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For the electronic music album, see Smash (Jackson and His Computer Band album). "Bad Habit (song)" redirects here. For the song by Destiny's Child, see Destiny Fulfilled. "Killboy Powerhead" redirects here. For the song by The Didjits, see The Didjits.
Smash is the third studio album by American punk rock band The Offspring, released on April 8, 1994 through Epitaph Records. The album was the band's last collaboration with record producer Thom Wilson, who produced their previous two albums, and marks their last release on Epitaph. Smash met high critical reception upon its release, and is now considered a classic punk rock album by fans, critics, and the band members themselves alike. The album was also responsible for bringing The Offspring to the attention of a mainstream punk audience.[1] Smash was the band's first to enter the Billboard 200; the release peaked at number four and topped the Heatseeker's chart. Smash produced four hit singles for the band: "Come Out and Play", "Self Esteem", "Gotta Get Away" and the radio-only single "Bad Habit". Since it has continued to sell consistently well in the fifteen years since its release, the album has gone on to be certified 6x Platinum in the United States and 4x Platinum in Australia.
[edit] Background and recordingIn 1991, The Offspring released the Baghdad 7". This EP was the turning point for the band; due to its success the band signed with Epitaph Records. Thom Wilson, who produced The Offspring's first two albums, had been trying to get the Offspring to switch to Epitaph, a label run by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. Gurewitz felt that The Offspring was just not quite pronounced enough for his label, but Baghdad convinced him to give the band a shot. Wilson and The Offspring entered the studio again and recorded Ignition. Released in 1992, Ignition exceeded all of the label's and band's expectations.[2] In the latter part of 1993, The Offspring began recording their third album, entitled Smash. They entered Track Record in North Hollywood in October of that year,[3] booking two months of studio time in which to record the album. [edit] Writing and compositionAlthough Smash has a dark, punk rock sound, the album is heavily influenced by the emerging pop punk scene. Bands like Green Day and Rancid were gaining popularity, and riding on this wave of popularity, Smash's singles became modern radio rock hits. A good example of this was the success of The Offspring's first major single release, "Come Out and Play", which reached #1 on Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and has become one of the band's signature songs.[citation needed] "Come Out and Play", with a pop punk sound radically different from any of The Offspring's earlier work, soon became popular on radio and then on MTV. The song makes reference to the issue of gun and gang violence in the context of a school campus. One lyric reads, "Your never ending spree of death and violence and hate is going to tie your own rope." The second single released from the album, "Self Esteem," became a radio hit, managing to peak at number 4 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. The lyrics are about an abusive relationship in which the girl takes advantage of her boyfriend, as he has "no self-esteem" to stand up to her. Contrary to popular belief, the song is not autobiographical as many people believe. In an interview Dexter revealed that it is about one of his old friends. The third single, "Gotta Get Away" was another rock radio hit, although not quite as popular as the previous two singles. The song hit number 6 Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. Being the last song written for the album, the lyrics describe a point in Dexter's life when he was suffering from extreme pressure due to the upcoming deadline of the album. Although not technically released as a single, "Bad Habit" gained some minor popularity when the influential L.A. radio station KROQ began playing the song in early 1995. It was erroneously published that it would be released as the band's then new single following the success of "Self Esteem." [edit] Track listingAll songs written by The Offspring except where noted. [edit] CDAll songs written and composed by The Offspring.
[edit] Original vinyl issue[edit] Side 1All songs written and composed by The Offspring.
[edit] Side 2
[edit] Album notes
[edit] ReceptionSmash album was released on April 8, 1994 and is the final Offspring album distributed via Epitaph Records. The album peaked at #4 on Billboard's pop albums charts and #1 on the Heatseeker's Chart,[4] performing better than thought possible for an independently released album. The album received positive reviews, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic described the album a "solid record, filled with enough heavy riffs to keep most teenagers happy". Erlewine praised the music "relentlessly heavy". For the album, he claims that The Offspring had "crossed over", because of the success of its single "Come Out and Play," which "stopped and started just like Nirvana." Smash received a rating of four out of five stars, while "Come Out and Play", "Self Esteem" and "Gotta Get Away" earned The Offspring its heaviest airplay on MTV and radio stations until the release of Americana.[5] [edit] Album art Smash, as well as the hit singles "Come Out and Play," "Self Esteem," and "Gotta Get Away" have a common artwork theme: an ominous (and highly distorted) skeleton on the cover, disc, and back of the CD case. The music videos for "Self Esteem" and "Come Out and Play" also have several scenes with a similar skeleton. This symbol is believed to represent the core themes of the album: death, suicide, violence, addiction, and abuse. The skeleton is used to represent that the continuation of these acts will inevitably lead to death (Or alternatively, the death of the human race). The art direction is credited to Fred Hidalgo and Kevin Head.[6] [edit] Charts[edit] AlbumAlbum - Billboard (North America)
[edit] SinglesSingles - Billboard (North America)
[edit] AccoladesThe information regarding accolades attributed to Smash is adapted from AcclaimedMusic.net.[7]
* denotes an unordered list [edit] Total sales and legacySince its release in 1994, Smash has proved to be a seller over time, moving over 6,000,000 in the US alone and being certified six times platinum by the RIAA. By 2008, the same year the album was remastered, it had sold over 16,000,000 copies worldwide, making the sales of the album only better than its predecessor, Ignition.[16] It is considered to be The Offspring's most successful album to date and was the US' best-selling album on an independent label since The Smashing Pumpkins released Gish in 1991. Despite its massive commercial success, it was not The Offspring's highest charting album on Billboard 200, peaking at #4; their fifth album Americana would hit #2 in 1998. Smash also sold well outside the US, particularly in Australia, where it debuted #1 on the ARIA Charts for three weeks in February 1995.  Smash is regarded by critics as one of the most influential rock albums of all time, and has inspired a number of musicians. During Trivium's early days, guitarist Matt Heafy performed a cover version of "Self Esteem" at his middle school talent show at Lake Brantley High School, while the British synthpop group Cuban Boys also covered that song on their only full-length Eastwood. The album's other hit, "Come Out and Play", was covered by Richard Cheese on his 2000 album, Lounge Against the Machine and again released on the 2006 album, The Sunny Side of the Moon. Brett Gurewitz, the guitarist of Bad Religion and president of Epitaph, had also mentioned that he liked Smash and described it "a very good record".[17] Along with Green Day's Dookie, Smash was among the most commercially successful punk rock albums released in 1994, a year when the genre reached arguably its greatest popularity. By the end of the year, Dookie and Smash had both sold millions of copies.[18] The commercial success of these two albums attracted major label interest in pop punk, with bands such as Rancid and Bad Religion, who had both been labelmates with The Offspring at the time, being offered lucrative contracts to leave their independent record labels. However, Rancid eventually rejected this idea before they even achieved some commercial success with their 1995 album …And Out Come the Wolves, which also went platinum. [edit] Chart performance
[edit] Personnel[edit] The Offspring
[edit] Additional Personnel
[edit] See also[edit] References[edit] General references
[edit] Notes
[edit] External links
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