[vaelic]

Oh man. Not sure its their best, but its up there. Ignition was a fantastic record and I'm amazed this wasn't a huge radio hit. Amazing song. I also thought 'Forever and a Day' was one of their best songs - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oZtzCAaDqE These songs blow away any of the popular Offspring songs you guys might have heard on the radio.

agreed. I always thought it should have been a single.

[Arcteryx]

best offspring song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rne8S...eature=related

hah was just listening to this earlier today, my fav off Ignition for sure

[Megalodactyl]

mmmm yes

[Rentahamster]

The Offspring kicks ass.

The one niggle I have with the band is that Dexter's live vocals don't really sound the same live as they do on the produced albums.

For example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VneT2DuMASw

The live versions of Gone Away don't really have the punch of the CD version during the chorus.

My only regret is that I can't scream high enough to sing most Offspring songs at karaoke.

[wondermega]

There's a music documentary that was recently posted on youtube that features a bunch of bands from the late 80's through the 90's called "One Nine Nine Four". The Offspring are in it along with a bunch of other bands. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmy7O_KRKdc the Offspring appear in it through out, but I think they are featured around the 45 minute mark if ya wanna skip ahead

Thanks for posting this, it's bringing me back to the good old days!! Great to listen to while I work.

As for Offspring, I'll be the negative nancy of the thread and say that I never really dug them enough to buy any of their albums. I liked some of their songs okay back in the day but I really liked a lot of their peers much better (Bad Religion, Pennywise, Bosstones, etc) yes I know Bosstones probably doesn't belong in that genre so much, but ya know.

My favorite bands in the 90s (aside from above mentioned) were Alice in Chains, Tool, and a long-forgotten group called God Lives Underwater..

[Seanspeed]

The Offspring kicks ass. The one niggle I have with the band is that Dexter's live vocals don't really sound the same live as they do on the produced albums. For example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VneT2DuMASw The live versions of Gone Away don't really have the punch of the CD version during the chorus. My only regret is that I can't scream high enough to sing most Offspring songs at karaoke.

Hehe. Yea, despite what someone else here said about his vocal range, its actually quite impressive and not acheivable for the average person.

BUT......you're right that live performances aren't very noteworthy. As a musician, its pretty obvious why. For one, they were never a 'hard-working band'. They played a lot of shows, but they were discovered early enough that they didn't have to work as hard as many bands. But mainly, Dexter isn't good at playing guitar and singing at the same time. He's fantastic as a solo singer, but I know all too well how hard it is to focus on being a great singer when you're also playing a guitar part beneath it.

[Teddman]

The one niggle I have with the band is that Dexter's live vocals don't really sound the same live as they do on the produced albums.

Eh, that is a relatively common technique. Dexter is doubled "harmonizing" with himself in the studio recording, onstage obviously he is only singing one half of the harmony. Otherwise, doesn't sound that different to me.

[Seanspeed]

Eh, that is a relatively common technique. Dexter is doubled "harmonizing" with himself in the studio recording, onstage obviously he is only singing one half of the harmony. Otherwise, doesn't sound that different to me.

The Offspring dont do a lot of 'harmonized' parts. What you're referring to is people who double over a vocal track to make it sound thicker and more impactful, but while The Offspring definitely do this in a fair number of tracks, its not the reason he sounds weaker live. Its because he IS weaker live. I've seen them before, too, and it seems quite apparent that the more complicated the guitar part is, the worse his singing gets.

But studio-wise, I'd say 80-90% of his stuff is a single-track vocal track. He really does have good range and is a talented vocalist, but pulling it off live is very difficult, and made doubly difficult if you'are also playing guitar at the same time. I also think its worth noting that doubling vocals over a couple tracks is difficult to make sound right. It takes a quality producer to mix it properly where it doesn't have an awkward sound to it.

[robox]

One of my all-time favourite albums. A shame Offspring took a nosedive after Ixnay on the Hombre... yet got more popular somehow :/

ya! even at that time, i thought americana was not as good... yet it sold more...?

[moist]

Bad Habit was a classic when i was in 7th grade.... omg the swearing! One of the first CD I ever purchased.

[Kastrioti]

I'm more of a hiphop head but growing up in SoCal I've seen Offspring live twice and grew up listening to them.

One of my favorite songs ever:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrBAYD4kmPo

[Margalis]

Their first album was their best. just listen to this song: tehran

When I said the first album was more ambitious this was the song I was specifically thinking of.

[Cindres]

YOU'VE GOTTA KEEP 'EM SEPARATED.

[Mohonky]

Smash was my favourite Offspring album. Couldn't imagine being a teenager and NOT hearing that album.

[strafer]

America was my first album withthem.

kinda cool band i guss

[TheTowel]

Got this album by accident. Wanted the Americana album and I got this. Can't say I'm disappointed.

Heard road rage on the radio yesterday. Don't miss that song.

[Toodles]

I remember in our SKATEBOARD GANG there being much stoned contention between those who preferred Ignition to those who preferred Smash. Team Ignition were correct of course!

Ixnay was panned by all of us. It felt like a buggering Dog Eat Dog album.

[subversus]

My favourite song is "Pay the Man" from Americana but the first 4 albums are better than everything they did since then.

[Lord British]

Their new single just came out the other day.

[shorty_symd]

A great album but not my favourite. I enjoy listening to Ignition and Ixnay on the Hombre more than Smash.

Edit: lololol @ all the Ixnay hate here. man! That is one solid straight album there (apart form Me & My Old Lady). Screw you all!!

[Bootaaay]

Ignition > all.

It's just a perfect album, as far as I'm concerned. Smash was a disappointment by comparison - I still love that album, and enjoy Ixnay and Americana, but Ignition is the perfect era of The Offspring's sound, imo, and I would have loved for them to explore that sound further.

I can't stand the newer stuff - Conspiracy of One was such a piece of shit, I haven't checked out an album of their's since, but the songs I have heard from those records (and that new song posted above) lead me to believe I'm not missing all that much.

[alysonwheel]

Oh my god, this thread made me go dig Smash out of storage and rip it. Looking forward to listening to it at full volume on the bus tomorrow.

[shorty_symd]

Ignition > all. It's just a perfect album, as far as I'm concerned. Smash was a disappointment by comparison - I still love that album, and enjoy Ixnay and Americana, but Ignition is the perfect era of The Offspring's sound, imo, and I would have loved for them to explore that sound further.

Agreed. There is something special about Ignition. Session, Dirty Magic, Kick Him When He's Down, Burn It Up. Damn, the whole album is just perfect.

I can't stand the newer stuff - Conspiracy of One was such a piece of shit.

Seriously, compared to Splinter and "Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace" (ugh!), Conspiracy of One looks like a masterpiece. To some extent, I can forgive "Splinter" but RFRG is just garbage. A poorly done copy of American Idiot.

[Bootaaay]

Edit: lololol @ all the Ixnay hate here. man! That is one solid straight album there (apart form Me & My Old Lady). Screw you all!!

Yeah, I never got the Ixnay hate - well, I get it; it's over-produced, too clean and too light-hearted for many fans, but I love a lot of the songs on that album, even 'Me & My Old Lady', but especially 'Meaning of Life', 'Leave it Behind', 'Gone Away', 'Amazed' & 'Change the World'.

[Tashbrooke]

i missed the early offspring but i have Americana,Smash and the greatest hits always liked the band, but in the 2000s and drifted away from them and went on to bigger and better things... such as foo's and chilis

[Shadybiz]

Loved this album when it came out, and still love it now. I like most of Offspring's stuff...a few stinker tracks here and there, but I enjoy most of it.

[shorty_symd]

Best Song(s) from each album:

Self-Titled: Kill the President (followed by Crossroads and Jennifer Lost the War)
Ignition: Dirty Magic (followed by Get It Right and Session)
Smash: Gotta Get Away (followed by Self Esteem)
Ixnay: I Choose (followed by Mota, Meaning of Life, Cool to Hate)
Americana: Staring at the Sun (followed by Pay the Man and Americana)
Conspiracy of One: Million Miles Away
Splinter: Long Way Home
Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace: A Lot Like Me

[Silicon Knight]

This album is utterly fantastic. One of the first albums I bought with my own money when I was around 12 years old. This and Dude Ranch by Blink fueled my puberty.

[Vilam]

"Favorite albums of all time" was exactly how I was going to describe it. Perhaps the absolute best. There isn't a single bad song on there.

[Witchfinder General]

Soundtrack of my teenage years. Just listened to the album the other day on vinyl. Still amazing.

As an aside, does anyone know if the remaster of Smash actually sounds better than the original? I'm worried it's simply louder and kills the dynamic range.

[Dishwalla]

I can't stand "Keep Em Separated" anymore, to me it's gotten as annoying as "Pretty Fly(For a White Guy)"*, but the rest of the album is still pretty good.


And in high school I had a "Bad Habit" T shirt that had the words Stupid, dumbshit, goddamn, motherfucker on the back of it. Used to wear it to auto shop because the teacher didn't give a shit.


*Okay, maybe not quite that extreme, but it's close.

[The Boat]

Heh, just the other day for some reason I felt like listening to this. What a blast from the past.

[Hoya Destroyer]

I was a huge Offspring fan in the 90's.
I think Genocide is the best song on Smash, followed by Bad Habit.

[Roland Deschain]

My favourite song is "Pay the Man" from Americana but the first 4 albums are better than everything they did since then.

Agree on "Pay the man". It's their best song by far. I hoped they would continue in this vain but alas.
Smash is kind of a classic. Would love for it to be released on rock Band.

[LakeEarth]

One of the best albums of my youth.

Though my mom did not approve when she heard Bad Habit.

[Tragicomedy]

"There's no tomorrow!" You are correct good sir. Fucking thumbs up for that. I'm both disappointed that I didn't get to mention it myself but also overjoyed that somebody else mentioned it so quickly. The best songs from that album weren't the radio hits. 'Genocide', 'Something to Believe In' and 'Not the One' are also classics. This was definitely The Offspring at their best. I have a lot of friends big into punk that think The Offspring are awful, but I think think they had(key word) a great sense of melody, aggression and punk-style rhythm. I'm also a big fan of Ignition and I think Ixnay had a handful of incredible songs but it also marked the beginning of their turn into proper sell-outs. Couldn't listen to them after that.

Couldn't agree more. Smash and Ignition era The Offspring is best The Offspring. Ixnay had a few solid cuts but as an album was a huge disappointment for me. The raw energy and emotion was gone, and they started making power pop punk music for the radio waves.

[Kifimbo]

Their new single just came out the other day.

Sounds like a Foo Fighters song.

[relaxor]

Yesssss, one of my favorites for sure. Love just about every dang song on there.

I quickly memorized the 'Drivers are rude' monologue, obviously can still do it today.

[Lord British]

The new album is currently streaming at Rolling Stone.

[shorty_symd]

Thanks! Currently listening to it.

[SephCast]

I also owned this in 2nd grade on Cassette tape. Played "Bad Habit" at a friend's birthday party. His Mom got really mad.

[dave is ok]

Best songs were the first song (Nitro) and last song (Smash).

All other opinions are not valid.

[GasProblem]

My sister used to love Offspring when I was still a kid, and she introduced me to it. <3 Offspring.

Thanks sis.

[JumpingTheGun]

This album is 7th - 8th grade for me


"Ahh...it's time to relax..."

[Davidion]

The Offspring was my favorite music act back in high school and still holds a special place in my heart, despite their recent output having been overly pop and lackluster.

Basically, Smash piqued my interest and Ignition (particularly Kick Him When He's Down) knocked me over the edge. I've always considered their earlier work about as pop as I wanted punk to get before it jumped the proverbial shark.

[danmaku]

I also owned this in 2nd grade on Cassette tape. Played "Bad Habit" at a friend's birthday party. His Mom got really mad.

God bless parents that can't speak english. I could blast the worst obscenities out of my stereo and they wouldn't bat an eyelid.

Smash was the second CD I ever bought and while I'm generally into heavier stuff, I still love it today.

[shorty_symd]

The new album is currently streaming at Rolling Stone.

Holy shit! Dividing by Zero was incredible! Much better than their last album.

[Wired All Wrong]

The new album is currently streaming at Rolling Stone.

Thanks for the link. It's been pretty hit and miss for me so far. Up to OC Guns right now which I think is a pretty awesome song. Cruising California (Bumpin' In My Trunk) was the worst song so far, just terrible.

[bengraven]

The biggest album around my area for a long time. The only album that no one copied - we all bought our own copy.

That intro was the first track for soooooo many mix tapes...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5WxKuoZ5oA

[Cat Party]

Yup, Smash came out in 8th grade for me, I think. One of my first 5 or 10 albums. Gotta Get Away was my favorite track, but I loved the whole album. I think Ixnay is my favorite Offspring album, though.