The band didnвЂ™t single-handedly establish the late-вЂ™90s market for obnoxious frat-rock sing-alongs, but they blew it up considerably, enough so to open the doors the following year for songs like вЂњMy Name IsвЂќ and вЂњAll StarвЂќ to become national sensations. Subsequent singles вЂњWhy DonвЂ™t You Get A Job?вЂќ - a jingle-ballad vaguely reinterpreting the BeatlesвЂ™ вЂњOb-La-Di, Ob-La-DaвЂќ as a rebuke toward a financially unsupportive partner - and the mean-spirited screed вЂњSheвЂ™s Got IssuesвЂќ continued to establish the bandвЂ™s aesthetic as incensed insolence. Those figures made the album nearly as successful as Smash and renewed the OffspringвЂ™s cultural omnipresence. Maddeningly hypnotic, вЂњPretty FlyвЂќ was responsible for a large percentage of AmericanaвЂ™s 10 million copies sold worldwide.

вЂњGive it to me baby!вЂќ taunt a pair of salacious singers (one of whom was actually a voice actress in a number of beloved childhood cartoons), answered in response by backup musician Chris Higgins screaming out a squawky вЂњUh huh, uh huh!вЂќ вЂњUno, dos, tres/ Cuatro, cinco, cinco, seis!вЂќ inexplicably goes another outburst 30 seconds in, before vocalist Dexter Holland finally begins telling the sad tale of a cluelessly appropriative suburbanite over ska-crunch guitars. Launching off with a sample of the nonsense-German that counted in Def LeppardвЂ™s graceless вЂњRock Of Ages,вЂќ вЂњPretty Fly (For A White Guy)вЂќ only becomes more ridiculous as it goes. They had to choose between two competing visions of the Offspring, and their choice was self-evident with the release of AmericanaвЂ™s lead single. (Rock stations still spin вЂњGone AwayвЂќ to this day.) But continuing to follow its more sober direction would ultimately mean giving up on the lucrative reality the band could reap by following the lead of SmashвЂ™s flagrant jock-pop. While a reversion to the mean was inevitable coming off a freak success story, the bandвЂ™s alt-rock leaning, appreciably less fun follow-up Ixnay On The Hombre proved a significant step down, selling substantially less and failing to generate any singles of comparable consequence to the previous albumвЂ™s вЂњSelf Esteem,вЂќ вЂњCome Out And Play,вЂќ and вЂњGotta Get Away.вЂќ Ixnay, a labor of major label freedom to invest greater time and effort into their compositions, still hit the top 10 and garnered the band moderate radio play. Led by a barrage of shameless vocal hooks and Nirvana-aping guitars, Smash broke through all expectations and helped usher in the mainstream dominance of California skate punk alongside Green DayвЂ™s Dookie and Bad ReligionвЂ™s Recipe For Hate. Twenty years ago, the Offspring had stumbled out of their moment. Now, while there is surely some money to be made on nostalgia streams of one-note goof-jams like вЂњHit ThatвЂќ and вЂњOriginal Prankster,вЂќ make no mistake Round Hill was interested primarily in the crown jewel of Americana. In 2015, the Offspring auctioned off the rights for their Columbia Records catalogue to Round Hill Music, a $35 million deal that included a total of six studio albums and a greatest hits LP - all released after 1994вЂ™s Smash, the groupвЂ™s Epitaph breakthrough and still the best selling independent album of all time.

The offspring gone away topic