Greatest Hits - Offspring (The)

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Good
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	A great collection featuring many of the bands finest moments
Disadvantages:	Some of the hits have been needlessly omitted

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Forming in Garden Grove, California in 1984; The Offspring are perhaps one of the best known and most well received Pop Punk bands of our time. During the mid 90's, it was bands such as The Offspring, Green Day and Rancid who revived a popular interest in Punk music in the U.S. - an interest which can be seen to have sustained to some extent ever since. Whilst Green Day went on to bigger and better things, having sold over 60 million records worldwide over the course of seven studio albums; The Offspring have never enjoyed quite such an overwhelming commercial success (they've still sold over 32 million albums worldwide from the seven they have released however which isn't that bad really). The Offspring have always been a fantastic band, and having hated both Green Day's and Rancid's last albums, The Offspring remain the only band of the aforementioned three to have sustained my interest over the years.

For those looking to listen to the music of The Offspring - this 'Greatest Hits' album is perhaps a good place to start. Featuring tracks from the albums 'Smash' through 'Splinter', the first two albums in The Offspring back catalogue are sadly ignored, however this is somewhat understandable on a 'Greatest Hits' collection given that début album 'The Offspring' was only given a limited release, and second album 'Ignition' featured no physical single releases. As well as featuring tracks from five of the band's seven albums, also included here are two tracks which were previously unreleased; 'Can't Repeat', and a cover of The Police track 'Next To You'.

Kicking off with 'Can't Repeat', The Offspring have here chosen to showcase the unreleased first, and when I first heard the track I couldn't help but feel a strange sensation of deja vu - there's definitely a feeling that you've somewhere heard the track before when you listen to this one, and I'd perhaps put this down to The Offspring's uncanny ability to sound very much the same in the vast majority of their tracks. The good thing about this is that if you like one then you therefore like them all, the downside of course is that when listening to The Offspring for large periods of time the music can potentially become tiresome. I do not have this worry however as I love the music which the band produce and for me there is enough variety on display here in order to keep me entertained. After a fantastic anthem showcasing the unreleased and 'unknown', The Offspring then begin to progress through some of their better known tracks from throughout the years.

The album consists of the majority of the tracks you'd expect here, ranging from the hit singles of 'Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)', 'Why Don't You Get a Job?', and 'Original Prankster' right through to perhaps the lesser well known singles of The Offspring such as 'Self Esteem' from 'Smash', and 'Gone Away' from 'Ixnay on the Hombre'. One track which has notably not been included here however is 'Million Miles Away' from the 'Conspiracy of One' album. This was a strange one for me as it is my favourite track from the album, and although it was the third and final single to have been taken from the 'Conspiracy Of One' album and is therefore perhaps not perceived by the record label as the strongest from the album; I still feel it very much deserved a place in this collection.

Whilst some will knock single 'Why Don't You Get A Job' for being a made for radio track which breaks away from the bands conventional style of song which puts more emphasis on the Punk than the Pop; I feel that it is actually a really good track. I have always enjoyed this one, and although it may be a lot poppier than the vast majority of their material and perhaps only served to further their commercial appeal and success - 'Why Don't You Get A Job' is still an incredibly well written song which is exceptionally catchy and provides for an extremely enjoyable listening experience. 'Why Don't You Get A Job' was released off of the back of the number one success which is 'Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)', another track which is perhaps open to criticism from Offspring purists. Although not as much of a Pop track as second single 'Why Don't You Get A Job' from the 'Americana' album, 'Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)' can definitely still be seen to have a heavy emphasis on the Pop element of the music and is another carefully chosen yet exquisitely catchy gem of a track.

Perhaps my favourites of those chosen for inclusion on this album are those of 'Come Out and Play (Keep 'Em Seperated)' and 'Self Esteem' from the 1994 album 'Smash', and '(Can't Get My) Head Around You' from their most recently released 2003 album 'Splinter'. Whilst the latter may not be the most obvious of choices, I just feel that this track captures The Offspring at their Punk Rock purest and therefore in my opinion at their best. Whilst I am not the biggest fan of the album's other single 'Hit That', I just feel that '(Can't Get My) Head Around You' is an incredibly well written and finely produced track from the band with a powerful guitar riff and killer chorus that has me singing along at my loudest with each and every listen. I have fond memories of 'Smash' and 'Come Out and Play (Keep 'Em Seperated)', having from a young age listened to these two tracks belting at top volume from the bedroom of my brother. Although at the time a lot of the music which he played would irritate me greatly, even back in 1994 when music was not a massive passion of mine I had a great love and respect for the music of The Offspring. The tracks from 'Smash' are all amazing, and I feel that the fact 'Smash' still stands strong as the best selling independent-label album of all time having sold over 14 million copies worldwide speaks volumes.

Elsewhere in the album tracks such as 'Want You Bad' from the 'Conspiracy Of One' album, and 'All I Want' from the 'Ixnay on the Hombre' album should prove to be more than enough to keep you entertained and hold your attention throughout the duration of the album. Whilst 'Want You Bad' continues on the theme of the Pop riddled flavours of the 'Americana' album, 'All I Want' represents the raw Punk Rock sound which was the bands original recipe for success during their early years. 'All I Want' is a classic track from the band, and anyone out there who has not heard this fine single from the band should definitely do themselves a favour and make sure they listen to this one as soon as possible. Whilst the Pop sound of The Offspring which has been heavily present from the band during recent years is without doubt excellent, their earlier more Punk Rock heavy sound is definitely on a par with this if not better.

With an eighth studio album due for release in 2008, it would seem that The Offspring still stand strong as a band and show no signs of giving up their day job just yet. Whilst the 'Greatest Hits' album from the band contains a lot of their finest moments and is a good one to listen to, I am still rather annoyed that 'Million Miles Away' was not included and see no reason why it shouldn't have been. Although Green Day are a band I am not particularly fond of, when they came out with their 'International Superhits' collection in 2001 it featured 19 of their 'Greatest Hits' as well as two previously unreleased tracks. Clearly boasting of a larger number of tracks present, it would not have been much of a hardship on the behalf of the record label to have included 'Million Miles Away' and the other singles they chose to exclude from inclusion on this 'Greatest Hits' collection. Although more could have been included, don't let this fact put you off the purchasing of this album as it is still a great album from the band which represents excellent value for money. The Offspring have released a large number of fine singles in the past, and this 'Greatest Hits' collection provides strong evidence of this, a definite must have for anyone looking to get into the music of The Offspring, or for any fans of Pop Punk/Punk Rock in general in fact.

Label: Columbia Records
Release Date: 20th June 2005