the Offspring – Live at Sheperds Bush 2012
During their Ignition 2012 tour, the Offspring, fronted by Dexter Holland, played two shows in London, including one where they played for the only time live the Splinter song Lightning Rod (see soundcloud above), here is the download of that full show : CLICK
2012 06 05 O2 SHEPHERDS BUSH EMPIRE
TRACKLIST:
- Session
- We are one
- Kick him when he’s down
- Take it like a man
- Get it right
- Dirty magic
- Hypodermic
- Burn it up
- No hero
- L.A.P.D.
- Nothing from something
- Forever and a day
- All I want
- Beheaded
- You’re gonna go far kid
- Days go by
- Come out and play
- Lightning rod
- The future is now
- Staring at the sun
- Pretty fly (for a white guy)
- The kids aren’t alright
- Self esteem
An iconic music video from the nineties
The special effects grew old but it remains a landmark in the music videos of the nineties. I’ve always wondered how the 0:26 action did not get censored?
the Offspring – Nothing From Something (London 2012)
Some good old Offspring, it’s weird to see that Dexter’s vocals are better on old tracks than on new ones. Why is he pushing it now?
the Dwarves – Massacre
California has been the home of many musicians featured on this blog but many scenes don’t really interact with each other. This song is, to the best of my knowledge, the only link I could really find between the Offspring and Queensof the Stone Age.
Featuring Dexter Holland from the Offspring, this song by the Dwarves surprisingly contains a strong critic of Queens of the Stone Age voiced by Blag Dahlia, even though Nick Olvieri is featured on the song (the maniac laugh) and even though the Dwarves’ frontman Blag Dahlia was featured as a radio host on Songs for the Deaf (later, Homme and Dahlia will end up having a violent brawl).
The Offspring – Smash
18 years to the date, when the Offspring released their album Smash, the music world had just learnt that Kurt Cobain’s dead body had been found and so the 3rd album of the 4 middle class punk-rockers was far from the headlines.
Having released two years before Smash what is, in my opinion, the best punk-rock album of the nineties (Ignition, on which I’ll post a few things when its 20th birthday nears), the Offspring were not completely anonymous but were mostly known of the underground California scene and still had day jobs to pay their bills.
Smash changed their lives for ever : two months after Green Day’s Dookie, this mix of metal, ska and punk coupled with their trademark backing vocals helped shape what would be coined the pop-punk sound, even though this album can hardly be defined as pop (except for the hit single Self Esteem maybe).
As soon as MTV had Come Out And Play on heavy rotation, the album became a smash hit (easy joke, I know) and people got to discover all of its great songs : its ironic intro, the anthemic Nitro, the bass line and agressive vocals of Bad Habit, the huge drum pattern of Gotta Get Away, the funny ska of What Happened To You? (the Offspring will keep that idea of a light/ska song on their next records) etc… The Offspring were now a household name with a landmark album.
To relive what the Offspring was at that time and how good their gigs were, I’ll upload my favorite 1994 Offspring bootleg tomorrow. A preview of that bootleg here :
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