Review Summary: Smash is the way you deal with your life.
Smash XX: A Retrospective, Twenty Years Later
“Ahh… it’s time to relax. You know what that means.”
How could I not?
It’s been two decades since the voice of that one man began and concluded one of the most prominent albums of the 1990s. Despite its dark, punk sound,
Smash would go on to sell over 20 million copies, becoming the best-selling album released on an independent record label. It spawned three top ten singles, including the chart-topping “Come Out and Play (Keep ‘Em Seperated)”. Six albums, twenty-three singles, two drummers and numerous joke songs later, The Offspring have never recaptured what made
Smash one of my favorite albums of all time. Along with Green Day’s
Dookie,
Smash was the driving force of the 90s punk scene, captivating millions of teenagers all across the world and introducing them to a genre that would soon become one of the most popular in the nation.
The Offspring perfected something on
Smash that only few bands could do well. By blending the dark, hardcore punk sound of their first two albums with the melodic hooks of the emerging pop-punk scene, they managed to create an album that was gritty and catchy at the same time without sacrificing melody for energy. Tracks like “Genocide” and “Nitro (Youth Energy)” are filled with the punk rock spirit, offering not only memorable guitar sections but also ear-grabbing hooks. From frontman Dexter Holland’s iconic vocals to the masterful riffs performed by Noodles, The Offspring’s talents are fully utilized on
Smash. They had a much darker sound than most of the other bands they would eventually become grouped with, and their instrumental sections were some of the best in the whole punk genre.
As much as I love
Smash for its excellent songwriting and musicianship, part of what makes the album one of my all-time favorites is its effect it had on me in my map of musical evolution. Before I listened to this album, my definition of ‘punk’ was
American Idiot, “You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid”, and the Ramones (who lived in Forest Hills, the same Queens town that I grew up in).
Smash for me was a huge gateway into the realm of punk and hardcore – without it, I never would have bothered checking out
Suffer,
Damaged or
Social Distortion, all classic albums within the genre. No, instead, I’d be stuck listening to
21st Century Breakdown on repeat. It was just as much a gateway album into punk as
Hybrid Theory was to metal, shaping my music taste into what it would become today.
“There’s demons in my head and there’s more than I can take.”
Even at the ripe age of twelve, I still found ways to hate myself for all my imperfections. The teenage angst had already manifested inside of me a few years before I would have liked it to, and
Smash provided me with a temporary escape from my low self-esteem (pun not intended). It strengthened me, giving me a sense of “elitism”, if you will, for liking bands that no one I knew had ever heard of before. ‘Forget all that poppy shit – you’re better than that’, I told myself. ‘Even if you’re an ugly fuck who won’t accomplish anything you want to do, at least you listen to better music than all of these other brain-dead idiots.’
“It’s bad enough you do it, you do it to yourself.”
Smash is split up into two halves that each have their own distinct sound and traits. The album’s first eight songs are more melodic, and it’s no surprise that all three of its singles – “Come Out and Play”, “Self Esteem” and “Gotta Get Away” are included on it. The memorable hooks of “Genocide” are complemented by Noodles’ extraordinary guitarwork, melding together the two things The Offspring do best. From the Middle Eastern-influenced riff of the lead single to the road rage anthem “Bad Habit”, it’s clear that
Smash’s first half offers some of the band’s most well-known songs. This comes in complete contrast to the album’s rear portion, which consists of many of The Offspring’s most underrated songs. Carrying a darker and grittier sound, tracks like “Killboy Powerhead”, a cover of the song by hardcore punkers The Didjits and the frenetic one-minute blitz of “So Alone” show them building upon the sound they created on their first two albums.
Smash is a starting point for people who have not yet listened to a full Offspring album – those who prefer the first half will appreciate their next two albums more and vice versa.
Lyrically, it’s packed with some of the most impressive albums of the 90s punk scene – instead of wallowing in their own misery, The Offspring had messages they wanted to spread. Teenage gang violence, drug addiction, conformity, greed in politics, submission and desolation are all explicitly discussed and vilified. There’s no sugar-coating or subtle imagery – the picture painted by Dexter Holland’s lyrics drive home his point of view. When he cries, “Egos will feed while citizens bleed, when will the truth come into season?” on “It’ll Be a Long Time”, there’s a burning passion in his vocals that make it clear he’s rallying against everything that is wrong with modern society. Even though they were penned twenty years ago, many of them still are applicable today.
“I’m not a trendy asshole. Don’t give a fuck if it’s good enough for you.”
With that one line, The Offspring declared their independence from social norms. The memorable riffs, exemplary instrumentation, melodic hook and poignant social commentary found in the album’s title cut is a perfect representation of
Smash as a whole. There’s a reason why it remains one of the most influential albums of the 1990s twenty years later – everything about it is a formula for success. From metal artists like Trivium’s Matt Heafy and Avenged Sevenfold to younger punk bands such as Sum 41 and Reel Big Fish, The Offspring’s magnum opus is an album that has been a source of inspiration for many musicians.
Smash deserves its place as one of the most iconic and essential punk albums for all that it accomplished. It's one of the few albums I can easily call 'perfect'. So perfect I can't help shouting its most memorable line.
“You stupid dumbshit goddamn motherfucker.”
