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List Price: $11.98 | | Label: Epitaph / Ada
Salesrank: 30942
Released: June 17, 2008 |
| Our Price: $7.99 |
| Used Price: $7.48 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Smash Track Listing:
1. Time To Relax
2. Nitro (Youth Energy)
3. Bad Habit
4. Gotta Get Away
5. Genocide
6. Something To Believe In
7. Come And Out And Play (Keep 'Em Seperated)
8. Self Esteem
9. It'll Be A Long Time
10. Killboy Powerhead
11. What Happened To You?
12. So Alone
13. Not The One
14. Smash
Editorial Review:
Smash is a generous helping of guitar power-pop. The delightful Middle-Eastern surf guitar on "Come Out And Play" hides harsh sentiments in poppy guitar riffs. Singer Dexter Holland mocks the school systems that think the solution to school violence is to "keep them separated," to segregate rather than educate the kids about the dangers of carrying guns. As Holland advises his fans, "Hey pay no mind/If you're under eighteen you won't be doing any time." Offspring's power is in writing anthemic guitar rock that effortlessly slips from genre to genre. From the humorous ska-flavored "What Happened To You?" to the sing-along guitar riff in "No Self Esteem,".
Description of Smash:
Call them the Nine Inch Nails of punk. Like NIN, the Offspring preserve the essential ingredients of their chosen genre--guitars grinding out three chords, shouted vocals, and plenty of vitriol--and layer them over a melodic base that packs considerable popular appeal. The singles from Smash, the Offspring's breakthrough album, still receive considerable radio airplay: "Gotta Get Away," "Come Out and Play," and "Self Esteem." With these and Smash's 11 other tracks, the band chronicles the adolescent experience with clarity and surprisingly incisive wit. That pretty much describes all of their albums, but this is the one to get. It's got more shape than their earlier material and isn't as disturbingly poppy as their more recent recordings; it's the perfect blend of riffs and rage. --Genevieve Williams
Smash Reviews:
Ready for take off 
2008-02-01 - Offspring caught everyone by surprise with just how good this album was. It took off, quite literally blowing many other bands out of the way to get at the charts in numerous territories and it's easy to see why.
Firstly the band were one of the earliest to use the pop-punk schtick. And given there was some real abrasiveness in their wattage and Dexter Holland actually had a bit of the ol' nasal twang happening you sort of believed it. As opposed to Blink 182 (the Danger Danger of their generation).
Secondly the thing was propelled by the buoyant yet full bodied blasts of singles such as Come Out And Play which speaks at a simple yet highly effective level to the fire in the belly without totally submerging it's intelligence to suck up to the punter, the stupidity of much of the behaviour being sung about isn't glossed over. As for Self Esteem, this is an interesting piece of introspection wrapped up in a PG rated sense of fun.
Thirdly the body of the album apart from the couple of huge singles also feels good and sounds good. Nitro (youth energy) is an excellent way to start off an album and further songs like Bad Habit, Gotta Get Away and Genocide continue to batter the listener with tracks that feel full of intent.
Towards the end of the album things start to unravel a bit - the band should of cut two or three tracks off the album as What Happened To You, So Alone and Not The One are all fairly anonymous and by then your not really all that interested in the title track tacked unceremoniously onto the end of proceedings.
And that's pretty much why I can only give this four stars. The album has Offspring at their very best with energetic delivery of fresh sounding hard rockin' numbers that have more vitality in them than so many of the more offensive pretenders in the genre. One of the better hard rock albums of the 90's with easily enough middle finger to have you taking them seriously. For now.
This CD Rocks! 
2007-12-18 - This is the album that got me into punk rock. While this is a bit on the outskirts, it's definitely a great gateway record. The drums are incredible, the guitar is often playful and hard rockin', and Dexter's scratchy voice is a perfect fit with the rest of the band. "Nitro" and "Self-Esteem" are especially great. I would definitely recommend buying this CD. It's worth it.
Sold Rock Fun 
2007-09-30 - If you know the offspring at all, you know what to expect from this album. If you don't, here it is: above average rock hymns worth humming to yourself to psyche yourself up with. "Come Out and Play" and "Self Esteem" are probably the two best songs the Offrspring have ever produced. Overall this album will not revolutionize your music library, but it will add some fun solid rock music worth listening to with the music cracked up. I don't think this album could disappoint you too much unless you're really expecting far too much from this band, but it might just entertain you a bit more than you'd expect. Relax, sit back, don't over think this effort and just enjoy the noise.
good, but way too overrated
2007-07-23 - This is a good album, yes, but it is very overrated. Alot of Offspring fans like to defend this album and trash their new stuff without giving any reasons as to why or any constructive criticism of their new stuff. They are just telling me that they're just trying to look cool if they can't say anything better than "smash rulez amaricana/conspiracy of one/splinter SUCK". Well there are later Offspring releases that I like more than this, like Conspiracy of One. Don't like my opinion? Comment on my review, and let's see how well you can debate.
Anyways, I like this album, but I skip a few songs, while on albums like Conspiracy of One or Ixnay on the Hombre I can listen to the whole thing through.
Good album, but not a classic when it comes to what I think.
Timeless
2007-04-06 - Arguably one of the most influential rock albums of the 90s by one of the best bands. Smash, easily Offspring's best album to date came out at a time when Nirvana's Nevermind and Green Day's Dookie albums rocked the radio. Definitely all classics, worthy of 5 stars. Smash is raw energy in every one of Dexters vocals and Noodles' guitar riffs. Relentless fast paced hard hitting tracks that can get you pumped for anything you do, not a weak song on the cd. A** kickers like Bad Habit (the whole thing is about road rage, you dont hear that much), the popular Self Esteem, and my favorite It'll Be A Long Time. Through and through an iconic masterpiece. If you dont have this cd, go get it, NO EXCEPTIONS. Anyways "it's time to relax and you know what that means a glass of wine your favorite easy chair and ofcourse this compact disc playing on your home stereo".
