Album: Americana
Artist: The Offspring
Year: 1998

1. Welcome
2. Have You Ever
3. Staring at the Sun
4. Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)
5. The Kids Aren’t Alright
6. Feelings
7. She’s Got Issues
8. Walla Walla
9. The End of the Line
10. No Brakes
11. Why Don’t You Get a Job?
12. Americana
13. Pay the Man

I don’t get angry or bitter all that often, but when I do, this has always been a good album to crank up loud and scream to for an hour. The pace is frenetic right from the start, and up through the end of Staring at the Sun, the mood is perfect. Then we get to the band’s highest ranked song on the pop charts, Pretty Fly. It’s…fine, silly, but grinds the album to a halt. Thankfully, it picks right back up with the The Kids Aren’t Alright, a pretty poignant song (about the broken dreams of children) considering how hurried it is.

The middle of the album consists of a string of really bitter songs, the best place on the album for them. Walla Walla has a nice sound, but it’s hard to ignore the silly theme (Ha ha, you’re going to prison cuz yer dumb). The End of the Line and No Brakes somehow speed up the pace of the album, and by the end you’re wondering where the album has yet to go. And then Why Don’t You Get a Job? happens. Like Walla Walla, it’s a preachy song while also killing the pace of the album. Not to mention the rhythm (and the rhyme scheme) is horrendous.

The album redeems itself, with a predictable but fun criticism of consumerism. The final song, Pay the Man, really slows things down (while still being loud) to a snail’s pace, the perfect descrescendo to the previous frenzied pace.

I haven’t tested out much else the band has had to offer. I’m obviously familiar with the song Come Out and Play, but would love other suggestions.