Offspring delivers major smash to listeners, Epitaph
By Michael Nazarinia
By now you’ve probably heard of the song that beckons you to
"keep ’em separated." The Offspring, the Huntington Beach band that
has sold over three million copies of their new album, Smash, has
been on a roll and atop the Billboard charts ever since KROQ 106.7
put the song into rotation over seven months ago. The Offspring
combines the carefree effervescence of punk music with the catchy
lyrical hooks and melodies that make their music highly
popular.
The new breed of punk music could be called "mellow punk" says
bassist Greg K. "In the ’70s it was about anger and rebellion, now
it’s more easygoing, and catchy." And he adds, "Nirvana really
opened the door for us." Riding the monster wave created by the
Seattle band earlier in the decade, the Offspring have found that
their style of melodic and accessible punk music can be very
popular, "We’re playing the same music we’ve played since the
beginning" says K.
The Offspring consist of Greg K, lead singer Dexter Holland,
guitarist Noodles, and drummer Ron Welty. Noodles and Holland met
while at cross country practice over eight years ago, and after
going through their first drummer and bassist, added Welty and Greg
K. The band however does not want to be seen as the standard bearer
of a generation or anything. "The success allowed me to quit my day
job, and do what I love doing" says K.
The band just finished their first major United States tour and
are now taking on Europe. Recently, the band performed one of their
lesser-known songs at the Billboard Music Awards and Holland was
seen sporting a business suit and a T-shirt with the slogan
"Corporate Rock Kills Music Dead." Staying true to the punk
aesthetic, Holland threw off the jacket, dived into the audience,
and didn’t refrain from using the expletives present in the song
that were bleeped out on the air.
The band could be called a thinking person’s punk band, and this
is highlighted by the cerebral nature of the lead singer. Holland
was a grad student at USC up until May of last year when he took a
leave of absence from his Ph.D. thesis on cloning viruses to focus
on the band’s newfound success.
Though the Offspring seems more intelligent than some bands that
are out there, they want to feel like a punk band but sometimes
come across as a white collar punk band that grew out of the Orange
County area. But again, the Offspring showed recently why they seem
to be such a contradiction by staying with the indie label Epitaph
and shunning offers from major labels.
The band believes in their status as outsiders, trying to "lead
the same sort of lifestyle we’ve always lived " says Greg K.
"Dexter and Ron are engaged to get married and they usually bring
family members on tour with them" and adds "We’re not letting the
situation go to our heads."
The Offspring seems to have fallen into the same predicament as
other popular bands, where a band will reach a certain level of
success, and is then considered to be "uncool". K responds to this
by saying "(Fans) should think for themselves and not let the
popular culture lead them."
In a performance at the Hollywood Palladium, the band showed why
they don’t take themselves too seriously. After playing their two
hit songs, they broke into "Basketcase" by their contemporaries
Green Day. This was followed by some self-depreciating comments and
thunderous applause from the audience. The Offspring is a bunch of
guys playing music just because it’s fun.