The Offspring: Splinter : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Halfway through Splinter, the Offspring's first album in three years, there's a song written from the vantage point of a young drinker with a god-awful hangover: "It hurts so bad, I'm never gonna drink again/At least not till next weekend." One reason a nineteen-year-old band with hardcore-punk roots can feel comfortable writing frat-boy-friendly songs is that in the Offspring's Cali-punk world, progress is less about maturity than about finding faster beats and bigger riffs.

Splinter does have its share of serious moments, as on the opener, "Neocon," a vague, Fugazi-esque statement of purpose ("We will not compromise/We will never lose to you"). But mostly Splinter relies on a familiar collection of party-hearty and slamming sounds: catchy pogo punk ("Long Way Home"), sludgy pseudo-grunge ("Race Against Myself"), reggae-lite jams ("The Worst Hangover Ever") and lighthearted ditties about romantic dysfunction ("Spare Me the Details"). Ironically, Splinter drags when the Offspring are most faithful to their roots -- trad-punk numbers such as "Lightning Rod" are a bit too reverential. But like jokey pioneers the Ramones, the Offspring could keep riding their dumb humor and smart riffs well into middle age.

CHRISTIAN HOARD

(Posted: Dec 10, 2003)

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2of 5 Stars

The Offspring could have thrown up this train-wreck of a record. Nothing sticks, nothing. Each song is more of a waste than the last, and while they all sound OKAY as you are listening only the last song will ever be remembered (and that's the really funny one!)

Hint, when writing about have a hangover, be clever, inventive and humorous -- "I've got the worst hangover ever" is about as subtle as an ax to a neck. Not funny, not catching, just dumb.

I can't begin to explain how desperate the band sounds here to capture something from their three best works "Ignition" "Smash" and "Ixnay on the Hombre." Nothing works, it falls apart like house with no nails.

The exploding head on the album cover exemplifies the band must of felt trying to come up with a song that didn't suck.

Skip this (but for that last track about not turning the other way in prison, that's a keeper!) and get the new disk "Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace."

Jul 1, 2008 13:57:49

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