Album Review: The Offspring ‘Days Go By’

The Offspring – ‘Days Go By’

Record Label: Columbia
Produced By: Bob Rock
Released On: June 26, 2012

Music Trajectory Rating: 4/5

Ignore the negative reviews; this is the best Offspring album since Americana

I was very much looking forward to sitting down and writing this review because The Offspring is a band I have followed since early on in their career (they were actually the first band that I got into and I credit them as the band that got me into music). I am always very excited when they release a new album because I like to see what direction they go in, what fans and critics say about it but mostly because I am a fan, always have been a fan, and always will be a fan.

I am really surprised to see all the negative reviews. As of this writing the album has a Metacritic score of 47/100. Most of the things I am seeing is that “Cruising California” is too poppy and lead single “Days Go By” sounds like Foo Fighters. I admit I was a little surprised that they decided to go with “Days Go By” as the lead single instead of a song more inline with the classic Offspring sound. After hearing the album, it makes sense to go with that song as the lead single to set the tone of this new release; they are continuing to progress as a band.

I find it comical that every time The Offspring come out with a new album there are still people expecting Smash Part II. The Offspring have a diverse fan base and they need to appeal to that diverse fan base. The beauty of this new album is that it has something for everybody. There are songs like “Hurting As One” and “Dividing By Zero” that fans of Offspring’s older material will like. There are songs like the aforementioned “Cruising California” and the infectious “I Wanna Secret Family (With You)” that fans of the Offspring’s more poppy and mainstream material will like. The rest of the album is a balance of the more punk sound of old and the more mainstream sound of new.

Overall, the album is solid from opener “The Future Is Now” to the closing track “Slim Pickens Does The Right Thing And Rides The Bomb To Hell”. I will even go out on a limb and say this is the best Offspring album since 1998’s Americana – which is actually only 4 albums ago, as The Offspring have definitely slowed down their production of albums in the later part of their career. Since Americana in 1998, The Offspring released Conspiracy of One in 2000, Splinter in 2003, Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace in 2008 and now Days Go By in 2012.

I will reiterate that I am by no means bias towards The Offspring’s “poppy” or “mainstream” sound. My favorite Offspring album is 1994’s Smash (and also ranked my #1 on my 50 favorite albums of all time), I loved the follow-up Ixnay on the Hombre in 1997, and I think The Offsprings first two albums, The Offspring in 1989 and Ignition in 1992 remain very underrated. What I am is a longtime fan of the band and I can honestly say that Days Go By is one of the best albums of their career; it balances the sound of their career and the band also manages to showcase progression of their sound.

Days Go By will surely propel The Offspring back into mainstream rock popularity; 1st single “Days Go By” is only the 2nd Offspring song to ever chart on the Billboard Rock Chart, peaking at #4. The track is also one of the best charting songs of their career on Billboard’s Alternative and Mainstream charts.