Smash

The Offspring

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 15, 1994)
• Original Release Date: April 19, 1994
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Epitaph / Ada
• ASIN: B000001IPL
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (361 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #11,127 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  Music > Alternative Rock > American Alternative > American Punk

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording
Call them the Nine Inch Nails of punk. Like NIN, the Offspring preserve the essential ingredients of their chosen genre--guitars grinding out three chords, shouted vocals, and plenty of vitriol--and layer them over a melodic base that packs considerable popular appeal. The singles from Smash, the Offspring's breakthrough album, still receive considerable radio airplay: "Gotta Get Away," "Come Out and Play," and "Self Esteem." With these and Smash's 11 other tracks, the band chronicles the adolescent experience with clarity and surprisingly incisive wit. That pretty much describes all of their albums, but this is the one to get. It's got more shape than their earlier material and isn't as disturbingly poppy as their more recent recordings; it's the perfect blend of riffs and rage. --Genevieve Williams

Product Description
Smash is a generous helping of guitar power-pop. The delightful Middle-Eastern surf guitar on "Come Out And Play" hides harsh sentiments in poppy guitar riffs. Singer Dexter Holland mocks the school systems that think the solution to school violence is to "keep them separated," to segregate rather than educate the kids about the dangers of carrying guns. As Holland advises his fans, "Hey pay no mind/If you're under eighteen you won't be doing any time." Offspring's power is in writing anthemic guitar rock that effortlessly slips from genre to genre. From the humorous ska-flavored "What Happened To You?" to the sing-along guitar riff in "No Self Esteem,". --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still wonderful after all this time, March 10, 2003

By	Mr. Censored (Maine) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This was one of the very first CD's I bought when I got my first CD player, and as long as I've had it and as many CD's have been in and out of my collection in that time, this still stands as one of the strongest. This CD is perfect in every way and is Offspring in their prime. If they were still writing albums as powerful as this today, they might have been my favorite band. Like I stated before, this album is completely flawless. "Come Out & Play" and "Self Esteem" are already modern-rock classics, but in order to get to the really good stuff, you must dig deeper. "Bad Habit" is essential Offspring, an ode to road-rage with some blatantly raw and hilarious lyrics ("You get on my a--/your foot's on the gas/and your next breath is your last..."). The title track is another great example of this album's power. This is a song for outsiders who are outside the outsiders. For people so far removed and unique that they don't bother trying to fit into all the typical angry-punk cliches. Definetly an anthem for my former school-years. "Gotta Get Away" is one of the least successful singles, but probably the best of all of the singles released off this disc, probably the catchiest song ever written about paranoia. I could talk about all of the songs on here for pages, I have listened to this album hundreds of times and dissected it so many ways, I know the tracklisting like the back of my hand (whatever that means). This CD is highly addictive. Everyone I know who owns it, loves it. It's not just a CD for punk fans, it's one of those rare albums that EVERYONE can appreciate. It really is such a shame that their past two albums have been mindless fluff, because the Offspring have shown us that they can write highly intelligent, personal and free spirited music, as opposed to, well, "Original Prankster."

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best of Offspring, May 3, 2001

By A Customer

If you love recent Offspring songs such as "Original Prankster" and "Why Don't You Get a Job?", you will not like this CD. Or you might, and you'll discover the pop music the group makes is horrible. Let's rate the songs:

1. Time to Relax: funny intro, almost as good as "Disclaimer" from Ixnay.

2. Nitro (Youth Energy): good song, about today's generation of teens. nice guitar riff. 9/10

3. Bad Habit: starts slow, then kicks. a song about an extreme case of road rage, but pretty good. shows the pure raw power of the Offspring. 10/10

4. Gotta Get Away: a classic Offspring song, slower than their normal stuff, but has nice guitar riff with that Middle Eastern sound. 9/10

5. Genocide: cool guitar riff, lyrics are weird, but it's an overall good song. 8/10

6. Something to Believe In: about how there's nothing to believe in this society. guitar is okay, but lyrics are good. 8/10

7. Come Out and Play: the song that made Offspring famous (before Pretty Fly); awesome guitar riff, with the Middle Eastern sound. Love the "gotta keep 'em separated", and good lyrics. A somewhat sarcastic look on school violence. 10/10

8. Self Esteem-another classic. slower, nice guitar riff. song about a [guy] with no self esteem. i love playing this song on the guitar and singing at the same time. 10/10

9. It'll Be A Long Time: a good song lyrically, talks about world powers fighting over lies. the guitar could use some work, though. 7/10

10. Killboy Powerhead: raw power chords in this song...don't really understand this song, but I like it. 9/10

11. What Happened to You?: a song about someone whose doped up way too many times. This song is ska punk, and a pretty good one at that. 8/10

12. So Alone: the album's weak point. I like the shouts, but its short and not too strong. 5/10

13. Not The One: a song about how we're not responsible for the problems of today, but we have to deal with it anyways. Similar to "It'll Be A Long Time", where guitar is not really too good. 7/10

14. Smash: my favorite song. about being the outsider, not doing what all the trendies and mall rats are doing. lyrics are awesome, and raw guitar riffs are nice. sounds kinda fatalistic. this song makes me wanna play this in front of all the groupies at my school and laugh! 10/10

There you go. Classic punk album. If you're into their newer stuff, you might like it. If you're an old fan, you'll love it. Guaranteed.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best Offspring album, October 3, 2001

By	Rex Marksmanson "HEYO!" (Long Island, New York) - See all my reviews

Ahh yes "Smash" the Offspring album that produced such classics as "Nitro(Youth Energy)", "Gotta get away", "Genocide", "Come out and play" & "Killboy Powerhead". Anybody who owns "Americana", and wants to see the real Offspring should really pick this one up. From the hilarious introduction "Time to relax" all the way up to the ending track "Smash" this album pushes the envelope.