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!

[Buckeye Randy]

New to the messageboard so I'm a tad late on this one.

My expectations for albums by The Offspring ain't what they used to be but they do have a new one coming out. I consider "Americana" one of the top punk albums ever made, ever.

When I first listened to this release I loved "In The Hall Of The Mountain King" and "Coming For You" plus "Hassan Chop". I was looking forward to seeing them for the 4th time in concert.

Well...we bought six pit passes for their first post covid show in our area. It was a family outing to see the band with openers Sum 41 and Simple Plan.

Here is how it went down...

Who: The Offspring, Simple Plan, Sum 41
When: August 22, 2023
Where: Blossom Music Center (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio)

Blossom Music Center is your basic 20,000 capacity amphitheater located on 800 acres in a national forest (Cuyahoga Valley National Park) with one access road. Is your first thought how beautiful this must be or is it parking must sure be a clusterbunch? Both are true.

An acoustically designed pavilion (6000 seats) projecting to a lawn (14,000 capacity) might be great for the Cleveland Orchestra for which it was designed but it is not ideal for amplified rock acts. Many people that lounge on the lawn would disagree but I’ve never sat on the lawn and have no intention of doing so. I’m a closer is better guy and prefer to be standing when it comes to concerts. I generally try to avoid shows at this place but I’ve been lured in several times over the years by choice headliners; Todd Rundgren, Aerosmith, Jethro Tull, The Offspring, Yes, Steve Miller Band, Steely Dan…maybe others. I’ve seen some dandy openers as well, Elvis Costello, Lit, The Dickies, Eric Johnson, Saga and I apologize to all the openers I can’t remember.

Anyways, my point is that it has to be something special to get me to go. The Offspring for a second time here qualifes as something special. I’ve seen the original pranksters three previous times but by some unlikely series of coincidences, Mrs. Buckeye has never seen them and The Offspring qualify as a bucket list band for her. Book it; Mrs. Buckeye and myself plus our two sons and two of their longtime friends with pit passes, evening planned.

It had been a while since the Mrs. and I were tailgating in a field with beers before a show. It’s one of those things that comes pretty easy when you’re hanging around a couple of guys in their 20’s. The pre gig partying ‘almost’ makes you forget the inevitable gridlock/anxiety that will be upon us in five hours trying to leave this god forsaken pasture.

This was my first time at a Blossom show that included a pit in front of the stage. The pit area was not huge, maybe 500 people. I sort of feel bad for the people with front row seats behind the barrier a few feet behind us. No way they can see unless they stand. I suppose standing is a given at a show like this and in that respect, they win because they paid $40 less and have guaranteed personal space which can be at a premium in a pit setting.

I am not a big fan of early 00’s emo pop/punk. My enthusiasm for Sum 41 and Simple Plan was low but I’ll give anybody a shot to impress in a live setting. Blossom is notorious for late arriving crowds filling the pavilion during the opener, not on this night. The crowd was in full force and highly enthusiastic for both these bands shouting out lyrics throughout the performances. The stage effects were minimum for Sum 41 while Simple Plan was permitted to use some of their own lighting and fog/steam effects. I’ll give the nod to Sum 41 for me personally but both had good high energy performances and good crowd interaction.

Hats off to The Offspring for pairing themselves with decent openers. Last night might have been a notch down for me but clearly both bands can bring it live. Other openers I’ve seen for The Offspring are Lit, The Dickies, All American Rejects and Dropkick Murphys (2). It makes for a mini festival atmosphere.

I’ll start by saying that the three shows I saw by The Offspring between 1999 and 2009 were near perfect with energy and presentation. I expected the same and that is bad on me because not all bands age the same. Especially one that is toeing the line of being a part time band with limited touring and only 3 studio releases the last 19 years. The part time status is mostly due to vocalist/guitarist Dexter Holland getting his PhD in molecular biology and doing AIDS research. He’s also a licensed pilot and did a 10 day solo flight around the world. Dexter has some business ventures going on as well so his time as a premier punk rocker has been at least partially compromised. Does all this matter? Maybe.

The 20 minutes before show time had a light atmosphere with cameras on the audience that were shown on the big screens (one screen behind, two flanking the stage). The crowd was prompted into kissing, booty shakin’ and general buffoonery.

The Offspring took the stage with their 1994 breakthrough song, “Come Out And Play” (gotta keep them separated). I want to start by saying that I’m not familiar with many songs by Sum 41 and Simple Plan but the sound, crispness and energy were spot on for those two bands. There was a bit of…casualness…with The Offspring.

Songs were fired in rapid fashion at the beginning of the set, a little sloppiness forgiven. As the show went on the breaks between the songs became frequent and filled with what I perceived as patronizing of the crowd. I go to a fair number of shows, I know much of the stage banter is a nightly occurrence and I’m OK with that. I do not like hearing that we are the best crowd ever. Really? I ain’t buying. There were several things they said that made me shake my head. C’mon guys, just play some kick ass music!

The middle of the show was filled with instrumental cover versions while Dexter left the stage. I’ll admit it was sort of cool hearing abbreviated versions of Iron Man, The Trooper, Sweet Child O Mine. They followed that with a full blown version of Blitzkrieg Bop.

The overall stage show was adequate, not amazing. There was a mostly continuous haze on the stage and the video backdrop inside an arch of lights usually had closeups of either Dexter or Noodles. At one point there were a dozen beach balls being bounced around from the stage to the crowd. A couple times there were streamers and confetti coming down from the rafters.

A piano was rolled out on stage for “Gone Away” and they implied that it was something ‘special’ they were doing on this night. Really? I saw this 14 years ago only it was cooler then because the piano came up through the stage! Am I to believe they haven’t done this at nearly every show the last 14 years?

After this, the heavy hitters were rolled out and the crowd was responsive with singing along. The Offspring really do have a ton of good songs. “Why Don’t You Get A Job”, “Pretty Fly”, “The Kids Aren’t Alright” closed the set and “Self Esteem” was the last song of the encore.

Sooo….this is my 4th time seeing The Offspring and it is also my oldest son’s 4th time seeing them with three of those shows being shared experiences. He turned to me and Mrs. Buckeye after the encore and said, “That was great”! He’s a bigger fan than me and he thought it was great. I’m guessing that most the crowd who stood for the entire show would agree with him. Mrs. Buckeye’s first words after the show, “That was a little disappointing”. I agreed with her not only because agreeing with the Wife is always good for business but in this instance I really did agree.

It was not a bad night of family and music but the performance by The Offspring could have been better. All n all, I would do it again.

Set List:

1. Come Out and Play
2. All I Want
3. Want You Bad
4. Let the Bad Times Roll
5. Staring at the Sun
6. Original Prankster
7. Hammerhead
8. Bad Habit
9. Iron Man / The Trooper / Sweet Child o' Mine / In the Hall of the Mountain King
10. Blitzkrieg Bop
11. Gotta Get Away
12. Gone Away
13. Why Don't You Get a Job?
14. (Can't Get My) Head Around You
15. Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)
16. The Kids Aren't Alright
Encore
17. You're Gonna Go Far, Kid
18. Self Esteem