Issue #69: The Offspring – Americana

Released:  November 17th, 1998

Recorded:  July – September 1998

Genre:  Pop Punk, Punk

Record Label:  Columbia

Duration:  43:35

Producer:  Dave Jerden

Personnel

Track Listing

Singles

Why Americana is One of My Favorites

If you were a “rocker” or “skater” or “freak” or whatever epithet that your middle and/or high school hierarchy imposed upon you, you probably lost some street cred with your peers if you admitted to liking Americana.  After all, even the “jocks” and “preps” were blasting “Pretty Fly” 27 hours a day.  Even the “drama queers” and “band geeks” found the humor in the Offspring’s juvenile subversion of a cultural trend.  About the only crowd not impressed was the “wiggers”…and of course the “thugs,” but most of the “thugs” that I came into contact with were so walled off from anything remotely resembling a guitar that they probably remained unaware.  Wait, back up, the “wiggers” probably thought it was funny because they could point to someone in their clique that “acts just like that!” while espousing their own authentic “hood life.”

Ok, to be fair, “Pretty Fly” doesn’t speak for the whole album, but at that age, the two were synonymous.  And I don’t know how many “freaks” like me actually liked it, but I do know that you damn well better not admit it, lest you be slapped with “POSER,” which could take a week or more to shake off.  Seriously, you better have an Iron Maiden cassette from 1983 in your back pocket and memorize the lyrics to an Elliott Smith album if you’re going to go around bobbing your head to “Pretty Fly.”  A Cannibal Corpse ticket stub, a Joy Division t-shirt, and some hard rock from the 60’s or 70’s like Zeppelin, Hendrix, or Pink Floyd on vinyl might be required as well.  Bonus points if you can talk about Sid & Nancy without ever actually mentioning the Sex Pistols.

The point is that Americana became unpopular among the “rock” crowds simply because of “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy).”  I’ll be the first to admit that the song was played to death, but it was unfairly conflated with the rest of the album.  Sure, it’s a poppy, bouncy, slightly sugary version of punk rock, though not ever track is as inane as “Pretty Fly” and even if they were, no one’s forcing you to listen to it 30 times a day.  The truth is, Americana is a decent album.  People have their qualms with the Offspring, but I would classify them as one of the more consistent acts from the 90’s punk and alternative scene.  They never strayed too far from a sound that worked, and although it led to varying levels of commercial success, they are one of those bands that have a strong catalog in retrospect.  I’m not against bands that experiment and change their style, but there is a certain disappointment when a band I love sounds like a different band a couple of years later.  Manson had Antichrist Superstar! … and then… Mechanical Animals; Nine Inch Nails put out The Downward Spiral! …and then…The Fragile.  Now I like Animals and Fragile, but they were just so totally different.  Moving on.

Despite the album that came in the interim, Ixnay on the Hombre, Americana sounds much like a poppier and more polished continuation of Smash.  The lyrics on Smash were littered with their fair share of teenage angst, but there were also worldly concerns like environmental degradation and school violence.  Americana has a blend of angst and issues as well, though this time around they’re a bit lighter in tone.  Songs have the same simple structure, but the production has improved considerably.  These are still relatively fast songs, just not quite as fast.  All in all, for as approachable as I believe Smash to be, Americana takes it a step further.  I can understand why some people would be turned off, yet I also believe that fans of Smash wouldn’t find Americana completely disagreeable.

Plenty of songs touch on the “punkier” side of the Offspring.  “Feelings” is incredibly fast; the somewhat silly vocals can be deceptive, but the guitar is absolutely blazing and the drums are non-stop.  The bridge is actually pretty damn amazing, complete with a guitar solo.  There are also some excellent drums rolls/transitions, and it’s kind of a shame that they mucked this up with the bizarre vocal track.  “Walla Walla” is also fast and definitely has “the punk thing” going on with the shouted and layered vocals, rounded off with a simple sing-song melody.  “No Brakes” could easily be tacked on to Smash with it’s aggressive music and “don’t give a shit” attitude.  All in all, it’s a nice little slice of the middle ground between “pop” and “punk.”  “Have You Ever” and “Staring at the Sun” both exemplify the band’s move into more commercial territory while also retaining the typical Offspring sound.

“The Kid’s Aren’t Alright” is, overall, the strongest of the singles released from the album.  It’s basically an updated version of Jim Carroll’s “People Who Died,” detailing the less-than-perfect futures of several acquaintances.  It’s straightforward, but I love the pace and rhythm of the track, and it definitely touches a bit on the band’s darker side.  It’s a sobering reminder that reality isn’t always pretty and the dreams of youth are often lost all too quickly.  “The End of the Line” is one of the most personal offerings from the guys – a story about the loss of a loved one and feeling lost and angry about them “leaving you.”  It’s true that the Offspring may never be remembered for their lyrical poetry, but “The End of the Line” does prove that they’re capable of more.  “Americana” holds relevance as well, as Holland remarks on the instant gratification culture of 1998, which has actually gotten much, much worse nowadays with everything that’s ramped up since then: constant internet access, online shopping, online banking, online everything, and everything else that has developed with the shrinking of memory, touchscreens, and wifi.  The explosive “Well fuck you!” that punctuates the song sums it up perfectly.

“Why Don’t You Get a Job?” was the song that drew me more to Americana than “Pretty Fly.”  I love the little “ska outings” that the band likes to delve into once per album; the fact that it’s set to the tune of The Beatles “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” which works so well with the ska beat makes it all the better.  It’s a bit of a novelty track, though I can dig it now and again.  And therein lies part of the problem with why rockers had a tough time taking Americana seriously – “Pretty Fly” and “Why Don’t You Get a Job?” are so decidedly not serious.  “The Kid’s Aren’t Alright” was quite dark by comparison, and the “Walla Walla” flopped because (I think) it was a little too punky for the same crowd that loved the first 2 singles.  I’m not quite sure why “She’s Got Issues” never caught on, but my guess would be because it plays out more like a standard alternative song and attempts to rely more on melody for a catchy hook rather than the rhythmic half-shouts of punk.  On a completely unrelated note, the verses of “She’s Got Issues” remind me a lot of “Just What I Needed” from the Cars.

Americana won’t be remembered as the classic that Smash was, mostly because by 1998 we’d already heard this sort of thing before.  Back in ’94, Smash was pop punk prior to pop punk’s proper propagation.  Regardless, it’s got that uptempo, energetic, and generally lighthearted feel that made/makes pop punk so appealing in the first place.  Pop punk groups were as ubiquitous by the late 90’s as industrial rock acts were in the early part of the decade, and a lot of forgettable bands came and went.  The Offspring did what they did and they did it well, and sometimes that’s enough.  There are plenty of bands out there remembered for their experimental records and hybridizing of styles, but we also need solid genre staples to prop the industry up.

I got no problem with a band making money off their craft, and I think that some misinformed set of ideals is what turned away a lot of potential fans.  I did my share of crying out “sell out!” when I was young, and then one day it’s like a light bulb comes on – what the fuck do teenagers know about making money?  Or even devoting their life to a craft like a craft?  It’s easy to “maintain artistic integrity” when your biggest problem is a chemistry test.  It’s an admirable position, but it’s completely misguided.  But teenagers I can forgive.  What’s surprising is just how long some people will hold on to this romantic notion of being a starving artist – despite never having done so themselves.  I think that’s probably what drove so many “bad vibes” towards Americana while in reality it was blazing through the charts and represented non-stop on radio and MTV.

Americana is great for scratching that pop punk itch.  (Fact: I kind of hate that term.)  Once in a while I go through a period of a week or two where I really love soaking up this sort of music (along with older acts like the Ramones, Buzzcocks, some earlier Misfits thrown in).  Americana isn’t quite my first stop, but it’s usually not more than 4 or 5 albums into my binge.  I only wish I’d been a little more courageous about diving in back when it was current!

Written by The Cubist

Other album from The Offspring in this series:

• 1994 – Smash – Issue #7
• 1997 – Ixnay on the Hombre – Issue #79

Back to The Cubist’s 90’s Albums

Written by The Cubist

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