Anti-disestablishment heroes — well, these guys have to be
\ncommended for what they write. Rock music was always a product of
\nthe non-conformist. It doesn’t matter whether you make sense or
\nnot; as long as you speak against anything, you are a rock
\nmusician. Not that there is anything wrong in being mean, but
\ntaking the attitude to blinding heights does wear off the charisma
\nof being a leftist. On the other side, however, rock sounds its
\nbest, when it cries — or rather rants — over something.<\/p>\n
Now, if you are a hardcore rocker, and are depressed of writing
\nsongs about depression, and being depressed, again and again and
\nagain, then what on earth do you do? Where on earth do you find
\nyour fuel to fire you into writing blazing tunes? Well, you need to
\nbe unhappy about something to write unhappy songs about. In such a
\ncase, you write about anti-disestablishment, and this is exactly
\nwhat the boys of Offspring write. If rock sings for destruction,
\nthese guys sing for anti-destruction. This doesn’t necessarily mean
\nthat they sing for construction; after all, they are rockers,
\ntoo.<\/p>\n
The Offspring is a very clever band. They write meaningful,
\nsardonic lyrics that are not only cheekily written, but also well
\nsung, amidst the wonderfully hard punk-rock music they make.
\nAmericana<\/i> is an album full of sense and humor. Unlike other
\nrock acts, they don’t despair over how bad the world has been to
\nthem, but instead laugh out loud over the things which we so
\ndeliberately do wrong. Each song comes out with a new way of
\nlaughing over the frivolity and stupidity of mankind, and its
\n“culture.”<\/p>\n
The Offspring has a fantastic sense of humor. A few of
\nAmericana<\/i>‘s songs really make one laugh, with their oozing
\nsarcasm, and the zest and the shamelessness with which the band
\npresents them. “Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)”, for instance, about
\na white wannabe in his search for “cool,” with its absolutely
\nhilarious lyrics is made more inane and laughable by the quirky
\nsound effects which the band has so seriously added. Also, plain
\nrock songs like “She’s Got Issues,” about the plights of having a
\ngirlfriend, and “Walla Walla,” about a guy’s perpetual love for
\nstealing, are as sarcastic as the band can get; and who can forget
\nthe ingenuous “Why Don’t You Get A Job?” with a reggae twist, just
\nto keep life more interesting.<\/p>\n
As clever as the band is in being humorous, it is equally clever
\nin writing the more serious songs of
\nAmericana<\/i>. Again, they are not serious about how depressing
\ntheir lives have been; they are serious about how life can go
\nwrong. The opening track, “Have You Ever,” is a straightforward
\nsong about the days or the period of time in life through which one
\npasses during which nothing goes right. “The Kids Aren’t Alright”
\nis another hard-hitting song about how youth can go absolutely
\nwrong. Probably one of the best songs of the album, “Americana” —
\nabout the pop culture of today — is a perfect example of The
\nOffspring’s anti-disestablishment attitude, in which Dexter Holland
\nso aptly sings, “\u2026now give me my cable, fast food,
\nfour-by’s, that’s right away, I want it right now ’cause my
\ngeneration don’t like to wait.”<\/p>\n
With
\nAmericana<\/i>, and with The Offspring itself, it may seem as if
\npunk has gone pop. This band may not be the hardcore antagonizing
\npunk outfit, but this doesn’t mean that it has no spunk at all. It
\nknows exactly how to channel its anger, and at the same time be
\nsensible. Unlike a lot of other rock outfits, these guys are
\nstraightforward and unpretentious.
\nAmericana<\/i> is a clever, sarcastic, clean punk-rock album, and
\nan excellent one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":26691,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7016],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-37946","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-offspring","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37946"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}