Let’s open a JAR of Pop Punk and see how The Offspring’s latest album compares to their heights of the 90s! Let the Bad Times Roll is up for judgment!

Well this album intrigued me because, well, as a child of the 90s; Offspring were right up there Green Day as the pinnacle of Pop Punk. The Offspring always did a decent job at never deviating as much from their Punk sound as the aforementioned Green Day, but when the new millennium hit, they slowed down and had varying degrees of gaps between releases.

So another band with quite some time between their last release and this 2021 disc. Days Gone By was released in 2012, and even though there were a few covers, the Sharknado song for Sharknado: The 4^th Awakens, things have been a little slim. You’ll also notice that this album contains the single they released in 2015, Coming For You, so that tells you a bit about the struggles to get this album going.

After 9 years, are they still pretty fly for white guys?

• Artist: The Offspring
• Album: Let the Bad Times Roll (2021)
• Label: Concord Records

What we notice immediately with the album, is they kick things off with This is Not Utopia, which sets the table for topical political discussion with enough of their punk roots to keep the song driving. To anyone really curious, there aren’t a ton of political opinion songs, though that is the roots of Punk. So if you like Punk but don’t like politics, please look up oxymoron and stop it.

The titular track is second and it’s fine. It’s definitely more radio friendly and in that vein of slightly upbeat with a less than flowery imagery Pop Punk. When we get to the third track we open with a riffing that sounds a lot like Tom Petty’s Last Dance for Mary Jane, it stats somber and then picks up solidly. Behind the Walls, can easily be applied to many people dealing with quarantine. Which oddly enough the next few albums can definitely be equated to lockdown feelings.

Thankfully, the 2015 single Coming for You, doesn’t feel out of place. But the real fun is the next song. We Never Have Sex Anymore is just good fun. Reflecting the fact that they are older, so it definitely gives off the vibes of parents sharing too much, but it’s not the first time they’ve played in the amusing sexualized songs. Me and My Old Lady, off of Ixnay on the Hombre took a light hearted approach to a sexual topic. So it’s very true to the band, so that’s always fun to see.

We get a quick instrumental interlude, it’s no Intermission, but serves a similar role. Opioid Diaries, is a fantastic Punk take on the opioid crisis that’s spike up in the last decade or so in the United States. This is probably the most beautifully Punk song they have on the album. Hassan Chop is also very fun. Taking its name from a Bugs Bunny cartoon, which sets the tone of the song, and it’s just a really well done song. Feels more like Punkier Pat Benatar, but not bad at all. So it’s safe to say that the middle of the album contains more of the Punk sound, where the rest is a bit of a smattering from their different eras.

Basically the last legit song (last one Lullaby is more just a mashup of things from the album for an outro), we have the masterpiece of this album, which might be a weird way to say it. Gone Away Requiem, is very literally a stripped down piano version of their 1997 classic, Gone Away. What makes this so powerful, is the duality in the versions. 1997 was a fresh, angry, 30 year old who was mad at the world and everything that happened; and you felt the rage and frustration in that version. This one however, a mid-fifties reflection brings a whole new meaning to every line. Somber, haunting, distressing…but oddly content. Still willing to trade, still just as upset, but the rage has subsided to just a hollow ache. The passage of time, coupled with the lyrics and starting to come out of a pandemic where people have been closer to death and loss, this just hits much differently, and very masterfully. Amazing way to look at grief and its stages from two perspectives with the same song.

So with all that said, The Offspring have definitely submitted a damn good offering for 2021. If you’re a child of the late 80s or 90s like myself, then this will carry enough nostalgic feelings while definitely sounding in the moment and well played for the situation we’re all dealing with. Anyone who may have started losing interest in the band around Splinter can be reassured that they are trending upwards. There’s definitely more radio friendly aspects to some songs, but they make it very obvious they haven’t forgotten who they are.

It’s not their best work ever, but it’s their best work in a while. It’s always nice when older bands don’t forget who they are.

Final Judgment: 8/10