Remember the Offspring?

Well I bet you don't remember PhD Molecular Biology/Offspring frontman Dexter Holland looking like the guy from the Goo Goo Dolls. But wait. . .

You can't tell, can you! (Dexer is on the left.) And I mean, yeah, Dexter isn't known for wise hair choices (beads. . .) but still.

That was a single (watch it here) off their latest release, which I completely missed, something with a long name ("Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace," 2008.) I like the Offspring, and I still have fun listening to their songs even though I liked them in middle/high school. I had put them into Youtube and noticed that there were some new videos. Lo and behold, etc.

For those of you who are too young to remember (kids on Youtube. . . jhaha, except for this guy: "This reminds me of my pog collection.") the Offspring wrote 90s/early '00s classics like "Pretty Fly for a White Guy," "Come Out and Play (Keep Em Separated)," "Gotta Get Away," the underrated "Da Hui," "Bad Habit," and "Original Prankster." If you pick up there greatest hits album and you listened to the radio in their heyday, you will recognize and probably have memorized a big chunk at least the chorus. Hailing from Long Beach, the Offspring wrote fantastic pop punk and always seemed a little wilder than the Blink-182 guys. Even with classic gems of lyrics like "When you're in prison don't be no one's bitch" the band managed to pull together, like their fellow pop-punk Green Day & Blink kids, some incisive commentary on the brat culture of the 90s.

So this new album. I've checked out a few of the singles' videos. "You're Gonna Go Far Kid" delivers the expected harmonies and melodies that have always recalled a light hearted Bad Religion, and "Stuff Is Messed Up" opens with an American Idiot-era Green Day drum beat. It's all okay stuff, and while everything sounds familiar, nothing quite achieves that special Offspring formula that we all have come to know and love. But as that implies, I'll always have a soft spot for the guys and I will give them the benefit of the doubt. The record company MADE Dexter wear a John Rzeznik wig.