Smashed

I'm listening to the Offspring's Smash for the first time in 12 years (I was 14 when I first heard it, and remember being blown away by it). While it's a fun hardcore album, I've also heard a countless other bands that sound pretty much exactly the same (a charge often leveled at, but less accurately at their quasi-punk bretheren Green Day). I remember being absolutely blown away by the album as an adolescent. I suppose it goes to show that the wide-eyed naivete of youth is precious. While it was a harbinger of the neo-punk movement, I don't think Smash or the Offspring have a particularly timeless quality (in constrast to say, Husker Du (or for that matter, the Ramones or Clash), who would have been even cooler if you heard them before Nirvana, Green Day and every other 1990's band that owed a heavy debt to them, yet they still rock today). I'm not sure what the difference between a successful band who ends up being artistically relevant or influential and one that does (and for the purposes of analysis, excise bands like NSYNC, Bush et al.).

Something to think about, if nothing else...

Oh, and after two plus weeks of constant family with its accompanying joys and annoyances, as an introvert, I'm ready to move to one of the sparsely populated counties in Montana that aren't overrun with white supremicists. I'll "forget" my cell phone at home too....