The Offspring | Let the Bad Times Roll

[TheBig3]

Let the Bad Times Roll is the tenth studio album by American rock band the Offspring, released on April 16, 2021. Produced by Bob Rock, it is the band's first release on Concord Records, and their first studio album in almost nine years since Days Go By (2012), marking the longest gap between two Offspring studio albums. [from the Wiki]

The Offspring, to me, has always been a band that understood that if you give the major label a single or two for commercial appeal, you can use the other tracks to write whatever you want. And throughout their career, pop-friendly cringe-inducing tracks like "Pretty Fly for a White Guy" or "Original Prankster" feel more like "are we good here" deals cut with suits, and hid a lot of their better tracks.

So when I hear tracks like "we never have sex anymore" with its wtf-induing pseudo-swing rhythm, I'm willing to forgive and press skip. But there's clearly a lot of experimentation going on this album that makes me think it might be best to proceed with caution. For decades now, a hallmark of The Offspring has been Dexter Hollands eternally youthful vocals, which are MIA on This is not Utopia, a 1:00 Offspring-ified version of Hall of the Mountain King (why?), and a stripped-down piano version of their song Gone Away, a song from 1997's Ixnay on the Hombre

There are some highlights. There are more traditional Offspring style tracks here such as The Opiod Diaries, Army of One, and Hassan Chop. Even one of the experiments - Coming For You - the 2015 Gary Glitter repossession that turns out to be an improvement on the original and one of the better arena rock tracks since Fall Out Boys last venture into Imagine Dragons territory.

All in all, it's a fine album. It's not going to blow your mind or end up in the Top 3 Offspring albums of all time, but like many bands entering their 4th decade of music production, it's all just throwing Noodles at the wall and seeing what sticks. And to that end, one or two of these tracks might make it into the lineup on the next tour.

I'd give the album a 2 out of 5. 1 star because a few of these songs aren't bad. And another because it didn't punch my mother.

Tracks worth trying:
Hassan Chop
Army of One
Coming for You

[SGR]

Oh god. They should've hung it up after Rise and Fall.

I've always loved Original Prankster though. Pretty Fly and Hit That are terrible, but OP is OG.

Gotta love Redman.

[Ross Senack]

I thought this wasn't a good album. They took 9+ years to release a full-length, and a few of these songs were already out on YouTube during that timeframe.

Conspiracy of One and Ixnay are still 10/10 to me.

-- Ross Senack

[Oleg Vostyakov]

Originally Posted by TheBig3

The Offspring, to me, has always been a band that understood that if you give the major label a single or two for commercial appeal, you can use the other tracks to write whatever you want. And throughout their career, pop-friendly cringe-inducing tracks like "Pretty Fly for a White Guy" or "Original Prankster" feel more like "are we good here" deals cut with suits, and hid a lot of their better tracks.

So when I hear tracks like "we never have sex anymore" with its wtf-induing pseudo-swing rhythm, I'm willing to forgive and press skip. But there's clearly a lot of experimentation going on this album that makes me think it might be best to proceed with caution. For decades now, a hallmark of The Offspring has been Dexter Hollands eternally youthful vocals, which are MIA on This is not Utopia, a 1:00 Offspring-ified version of Hall of the Mountain King (why?), and a stripped-down piano version of their song Gone Away, a song from 1997's Ixnay on the Hombre

There are some highlights. There are more traditional Offspring style tracks here such as The Opiod Diaries, Army of One, and Hassan Chop. Even one of the experiments - Coming For You - the 2015 Gary Glitter repossession that turns out to be an improvement on the original and one of the better arena rock tracks since Fall Out Boys last venture into Imagine Dragons territory.

All in all, it's a fine album. It's not going to blow your mind or end up in the Top 3 Offspring albums of all time, but like many bands entering their 4th decade of music production, it's all just throwing Noodles at the wall and seeing what sticks. And to that end, one or two of these tracks might make it into the lineup on the next tour.

I'd give the album a 2 out of 5. 1 star because a few of these songs aren't bad. And another because it didn't punch my mother.

Tracks worth trying:
Hassan Chop
Army of One
Coming for You

For me the are downed pilots. I think time of theirs music has gone. If they wanted to be modern they needed to modernize their music and that's all.

[TheBig3]

Originally Posted by Oleg Vostyakov

For me the are downed pilots. I think time of theirs music has gone. If they wanted to be modern they needed to modernize their music and that's all.

Yeah I don't know. This took awhile, they booted their bassist, and it sounds like there were label problems.

IMO you sometimes need to issue a **** album to move passed it. They're also an older band. I don't expect them to be putting out groundbreaking ****.

[Oleg Vostyakov]

Originally Posted by TheBig3

Yeah I don't know. This took awhile, they booted their bassist, and it sounds like there were label problems.

IMO you sometimes need to issue a **** album to move passed it. They're also an older band. I don't expect them to be putting out groundbreaking ****.

Agreed! We will see!