June 15, 1989 - The Offspring and The Offspring

This date is a special date because it's a double release day! On the same day as Nirvana's debut, another band released their debut album when The Offspring released "The Offspring" on June 15, 1989. But who are The Offspring? They are a four-piece punk rock band from Garden Grove, California consisting of lead singer and rhythm guitarist Dexter Holland, lead guitarist Noodles, bassist Greg K. and drummer Ron Welty. These guys play a fast, very punk-rock style and it's a pretty short album that is just over 28 minutes long. Let's see what The Offspring are all about!

The album begins with "Jennifer Lost The War" and we hear a fast drum beat by Welty and Holland plays some slow stop-and-start guitar to start the verse. We hear Holland's voice for the first time and it sounds like a solid punk-rock voice: it's not super unique and doesn't sound like your typical commercial voice, but it fits the mood of the music just fine. Noodles comes in for the chorus with some faster and punkier guitar and at the end of the chorus he plays a short but sweet guitar solo. After they quickly roll through another verse and chorus Holland switches to a different but still nice and fast new riff and begins to sing a short bridge verse. This leads perfectly back into a final chorus to finish off this short song. The next song is even shorter and most of the album's songs are under three minutes, including "Elders". It's driven by another fast-paced punk rock beat by Welty and Greg is playing some cool fast bass as well. Holland sings a fast verse overtop to match the mood and it rolls right into a similarly fast chorus with Holland yelling "how does it feel?" and I like his more forceful yelling vocals. It doesn't take them long to burn through another verse and chorus before Noodles delivers a simple but still pretty cool guitar solo. Welty does a few solid drum fills that take things back to the chorus and they reverse the pattern by ending the song with a final quick verse. Track 3 is "Out On Patrol" and it begins with some pretty fast acoustic guitar by itself but the guitar quickly changes to an electric version of the same riff and the rest of the band join in to form another typical fast-paced, punk-rock main riff. There's no real chorus in this song; the whole band yells the name of the song together at one point, but it's the same fast-paced riff that keeps rocking on and Holland does a pretty great job leading the way on vocals. They play a brief instrumental part before taking off on another fast verse and they continue to separate each verse with a short instrumental part and before you know it this one is over as well. Up next is "Crossroads" and they kick right into another decent punk-rock riff and everything but the bass falls away as Greg K. plays a nice little bass riff and then Holland follows with the same riff on guitar. Everyone resumes playing but every time they drop away the standalone bass sounds really good. The guitar and bass both sound solid as they jam through a catchy verse and chorus and Noodles follows that with another short but sweet solo. After another verse and chorus they go back to the start and drop away for another cool bass part before ending the song with a final verse. Track 5 is "Demons (A Mexican Fiesta)" and they do a nice job building up the main riff as it starts with Welty playing a cool drum beat, then Greg playing another cool bass riff, then Holland with some simple rhythm guitar and finally Noodles completes it with some loud and fast lead guitar. Holland sings along quickly to match the speedy riff and Noodles occasionally plays some great little shredding snippets between lyrics. This is one of the longer songs at 3:10 so 2 minutes in they have time to switch to a completely different riff! This new riff is slower and less punky but it's a more melodic guitar and it sounds good as well. Holland sings a nice verse to match and then they abruptly interrupt and switch back to the main riff for a fast final verse. Up next is "Beheaded" and it has the same general sound as all the album's songs: driven by a fast-paced punk rock riff. Holland's lyrics in this one are very violent as he sings from the point of view of a child who killed his parents. It's some pretty dark stuff but Holland sings in a kind of cheery voice, perhaps making things even darker! The whole band yells the name of the song several times in the chorus and they quickly roll right into another speedy verse and chorus before slowing things down a lot. Holland sings about severed heads on his bedroom posts and also sings "night brings bad dreams. Bad dreams and guillotines" followed by a few classic "off with her head!" This song really is just about a bunch of beheadings; it's pretty punk rock! Track 7 is called "Tehran" and they so a nice job building the main riff piece by piece again as Greg and Ron form a fast and solid rhythm section, Dexter then comes in with a cool rhythm guitar riff and finally Noodles makes things nice and loud with some fast, almost thrashing guitar. Holland sings in a relaxed and calm voice for the verse and switches to his more usual yelling in the chorus while the rest of the guys keep up the furious and pretty cool main riff. They don't really stray from this main riff, but it's a pretty sweet one and none of the songs last long enough for them to grow tired. The next song "A Thousand Days" is even shorter than usual and unsurprisingly a little faster than usual as Noodles and Holland both play some pretty fast guitar. They zip right through several quick verses and choruses before slowing things down briefly in a quieter new part. It's not long before they're back to the furious main riff and not long after that the song is ending. Track 9 is the longest song on the album at just 3:24 and it's called "Blackball". Writing that the band plays another fast-paced punk rock riff doesn't do proper justice to the cool guitar and bass parts these guys are writing, but they do all have the same rough sound and song structure to them. Still, the speedy music sounds good to me and this song is no different as Holland sings quickly along to another solid main riff. Everyone plays at a frenetic pace all the time and although there haven't been any solos on the last few songs, The Offspring's fast jamming keeps me entertained the whole way through. It's not amazing, but it's definitely good. The final song on the album is the only single, titled "I'll Be Waiting" and it opens with a short guitar solo! Noodles does a nice job playing a slow and epic opening solo, but after twenty seconds or so they slam right into a fast-paced typical main riff and I approve of the idea of opening solos! Noodles plays another nice shredding part between the fast verses and after the second chorus everything falls away but the bass. Greg K. plays a slow and epic bass line to set the stage nicely for another solo and Noodles delivers a pretty great solo overtop. It's easy to see why this was chosen for the single because it really shows off their talents in the two solos but for the most part remains a typical Offspring song. I think it might be the best song on the album and certainly a nice way to finish things off.

That is the end of "The Offspring" and I thought it wasn't some groundbreaking new debut, but it was a solid album for sure. All the songs follow a similar style and these guys certainly know what kind of music they want to play. None of the songs were bad at all, but none of them really leaped off the page either. The Offapring still seem very raw and unpolished here and I bet they only get better from here on out!