I haven’t thought about The Offspring in quite a few years, but when their latest record landed on my desk this week, I had to give it a try for old times’ sake. I still like a lot of the stuff from 1994’s Smash, and I had a fling with 1998’s Americana, too. Sadly, the snotty, brash, punk-influenced band of the 1990s has given way to a pretty boring, pedestrian commercial rock sound with an occasional hip-hop piece thrown in. There’s not much energy or enthusiasm to be found here. About the only song I might return to is the Dr. Strangelove-referencing final track, “Slim Pickens Does the Right Thing and Rides the Bomb to Hell,” but even it is largely a re-hash of stuff they’ve already done better.
‘Half Notes’ are quick-take thoughts on music from Something Else! Reviews, presented whenever the mood strikes us.
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- Cody Jinks, Blackberry Smoke + Others: Fred Phillips’ Best of 2024 Country and Southern Rock - January 20, 2025
