Hello friends and neighbors =) For a little while, I will be going through my personal music collection in chronological order, while I build up a collection of great underground or unsigned musicians I would like to promote. Tonight, I will be doing an old favorite: Smash by The Offspring.
Album: Smash
Artist: The Offspring
Released: April 8, 1994
Genre: Punk rock
Obtained: 1 week ago, passed down from my father who purchased the CD in 1994
OVERVIEW
Smash may or may not be the most well-known Offspring album ever, but it sure has the greatest number of hits. The band started out as being a very punk-based band, but over the years have slowly shifted to the hard rock side, while still holding on to their punk roots. Smash sees the group right in the middle of this shift, and this 50/50 combination of angry hard-rock sound and tenacious punk rock vocals, is mind-blowingly perfect, whether you're driving, kicking it in your backyard, or in the bedroom, battling your teen angst, or doing other things...
While they may try to portray an outer image of being these crude, anti-parental-advisory, in-your-face hardcore dudes, much of their music conveys a strong moral and/or personal message beneath the wailing, such as in songs like "Bad Habit" (a song about extreme road rage), "Self Esteem" (a guy who endures constant emotional abuse from his girlfriend), "Gotta Get Away" (paranoid schizophrenia, or something similar), and "Come Out and Play" (gang violence in schools).
Other non-charted classics include "Genocide" and the title track, "Smash." The former is one of your typical "this-is-what's-wrong-with-society" type tracks, while the latter is a loud anthem of non-conformity. Both tracks use a melody (after the chorus of "Genocide" and after the outro speech that would be re-used in the song "Change The World" on the 1997 album Ixnay on the Hombre. It seems they really liked that tune and were hoping to make a hit single out of it. Sadly, it didn't work. No matter. The album went on to sell over 9.5 million copies, and rightly so.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is an album no rock lover should be without. It's got something for everyone, from Ska-style party music for the jokers and tokers to heavy grunge for the angsty teens to super-fast power punk for the road ragers. One of my favorite rock albums of all time. Thanks Dad =)
Thanks for reading, and have a great day! (Good morning to my friends in Europe!) =)
Favorite Tracks:
1. Bad Habit
2. Smash
3. Come Out and Play
4. Gotta Get Away
5. Self Esteem
Free mp3 streaming courtesy of Grooveshark:
http://grooveshark.com/#!/album/Offspring+Smash/4982640 
No comments:
Post a Comment