The Daily 90s Breakdown: The Offspring, "All I Want"
caro:
Their next album, Americana, moved the Offspring closer to mainstream again and provided the biggest hits of their career. The group has not made an impact in this decade.
I dunno, my little brother and his friends really like “You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid.”
Oh, that’s nice! Yeah, I haven’t heard anything from them, and, spoken like a true writer critic New Yorker arrogant person, if I haven’t heard something then it must not be popular.
In this particular case, I know The Offspring are still around, and so are a lot of the 90s acts, but it’s not just a matter of judging varying levels of commercial success. (They sold tens of millions of albums in the 90s, exceptional but not rare, and if someone did that today they’d be a god). It’s also that the conduits of airplay and promotion have been shattered. MTV plays non-music programming virtually 24 hours a day, rock radio has been killed by the consolidated radio giants, and Pitchfork definitely ain’t into this kind of music. So, it’s really rough for a punk-pop act to make Ozzy Osbourne money nowadays.
Which is why I made the statement about “impact”. They still have the methods available to address an established fan base, but it’d be a mighty task to reach the wider popular mainstream… unless they can get a song featured on “Gossip Girl”. I mean, maybe they can be the house band at Chuck Bass’ club?
That said, you could always stop down to the Vans Warped Tour and open your ears if you want to hear some good punk-pop music. (I would more strongly recommend taking a trip to local clubs anywhere to see straight-up punk music, without the pop.)
