The Offspring "Smash" (1994) - got it
One of a group of more polished, catchy “pop punk” bands to emerge in the mid 90s (along with bands such as Green Day and Rancid).
The band had signed to Epitaph records and were recording this, their
third album on a tight budget. Money was so tight that they had to
constantly call the studio to utilise downtime between other bands' sessions in
order to get a discounted rate of their studio time. Several of the songs were worked out in
the space of a couple of nights to make economical use of the time they
had.
The band’s previous album had only sold around 15,000 copies, so they
were under no illusions of their music finding a place on mainstream
radio or MTV. Lead single “Come Out and Play” changed all that, becoming a
hit. The album sold millions of copies, effectively setting up Epitaph
and the Offspring (though they would soon depart for a major label)
for the next few years. Guitarist Noodles was working as a school
janitor and promised his boss not to quit until the end of the year. He
said that kids who had seen him on MTV would be surprised to see him cleaning.
When the band first started, singer Dexter Holland was on drums... which
I find odd, because his high-pitched yell is so distinctive, it makes
sense to have him on vocals.
The first track proper "Nitro (Youth Energy)" starts with a surf-rock
style drum intro but then kicks into fast punk rock with mildly
nihilistic lyrics. Tracks like "Bad Habit" and "Self Esteem" show the
band's humorous, slightly puerile side. Track "Genocide"
has a chord sequence that they seem to have reused on at least the
subsequent couple of albums, so I'm not sure if that was an intentional
through-line for their albums, or just plagiarising themselves.
While the band would come to be known for a string of novelty pop-punk
hits (Pretty Fly for a White Guy, Original Prankster, Hit That), on
Smash they were still pretty serious, if catchy, punk business.
