Ten Best Offspring
Songs
by: David McGhee
1: Bloodstains
Please forgive me
for suggesting that a cover song could be up there with the better
original tracks they have. But to me this song represents all the
things the Offspring rarely ever do and are so very good at. I'm
talking about being heavy. Some of their songs can run head to head
with many heavy metal bands. This song is like falling down and
breaking your jaw in just the right way to give you a heroic cleft.
It has very heavy guitars and Dexter seems to have a little bit of
menace in his voice. Normally he just shouts and there is very little
emotion in what he does, but in this one he sounds like he's pissed
off at the microphone.
2: DUI
This has to be the
best track they've ever produced. Period. So many things are right
with this song. The guitars cut through like surgical instruments and
the lyrics are very inventive. It was actually Noodles (co lead
guitarist) who wrote the lyrics. Prompting me to think of a scenario
in which Dexter is singing about boxes (or whatever the hell he sings
about) and Noodles tells him what a dumb shit he is and then proceeds
to write down lyrics on a sticky note at an alarming rate. Did I
mention that they were both drunk and itching to break things?
Because that would make them total badasses!
3: Dirty Magic
This song actually
appears on two Offspring albums. Ignition and Days Go By. The
Ignition version is of course rawer and more emotional. I'm sure at
the time of its release it would have been considered a Nirvana rip
off. Well.. Yeah. But this song was written by a man who basically
made new lyrics to Ob La Di Ob La Da so let's not split hairs here.
It's a catchy song and the new version has been amped up with some
“whoas” and a little more reverb and chorus pedal. The overall
effect is effective I'd say, affecting me in effective ways only
effective songwriting can do.
Come As You Are!
That's the song!
4: The Kids Aren't
Alright
This is as straight
forward as the Offspring get, proving that the T power chord
formation on the guitar brings nothing but good things. What makes
this song so unique though is that its roots are based in more on
emotion and less on observation. The little riff thingy mabobber
before the verses is just simplistic genius. This is such a simple
song that it no doubt had garage bands all across the country face
palming over exactly what it takes to make a top forty hit.
5: What Happened To
You?
Ska! Never mind
this song is a plea for their friend, Sublime Singer Bradly Nowell,
to stop chasing that ever out of reach dragon. I know its lyrics,
when read alone, invoke the very spirit of concern and deep
contemplation. But still... SKA!!!
6: Fix You
It's really up to
whether or not you like Snow Patrol or the Offspring better here.
Snow Patrol did the melody with Chasing Cars but the Offspring add
surrealistic quality to the music. It starts off with a soft guitar
and is immediately follow by a piano. Before you know it the song
explodes into an odd display of emotion for the band. They tried to
follow this vibe with Days Go By's All I Have Left Is You but with
more annoying sounds than good ones.
7: Half Truism
“If we don't make
it alive / well it's a hell of a good day to die / all our lives that
shine strong / only lasts so long.” What can't you love about those
lyrics? And again Dexter stole from the best source material around
in my opinion. None other than My Chemical Romance's Helina. Now that
I think about it. It IS Helina! Fuck man! How do you guys not get
sued and just how lax is copyright law!?
8: Have You Ever?
The strong crunchy
beginning segues into a hardcore punk riff and shouting vocal. The
beauty of this song is its use of an outro. The bassline chugs along
until the band just rips the fuck out and charges full ahead with
Dexter shouting “When the truth walks away, everybody stays,
because the truth about the world is that crime does pay!” I wonder
if that applies to intellectual property law?
9: Tehran
This barn burner
comes from their first album. Aside from Beheaded, I'll Be Waiting,
and Jennifer Lost the War, it's really the only other song you can
sing along to. Probably the strongest track on the album. So much so
that they re-recorded it pretty much the same only with the lyric
“Baghdad” instead of “Tehran.” Never has an Offspring song
been so blatantly politically motivated. If only they could of
blended this song and beheaded and Kill the President and they could
have “Kill the President by Beheading Him in Tehran.”
The chorus is
catchy and the musicianship makes one wonder why they aren't ripping
it out all the time? Maybe the TSOL connection was too strong at this
point and Thom Wilson (producer of the first three albums)
streamlined their songwriting?
10: Kick Him When
He's Down
I like this song
because it is very catchy and I can totally imagine Dexter being a
meany poo poo head and kicking someone when they're down. They'd most
likely be smaller than he is... And religious... Wow. Dexter is a
dick!
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