So why is The Offspring’s Smash on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
Smash is one Smash is one of those albums where not only the hit songs hold up extremely well – and those hits are… smashers, for lack of a better word – but the entirety of the album is surprisingly strong and pleasing.
The Offspring is a band that’s a little bit difficult to classify both in terms of their sound and their relative “place” in the overall musical landscape. They’re punk rock but with a slower, heavier sound than is typical. But not so slow and heavy that you’d really classify them as either metal or grunge.
I’d argue that the band’s pop sensibilities are one of its chief secret ingredients, but surely they’re not nearly as pop punk as the likes of contemporaries such as Blink-182, Jimmy Eat World, or Fallout Boy.
So really The Offspring is an amalgam of punk, “heavy” music, and pop, and it all works in the sure hands of frontman Dexter Holland and crew.
Let’s start with “Self Esteem” and “Come Out and Play,” both of which were monster hit songs back in 1994.
If you were a music fan back in the day in the U.S., you can’t hear the opening percussion on “Come Out and Play” and not immediately think, “you gotta keep ‘em separated.” The crushing hook and Eastern-tinged guitar part launch the song from there, and it goes full blast for three-plus minutes. It should be noted too that The Offspring has a penchant for writing choruses that are both memorable and dripping with heavy radio rotation potential.
“Self Esteem,” the album’s biggest hit*, is even slower and heavier than “Come Out and Play,” and soars on the strength of its now classic Nirvana-ish guitar hook and Holland’s performance.
* You could argue that “Pretty Fly (For A White Guy),” off of Americana from 1998 (#896 of best 1,000 albums ever), rivals anything on Smash as the band’s biggest hit of all. If this troubles you at all, count up to cuatro cinco cinco seis and then get back to me.
“Gotta Get Away” has many of the same ingredients as the above two songs and could have just as easily become one of the album’s biggest hits.
“What Happened To You?” is super fun (ska punk!), a great change up, and displays The Offspring’s range.
And “Something To Believe In” has an almost U2-like arena rock feel fused with The Offspring’s heavier influences.
Some stats & info about The Offspring – Smash
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock, Rock Music, Alternative Rock, Punk Rock, SoCal Bands, Pop Punk, High Octane
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 4.5 out of 5 stars
- When was Smash released? 1994
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #320 out of 1,000
The Offspring’s Smash on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from The Offspring’s Smash that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
You gotta keep ’em separated.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.