Wednesday, June 13, 2012

The Worst Song That You'll Hear All Year

Dexter Holland turned down a Ph.D. for this?

I'll stick up for the Offspring as one of the best mainstream rock bands in the '90s. Purists will still cry about the Orange County quartet watering down punk rock for MTV, but more so was the Woodstock '94 crowd catching up with punk. If Smash was on Alternative Tentacles, it'd be on all your punk bar jukeboxes.

Like their peers in Green Day and No Doubt, the Offspring's punk roots have been dissolving, but still apparent, over the past 15 years. That was until now, with their screamingly-awful new song and video, "Cruising California (Bumpin' in My Trunk)."

If the Offspring's muse is taking them towards Katy.I.Am's California Wurld, fine. What really grosses me out is the thought that this is satire. No one needs to be reminded how bad this stuff is, or how easy it is to create, and watching Holland and the gang drown in something they're trying to make fun of is just depressing. Years ago, the Offspring caustically took razors to punk conformity, alternative angst and a nation of wiggers, but this time the joke's on them.

In remembrance of things past:

2 comments:

IllusionsLongLost said...

Oh no...

Ben Apatoff said...

Well said.