The Offspring’s 1998 album Americana is a trip down memory lane, a time when punk rock was having its mainstream moment and MTV was pushing those music videos with reckless abandon. The Offspring were one of the first punk bands to break out into the mainstream with their (wait for it) smash-hit Smash, followed it up with the less commercially successful Ixnay on the Hombre, and then dropped Americana in 1998 that took them to the next level. “Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)” and its subsequent music video got massive airplay on MTV, cemented pop punk in the culture, and alongside mid-90’s outfits like Green Day, NOFX, and Rancid kicked off a punk renaissance that paved the way for bands like Blink 182 and Sum 41 to achieve massive commercial success.
Americana themes focus on the slow decay of American culture while incorporating Latin and psychedelic elements alongside your typical punk fare of overdriven guitars and wide-open drum kits. Twenty five years later it’s hard not to bob your head and sing along when the massive vocal hooks in “Pretty Fly” and “Why Don’t You Get A Job” come ripping through your speakers.
Standout Songs: “Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)”, “She’s Got Issues”, “Why Don’t You Get A Job”
