Offspring
Smash

THE REVIEW

Listening tips: listening to "Smash" (class of 1994) for the first time can be an absolutely traumatic experience, in the most positive sense of the term. To appreciate the leap in quality that The Offspring make with this album, it's advisable to listen to "Ignition" (which was already a good album, with several noteworthy tracks, first among them "Kick him when he's down") its predecessor, followed by "Smash". This way you can easily perceive the incredible and astonishing revelation (which would accompany the Californians to a lesser extent until "Splinter") that the young band had, presenting us with 14 songs (including the intro) all capable of moving us. So sit calmly on the couch, let yourselves be carried away by the "dark" atmospheres of "Ignition" and then dive into the frenetic listening of one of the best albums of the '90s-'2000s.

The album: it is difficult to talk about "Smash" without going "track by track", as each one would deserve its own discussion. I will therefore try to address the main characteristics of this "piece of crap" and summarize as quickly as possible.

If one has the slightest idea of the "energy value" [necessary joke] of the tracks on the album, the intro "Time to Relax" might be a real pain, where a warm voice urges us to get comfortable and relax (yeah, right); from the intro onwards, the album could be broken down into two main parts, if only for descriptive convenience: the tracks are evenly distributed, even though in the first part, three main tracks stand out: "Nitro [Youth Energy]", the first real track of the album, with high destructive potential; "Bad Habit" sung by a hysterical Dexter with a delirious bass intro; "Genocide" with one of the best choruses ever written, in my opinion. 

With the tracks "Gotta get away", "Something to Believe in", and "Come out and Play (keep 'em separated)", the focus of the listener doesn’t wane, they manage to optimally entertain you and transport you into the ideal atmosphere to start the "second part" of the album.

It starts with "Self Esteem" where Dexter once again denounces male subservience to the "fairer sex": the track opens with an a cappella intro that (surprise, surprise) borders on musical delirium. The track, with more relaxed tones (so to speak) compared to the preceding and following pieces, is one of the best on the album. "It'll be a long Time" is one of those tracks that cannot be missing from an Offspring album: high rhythms throughout and a chorus seemingly specifically designed to unleash the listener. What I define as the final part of the album now opens: three short and frenetic tracks like "Killboy Powerhead", "What happened to you", "So alone" leave the listener perplexed and nostalgic. The album concludes with "Not the One", perhaps the weakest track on the album (if we can talk about weaker; it would surely be the best track in the discography of any small band born inspired by this album); and "Smash", a perfect conclusion to a masterpiece that, despite the little commercial substance presented, was sold more than 11 million times worldwide, breaking the sales record by an independent label, which is still "Epitaph."

N.B: the track "Smash" ends with a few words spoken by the warm voice we heard in "Time to Relax", followed by a guitar intro that will be the same intro we'll hear in "Change the World" the concluding track of "Ixnay on the Hombre".

"Smash" represents a must-hear milestone of '90s American Punk, absolutely to be listened to, whether you like the genre or not. The album transforms into an indelibly musical masterpiece; and who knows if in 1994, three drunken boys and a janitor would have believed they would become one of the most well-known bands in the world...