Retrospective: The Offspring (Part 2)

The second part of The Offspring's discography. This half of their career hold my favorite records by the group, and these are the albums I listen to the most. As such I could write a stand-alone article for all of these discs, but I'll try to keep it short and sweet for this purpose.

Americana (1998)
Already went into my nostalgic telling of Americana. One of my favorites.

Conspiracy of One (2000)
Not the best Offspring album, Conspiracy of One is an alright release by the group. By this time I was in eighth grade and the pop-punk song "Original Prankster" (the first single) became my new anthem. Something about being a rebel and burning stuff down appealed to me. And even now, after the album has had several plays, looking at the track list I can only really remember that single and "Want You Bad" (one of my favorite Offspring songs) as anything worth listening to. I bet if I had listened to it right before writing this I could pick out a few more good songs, but a true test of a good album and song is its longevity, and for me that only includes the two singles.

Splinter (2003)
Splinter is a return to the sound, I believe, of their Americana days. While Conspiracy of One tried to go mainstream (which did gander it some decent sales), Splinter moves back into the varied style of the band. While the whole album is definitely 'punk' the style of the record changes throughout. Most of the album, and all of the singles, followed the humor-laden style of yesteryear of the group, songs like "Da Hui" and "Worst Hangover Ever" showed off the band's other musical tastes. Splinter is another album where I like the non-singles more then the actual singles.

Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace (2008)
When four of the biggest punk revival bands (The Offspring, Green Day, Rancid and - to a lesser extent - Sum 41) released their latest albums (all after a three or more year break), there was much rejoicing across the land. And while Green Day's American Idiot got all of the press, it was The Offspring's Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace that caught my ear. Green Day went into politics, Rancid went into heartbreak, Sum 41 turned to pop (their worst album in my opinion), but The Offspring went into progressive rock. Many of the songs on this album are tried and true Offspring - catchy chorus', decent musical works and funny lyrics - but some stand out as a new media. This album is one of my favorites from the group, just after Americana, and I'm sure within a year or two - after some more listens - it will be upgraded to one of my Favorite Albums.