Cosmic Harmony
Senior Member
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2009
- Posts
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- Reaction score
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"A raucous ride through America as seen through the eyes of a weary, but still optimistic, young kid."
1. "Welcome"- 0:09
2. "Have You Ever"- 3:56
3. "Staring at the Sun"- 2:13
4. "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)"- 3:08
5. "The kids aren't alright"- 3:00
6. "Feelings"- 2:51
7. "She's Got Issues"- 3:48
8. "Walla Walla"- 2:57
9. "The End of the Line"- 2:59
10. "No Brakes"- 2:06
11. "Why Don't You Get a Job?"- 2:52
12. "Americana"- 3:15
13. "Pay the Man"- 10:19
Hidden Track: "Pretty Fly Reprise" 1:00
1. "Welcome"- 0:09
2. "Have You Ever"- 3:56
3. "Staring at the Sun"- 2:13
4. "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)"- 3:08
5. "The kids aren't alright"- 3:00
6. "Feelings"- 2:51
7. "She's Got Issues"- 3:48
8. "Walla Walla"- 2:57
9. "The End of the Line"- 2:59
10. "No Brakes"- 2:06
11. "Why Don't You Get a Job?"- 2:52
12. "Americana"- 3:15
13. "Pay the Man"- 10:19
Hidden Track: "Pretty Fly Reprise" 1:00
In 1998, The Offspring unleashed their fifth album, "Americana" on the masses and in doing so threw a pie into the faces of the American public with wide success.
"Americana" opens up doors to unpleasant realities and situations of American life. The Offspring do not however execute this in a bleak tone, nor do they do so laced with the angst of a standard punk rock group. Instead what they do is essentially drop their trousers and unleash their milky white moons on it all. Such subjects as theft, broken dreams, unemployment, and numerous other undesirable details of life is highlighted in this album and are all just as relevant now, over a decade later, as they were back upon the album's release.
Fueled by the singles "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)", "Why Don't You Get A Job?", and "The Kids Aren't Alright" (particularly the former two) "Americana" debuted at #2 on the Billboard charts, #10 in the UK, and in the top 10 for charts all around the world, marking the highest that the Offspring have ever charted in many of these countries. It's also since gone on to sell over 15 million copies worldwide.
"Americana" is my personal favorite from The Offspring. It's lyrics are inventive and well written and clearly convey the real life scenarios of the songs. The album is also laced with the signature hooks and all of the "ooo's and aaah's" that are such an integrated part of The Offspring's music. Also, as far as punk rock is concerned, it is actually quite versatile musically, which I'll get into below:
Welcome
Have You Ever
A high energy soundtrack to helplessness in life that feels like falling with nothing to grab onto. Somewhat angsty in nature this song talks about such things are seeing the faceless people that you don't know, burying your face in your hands because no one understands you, drifting through life aimlessly, and how "the truth about the world is that crime does pay". However all of this is met in the end with an optimistic view about thinking that the world is better than it is and wanting to make it a better place to be.
Staring At The Sun
Continuing with the optimistic tone that ended "Have You Ever", "Staring at the Sun" is about how there is more to life than just surviving. For me personally the image that comes to mind with these two songs is that in "Have You Ever" I picture someone working in a cubical and being unsatisfied with their life and in this song that person gives the office the finger and storms off, sort of in an "Office Space" like fashion.
Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)
Turns out German-ish gibberish is a secret to chart success because it worked for Def Lep's "Rock of Ages" and it worked for this song too as "Pretty Fly" is the Offspring's biggest hit. In the 90's boom of hip-hop it seemed as though most kids were acting like gangstas because it was popular and not because they actually liked it. The Offspring recognized this and **** slapped it into submission and up the mainstream charts, reaching #1 in nine countries.
The Kids Aren't Alright
The first of two references to The Who's "My Generation" album on "Americana", "The Kids Aren't Alright" is the shadow of "The Kids Are Alright". The inspiration for this song came when lead singer Dexter Holland visited his childhood neighborhood to find out that it had gone far downhill and the kids that he used to play with grew up to have shattered dreams and very poor lives. These friends are actually named in the song, where two of them die young and because of that, this song is the darkest and most sorrowful on the album.
Feelings
Something of a parody of the original Morris Albert song as Dexter Holland rewrote the lyrics to change them from trying to forget one's feelings of love to trying to forget feelings of hate.
She's Got Issues
Some women are COMPLETELY wacked out in their head for whatever the reasons may be. This song is about one of those women. Controlling, obsessive, paranoid, daddy issues, and whatever other sort of emotional baggage you can think of and this girl has it.
Walla Walla
Let's go to prison! What fun it will be. "Walla Walla" is about repeat offenders who get slapped on the wrist and just never learn from their crimes so they have to get shipped off to the jail. Simple as that.
The End of the Line
When the title says "End of the Line" it means the ultimate end,.....as in death. More specifically it's about the pain that others have to go through in the aftermath of someone's passing. I personally think that this is also about the selfishness of suicide.
No Brakes
A very appropriately named song as "No Brakes" is the shortest song on the album and just runs straight through as if there is a runaway car that has......no brakes. (wasn't that clever?)
Why Don't You Get A Job?
If you fuse ska with mooches and throw in the melody to The Beatles' "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" then you manage to Frankenstein (yes, that's a verb now) up this song. However "Why Don't You Get A Job?" is much more appeal to people than Frankenstein as the the band fully acknowledge that this song is radio friendly with a short interlude at the end of the song.
Americana
This is the track where the Offspring take the bare bottoms that they've been wiggling at American culture throughout this album and put them dangerously close to it's figurative face. The title track is the second song on the album to reference "My Generation" as singer Dexter Holland stutters in the middle of the song while singing the words "...my g-g-g-eneration..." To really know what I'm talking about it's best to just listen to this song but just so you understand what I mean I'll just say "Everything's backwards in Americana".
Pay The Man
This song has a long middle eastern inspired intro before heavy power chords come in at 2:20. The vocals are somewhat hard to make out in this song for a while as they're heavily compressed but the subject matter of the song is oppression under "the man"......like in those black exploitative movies from back in the day.
This is one of the more dark songs on "Americana" and not only is "Pay The Man" the longest song on the album but it's also the longest they have ever written, though it's not actually over ten minutes as their is a period of silence at the end followed by a mariachi rendition of "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)" entitled "Pretty Fly Reprise".
OVER ALL
"Americana" is a fun album to listen to and actually has a message. Even more special about it is that it discusses "Eww-merica" themes with a very special level of tack and humor that makes this album miles ahead of other punk rock releases that cover the similar themes.
A very solid release that fully justifies it's impressive sales figures and is well worth owning or at the very least a listen.
Have You Ever
A high energy soundtrack to helplessness in life that feels like falling with nothing to grab onto. Somewhat angsty in nature this song talks about such things are seeing the faceless people that you don't know, burying your face in your hands because no one understands you, drifting through life aimlessly, and how "the truth about the world is that crime does pay". However all of this is met in the end with an optimistic view about thinking that the world is better than it is and wanting to make it a better place to be.
Staring At The Sun
Continuing with the optimistic tone that ended "Have You Ever", "Staring at the Sun" is about how there is more to life than just surviving. For me personally the image that comes to mind with these two songs is that in "Have You Ever" I picture someone working in a cubical and being unsatisfied with their life and in this song that person gives the office the finger and storms off, sort of in an "Office Space" like fashion.
Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)
Turns out German-ish gibberish is a secret to chart success because it worked for Def Lep's "Rock of Ages" and it worked for this song too as "Pretty Fly" is the Offspring's biggest hit. In the 90's boom of hip-hop it seemed as though most kids were acting like gangstas because it was popular and not because they actually liked it. The Offspring recognized this and **** slapped it into submission and up the mainstream charts, reaching #1 in nine countries.
The Kids Aren't Alright
The first of two references to The Who's "My Generation" album on "Americana", "The Kids Aren't Alright" is the shadow of "The Kids Are Alright". The inspiration for this song came when lead singer Dexter Holland visited his childhood neighborhood to find out that it had gone far downhill and the kids that he used to play with grew up to have shattered dreams and very poor lives. These friends are actually named in the song, where two of them die young and because of that, this song is the darkest and most sorrowful on the album.
Feelings
Something of a parody of the original Morris Albert song as Dexter Holland rewrote the lyrics to change them from trying to forget one's feelings of love to trying to forget feelings of hate.
She's Got Issues
Some women are COMPLETELY wacked out in their head for whatever the reasons may be. This song is about one of those women. Controlling, obsessive, paranoid, daddy issues, and whatever other sort of emotional baggage you can think of and this girl has it.
Walla Walla
Let's go to prison! What fun it will be. "Walla Walla" is about repeat offenders who get slapped on the wrist and just never learn from their crimes so they have to get shipped off to the jail. Simple as that.
The End of the Line
When the title says "End of the Line" it means the ultimate end,.....as in death. More specifically it's about the pain that others have to go through in the aftermath of someone's passing. I personally think that this is also about the selfishness of suicide.
No Brakes
A very appropriately named song as "No Brakes" is the shortest song on the album and just runs straight through as if there is a runaway car that has......no brakes. (wasn't that clever?)
Why Don't You Get A Job?
If you fuse ska with mooches and throw in the melody to The Beatles' "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" then you manage to Frankenstein (yes, that's a verb now) up this song. However "Why Don't You Get A Job?" is much more appeal to people than Frankenstein as the the band fully acknowledge that this song is radio friendly with a short interlude at the end of the song.
Americana
This is the track where the Offspring take the bare bottoms that they've been wiggling at American culture throughout this album and put them dangerously close to it's figurative face. The title track is the second song on the album to reference "My Generation" as singer Dexter Holland stutters in the middle of the song while singing the words "...my g-g-g-eneration..." To really know what I'm talking about it's best to just listen to this song but just so you understand what I mean I'll just say "Everything's backwards in Americana".
Pay The Man
This song has a long middle eastern inspired intro before heavy power chords come in at 2:20. The vocals are somewhat hard to make out in this song for a while as they're heavily compressed but the subject matter of the song is oppression under "the man"......like in those black exploitative movies from back in the day.
This is one of the more dark songs on "Americana" and not only is "Pay The Man" the longest song on the album but it's also the longest they have ever written, though it's not actually over ten minutes as their is a period of silence at the end followed by a mariachi rendition of "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)" entitled "Pretty Fly Reprise".
OVER ALL
"Americana" is a fun album to listen to and actually has a message. Even more special about it is that it discusses "Eww-merica" themes with a very special level of tack and humor that makes this album miles ahead of other punk rock releases that cover the similar themes.
A very solid release that fully justifies it's impressive sales figures and is well worth owning or at the very least a listen.
