The 1990s was the last true decade of new music that the radio stations would play. Perhaps the final frontier was reached after Kurt Cobain blew his head off 1994 did showcase the aftermath of grunge or punk bands trying to make it into radio once last time before Corporate Buyup and Sellout would make listening to the same 300 songs per day worse than all day Marah Carey or KDAT. And MTV was just about ready from showing music videos to becoming a bad lifestyle reality channel.
At that time I was more into the punk scene. Green Day, Face to Face were the two bands I pretty much followed on a regular basis. Everybody knows Green Day, perhaps the best of the bunch with Kerplunk leading to Dookie and my fave Insomniac, and later sellout Nimrod. Face To Face on the other hand sold for their fans with Don't Turn Away to Big Choice and the 1996 A & M S/T. but the buying public not into the same rushed tempos. Which leads us to The Offspring to which they were more metal than punk.
Today's rock radio still plays the majority of their hits from the 1994 break out Smash although I was put off by the off key wailing of Dexter Gordon. Perhaps the biggest selling independent album in history, Smash had the hits with Come Out & Play, Self Esteem and Gotta Get Away but for me the fun off key Something To Believe In and the over the top Genoside. Which basically shows why they are considered more metal than punk since they don't do speed punk very well. Smash I didn't like all that much when it came out but later on warmed up to it to a point that it deserves it's place in 90s rock history.
With money thrown in their direction they decided to go with Sony Columbia and believe it or not, I enjoyed their Inxay On The Hombre CD a bit more than Smash although punk purists cried sellout and cringed at the polished Dave Jerden production. Gone Away was the big hit but had Sony issued Amazed as the followup single the record would have broke bigger. The record is more metallic and darker than Smash with Cool To Hate to be their punk number, Don't Pick It Up, fun reggae ska and Jello Biafara's introduction to Disclaimer, Inxay remains the underground classic. Americana on the other hand was much more poppier and more corporate approved and Dexter showed more humor on the Pretty Fly For A White Guy and Why Don't You Get A Job? And perhaps their cover of Feelings is more goof than serious. Nevertheless Americana may have been their last good record.
With the usually reliable Brendan O'Brien on board, Conspiracy Of One didn't do a lot for me. Special Delivery samples the Chugga Ougga line from Blue Swede's Hooked On A Feeling and outside of a Mike Love sampled beginning I don't remember much of this record and pretty much passed on the rest of their albums, basically thinking their time has gone past. Sony released Greatest Hits and added the ones from Smash to sweeten the pot and like any good best of it shows a band going from speed punk to hard rock and pop and not miss a beat. Since there was no hits prior to Smash, there's nothing from the first two. Still with Gotta Get Away with Come Out And Play with Gone Away and Pretty Fly this is probably the place to start if you really want to hear the hits, or listen to KRNA. But it also salvages the O'Brien produced tracks from the albums he produced and we're better off for it. As for the Bob Rock produced Rise & Fall, Rage & Grace, I haven't heard most of it but what songs I have shows them more into modern rock than the punk of the 1990s. But then again they are too old for the punk rock of their 90's period.
You have to give them credit for being around this long, but if nothing else Smash made them the radio stars they are today.
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