Arriving on the heels of Green Day’s blockbuster Dookie, The Offspring’s third album completed the one-two punch of records that forever transformed the ’90s alt-rock landscape into a pop-punk playground. But compared to their Californian peers—who benefitted from Warner Brothers’ promotional muscle—The Offspring were an even more unlikely success story, given that Smash lived up to its truth-in-advertising title as a shoestring release issued through Bad Religion’s Epitaph Records imprint. At more than 10 million copies sold, it became the biggest-selling independent release of all time.
But even in a post-Nirvana marketplace that was more receptive to aggressive sounds, you certainly couldn’t accuse the Orange County band of taking the obvious path to stardom. Smash’s breakthrough single, “Come Out and Play”, not only represented a change in pace from The Offspring’s typical pogo-ready thrashers, it sounded like absolutely nothing else on radio at the time—an eccentric, insidiously catchy account of L.A. gangland violence spiked with a Latino-accented spoken-word hook and a wobbly Arabian guitar melody that snake-charmed millions of non-punks into the mosh pit. But if the song had all the makings of a novelty hit, Smash confirmed The Offspring’s staying power by harnessing their hardcore-schooled abandon into the steely, grungy grooves of “Gotta Get Away” and “Self Esteem”. And in these more controlled environments, frontman Dexter Holland emerged as one of the most charismatic and commanding vocalists in modern rock, flexing a mix of authentic, street-level angst and arena-ready bravado on the road-rage anthem “Bad Habit”. Riotous and irreverent in equal measure, Smash took a battering ram to the divide between the underground and the mainstream, clearing a path for the Warped Tour generation’s takeover of American youth culture.

Tracklisting

1. Time To Relax
2. Nitro [Youth Energy]
3. Bad Habit
4. Gotta Get Away
5. Genocide
6. Something To Believe In
7. Come Out And Play (Keep ‘Em Separated)
8. Self Esteem
9. It’ll Be A Long Time
10. Killboy Powerhead
11. What Happened To You?
12. So Alone
13. Not The One
14. Smash

Apple Music

Videos

The Offspring - Self Esteem Official Video

More Videos

• The Offspring - Come Out And Play
• Offspring Smash
• Offspring Self Esteem
• Offspring Time To Relax
• Offspring Come Out And Play
• Offspring So Alone
• Offspring What Happened To You-
• Offspring Not The One
• Offspring Itll Be A Long Time
• Offspring Something To Believe In
• Offspring Genocide
• Offspring Killboy Powerhead
• Offspring Gotta Get Away
• Offspring Nitro Youth Energy

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