Disappointing The Doubters Nobody Expected The Offspring To Keep Making Hits

Wed., Nov. 6, 1996

Mark Brown Orange County Register

Of all the new bands that sold millions of albums in the past few years, maybe there’s been the most grumbling and back-biting in the record industry about The Offspring.

First it tried to write off the band as a one-hit wonder. Then that fell apart when hit after hit came from the 1994 “Smash” album.

That peeved the industry even worse - a punk band on an indie label having one of the biggest-selling albums of the decade? Then the grumbles got louder when The Offspring signed to Columbia Records. Media backlash set in when the band kept lying low while selling more than 6 million albums.

Insiders muttered “Well, let’s see what their next album is like.”

They’ll have to wait a little longer to see; the almost-but-not-quite-titled new album has been pushed back from November to a Feb. 4 release date, with a single due in January.

And the naysayers might be right; even The Offsprings’ manager admits there is a big problem with the album.

“Our main problem is going to be picking singles,” manager Jim Guerinot said. “There are six songs good enough to be the first single. Then six more strong songs after that.”

The band recently finished mastering the 12-song disc, Guerinot said. After some time to get the album ready for release, the band will play Australia’s Big Day Out festival in January. It’ll be May before the band gets around to touring the United States.

As for the criticism?

“Everybody’s looking for a car crash,” Guerinot said. “People don’t know that (‘Smash’) wasn’t their first album.”

It doesn’t matter. The new songs debuted at a surprise concert in Orange, Calif., a few months ago sounded strong, and Guerinot says they got only better in the studio.

When it all comes down to it, it’s only that music that matters. And everything the band got - from its struggling days in tiny Southern California clubs to its multiplatinum successes - came from the band’s own work, not industry favor. No need for it to be any different this time around.