Review: The Offspring – “Let the Bad Times Roll”

Concord Records – 16 APR 2021

After nearly 40 years and 10 albums, The Offspring show no signs of slowing down.

It’s a bit of an oversimplification to say there are two Offsprings: the silly, novelty Offspring that’s responsible for things like “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)” and the comedic intermission on Ixnay on the Hombre, and the deadly serious pop-hardcore Offspring that produced such classics as “Gone Away” and “Keep Em Separated.” It’s a slight oversimplification because there’s lots in between those extremes like “Self Esteem” and “Why Don’t You Get a Job?,” but for the purpose of this review we’re going to look at The Offspring as a spectrum between two binary opposites. And Let the Bad Times Roll manages to give us the deadly serious, pop-hardcore Offspring, with just a touch of the silly, novelty Offspring for good measure. 

Let me start out with a trivial point: the album cover is goddamn gorgeous. And if you’re listening on a streaming platform, it actually moves. I know this isn’t the reason anyone is going to buy the album, but it’s my favorite shade of blue behind Mexican imagery and it can’t get more suited for my tastes than that. 

The album kicks off with “This is Not Utopia” a bold hardcore track that tears down the notion of America exceptionalism. The title track, “Let the Bad Times Roll” I thought was a reference to The Cars song, “Let the Good Times Roll,” but upon further research there are no less than eight unrelated songs and one movie called “Let the Good Times Roll,” so the title seems to be referencing a common cultural phenomenon or zeitgeist. The song encourages irresponsible behavior, but also seems to have vague references to Trump’s behavior and policies (the band was probably pessimistically assuming Trump would still be President by the release date). Musically it’s a light pop-punk tune with some really fun jangly guitar. 

Following that we have “Behind Your Walls,” a song about mental illness that, even as someone with mental illness, I find a bit overly melodramatic. But that’s okay because we’re then treated to a slew of excellent songs, like the fierce declaration of individuality, “Army of One,” and the far superior song about mental illness “Breaking These Bones.” The swing tune “We Never Have Sex Anymore” is the kind of humor found on Americana, and if you think a relationship this abusive that even includes a death threat isn’t funny , you’ve clearly never been in that relationship. This is bizarrely followed by a hardcore rendition of the 1875 orchestral piece “In the Hall of the Mountain King” that strangely works. 

“The Opioid Diaries” and “Hassan Chop” are both bangers of hardcore songs, but I want to get to the penultimate track, a re-recording of the band’s classic “Gone Away,” originally released on Ixnay on the Hombre, rewritten as a ballad, which is way more appropriate considering the content of the song. In many ways this is the version the band should have written in the first place but wasn’t ready to write back then. 

The final track, “Lullaby,” ends on a whimper rather than a bang, as the short song is a weird, echo heavy reprise of the title track. But the duds on this album are few and the absolute bangers are plentiful. Nine years after their last album, The Offspring show why they’re one of the best combinations of pop-punk and hardcore out there.