The Offspring Smash released

Smash The Offspring

Released: April 11, 1994 Peak: 4 US, 21 UK, 5 CN, 13 AU Sales (in millions): 6.3 US, 0.3 UK, 12.2 world (includes US and UK) Genre: punk rock

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts. Time to Relax Nitro (Youth Energy) Bad Habit Gotta Get Away (11/26/94, 58 BA, 15 AR, 6 MR, 45 UK, 32 CN, 53 AU, 13 DF) Genocide Something to Believe In Come Out and Play (Keep ‘Em Separated) (5/28/94, 38 BA, 36 RR, 10 AR, 1 MR, 98 UK, 43 CN, 8 AU, 6 DF) Self Esteem (8/13/94, 45 BA, 7 AR, 4 MR, 37 UK, 34 CN, 6 AU, 13 DF) It’ll Be a Long Time Killboy Powerhead What Happened to You? So Alone Not the One Smash Total Running Time: 46:47 The Players: Brian “Dexter” Holland (vocals, rhythm guitar) Kevin “Noodles” Wasserman (guitar, backing vocals) Geegory “Greg K.” Kriesel (bass backing vocals) Ron Welty (drums, backing vocals)

Rating: 3.936 out of 5.00 (average of 19 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: The Offspring formed in Garden Grove, California, in 1984. The punk-rock band released their self-titled debut in 1989 and their second album, Ignition, in 1992. Neither charted in the United States. However, the group’s third album, Smash, benefited from the public’s new taste for post-grunge, guitar-based rock and became a top-five, multi-platinum… well, smash that generated three top-ten alternative-rock hits. It was an unheard-of success for an independent record release. In fact, the album sold so well that it bankrolled Epitaph Records and many international distributors. RD The album was “a blueprint for the explosion of the most recent wave of punk music” RD fueled by “a distillation of male adolescence, replete with petulance, idealism, bravado, insecurity, and ultimately, juvenility.” RD Smash is a solid record, filled with enough heavy riffs to keep most teenagers happy.” AM The Offspring “sounded relentlessly heavy, no matter how much the band claimed to be punk. Their tempos are slower than traditional hardcore, and their attack is as heavy as Metallica.” AM Still, they embraced elements of punk “with odes to no Self Esteem and singing about fighting in school.” AM They also delivered “speedy punk rock in So Alone, fist-pumping power pop in Gotta Get Away or even flirting with twitchy ska on What Happened to You.” RD It all hinged on the surprise success of Come Out and Play. “This fable of violent youth pivoted on an incredibly catchy Middle Eastern guitar serif.” RD The “raucous…single…stopped and started just like Nirvana, only without the Seattle trio’s recklessness.” AM

Resources: AM AllMusic.com review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine RD Robert Dimery (2006). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Quintet Publishing Limited: New York, NY. Page 734. Related DMDB Links: First posted 3/28/2011; last updated 11/28/2024.