30th anniversary review: The Offspring – “Smash”

This review is part of a series looking back at significant albums on their anniversaries. Through the benefit of hindsight we will be viewing the album not just as it was released, but how it stands the test of time, as well as its place in the band's discography and the genre in general.

Epitaph Records – 8 April 1994

A glass of wine, your favorite easy chair; And of course, this compact disc playing on your home stereo

A few months back I wrote about how 30 years ago Dookie changed music for me. How the lyrics about jerking off and 3-chorded boppers of growing up hit perfectly in the brain of my self-important 12-year-old self. It was all true, but 2 months later another record would further my pogo into the world of punk and really be the catalyst into how that self-important 12-year-old turned into the self-important 42-year-old before you today.

The record, of course, was The Offspring's Smash and its impact is still being felt across the music world. It remains the best selling independent release, coming from Epitaph Records on this date in 1994.  Yes, Dookie came first, and for that reason tends to get credit for being the record that made 1994 the year punk broke (again).  And I'm not taking anything away from that record, but without The Offspring's third LP, 1994 would have been the year punk had an anomaly hit.  See, a single record doesn't make a genre explode, but a pair of records,  especially ones as well received and well performed as Dookie and Smash? Well it didn't matter what year they came out, they were going to change the landscape.

I know its the third record Dexter, Noodles and company released, but it was this record that changed me.  I know its corny as fuck, so what?  My initial viewing of “Come Out and Play” gave me no choice but to take notice, with its photo-negative visuals, driving melodies and (if we're being completely honest) Dexter's hair created a perfect storm in my cerebellum, feeling this immediate need to stand out (by copying others) and created a 30 year love affair with a grimy subgenre of rock.  Smash was the 3rd CD I owned following the soundtrack to Above The Rim and Dookie and of the three, this is the one with the most plays.  

And I must be clear here, “Keep ‘Em Seperated” was the one that convinced me to beg my parents to buy me the record (so punk rock, right?). “Keep ‘Em Seperated” was not the thing that made this an indispensable album throughout my adolescence.  Do you know how many times I would “lean back and just enjoy the melodies?” Do you know how many times I put on “Bad Habit” when I wanted to drown out my parents' yelling about chores unfinished or grades unaccepted? How many fucking times, I tried awkwardly and failed to follow the trends and rationalized it by convincing myself “I'm not a trendy asshole?”  30 years later, I'm still an asshole who can't pull of trendy, and Smash is still a record I turn to for its passion, its shred and its enduring place in my autobiography.

Without Smash, there is likely no Warped Tour, at least at the level Warped reached.  Without Smash there is no Blink-182, and certainly not at the level to which we know them now.  No Sum-41, no New Found Glory, no Fall Out Boy and none of the band's those acts influenced (Hot Mulligan, The Wonder Years, et. al.).  Its not just popular music that the band put its stamp on.  Prior to seeing Noodles in the  “Come Out and Play” video or the skateboarding kid in “Self Esteem,” I'd never seen anyone wearing a long sleeve thermal under a t-shirt… 30 years later, I still rock that look in Spring and Fall (and my wife sincerely hates that fit but has given up on me outgrowing it).  Sure, there were some misses in the years since.  There were jokey songs about cultural appropriation that overshadowed the fantastic tracks on Americana, there have been countless member changes over the years and so many shouts of sell-out, poser and generally sanctimonious whining from people who want the genre to die with them in silence but Smash, well Smash was a game changer that has far surpassed all of that.  It created a legacy that can never be dulled and a record that will stand tall with the greats of punk and the greats of alternative rock.