Americana (The Offspring album)
Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox album Americana is the fifth studio album by American rock band The Offspring, released on November 17, 1998, by Columbia Records. Following a worldwide tour in support of Ixnay on the Hombre (1997), the band commenced work on a new album in July 1998, with the recording sessions lasting for about two months. It was The Offspring's second and last album to be produced by Dave Jerden.
Americana was a major success, debuting at number two on the US Billboard 200 (the highest chart position of any Offspring album), and selling over 198,000 copies in its first week.<ref>Between the Bullets, Billboard</ref> It is the band's second best-selling album after their 1994 breakout, Smash, and has sold over ten million copies worldwide.<ref name="Offspring TheHistory">THE OFFSPRING HISTORY Template:Webarchive offspring.com/thehistory. Retrieved February 19, 2015.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Americana spawned the hit singles "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)", "Why Don't You Get a Job?" and "The Kids Aren't Alright", and was promoted with a worldwide tour that included an appearance at the Woodstock '99 festival.
Background and recording
After the unexpected success of Smash (1994), the Offspring were signed to Columbia Records in 1996, releasing the fourth studio album, Ixnay on the Hombre (1997). Although Ixnay on the Hombre was not as well received as Smash, it managed simultaneous gold and platinum certifications in the United States in April 1997. After touring in support of Ixnay on the Hombre, the Offspring began writing new material for their next album. Frontman Dexter Holland told Rolling Stone in August 1998, "I wanted to write a record that wasn't a radical departure from what we've done before. I feel like we have managed to change stuff up from Ignition to Smash to Ixnay. We're in a place where we more or less set the boundaries where we can do a lot of stuff without having to stretch it out farther ... and do a swing song or something."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Recording took place from July to September 1998 at Eldorado Recording Studios with producer Dave Jerden, who also produced Ixnay on the Hombre. Holland told Guitar World, "The idea wasn't to reinvent the wheel. We expanded our horizons on our last record and that's okay, but I don't feel like you have to be a completely different band on every record."<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> While most songs are the regular punk rock the band popularized, others such as the Latino-influenced "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)" and the psychedelic "Pay the Man" add variety, "so that there's enough in there so people don't get bored".<ref name=bill/> "Pay the Man" was even left off Ixnay on the Hombre for sounding too different from anything else the band had currently made at that time. The structure of the song more resembles progressive rock (having no repetitive sections and no continuous musical theme).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Holland also contributed the song "Too Much Drama" to the Vandals' album Hitler Bad, Vandals Good, which was released five months before Americana. The chorus melody is reused on this album on the song "Walla Walla".Template:Citation neededTemplate:Original research inline
Composition
Template:Quote box Americana contains themes of unhappy American lifestyles. Speaking of the album shortly after its release, Holland explained, "The songs on Americana aren't condemnations, they're short stories about the state of things and what we see going on around us. We want to expose the darker side of our culture. It may look like an episode of Happy Days out there in America, but it feels more like Twin Peaks."<ref name="All-Americana"/> He detailed that Americana was not thought right away as a concept album and "this really cool social statement", though once the band recorded a few songs complaining about 1998 America, "then we realized we had a theme".<ref name=spin>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Holland also explained that Americana served as "a commentary on American culture", satirizing hypocritical lives and political correctness.<ref>Dexter Holland's Americana Tour</ref> One of the influences was The Jerry Springer Show, with the band even considering naming the album after the show's news tickers such as "Stripper Wars".<ref name="All-Americana">Template:Cite web</ref> A major source of inspiration was seeing the people in Holland's hometown of Huntington Beach, such as the "wiggers" who were mocked in "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)". Despite dealing with aimlessness and disillusionment, derived from how the generation that had just got to adulthood was having problems in getting jobs and sustaining themselves, Holland declared that "I didn't want it to be a record that made you feel hopeless. At the end of the day I hope that you can get something positive out of it."<ref>How to Survive in Suburbia, Los Angeles Times</ref>
Packaging
Artist Frank Kozik was hired to do the artwork for the album, as Holland found that his concert tour posters "had all the connotations we associated with Americana: very glossy, innocent and 1950s, but with a twisted aspect."<ref name="All-Americana"/> Kozik, who had known the singer for a long time, was reluctant to work for the band due to the reception his fans would have, eventually demanding $75,000 to do the Americana illustrations. The album's cover art features a blond boy with an orthopedic boot seated on a swing holding a sand flea. From out of the frame, a tentacle reaches toward the boy. Kozik had originally done said illustration for a Nebraskan band, Ritual Device, and reused it as the cover of his book Man's Ruin: The Poster Art Of Frank Kozik.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On the booklet, which Holland described as "a little Kozik picture book", every song has its own accompanying illustration.<ref name="All-Americana"/>
Some pressings of Americana are also enhanced CDs and contain the karaoke videos of "Staring at the Sun", "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)" and "Why Don't You Get a Job?", and the previous MTV music videos from its predecessor, Ixnay on the Hombre.
Release and reception
Template:Music ratings Americana was released on November 17, 1998, and peaked at number 2 on the Billboard 200 album chart,<ref name="Billboard">Template:Cite magazine</ref> the highest position the band has attained as of 2023. Shortly after its release, the album was certified gold and then later platinum.<ref name="goldcertification">Template:Cite web</ref>
The album received mixed reviews. Michael Gallucci of AllMusic described the album as a "raucous ride through America as seen through the eyes of a weary, but still optimistic, young kid". Gallucci praised the music as "a hearty combination of poppy punk" and a "blend of salsa and alterna-rock sounds", stating the band's music was taking a different direction. The album received a rating of three out of five stars, while "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)", "Why Don't You Get a Job?", "The Kids Aren't Alright" and "She's Got Issues" earned the Offspring its heaviest airplay on MTV and radio stations to date.<ref name="allmusic"/> Entertainment Weekly reviewer Dan Snierson considered Americana as post-punk done right, "with crafty yell-odies and winky lyrics".<ref name=ew/> In his review for the Offspring's next album Conspiracy of One, The A.V. Club critic Stephen Thompson called Americana "the unbearable result being the kind of stupidity that thinks it's clever", considering it "bad enough to create a backlash against not only pop-punk, but also novelty songs, guitars, smug thirtysomethings, and the human race."<ref name="Thompson">Template:Cite web</ref>
Americana is the 224th best selling album of all time according to Billboard as of 2009.<ref name=top300>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The album was included in Rock SoundTemplate:'s 101 Modern Classics list at number 79.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The album was included at number 23 on Rock SoundTemplate:'s "The 51 Most Essential Pop Punk Albums of All Time" list.<ref>Bird, ed. 2014, p. 71</ref> NME listed the album as one of "20 Pop Punk Albums Which Will Make You Nostalgic".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The album was named at the 2000 Juno Awards as one of the best-selling albums that year.<ref name="Inc.2000">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Track listing
Notes
- A Pretty Fly (For a White Guy) contains a sample of "Rock of Ages" by Def Leppard.
- B "Pay the Man" ends at 8:10, followed by the hidden track "Pretty Fly (Reprise)" at 9:15. The track is a mariachi reprise of the song "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)". The online download release of Americana has "Pay the Man" and "Pretty Fly (Reprise)" separately, with the reprise as track 14. The main riff on "Pay the Man", particularly the drum part, is the same as found on the title track of Smash during the acoustic version of "Come Out and Play".
Charts
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Weekly charts
| Chart (1998–99) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Czech Albums (IFPI)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 4 |
| Danish Albums (Hitlisten)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 2 |
| European Albums (European Top 100 Albums)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> | 2 |
| Greek Albums (IFPI Greece)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> | 1 |
| Irish Albums (IRMA)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 25 |
| Italian Albums (FIMI)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 3 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon)<ref name="Jachart">Template:Cite web</ref> | 20 |
| Polish Albums (ZPAV)<ref name="pol">"Polish Charts Database - Search for The Offspring - Americana" Polish Albums Chart.</ref> | 1 |
| Portuguese Albums (AFP)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> | 3 |
| Spanish Albums (AFYVE)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> | 8 |
Year-end charts
| Chart (1998) | Position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 22 |
| Swedish Albums & Compilations (Sverigetopplistan)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 74 |
| Chart (1999) | Position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 3 |
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 1 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 14 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 31 |
| Canadian Albums (RPM)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 5 |
| Danish Albums (Hitlisten)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 14 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 21 |
| European Albums (Music & Media)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> | 3 |
| French Albums (SNEP)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 9 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 9 |
| Italian Albums (FIMI)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 23 |
| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 8 |
| Spanish Albums (AFYPE)<ref>Template:Cite web Click on the section Música grabada.</ref> | 49 |
| Swedish Albums & Compilations (Sverigetopplistan)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 5 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 17 |
| UK Albums (OCC)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 50 |
| US Billboard 200<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> | 7 |
Decade-end charts
| Chart (1990–1999) | Position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200<ref name="1990sbb">Template:Cite book</ref> | 75 |
Certifications
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Personnel
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.<ref>Template:Cite AV media notes</ref>
The Offspring
- Dexter Holland – vocals, guitar
- Noodles – guitar, backing vocals
- Greg K. – bass
- Ron Welty – drums
Additional musicians
- Chris "X-13" Higgins – backing vocals, additional vocals on "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)"
- Heidi Villagran and Nika Frost – additional vocals on "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)"
- Calvert DeForest – spoken word on "Why Don't You Get a Job?", additional vocals on "Pretty Fly (Reprise)"
- John Mayer – spoken word on "Welcome", additional vocals on "Pretty Fly (Reprise)"
- Davey Havok, Jack Grisham and Jim Lindberg – backing vocals
- Gabrial McNair – horn on "Why Don't You Get a Job?" & "Pretty Fly (Reprise)"
- Alvaro Macias – vihuela on "Why Don't You Get a Job?" & "Pretty Fly (Reprise)"
- Phil Jordan – horn on "Why Don't You Get a Job?" & "Pretty Fly (Reprise)"
- Carlos Goméz – guitar on "Why Don't You Get a Job?" & "Pretty Fly (Reprise)"
- Derrick Davis – flute on "Why Don't You Get a Job?" & "Pretty Fly (Reprise)"
Production
- Dave Jerden – producer, mixing
- Bryan Carlstrom – engineer
- Annette Cisneros – assistant engineer
- Eddy Schreyer – mastering
Artwork
- Sean Evans – art direction
- Justin Beope – artwork
- Frank Kozik – artwork
References
Notes
Sources
Bibliography
Further reading
External links
- Official page for the album
- Americana at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)