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Rating:
You know, The Offspring was the band that more than any other accompanied my childhood. More precisely, in 1997, when I was still a kid, I discovered one of the CDs that would influence me the most in the coming years, namely "Ixnay On The Hombre".
This album contains all the essence of Dexter Holland, Noodles, Greg K, and Ron Welty. This is the quintessential CD of the Californian punk band, not "Smash", the debut album, as it was still a bit raw, nor that atrocity known as "Americana", which, despite featuring some rather enjoyable tracks (The Kids Aren't Alright, the best song in the entire Offspring discography, or Walla Walla, equally enjoyable) left room for mere commercial trash from MTV like Why Don't You Get A Job and especially Pretty Fly, the song that effectively killed the old Offspring to create the new ones, more inclined towards the mainstream.
However, returning to this CD, it must be said that it contains at least 3 fundamental songs for the career of the Californian band: I'm talking about All I Want, a frenzied track in pure punk style that lasts just under 2 minutes and had a fair amount of success in the following years (it was also included in the soundtrack of the first splendid Crazy Taxi) and a video was also made for it, Gone Away, a song that Dexter wrote after the death of his girlfriend, this song also accompanied by a video, in this case, rather unsettling and set in a dark slaughterhouse, a piece much slower and darker than the band's standard ones, and The Meaning Of Life, another frenzied-paced song with one of the funniest videos ever (highly recommended).
Holland's lyrics and voice are perhaps at their peak, as is Noodles' guitar, which is also composer, and Greg K's excellent bass that drives all the songs with surgical precision giving them a nice rhythm, while the only slightly off-key element is the drummer Welty, who doesn't repeat the extraordinary performance of "Smash" and simply performs his little task, a pity. Also noteworthy is how this was the first CD after which Dexter cut his braids, and was then OBVIOUSLY COPIED in the old look many years later by that pompous arrogant Axl Rose, but that's another story (by the way Axl, wasn't your album supposed to be released something like 12, 13 years ago? But yeah, take your time).
In conclusion, if you like 90s American punk, this CD is the one for you. Not too underground (All I Want and I Choose are moderately commercial), but not decisively devoted to mere commerce like that atrocity "Americana", this is the CD I've always recommended to my rock-loving friends. They have never been disappointed, and I think those of you who know a little about music will agree with them.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Disclaimer (00:44)
Ladies and gentlemen
Welcome to the disclaimer
That's right, the disclaimer
This American apple pie institution
Known as parental discretion
Will cleanse any sense of innuendo or sarcasm
From the lyrics that might actually make you think
And will also insult your intelligence at the same time
So protect your family.
This album contains explicit depictions
Of things which are real.
These real things are commonly known as life.
So, if it sounds sarcastic, don't take it seriously.
If it sounds dangerous,
Do not try this at home or at all.
And if it offends you, just don't listen to it
02 The Meaning of Life (02:56)
On the way
Trying to get where I'd like to stay
I'm always feeling steered away
By someone trying to tell me
What to say and do.
I don't want it.
I gotta go find my own way.
I gotta go make my own mistakes.
Sorry man for feeling,
Feeling the way I do.
[chorus]
Oh yeah, oh yeah.
Open wide and they'll shove in
Their meaning of life.
Oh yeah, oh yeah
But not for me. I'll do it on my own.
Oh yeah, oh yeah
Open wide and swallow their meaning of life.
I can't make it work your way.
Thanks but no thanks.
By the way,
I know your path has been tried and so
It may seem like the way to go.
Me, I'd rather be found
Trying something new.
And the bottom line
In all of this seems to say
There's no right and wrong way.
Sorry if I don't feel like
Living the way you do.
[chorus X2]
03 Mota (02:57)
Mota!
Every day, well it's the same
That bong that's on the table starts to call my name
I take a hit and zone out again
I'll be paranoid and hungry by a quarter to ten
Watching reruns on my TV
I'm laughing off my ass at three's company
I don't now if I'm understood
but hearing Jimmy Buffett never sounded so good
Your memory's gone and so is your life (your life)
Mota boy
But losing out just never felt so right
Your enemy's you and so is your life (your life)
Mota boy
But losing out might feel okay all night
Mota
I'm driving down to the Barrio
Going 15 miles an hour cause I'm already stoned
Give the guy a twenty and wait in the car
He tosses me a baggie then he runs real far
I take a hit but it smells like a clove
Oh FUCK I got a baggie of oregano
This ritual is destroying me
But I guess it could be worse
It could be methedrine
Your memory's gone and so is your life (your life)
Mota boy
But losing out just never felt so right
Your enemy's you and your couch is your life (your life)
Mota boy
But losing out might take
Losing out might take you all night
Mota!
Your memory's gone and so is your life (your life)
Mota boy
But losing out just never felt so right
Your enemy's you and so is your life (your life)
Mota boy
But losing out might feel okay all night
Losing out might feel okay all night
Yeah losing out might feel okay all life
04 Me & My Old Lady (04:33)
She aint no ball and chain (x3)
Me and my old lady
Lay in bed all day
And when I say I love her
Well she rolls the other way
But really she don't mean it
Everything she says
Still if I believe in love
There's nothing wrong
There's nothing wrong with my head
Me and my old lady
Sit and sip on wine
And when she says she loves me
Will I say that love is blind
But really I don't mean it
Everything I say
Still if she believes in love
There's nothing wrong
There's nothing wrong with her head
So what if we're making a scene now
You know she don't give a shit
When she's pawin' and grabbin' on me now
You know I don't mind a bit
It's all good and we
Ain't gonna change now
The world is unaware
So if you want to go on and stare
Cause we don't care
She ain't no ball and chain
Me and my old lady
Suck each other dry
And when in that position
I'm the luckiest man alive
Quenching our libidos
Passing time away
Now that we believe in love
There's nothing wrong
There's nothing wrong with our head
05 Cool to Hate (02:47)
I hate a lot of things I hate a lot of people that are lame
I like to hate stuff, cause then I don't have to try and make a change
I hate teachers, I hate school,
I hate the cheerleaders and anyone who's cool (ya)
I hate the office, I hate the quad, don't wanna learn nothing
I wanna be a slob
CHORUS:
It's cool to hate, it's cool to hate
Don't like nothin' and I like that fine
It's cool to hate, it's cool to hate
Don't like nothin' and I like that fine
Don't like nothin' and I like that fine
Yeah I hate everything, I even hate you too, so FUCK YOU!
I'm always thinkin' bad, I never have nothin' good to say
I'd rather tear things down than build them up,
it's easier that way
I hate the jocks and I hate the geeks,
I hate the trendies but I also hate the freaks (ya)
I hate Dr. Martens and Muscle T's
I'm only happy when I'm in my misery
CHORUS:
It's cool to hate, it's cool to hate
Liking something's just a waste of time
It's cool to hate, it's cool to hate
Liking something's just a waste of time
Liking something's just a waste of time
Yeah I hate everything, I even hate me too, so FUCK YOU!
BRIDGE:
It's cool to hate (x4)
I'll cut you down and give you lip
Being positive's so unhip
I'll cut you down cause I'm a fool
Being positive's so uncool
I hate the jocks, and I hate the geeks
I hate the trendies but I also hate the freaks (ya)
I hate your band, and I hate T.V
I'm only happy when I'm in my misery
CHORUS:
It's cool to hate, it's cool to hate
Don't like nothin' and I like that fine
It's cool to hate, it's cool to hate
Don't like nothin' and I like that fine
Don't like nothin' and I like that fine
Yeah I hate everything, I even hate you too, so FUCK YOU!!
06 Leave It Behind (01:58)
Rage burns can't push it aside now
Can't forgive this grudge is alive now
All the rage eats you up inside
Can you leave it behind
Leave it behind
What a surprise
You're fucked with again Yeah
It's a way of life you need to get over
All the rage just eats you alive
Can you leave it behind
Leave it behind
I don't know where it'll end
The sun has set
And I can't be friends
I don't know if I can forgive
The day is long
But you were so dead wrong
What a surprise
You're fucked with again Yeah
It's a way of life you need to get over
All the rage just eats you alive
Can you leave it behind
Leave it behind
[X2]
I don't know where it'll end
The sun has set
And I can't be friends
I don't know if I can forgive
The day is long
But you were so dead wrong
08 I Choose (03:54)
Look at me I'm falling
Off a cliff now
I can still hear my mama yelling no no no
But the words mean nothing
Can't catch up to me now
And the view is so beautiful
All the way down
When I was a little boy
Sucking juice from a bottle
Believeing my perceptions were oh so real
But I didn't know nothing
Still know nothing
Was just enough for me to know the way I feel
This is life
What a fucked up thing we do
What a nightmare come true
Or a playground if we choose
And I choose
Look at me I'm swollen
Like a bananafish now
I'm never gonna make it out of my hole
But I keep on laughing
Doesn't really matter
There's dozens of reasons for explaining my soul
When I was a teenager
Suckin' booze with the vatos
Discussing who was gonna live to be 21
They said they wouldn't make it
They didn't make it
We're all naked when the day is said and done
This is life
What a fucked up thing we do
What a nightmare come true
Or a playground if we choose
And I choose
Don't know who made this all come true
But know while you're here
You just gotta do what you gotta do
Now if I wasn't such a weenie
Do you think you'd still love me
Prending I'm an airplane on the living room floor
But like a lovely generator
You stand right by me
And if words were wisdom I'd be talking even more
So I keep on falling
As I'm looking back above me
Watching as my mama just becomes a little dot
Now I'm like Deniro
I'm amarillo
And I'll never know when I hit the ground
This is life
What a fucked up thing we do
What a nightmare come true
Or a playground if we choose
And I choose
12 Don't Pick It Up (01:53)
I saw a little kid
as he walked around
He picked a candy bar up
off the ground
He chewed about a half when
his face turned blue
Turned out that candy bar
was doggy doo
Whoa
Don't pick it up i say
Whoa
Unless you can throw it away
Whoa
Don't pick it up I say
You're gonna be bummed that you went that way
You're out there makin' bacon
No scrutiny
You mess around too much
And you got VD
You know you never think so
You're sore today
You're gonna take it back to
Californ-I-A
My friend was kinda hurtin'
For a girl to try
He saw one that looked like Pat
On Saturday Night Live
It had a pair of thingies
But a mustache too
Not clearly male or female
So what to do?
13 Amazed (04:25)
Sometimes I think I'm gonna drown
cause everyone around so hollow
and I'm alone.
Sometimes I think I'm going down
but no one makes a sound they follow
and I'm alone.
Yeah if I make it I'd be amazed
just to find tomorrow.
Yeah one more day and I'd be amazed
just to see it waiting.
Yeah and if I make it I'm still alone
no more hope for better days
but if I could change
then I'd really be amazed.
And when you know you can't relate
to one more shiny face
your heart breaks;
no one cares.
And when you know you can't go on
cause everything is wrong
your heart breaks;
no one's there.
Yeah if I make it I'd be amazed
just to find tomorrow.
Yeah one more day and I'd be amazed
just to see it waiting.
Yeah and if I make it I'm still alone
no more hope for better days
but if I could change
then I'd really be amazed.
Yeah if I make it I'd be amazed
just to find tomorrow.
Yeah one more day and I'd be amazed
just to see it waiting.
Yeah and if I make it I'm still alone
no more hope for better days
but if I could change
then I'd really be amazed.
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