esteem" and "Come Out and Play" were huge and great at the time (still good songs if I'm being fair). I remember being stoked to hear the rest. Then I heard the rest and was greatly disappointed. Save for the two big singles (and "Gotta Get Away"), the rest of the album sounds like one song played over and over. It's that Epitaph sound that I've never liked. It all sounds the same to me. Save for Offspring's singer's distinctive voice, nothing else about this stands out from any of the rest of Epithaph's roster. Music-wise, this is the same as Pennywise. And it's the same jock punks who listen to that and this. It's very 90s. It's not the worst but overall it doesn't do anything for me but remind me of jock punks with frosted-tipped gelled hair and wallet chains or some shit.
It's just too noisy for my little ears. Though I must say I was incredibly productive at work while these guys were yelling at me.
There's a twinge of nostalgia listening to this, but it's kinda cringe.
This is about what I expect when I read "The Offspring" on an album cover. There are undeniable Grunge and Punk influences here, and the singer is usually more shouting than actually singing, which is par for the course for Punk, but not really my cup of tea. Self Esteem is a classic from the era, but the rest of the album is just so-so. Energy yes, good songs, err, not really. 2/5
Really don't like this guy's voice
Glad to see The Offspring make the list. Would prefer to see Americana here though, it's a more interesting listen.
Did not love this the first time. Has not aged well. Get some credit for not being other US punk-ish bands of the same period.
My ears hate me listening to this, a distinct headache coming on every time I try. During the day I had to break it down in 2 song chunks as it's so wearing, samey, at times tinny and bludgeoning. Not an experience I want to repeat (although i'm sure there might be similar kinds of album in the 1001). At least the song "Self Esteem" has some subtlety in structure, although many of the more tolerable tracks just have me reaching for Nevermind.
Influential? maybe. Good? Nah Later Offspring is better 3.5 / 10 Best track: Come Out and Play has at least something interesting going on with that riff
I had this compact disc playing on my home stereo. My memory of it was not that it was good, just that there were two bangers. And that was a correct recollection - Keep em Separated and Self Esteem are great, the rest is trash that straddles the punk eras from hardcore 80s stuff to the cheesy late 90s pop punk. Fave Tracks: Come Out and Play, Self Esteem 2.2/5
not my thing
2 hits, bad voice
All this album did was remind me why I'm kind of picky about this type of music. I'm not really feeling the vocalist, but that's not my only problem. The music feels too stereotypical. Same guitar riffs I've heard before that kinda blend in together tied together with the HEEEEY OHOOOooo ass choruses. The music just comes off as a bit corny to me. They're trying to be edgy, but it's kind of a dull edge. I didn't hate any of it but wasn't very invested in it either, and a few decent to good songs don't change that.
Couple of bangers but the rest doesn't do it for me
a few good songs, but that was it
Not very good. Kinda boring and I never liked The Offspring, and it’s mostly just not very good. I don’t know what to say there’s not tons wrong with it they’re just not my thing
Vocals kind of ruined this one for me, but I enjoyed the music. I see the appeal, though.
got to the 3rd song, then I skipped the rest. I've heard it before, it's ok, a solid 3/10, myb a 4. but could I die without having heard this? absolutely.
It’s a fun listen. I’m not throwing this on anytime with any sense of conviction, but this record has its place in getting kids to pick up guitar for the first time.
Super forgettable. Ill only use this to talk to older former punk rockers. TWO!
Fan of the popular songs (Gotta Get Away, Come Out and Play, and Self Esteem), but didn't leave wanting to re-listen to any others. I guess I liked the riff in the middle of It'll Be a Long Time. I liked the hidden track at the end of Smash; I'm a fan of using the medium of the CD as part of the album.
Yuck. My punk/hardcore is Bad Brains, Black Flag. This is just obnoxious
While there's a small bit that feels nostalgic here, it really falls flat and feels weak as a whole project, especially compared to the other rock groups of the era. The only track that did anything for me was "Genocide," which still wasn't that great. 2 instead of 1 star for being cohesive and not too long or bloated.
Not into ‘90s pop-punk. I don’t like Green Day, even though they are hometown boys (Berkeley, CA) and played my college co-op the year before I got there and the year before they broke. And I don’t like the Offspring. I can appreciate some things. “Self Esteem,” the big hit off this album, does make me laugh and is a bit of an earworm. Drums go hard. But the vocals are mad annoying and the songs blend into each other. 2.5
Very hardcore but not bad
It's alright, nothing to say. It's just okay 5/10.
At least they only have one album on this list. Self Esteem was an okay song. The rest were thankfully at least fairly short.
Theyll never make me hate you "Self Esteem"
Yeah this album is honestly kind of unserious lol. The lyrics are kind of just not really as political as they want to be and kind of pretty I don't know very abstract and doesn't take a strong stance. Like the song "Genocide", like why would you suggest giving someone your genocide. Doesn't really blame anyone in particular who commits genocide. If its not giving very non-political political statements, like addressing gun control in "come and play" suggesting not being prosecuted under 18 and young people just love to play guns instead of being a systemic issue, then it's pretty self-involved otherwise and falls into the trap of people brainwashed or whatever. I don't think I would have minded the lackluster lyrics if the music itself was interesting. But it's pretty stock standard punk music. Some good guitar work but yeah that's pretty much it. Also songs are pretty catchy at least and not in too annoying of a way. 2 stars. 26/9/25
I don't know why exactly but found it pretty cheesy. It had a couple songs that were pretty good but by and large it was forgettable using recycled punk ideas with 90s production. Not a fan of the lyrics either so nothing else to latch on to. Rating: 2.5
Good Songs: Nitro (Youth Energy), Bad Habit, Come Out and Play (Keep Em' Seperated), Self Esteem, Killboy Powerhead, What Happened To You? Mid Songs: Time to Relax, Gotta Get Away, Genecide, Something to Believe In, It'll Be A Long Time, So Alone, Not The One, Bad Songs: Smash
ça s'écoute mais franchement... BORIIIIING
Passively listened to this a decent amount as a kid, mostly when friends were playing it or seeing the videos on TV. I seem to remember my sister owning this on CD and I'd kind of sneak into her room to borrow it. I was into more underground punk at the time, and the Offspring were definitely more like a top-40s punk band when this came out, they were huge. Despite the damage to my teenage 'scene cred', there were some undeniably good tracks on here. I actually enjoy more of their 'serious' tracks (Gotta Get Away, Self Esteem) over the goofier tracks (I skipped Come out and Play, just because I've heard it a million times and it feels out of place here). It's also annoying as hell. Listening again as an adult, some of the lyrics are definitely cringy and gave me some second hand embarrassment (i.e., you STUPID DUMBSHIT GODDAMN MOTHERFUCKER) in Bad Habit, oof. But then you get to the next track (Gotta Get Away) leaves out the angsty teen outburst lyrics and it works much better in my opinion. Self Esteem is another great track that I related to. Really cool music video that I watched countless times on MTV. Update-I also skipped What Happened to You. Ska punk needs to stay dead. Overall I think I'm officially too old to get down with this anymore, but I can certainly appreciate the bygone days when Smash played in the background.
An extra star for nostalgia.
The older I get, the less I like The Offspring. Young me and middle age me do not agree on the value of this album. Guess I gotta keep em separated.
I have never liked Offspring, Dexter Holland's voice is just not for me and with the very Offspringy instrumentals makes all of their songs sound very much the same to me, this album didn't change my opinion on that.
Dear God. Make it stop. Please. In the end, I made it thru' to the end, but BeeJeezus it sucks. It may loosely resemble "punk", but it is a loose connection. Back in the seventies, I saw quite a few punk bands, some musically less adept than The Offspring, but none of them had the cynical moneygrabbing disdain as this heap of crap.. I shall not be relistening.
Aside from the two well known songs, as an album, I don't think its very interesting. It sounds very of its time, and kinf of the same in all songs. It has nostalgia attached to it, its not the worst either, but not great great
Lol https://youtu.be/fxvek6kVcok?si=ydk3Xxvua4bSjI3o
Not a fan of shouting
OK punk album. Quite liked some bits. I would have given 2.5 but that option is not available so I'm afraid isa a 2
The known hit singles are the best tracks. The rest sound more or less the same.
self esteem only bright spot
This is just not for me, but they are good players.
not bad, yk kinda good actually
Definitely wrong time and place in my case. Though I'm not sure how much this stands up even among other punk rock albums of its type, i guess I will learn as time goes on. For now, it succeeds at what it tries to be, just not sure what it tries to be is all that great.
I remember this album being MASSIVE in 1994, which was a historic year for music. Listening to it now, it feels very dated. It's ok - I like some of the faster stuff on here. It feels like a very sanitized version of punk, which was good as an entry point for better punk albums. But, for me, this feels very conventional and overly slick. 4/10
very repetitive, a good song maybe? Not a whole album
Not a huge Offspring fan. The vocals have always been grating to me. Music is fine, but I don’t generally seek it out. Album is fine, just not top of the pops to me
Taking its cues more from hardcore and metal than first-generation punk, *Smash* cranks up the tempos at the expense of tunefulness. Only "Gotta Get Away" has anything resembling a melody - most everything else seems like a technical exercise in playing at high speed, with the vocals never really meshing with the high-velocity chord changes underneath.
I probably shouldn’t have listened to this when I had a headache.
Ok. Some monster banger hits, but also quite a few uninteresting tracks.
Self esteem is nice but isn’t it a Smells like teen spirit ripoff (same guitar riff) Generally I don’t click with punk rock. It seems like the drummer plays as fast as possible and the rest of the band chimes in. Same here. All songs sound the same and are quite annoying. Especially in my tired morning mood.
Naaaah why is this tripe on this liiiiiist I love pop punk and I like the off springs but I would never have them fill one day in your last 1001, because I care about you. I would, however, add a Turnstile album to your final 1001 days. Check out Glow On (more pop), or Turnstile Love Connection (more punk). @ Robert Dimery, There Is Good (Dare I Say Great) Pop Punk Made After The 90s
I like Punk and I like pop, therefore I should like this album to one degree or another but Offspring aren't really to my taste. Too often the songs on "Smash" are 100 mph with little variation, dynamics or colour to them. The dynamics, when there are some, are used like a light switch, 'off and full on'. After a while I found this wearing and I became somewhat indifferent to what I was listening to. This album isn't really for me. I can see it's appeal, and there are a few good tracks on it. 'Smash', gets 2⭐. Would I play this album again? No. Would I buy this album? No. 1 "Time to Relax" - Funny. - 3 2 "Nitro [Youth Energy]" - Frantic. - 3 3 "Bad Habit" - Loud and frantic. Why aren't I enjoying this more? - 3 4 "Gotta Get Away" - 3 5 "Genocide" (Followed by spoken word) - 2 6 "Something to Believe In" - 2 7 "Come Out and Play" - The best track so far. It was the obvious single at the time. - 4 8 "Self Esteem" - 2 9 "It'll Be a Long Time" - 2 10 "Killboy Powerhead" - 2 11 "What Happened to You?" - 3 12 "So Alone" - 2 13 "Not the One" - 2 14 "Smash" - 2 Total - 35 Average - 2.50
Super poppy, rolled up in an edgy package. I'd probably not listen again, but good to have a window into 90s schlock I happily dodged at the time.
Never really enjoyed punk rock and adjacents, but this one isn't all that bad.
Come out and play Self-esteem
There's probably a time and place for this but it didn't work well for me on a Friday afternoon while working.
trash
really mid, only a couple okay songs
enjoyable but that was it felt like I was listening to the same song over and over again
Offspring sucks. I'm putting that out there so it's clear where I stand as the album starts. Pop punk is one of the worst parts of the 90s. Greenday sucks and Offspring rode their "punk" coattails to fame. Nothing like a stupid sketch to open an album. Nitro (Youth Energy) is better than I wanted to believe these guys were capable of. Bad Habit and Gotta Get Away were both big hits and they are terrible. The album tracks are superior to the hits. Could do without the updates from the opening sketch voiceover guy. Come Out and Play is terrible. I have no idea how this got popular. Pop punk and Nu Metal, if it weren't for hip hop and grunge the 90s would have been worse than the 80s. Self Esteem was the best of the singles, but that is a really low hurdle. Killboy Powerhead is as bad as the title. And the ska influenced What Happened to You? reminded me that ska had a comeback in the 90s too. What a terrible decade. A ten minute closing track? No thanks. And we get the bookend with the voice over guy again. The hidden hidden track. Three minutes of silence so you can't figure it out from hitting skip track...is there nothing the 90s didn't ruin? Five minutes of silence...unacceptable. Finished with a Middle Eastern instrumental of Come Out and Play. Was it worth the wait? It was not, Other Barry.
First 5 songs are great. Lost my interest after that. Really don't like their hit singles i guess
Boring
Man, this record is dumb, shrill and in a hurry. F!
Every song sounded the same. But I liked the guitar.
I knew little about The Offspring prior to this, my knowledge largely extending to the song “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)”. Armed with that, and a general sense of how songs of this genre and era sounded, I didn’t anticipate I would much like this. And I was right.
It was not as great as expected. Some hits, but most of the songs are leftovers and did not age well.
I tried. But alas, the vocals ruined it. Was overplayed in the 90s.
It was okay, nothing special. Generic punk, all bark no bite.
No relevance at all, certain entertainment factor and two points for the potential reminders of whatever credibility. Mainstream Pop punk not punk pop.
Nostalgia record Gotta Get Away decent Nirvana ripoff Wasnt 13 when this came out Nothing new here
I was in college, living in the dorms, when this album was released. The number of times I heard "Unzer, glidben, glauten, globen..." is incalculable. Even back then, I assumed that this band and album was a basic, pedantic attempt to pilfer punk rhythms and sculpt them into a palpable piece of music for frat parties that wanted to feel edgy. Not wrong.
This is just so cynical, the exact major label venn diagram meeting of Nirvana and Green Day. Even the obligatory ska track (awful).
This album is a thousand times better than the half dozen songs I've heard from them before. That said, I still hate it. More fun than Radiohead, that's a for sure right there.
Has any band ever gotten so much traction out of yelling “Oh yeah yeah? Self Esteem is a nostalgic song but this is a fundamentally boring album that is like what a marketing executive thinks punk rock is.
Did not like the lead vocals at all, really turned me off of the entire album
Standard rett fram punk. Ikke superfan
not for me
'90s radio-rock with lots of whoa-oh-ohs. The soundtrack to so-cal bros becoming "punk". Musically, it could be a lot worse I suppose, but it's just so corny.
I don’t think I was or have ever been the target audience for this album … I don’t hate this, it’s grand, and there are some more palatable bops on it like “Gotta Get Away”. But it’s not something I’ll ever reach for again.
Not my fave, every song sounded the same with little change in lyricism and tempo
To my ears they were and still are Nirvana Lite.
Not really my thing but wasn't horrible.
I owned a lot of 90s albums on cassette and this futuristic format known as compact disc. I own zero of those albums today. Recently, I have begun an obsession with collecting vinyl, and I ask myself a lot, in fact just yesterday when I had The Refreshments in my hand, does 90s music age well, and do I need to buy any of my favorites from this decade again? I did own this Offspring album on cassette, it was not one of my favorites, but I did listen to quite a bit. Does this album age well, I don't think so. When you hear a 90s album, it sounds like a 90s album. Of course decades of old have all had their signature sound. But after the very formatted 50s, the 60s 70s and 80s were all a very experimental time in music. The 90s I feel were just kind of picking up the scraps the previous decades have left behind, and piecing together what they could. I feel by 2000 everyone ran out of ideas, and the majority of bands in the last 25 years are just carbon copies of everything that came before. Ok now I will get off my soap box and talk about this Offspring album. I can honestly say I haven't listened to it in almost 30 years, and I can definitely say I will never listen to it again. I feel anything I once enjoyed about this album, has been lost to my changing tastes, and when I go back, I wonder, did I enjoy this? It's funny how that works, some things stick with you forever, and some things you leave behind.
Couple good bangers. I like the vocals.
2/5. It's alright, it feels like how I expected a 90s Grunge band to sound. It can be a fun sound at times but even Nirvana is not an every day listen and I would rather listen to them if I wanted this sound. I recognize the hits but even still, they were just kind of there, not something I would actively seek out. I can see why it was popular, or even is popular, but it's not the best. I enjoyed it for what it was, and I might listen to it again, who knows. Best Song: Self Esteem, Bad Habit, Come Out To Play
Not my thing
I just don’t like the constant nasally screaming into the mic.
Bit heavy for me
Ok 2/5
I liked the energy of this album. Wiki notes this band along with Green Day + others were responsible for making punk rock popular again in the 90s....ah yes Green Day now THATS a good band. This just doesn't cut it for me but I have to thank it for making want to listen to Bowling for Soup again!
acho que é o que envelheceu menos mal deles mas ainda assim reparei que hj eles são talvez a banda menos memorável de qnd eu era guri
I was not expecting to see an offspring album on a list of albums I needed to hear. I'm not sure why that would be the case. I don't hate them, I just never considered them that important. Maybe I'm underestimating their pop punk influence. Anyway, I wasn't really into this. I didn't mind some of their Americana album, I feel they try to be the rockier side of pop punk (as opposed to Greenway or blink) but none of this got me too excited and I'm afraid that Dexter's vocals do grate after a while, I read once that he has a lot of processing on them, so maybe that is what bugs me about them, but I dunno. Either way the songs need to be really good for me to want to listen, and I'm not sure these were.
I can only do Americana…
Couple of ok tunes but gets a bit much after a listen.
the lyric "you stupid dumb shit motherfucker" brought a tear to my eye
Not as good as I remember. Good trip down memory lane, won't be returning.
That stupid drum beat (snare on 1,2,3,4) gives me PTSD. I'm typically a sucker for a lead singer in the higher register range but Holland's voice drives me nuts. It's probably the stupid drum beat, but maybe it's his face.
In the spring of 1994 the choice was between Dookie and Smash and well, Billie Joe reminded me too much of shitheads I knew and actually picked a fight with them outside a venue in Frankfurt, but more importantly, they didn’t play fast. The Offspring played faster, not NOFX or SNFU fast, but fast enough for me. That said, I don’t really think I ever clicked with this? I distinctly remember walking around Frankfurt with this on my discman thinking “do I even really like this?” Not in a Fugazi sense, where I’m being challenged by unorthodox sounds, more...does this suck? But, I still liked it enough to go see them do a free show at the university, bumping into Dexter housing a Big Mac a few blocks over. It was kinda good clean fun I guess and I never listened to it again until now. I completely forgot about that ska track lol, which I definitely defended back in 1994. It’s kind of a marvel Gurewitz could even supply distributors...11 million worldwide!!! If my dad ever gave me shit about pouring energy into music, I could always bring up these fools.
High octane, full throttle music. The drummer is working overtime lmao I swear. Not my sorta music I’m into but it would deserve a better score if I was into it haha.
I don't understand this, it is just some loud music that feels soulless. Like sure, the band knows how to play, and it still felt so empty with the same consistent sound throughout. The ending of the last track after five minutes of nothing was pretty neat, but that doesn't redeem the album in the slightest.
This band is in the running for worst ever. Other than “Self-Esteem,” this album does nothing for me. I’ll stop there before I attack your music taste if you’re one who likes this band with a severe lack of talent who must resort to gimmicks to get people to listen.
mid rock slop
Ive always found Come out and play to be an annoying song. The rest of it was fine, some was mildly enjoyable. I would rather not listen to it again.
This one has an emotional attachment for me, as I bought it when it first came out and felt rather the rebel with my punk album in hand. Turns out this is West Coast wannabe punk that sounds a lot like my past self had a significant Dunning-Kruger gap in my punk knowledge (and probably still do, bit less so with my ongoing 1001 self-knowledge thru music course.
More yelling, but more importantly, Offspring feels like a band created by a marketing department trying to capitalize on the popularity of grunge rather than being a band born out of it. Interesting hooks at times, but ultimately unconvincing.
Gotta Get Away Come Out and Play Self-Esteem
Feels like I visited an old high school friend and they still work at Ikea
it’s not my type of music, ig
Nope. I think I liked this when I was maybe 17 or 18. I've seen them live a few times since then, but the last time I saw them, at a festival, it was one of the worst sets I have seen in my life. Like they phoned it in. Just running off muscle memory. I decided that day to never listen to them again, I was so disappointed. I went home and deleted all of their music. Two stars, because they're not Morrissey bad. Just old and lame.
Not my cup of tea at all. Gave it 2 listens. Second time around the 1st track seemed better but unfortunately not the rest. All a bit samey and no fan of lead singers voice. Last track had an interesting pause for around 4 mins and then a middle eastern type guitar solo and raised this to 2 stars.
As the 1990s came thundering in with the rise of grunge and punk alternative rock, I never connected with The Offspring. Aside from their more well-known radio-friendly songs like "Come Out and Play," "Self Esteem," and "Gotta Get Away," the remainder of the album not very memorable or engaging. On re-listen, I pretty much feel the same. "Smash" is a reasonably well-produced album, featuring tracks that blend pop sensibilities with loud guitars and a punk-inspired attitude. However, it does not offer anything particularly innovative. For a more better representation of that period, consider "Dookie" by Green Day.
The Offspring are one of those groups I’ve tried to leave in my teens. But damned if some of these songs don’t get my toes tappin’.
Having looked at the various chart entries of this album on Wiki I saw that it had just limped in at No 75 in the UK charts. So no wonder I’ve never heard of them and wondered if it was yet another one of those US ‘filler’ bands who seem to populate this list in order to make the numbers up to 1001. This was actually unfair as it wasn’t such a bad album. A bit Green Days wannabes maybe but still an admirable attempt. One question though - was this ever released on vinyl and if so were the words on track one changed? 2.5/3 29/3/25
Keep em Separated and Self Esteem skyrocketed these guys to the 1994 alt charts, but it was on the coattails of Green Day’s Dookie.
Couple of songs I enjoyed Quite repetitive Not one I’d go back too
Loud without being very good or interesting at all
Not really my thing
Unpleasant noise. Simply don’t like.
Annoying.
Nothing special, wouldn't turn it off, wouldn't really come back to it
4/10
No Mom, I WON’T clean up my room. The band that launched a million angst ridden drywall punchers into the Age of Enlightenment (the late 90’s). They’re here with their debut that I haven’t really heard all the way through. There’s the hits, sure, but will those hit me the same as they once did, or will this generate the cringe that I kind of expect it to? Grab your walker, aging millennial guy named Kyle and/or Josh, and gather round the ol’ text box. Time to review Smash. Ok. Thanks. It is time to relax. Well let’s just pretend that didn’t happen. It was fine. Kind of funny, but you better start with a bang. Meh. The riff is alright here. Sort of thrash extra lite. The whole Rise Against melody that this has is really off putting to me. I’m aware that my use of anachronistic comparisons may also be off putting, but this is my party, and I’ll cry if I want to, pal. This was mid. Man these vocals are killing me. Why do an A Cappella segment with them? At least it jumps up from there. This song has far more energy than the previous. Ironic because the last song featured the word “energy” in the title. I mean this lyrical theme though. My skin is crawling with cringe. I may run you off the road if you’re playing this song. Oh my sweet lord. Immediately transported back to being stuck in traffic on the 102 flipping track and forth between Q104 and the other one whose name escapes me. Catchy song to be fair. A little less cringe. Better. Still not great. This lyrical theme feels slightly higher brow, but we are still deeply in cro-magnon territory. The unnecessary competition between humans in an age of permanent excess is baffling and exhausting, but just saying “dog eat dog” a thousand times doesn’t quite get the point across. I just want some straightforward punk. The riffs are again ok. Fairly boilerplate, mainstream rock. I want less melody and more edge. I am being delivered this overly-melodic track on repeat right now. Stadium “punk.” Hand me my cheaper version of a popular energy drink, there is some drywall to punch. Hey man, when I see red, look out. You know what though? At least this song has some attitude. And if I imagine it as a takedown of macho culture, it gets even better. This is a fun song. Heavier and more subversive. A victory. Uh oh. The king hit on this thing. Look. I talked about cringe, and I fully anticipated “Self Esteem” to remind me what a loser I was as a teenager, but you know what? This song is still pretty fun. The long winded melodic chanting is tiresome, but the lyrics and general slacker punk energy really work for me. Look at me liking all the chart toppers. Hey. This one is pretty cool. The little poppy break halfway is actually really good. A catchy track. This is my favourite cartoon. I will only expose my children to Killlboy Powerhead. It’s NOT too violent or racist like they say. The hood is just part of his costume. I don’t even know where that bit was going. This song sounds like a vaguely western themed and highly overblown arena punk song. Oh good! Ska influence. I will try to imagine good bands during these difficult times. Oh no. My brain is not powerful enough. All I can think about is Sublime and wearing pyjamas to Wal-Mart. So much of this stuff has aged horribly and I am incredibly bored. I could sleep if it didn’t feel like I was in the waiting room to watch a Billy Joe Armstrong NFT commercial. The aging of rockstars really is sad. Maybe Kurt Cobain was onto something This is Dropkick Murphy’s for the other coast. The riff has its moments, but the vocal melody is killing me. I’m tired. Is this song really going to be 10 minutes? That may lower this whole thing by a star. Oh wait it’s going to be silence!!! Score. Well I can use this time to ponder my existence and question my enjoyment of rock music overall. A lounge version of “come out and play” brings this 1995 Pontiac Grand Prix loaded with Wendy’s cups and an anti-abortion bumper sticker to its final stop. This went a lot worse than I could’ve even imagined. I hate this particular sound and I think that only grows with time. Who knows. This may come back like multi-coloured ski jackets or baggy jeans, but for now, this hits the ears like a warm trash heap hits a nose. It reminds me of the smelliest and hottest moments of 2005. Which is telling for two reasons. One. This album is like the inverse feeling of nostalgia, and two, I wasn’t there when this WAS fresh. I was learning these songs from aging anger management drop outs who are now right wing. So while that may be partially unfair, I can’t come at it from a different place. This sounds to me like a collection of songs to be belted out by drunk white guys in a half full Staples Centre. There were some songs I enjoyed, but I’m ducking out early, so I can beat the lifted F350s out of the parking lot. 2 HIGHLIGHTS: Come Out and Play, Self Esteem, It’ll Be a Long Time
well played and very well recorded straightahead 90s punk rock, let down by whiny vocals
Kind of sounds like if Weird Al made a song making fun of punk music. It's okay, I guess. I've always thought they were a novelty joke band.
I’ve always felt Offspring were a “paint by numbers” punk band - packaged as being edgy while their videos played endlessly on MTV. Between that and the vocals, I found them mostly annoying then and still do (although to a somewhat lesser degree now).
I am not and have never been a teenage boy, it is the sort of thing my now 12-year-old will inflict on me shortly, joy! having said that is ok to do the very boring bookkeeping to
I fell asleep
Solid punk record, music was good, vocals were not. Songwriting was solid, enjoyed "Gotta Get Away" and "Self Esteem" Overall, not an album I will return to but this was a fine listening experience, even if I won't seek out this band in the future.
I see the appeal, but this just isn't my thing. The best way I can describe this record is that it's "fun." However, it's more "fun" in that it revives memories of a certain aesthetic that it does more to reinforce than define.
Only heard some singles before. Genuinely just not my thing but Dexter Holland is my birthday buddy so I cannot say a bad thing about him 2/5
I have never enjoyed The Offspring. This album didn’t change my opinion.
5/10 I got this soon after Dookie by Green Day, so the comparisons are inevitable. I preferred this one. GD seemed like tourists into punk, Offspring seemed like insiders who were exploring into genres outside of punk. Quite fun. But the massive problem - and one I knocked a star off for - is that this album needs an edit. Too many songs, at least 10 minutes too long. It became tiring. Best: Come out and Play
tiene energía pero
The voice.....
Not my kind of music 😜
not terrible
Pre-listening thoughts: I KNEW we were gonna get this album today. Don’t ask me how. I’m not psyched about it though. I feel like we’ve been getting a lot of loud music recently - a lot of 90s grunge, metal, alt, etc. so I was hoping for something of a different pace. Manifesting an album by a woman for tomorrow. Also special shoutout to the kid from Jedi Junior High whose dad was in the Offspring. That was crazy figuring that out upon rewatch. Sadly his fav song (Stuff Gets Messed Up) isn’t on this album, but Greg K (his dad) isn’t in the band anymore either. Post/during listening thoughts: I completely zoned out during this sorry. You may be thinking “how the hell did you zone out during an album that’s so loud?” To that I say, I’m just incredibly talented. The speaking interludes made me wildly uncomfortable though. This isn’t the worst of 90s punk I’ve heard but I’m not loving it. This marks the fourth two star rating in a row I’ve given, and the 6th two star album in 8 days. Please let me get a good one for album 200 tomorrow 🙏 4/10 DID I NEED TO HEAR THIS BEFORE I DIE: nope Fav tracks: Self Esteem Least fav tracks: Smash. Why is there like 8 mins of silence.
Annoying voice
Not for me an insisting upon itself
Juvenileish punk rock not terrible
not my cup of tea
I actually quite liked the music and the messiness/punk-sound of it, and if I do my best to hear through the sound of Dexter Holland's voice I can kind of enjoy the album. Unfortunately, my personal antipathy for way of singing is enough for me to never want to sit through an Offspring album again.
Meeehhh
Not sure I think this album is a 2 straight up, but in the context of 1001 albums you must hear before you die, it feels appropriate to identify it as the lower end. I respect the significance of what this album + Dookie (which is the better project by a country mile, IMO) did for punk pop in the mid 90's but nothing is all that impressive on this LP. Middle school me enjoyed this type of album heavily- and to its credit, the raw, youthful, spit in your face energy is probably far and away its best quality. BUT, rather than being nostalgic, I think I just find myself glad to have outgrown the Green Day/Offspring phase.
Ugh.
I have a hard time getting through an entire song sung by the singer of this band. If you played in a rock band in the '90s, it was hard to get away from them in 1994/5 thanks to "Self Esteem", "Keep Em Separated" and "Gotta Get Away". This version of punk became mainstream and similarly-minded bands were everywhere. Listening to this now, I could enjoy "Genocide", which is a weird thing to say considering what it's about, but just the fact that it has more of a gang vocal approach saves it for me. Something about the tone of the dude's voice just makes me want to claw my ears off. The band is tight as hell and some of the songs are good high octane hard rock. I prefer Bad Religion when I want to be sonically bludgeoned by a band like this, but I can't deny the popularity these guys had.
How To Be Irritated for 47 Minutes Straight.
avg album
idk
Never been a fan. Too much goofiness and not enough substance
Mmm no.
I'm already not a huge fan of pop punk-adjacent stuff, it's simply not my thing and generally it can be pretty uninteresting. If I can give Smash something is the fact that it's not trying to be like most pop punk I heard by being real simple and having the worst vocals ever, it was more along the lines of regular punk rock stuff and it's pretty alright at that, if you like some kind of punk rock with some 90s production I don't see how this wouldn't tickle your fancy by being the exact kind of upbeat punk that many think of, but is it for me? Absolutely not, but I had a better time with it than I expected so I'm pleased about that
Smells like Green Day, gotta keep 'em separated otherwise they are indistinguishable.
Pretty good not entirely for me, very repetative and simplistic. Didn't sound dated, sounds like an often intimidated and influential album. Per that point, music that came after this album or may have been inspired by this album sounds much better to me than this.
Lika tråkigt som när jag såg dem på Liseberg nån gång tidigt 90-tal. Svag tvåa.
I was much too young for Smash to change my life. Even as a punk/emo girl in the 2000s, there was no real reason for me to revisit this album. To me, the tomes of ‘90s mainstream pop-punk were always Enema of the State and Dookie. Maybe that was because Blink’s self-titled album was a big gateway for emo kids, and American Idiot was a cultural juggernaut; all I knew about The Offspring was “Pretty Fly for a White Guy,” not even as a hit single, but as a joke among the first older punk kids I befriended. For all the critic talk of Smash’s cultural importance, I’ll admit, I never once felt that I needed to seek it out, even as someone who grew up loving this music and scene, and who did her homework on the bands who came before. Listening to Smash now for the very first time, all these years later, the jokes about The Offspring as sell-out trash now feel even funnier. Because, like, wtfffffff is this shit?!?! 80% of this sounds like either a bad rockabilly band doing a bad parody of Descendents/All, or a bad hardcore band doing a bad parody of Social Distortion. The other 20% sounds like just a slightly better Screeching Weasels if that band had listened to other bands besides the Ramones. When “Come Out and Play” came on, I realized, oh, I *have* heard this before, on the old alt-rock station back in Rhode Island growing up, but if I had known then that that song was the hit single off Smash, then I would’ve been even less inclined to listen to this, because my god do I hate that song!!!!! And there’s soooooo many other similar sounding songs like it on this album. It’s just…cookie cutter, soul-less, and repetitive. There’s a couple brief moments of honest punk songs here, with varied songwriting and okay lyrics, but the bloat outweighs those few moments 4-to-1. The immaturity of it all only makes it more appalling, but it’s not dumb fun like Blink singing about sex hotlines and alien abduction. Instead, it’s a bunch of guys mad at their parents, despite the fact that they’re in their 30s and can move out of the basement at any time. Smash feels like bringing a 20 year old man to Prom. Sure, he may have brought you beautiful flowers, but he didn’t pay for a limo and insisted on driving there in his ’94 Dodge Ram with no muffler that his ex-wife keyed, and besides, he’ll argue with you at dinner about how he isn’t having any fun and storm off to go chain-smoke and when you go out to apologize, you’ll find him making out with the head cheerleader who bullies you and calls you fat. The flowers are going to die in a week anyway, and you’ll forget why you even cared in the first place.
it’s alright
While this music is ok to me, I have never taken The Offspring that seriously. While many consider them “punk” - the only songs I had ever heard from them were on the radio and those singles were rather poppy to me. There certainly are some edgier songs on this album but the lead singers voice is still so pop to me. That being said - it’s an ok album.
no
They're undoubtedly good at what they do. Unfortunately, what they do isn't something that resonates with me. The sound quality on the "2008 remaster" I am listening to is very good. 2/5 is my "OK, if you like that sort of thing (I don't)" rating.
Haven’t heard this one before and surprisingly only know Self Esteem and Come Out and Play. Very generic and annoying. Not a super long album but it feels like an eternity.
really funny intro. ultimately nothing was you're gonna go far kid. sad!
I’ve heard some songs by the offspring before and they’re pretty good. I would’ve loved this album when I was 15. It felt very very mid, nothing particularly special
not my jam
Passed me by really. The spoken word stuff is shit and if you’re going to put a hidden track on make it worth listening to. Some half decent moments, and in places there were echos of both The Undertones and Iron Maiden. Which suggests I should have liked this a lot more than I did. Not something I plan on listening to again
There's a couple solid songs here, but the vibes, to me, are kinda fucked.
I think Offspring deserves its place, but it's not my jive and a little repetitive in its sound.
Couple of ok songs the rest not for me.
Cheesy lyrics and I don't like the prolonged whining scream they do.
Jätetään hidden träkki liattamatta jos se on pskaa enskertaan...
This is respectable old school punk fused with modern alternative rock trends and production to make something radio friendly yet full of edge. However, I will rate it low from hearing it a lot as a kid. C
2.5 for me.
-it’s not horrendous but it’s not.. really that good. My therapist was telling me how much she hated this band one time and now I can understand why -That being said it does have some highlights! The energy is badass in some songs and I LOVE the little Egyptian scale hidden track thing at the end of the album -Favorites are Come Out And Play and What Happened To You?
I see why they were popular but it still wasn't my bag. Not sure why, to be honest.
Feels way more like butt rock than I remember. I want to rate it higher for nostalgia but I just can't. I wonder if my kids will listen to dumb shit like this haha.
Virkeligt i top 1001
Puhh.. Mine forventninger til den her plade blev virkelig gjort til skamme.. Den er godtnok ikke ældet med ynde. Det virker mest som et forsøg på hvor meget idioti folk kan tolerere. Det er dumt hele vejen igennem. De pisser min tid væk med ligegyldigheder som snak om at hygge sig, og et 10 minutters lang tomhed track til sidst med en uendelig ligegyldig krølle på albummet. Jeg forsøgte endda at elske det i starten, og tænkte det var en stor 4er... Shit jeg er skuffet.. Hits er hits.. Men som album, nej tak! Klart den mindste 2er.. På en dårlig dag en klar 1er..
2.4 I thought this would be better
why so angry man? one song brought it up from 0, not bothered to remember which
I remember their singles from the 90s and it was definitely a popular sound for that time, but it’s all very similar and shouty, so not super fun to listen to except for the nostalgia.
Not a big fan; sounds like a lot of other bands of the era.
Honestly not for me, but I like the narrator/commentary throughout it. lol it’s fine. Too much yelling, 1 star. Never really liked the offspring like that… they’re def…. An acquired taste 🧐 anyways yeah, glad I finished it.
Vapid energy - lacks any artful contrast or dramatic tension
Not my thing at all. Don’t like any of it
Gibt mir nix
This is marginally more listenable than later Offspring because they haven’t quite worked out how to compose the worst sounding novelty songs ever made, and then somehow turn them into minor hits. But Come Out And Play is a hint of things to come and it sucks as bad as it did the first time I heard it. They-Might-Be-Giants-ass Orange County punk. Bad stuff. Big time round up, lest there be another, worse Offspring record to come on here.
Groupe connu de nom uniquement, sauf le riff guitare de "Come Out and Play" que je n'avais pas associé à ce groupe. Je suis passé à côté à l'époque. 2 des singles sur les 3 me rappellent Nirvana en moins bien (chant de "Gotta Get Away", "Self Esteem" qui a des faux airs de 'Smells'). Autant écouter Nirvana ... J'apprécie quand même l'énergie dégagée, les morceaux courts et dynamiques, la basse bien en avant. Morceau(x) notable(s) : Bad Habit ++ intro basse et accélération. Donc sympa à écouter, mais pas exceptionnel. =>2/5
I always found Offspring kinda corny but I gotta respect them just a lil bit
Not great but not awful Very repetitive Lazy writing
not my thing.
To a teenage pop-punk fan in 1994, this probably sounded like the most important album in the history of the world, ever! In retrospect, it’s full of sound and fury, signifying nothing, sung by people whose greatest fear was that someone might call them a trendy asshole. It’s at its most fun on the middle eastern themed ‘Come Out and Play’ and the bouncy ska of ‘What Happened to You?’
Facile and boring. I didn't hate it or anything, but I can barely bring myself to credit it with a review. In fact there you go. That'll do. Have a fart noise, the band would probably like that, and it basically sums this album up.
But too rocky for me
Punk, 1994 -> 2