One of the biggest genres at the moment, which may be surprising, is country music. I haven’t really touched on the genre yet, so though I would review a classic – Johnny Cash.
At Folsom Prison is one of the definitive releases of Cash and country music in general. It is a live recording of his performance at Folsom State Prison in 1968. The songs are perfect for the setting, often highlighting the gritty and harrowing sides of prison life, along with some humour. The banter between Cash and the crowd only heightens the atmosphere.
There is a great balance between upbeat toe-tappers and slower songs. His wife June Carter even guests for a few songs. Cash must’ve predicted the special guest trend at festivals like Glastonbury and Coachella!
There are a few unnecessary bonus tracks on the CD version in my opinion. I would just fade out at the end for them (the rest of the album flows into each other, as if you’re at the actual concert). The setlist for the original album release is perfect to me.
Overall, I don’t have too much to say about this album that hasn’t already been said. It is a very rugged and raw release, completely different to the sound of modern country that many dislike. It definitely could be classed as rock n roll too.
I have done a few “Finding The Lemon In…” articles for the older classic acts Elvis Costello and Green Day, finding the influence of this broad British music style in unexpected artists. From ’60s acts like The Beatles and The Kinks through to Oasis, Arctic Monkeys, Sam Fender etc – I’ve given it the uniform name of “lemon music.”
I thought I would apply this to some more contemporary acts who are finding a lot of success in the charts etc. Today, it’s Tame Impala.
A classic joke, Tame Impala is often mistakenly called a band. In reality, it is the solo project of Australian mastermind Kevin Parker. He does everything – the songwriting, instruments, production. He has gone through many different styles over the years. He started off with very Beatles and Led Zeppelin-inspired psychedelic rock, before embracing other styles like synth-pop and more contemporary sounds in his later material. His album from last year, which was a dance record, spawned “Dracula” – one of the biggest viral hits of the year.
You can’t really deny the spellbinding soundscapes of his tracks like “Let It Happen” in the last decade, and the live shows look otherworldly. However, I thought I’d start with a sound I wish he’d return to, the rock n roll of his first two albums, specifically Lonerism, which I will look at today.
As I said, his early work has a heavy Beatles vibe. This is seen all over Lonerism. The McCartney-esque basslines on his famous Hofner bass, use of the Rickenbacker guitar like George Harrison, the Ringo style drumbeats and fills (the production makes you feel like you’re in the room with Ringo in 1966). Strangely, I think Parker sounds eerily like John Lennon – you won’t unhear it. He even looks quite like the man!
Even though the album is very Beatles, it still sounds modern. The heavy use of fuzz-guitar and effects like reverb and flanger push the music into neo-psychedelia and dream pop territory. The music frequently circles around the speakers and headphones, creating a dreamlike feel. There are also crunching Zeppelin style riffs as I said, found on “Mind Mischief,” along with the heavy glam-rock stomp of hit “Elephant.”
I would fade out “Keep On Lying” from the 5-minute mark, and fade in and out a few times during the 3:25-5:00 jam section of the penultimate track (long title). I also do think the psychedelic guitar outro of the final track is too long-winded aswell! Just my taste – not a fan of lengthy jam sections. The psychedelic instrumental passages on tracks like “Apocalypse Dreams” are absolutely transcendental through.
Overall, I do think Parker is an insanely talented musician, who has been very influential to the last decade of music, frequently producing massive hip-hop names etc. However, I do wish he would return to the more rocky psychedelic style of this early material – the more “lemon” style sound! See you next time.
A few months ago, a band I greatly enjoy – The Black Keys – released their new album Peaches!. I remember hearing them on Radio 1 on a 2014 holiday in Cornwall with the song “Fever” – I was instantly hooked. I then discovered their blues rock sound, also mixed with styles like garage rock in their most famous work.
The new album is a blues covers album, returning them to their roots. However, I thought that before I review that album, I would touch on some classic blues music – a genre I am not that well versed in.
Probably the most famous name associated with blues music is BB King, so I decided to check him out. I was surprised by the jazzy feel of his music and use of horns. I expected more of a raw blues style. However, I decided to look up if there were any albums by him without horns, and more of a stripped-back sound. My Kind of Blues is exactly that.
The album was a favourite of King’s and was either recorded in 1958 or 60 (details are unclear). The album has a wonderful live feel – his signature guitar with jazzy drums and boogie woogie piano on every song. The major key blues from the piano really adds to the music in my opinion, and accentuates the suave feeling. For the flow of the album I would track 7 as 3, play the instrumental intro of track 3 at the start of track 6 and then fade out, and then put track 3 as 8. This is because track 3, “Understand (I’m a Good But a Poor Man)” has more of a melodic, almost gospel feel. To me, putting it later in the tracklist breaks up the very blues feel of the album for me.
Overall, a great album that showcases the raw power of BB King and blues music. The minimal instrumentation helps it still sound fresh, similar to what I found with jazz like Frank Sinatra. Thanks for reading this shorter review.
Last Friday, The Rolling Stones released their new album, Foreign Tongues. As with their previous album, 2023’s Hackney Diamonds, it was produced by Andrew Watt. In my recent article on the production from Watt on Hackney Diamonds vs the new Paul McCartney album, I feel the same positive feelings towards his production on Foreign Tongues. However, I don’t feel so positive musically towards this new Stones album…
I found Hackney to be an incredibly consistent late-career peak. Full of swaggering yet melodic rock n roll tunes, with some country and other genres thrown in. To me, Foreign Tongues is a lot more all over the place. “Jealous Lover” is a slick soul song that could be on one of their ’80s albums, “Never Wanna Lose You,” a disco track, there’s the Amy Winehouse cover of “You Know I’m No Good” etc. I also think “Covered In You” and “Side Effects” are weak rockers melodically – the chord progressions don’t do much for me. Not bad necessarily, but don’t compare to anything on Hackney Diamonds in my opinion.
However, there are some absolute gems on this album that are incredible for some octogenarians. “In The Stars” showcases this fresh Stones sound I am enjoying – an incredibly melodic, massive chorus, yet still with a trademark crunchy riff. “Mr Charm” and “Divine Intervention” follow the same formula, “Hit Me In The Head” is a punk stomper featuring the late Charlie Watts on drums.
“Ringing Hollow” is country once again, “Some Of Us” features Keith Richards on vocals, “Back in Your Life” is a gospel epic and “Beautiful Delilah” a raw Chuck Berry cover. These specific types of songs are also found on Hackney Diamonds. It’s basically that album part 2, but sadly not as strong for me. The iTunes bonus track “Bad Luck Hideaway” is great though – if they released that on a deluxe album, as artists inevitably seem to months later these days, the album would edge into a good one for me.
However, the reason I wanted to do this article, and do it now, is a silly misheard lyric I spotted. The type of thing comedian Peter Kay does! On the opener “Rough And Twisted,” Jagger sings “dance like Nijinsky.” I always thought it sounded like “dance like Gymskin,” the 2026 viral sensation known for his famous shoulder dance! The moment happens at around 1:18.
The song itself is also a standout. It’s a blues rock sizzler with another monster chorus. Even though I won’t buy Foreign Tongues (unless a deluxe comes out), it’s amazing to see The Stones still rolling in 2026.
One thing’s for sure – we will all be dropping the shoulder to “Rough And Twisted” this summer. Bring it on.
Today, 7 Jul 2026, is my birthday. As a big Beatles fan and a drummer, it’s pretty strange that it’s also Ringo Starr’s birthday! It must’ve been written in the stars…
I wanted to do an article related to this fact, but wasn’t sure exactly what I would write about. After all, what hasn’t been said about The Beatles at this point!
However, it did make me think of an experience I had last year. I went to see a Beatles tribute act, The Mersey Beatles, in the Ulster Hall in Belfast. They sounded good and went through the different eras of the band, as most Beatles tribute acts do. The early years with the mop top haircuts, the Sgt. Pepper years and the final years with the long hair and beards. However, one part they skipped was the coolest era of the band in my opinion…
That is the era of 1965-66. The band were just coming out of their early music like “She Loves You” and were starting to experiment with different sounds – yet not going full-blown psychedelia as they did on Sgt. Pepper. I love the folk-rock sound of Help! and Rubber Soul and the crazier sonic adventures of Revolver.
This gradual change of the band is also displayed in their image at the time. They weren’t wearing the matching suits of the early years, but also weren’t possessing moustaches and dressing in the Sgt. Pepper outfits. They had a great “mod” style at this time with the flowery shirts and sunglasses. To me, this is the look that Oasis have based their career on!
One great aspect about Revolver, and a process I’d like to see for the earlier albums – I’m sure it will happen eventually – is the fact a remix by Giles Martin (producer George Martin’s son) has been released. In a recent article about my thoughts on modern production, specifically with drums, I detailed how I love punchy kicks and snares. In a lot of The Beatles’ catalogue the drums are quite low in the mix, often panned hard left or right.
That’s why I think the remixes of their later music are fantastic. They are so clear that they sound like they could be released in 2026, yet still retain the charm of the originals. The biggest difference is in the drums – I didn’t even notice the kick drum work on the original “For No One.” Now, in my opinion, the drums could still be a bit louder and more prominent in the mix like modern music, but it’s the best that can be done.
As for the music, there’s not much more that needs to be said for Revolver that hasn’t already been said. It is a flawless album that still sounds like the future in places. The closer Tomorrow Never Knows is an insanely trippy song that set the template for dance acts like The Chemical Brothers (who are having a big viral resurgence right now) with the breakbeat pattern by Ringo on the drums. Listen to the final few seconds too – there’s a subtle piano that sounds like a pure ’90s rave track.
There are some aspects I would’ve changed personally – I’m not a massive fan of George Harrison’s Indian track “Love You To,” or the discordant piano in sections of “I Want To Tell You.” However, they aren’t too annoying that I would skip them.
Overall, this 65-66 era of The Beatles is probably my favourite – and one that should be covered by all tribute acts! Happy birthday Ringo!
Today I’m continuing to look at Kings of Leon’s discography. This will all lead to a quite special post!
The band’s third album, Because of the Times, was released in 2007. It takes the gritty Southern rock style of their first two albums and expands upon it – adding echo and reverb-laden guitars and more atmospheric textures. However, it still rocks as hard, if not harder, than their first two albums.
The album opens with “Knocked Up.” It is a seven-minute track that does go on a bit, but is kind of a half ballad/rocker. It features a “woah oh oh” vocal section that always gets the crowd going at gigs. This is followed by “Charmer,” which features frontman Caleb doing a weird screaming thing with his voice. I wouldn’t usually like that, but it sounds so bizarre for them and the music behind is still absolutely brilliant.
This is followed by “On Call,” a song that the band still regularly plays. It features a massive bass groove and rollicking guitar solo, which manages to work with the slightly more atmospheric and anthemic sound.
*the band also began cutting their hair shorter in the second half of 2007
This is a theme of the album for me: hard-rocking yet melodic. “McFearless” features a monster fuzz bass sound, wah-wah guitars, a cool snare drum pattern and is also pleasant – same with following song “Black Thumbnail.” “My Party” is a more pure hard-rocker on the album, but is also very groovy and funky. I mean it contains cowbell, how can you get any better.
The album then starts to mellow out a bit, yet still remains energetic. “True Love Way” is an anthemic ballad that would set the blueprint for the rest of the career, “Ragoo” sees a U2 influence creeping in (all the while retaining a Southern quirkiness) and “Fans” is an anthem with acoustic guitars intertwining with electric. Even slower tracks “The Runner” and “Trunk” have a good groove to them. The record closes with “Camaro” (another hard rocker) and the ethereal ballad “Arizona.” The tracks all feature distinct catchy motifs – as with most of their work.
After this album came the dark wilderness.
Yes, many would consider 2008’s Only by the Night to be the moment the band “sold out.” The album contains the ubiquitous mega-hits “Sex on Fire” and “Use Somebody,” which brought the band a new level of stardom. The album is basically the more arena-ready and atmospheric side of the preceding album, with much less of the harder rock grit of their early material. However, even though I wish there were a few harder rockers on the album, it’s a nice change and their Southern twang is still present for me.
Tracks like “17” (even if the lyrics are a bit dodgy by 2026 standards), the rip-roaring guitar solo of “Notion,” the quirky groove of “I Want You” and the gnarly riffs of “Crawl” and “Be Somebody” show that their early spirit is still in there. The opener “Closer” is an unusually minor-key song for the band, but still has a nice beat and rocks hard.
As well, I don’t think “Sex on Fire” is a bad song even if it’s overplayed. I don’t see how it’s that different musically to an earlier track like “The Bucket.” “Use Somebody” is slightly more annoying with the vocal inflections, but is there even a rocking guitar solo and cool bridge. I’m not so keen on “Manhattan” as there is no harder rock edge to it all – I think Japanese bonus track “Beneath the Surface” could’ve replaced it.
Finally, their next album, Come Around Sundown, came out in 2010. It didn’t match the success of Only By The Night and none of their albums since have. However, they are still a pretty big modern rock band. It continues the less hard-rocking sound of Only By The Night, along with having a more relaxed Southern flair than their earlier work. The artwork really matches the music – it sounds like the soundtrack to a barbecue on a beach!
This is seen most clearly on tracks like “Mary,” with its ’50s rock n roll shimmy, the funky grooves of “Pony Up” and “Birthday,” the reggae of “The Immortals,” the country of “Back Down South” and the horns on “Mi Amigo.” I’m not a massive fan of singles “Radioactive” and “Pyro” – I would skip both honestly! They don’t have the harder edge of their earlier work, although “Pyro” live is an incredible experience. There are also some nice ballads – “The End,” The Face,” “Beach Side” and “Pickup Truck.” The album is also a bit slower than their other ones, but “No Money” is as fast as their earlier songs, albeit with a swing rhythm.
That concludes this next part of the Kings of Leon discography review, before moving on to their mild resurgence of recent years. As I said, this will all lead to a very special post! Here’s my tracklist order for Come Around Sundown to give it a rockier feel. See you next time.
On Wednesday 24 June, I went to see the one and only Paul Weller in Belfast. The gig was at the beautiful Custom House Square venue, as part of their summer series of concerts. The lovely summer evening and sky only added to the atmosphere of the gig.
Weller brought along some local talent to support him for this specific gig. It’s an interesting choice – more esteemed musician Miles Kane (who has a band with Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner) has joined Weller for the rest of the tour apart from Belfast and Dublin.
The first band on (both support acts were local) was The Marra. I was definitely a fan of their sound. They have obviously received praise from Weller, along with Noel Gallagher. They do have a quite derivative sound in an almost humorous way – they even have the mod haircuts of Weller and Gallagher!
Their sound is very much in the ilk of Weller’s famous band The Jam, along with a bit of early Beatles harmonies. However, that is a sound that is very up my street and I can’t help but love it. The chord progressions and melodies were very strong and they had a good swagger. If they start to get more interesting on the 3rd album I will be all in!
The second local support act was Esmeralda Road. As I expected, the crowd was mainly middle-aged people with Weller haircuts and polo shirts! I did have my polo shirt on accordingly to impress Mr Weller. Known as the “Modfather,” Weller is famous for his sharp style.
However, there were quite a lot of young people too – many of them seemed to be there for Esmeralda Road. The singer even asked the crowd this at one point to some cheers. Their sound wasn’t really my cup of tea, but it is amazing to see this local band do so well.
Finally, the man himself arrived on stage. He is known for being rather obtuse in his concerts, only playing 1 or 2 Jam songs sometimes. However, tonight was about as crowd pleasing as you’re gonna get from him!
In typical fashion, he kicked off with obscure bonus track from 2008’s 22 Dreams, “Rip The Pages Up.” The original has a Madchester vibe I enjoy, but the horn section he had for multiple songs (I will give my thoughts on this later) gave it more of a Style Council vibe. Not a vibe I’m so into for Weller but it was a smart move…
Along with The Jam and his solo career, Weller was in ’80s band The Style Council. Not a band I am greatly into, but he has to play them in his set. Kicking off with some Council style songs set the stage for the few Style Council tracks that would come later in the set, helping it blend well with the rock sounds to come too. This vibe continued with Jam song “Precious,” to massive cheers from the crowd.
*support act The Marra
The set then moved into territory I much prefer. He played the Jam style “Come On/Let’s Go” from 2005, one of my favourites by him. I’m not that into his ’90s solo work either, it has a very slow trad-rock vibe of the time. His work from 2005 onwards has been much more experimental and Jam-esque in places, which I love.
Nonetheless, when mixed with some of the upbeat punky Jam tracks played, these slower ’90s rockers did fit in and sounded like slower Jam songs in a way. He played “The Weaver” next which is from this ’90s period – it has a fantastic melody and rocks hard. So we’re settling into a bit of a groove here, with Weller displaying the many styles he has dabbled in over his career. Then he plays a few Jam classics and the crowd goes wild. Even though “Strange Town” and “Man in the Corner Shop” were played a bit slower than the originals, you could still jump to them and they still had the vitality and spirit of the originals. The Jam is easily my favourite music from Weller – the punky yet melodic sound is my preferred style!
He finished this first section with 1997’s “Up In Suzes’ Room,” a more interesting cut from this time, in my opinion, with its sticky melody and psychedelic feel. This was followed by 2021’s “That Pleasure,” another Style Council type track. Not a big fan of this live version but I did enjoy the house music 808s at the end.
The set continued with “Hung Up” and “Village,” some pleasant mid-tempo rock tracks – along with the soulful ballad “Broken Stones,” which prompted a big singalong.
This led to a mid-show Style Council section, with three songs in a row. I do enjoy the bossanova of “Have You Ever Had It Blue?” that he played. He followed this section up with 1995’s “Stanley Road” which is quite Beatles I think – along with the famous ballad “You Do Something To Me.” He also played another Style Council track “Long Hot Summer.”
The end of the main set did falter slightly for me. I think having the horn-section worked for these more Style Council-esque tracks. However, he also added them to ’90s rockers “Can You Heal Us (Holy Man),” “Out of the Sinking” and “Peacock Suit.” To me they made them sound a bit more cheesy/Broadway compared to the tougher sound of the originals.
As I said, I didn’t initially like the horns he added to “Peacock Suit” – I did leave the gig with slightly mixed feelings with these tracks near the end of the main set! However, when I think about it they gave more of a Jam feel to the 1997 track. The addition of horns made the song sound quite similar to the classic “Start!,” which he sadly didn’t play. I didn’t enjoy the horns in the third verse (I would just look at the nice view around me and pretend it was a keyboard or something) but the rest of the song sounded good to me. He also played the rockier “More” and the classic “That’s Entertainment” before “Peacock Suit,” both without a horn section.
After “Peacock Suit,” the band left the stage before doing an encore. This was a great encore that got the set back on the right footing for me. He started with “All The Pictures On The Wall,” a nice guitar-led track, before going into the classic “The Changingman” and “The Eton Rifles.” He finished off with some more classics like “Wild Wood” and “Town Called Malice.” I am actually not a big fan of the latter tune by The Jam, as to me it lacks the punky edge I love from them. However, it is great that Weller plays this song (his most famous hit I’d say) and the audience left in a great mood.
The crowd was in a good mood for most of the show, singing and dancing. I’d say that is because for the healthy amount of more obscure songs played, there is always a singalong classic from the different parts of his career waiting in the concert. Compared to some of his more self-indulgent shows of the past, I feel he has finally found a good balance.
Although I would’ve removed the horns from those ’90s rockers I mentioned (and put a few more Jam songs in – he didn’t do “English Rose” which he has done recently), it was a good show. I would definitely see him again with my different thoughts on the horns and have a more instant positive reaction as with every other gig I’ve been too! He would certainly do quite a different setlist I’m sure – he visits Belfast quite often.
A legendary British musician, local talent – all under the beautiful Belfast summer sun.
Release The Pressure is a collaboration between DJ Calvin Harris and rock band Kasabian, released in February 2026. I was intrigued by this melding of one of the biggest producers/DJs of modern times and the ’00s rock stalwarts. Even though Kasabian aren’t the same anymore (see my recent article on them), I thought that the combination of an older rock band with Harris was a great idea. I do really feel that rock n roll is starting to come back to the mainstream charts in the UK and Ireland, with artists like Sam Fender and Fontaines DC. However, I don’t feel it has died down to the extent it has in America, as rock/indie music is still the main genre of most music festivals over here.
The song itself is a trademark dance banger from Harris. Kasabian are also heavily electronic/dance inspired, with tracks like “Eez-eh” and “Stuntman” throughout their career. Harris has surprisingly gone through many styles over his career. It isn’t just the slightly cheesier Ibiza anthems of his most famous work. He started off with LCD Soundsystem-esque ironic indie dance, doing lead vocals on most tracks. He has also explored underground acid house sounds with his Love Regenerator side project for example.
The song is refreshingly similar to that side project. It features clattering snare drum loops, trance synths and booming beat drops. Serge Pizzorno also gives the track a swagger familiar to Kasabian, especially with the “about to lose control” refrain before the second beat drop. The breakbeats are also trademark Kasabian and the beat drops are similar to their dance tracks I mentioned. I also respect how hands-on Harris remains as a producer in an era full of ghostwriters.
What’s surprising is that it hasn’t dominated the charts in the way you might expect. Harris followed it up with “Satisfy” alongside Jazzy, a track with some nice quirky synth touches reminiscent of his early work – but that track didn’t even make the Top 40.
Considering Harris has nearly 50 Top 40 singles, maybe it’s not that shocking – not every release can be a hit. Still, it’s interesting that neither track has really landed as a defining song of the summer, especially when something like last year’s “Blessings” did so easily.
That said, “Release The Pressure” charting at all is a win for Kasabian, giving them their closest thing to a hit in years. It’s also ended up on radio stations that would never usually touch a band like them, which says a lot about Harris’ reach. I would love to see him collab with more artists like this in the future.
To finish off, Harris could also be seen as being slightly ginger, which is tremendous as a ginger myself! He still has his thick Scottish accent too, which is brilliant. See you next time.
My last post was my Offspring pop-punk playlist, showing my interesting thoughts on the band. The band headlined the French heavy rock festival Hellfest a few weeks ago. As they play a fair amount of their heavier punk tracks, I am not a massive fan of their live shows. They do play a lot of their jokey hits too though, and one moment was too good to not discuss…
The band, fronted by Dexter Holland and guitarist Noodles, are pretty silly and interesting themselves. I mean Holland has a PhD in molecular biology, is a trained pilot, has his own hot sauce company and is the primary singer/songwriter of this world-famous rock band! Noodles is also pretty hilarious and looks like a punk rock granny.
*Holland (L) and Noodles (R)
This humour is a key part of the band and their live shows. The frequent and quite lengthy rambles the two go on is very entertaining and their set at Hellfest was full of it (they did have quite a short set time allocated though). They made the occasion special, covering Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne.
Then, after this, they said they were gonna cover a Taylor Swift song! Holland and Noodles detailed how Swift is pretty punk, and that she was in a hardcore band before becoming a pop star – her stage name was “Swiftie Shellshock” apparently! They said they wanted to start the biggest moshpit ever to a Taylor Swift song, proceeding to cover her megahit “Love Story.”
To me the version sounded absolutely brilliant. It confirms what I always thought – the major key chord progressions and melodies found in the majority of Swift’s music would sound like Green Day/Ramones if punk rock instrumentation was used. The Offspring absolutely proved that – it honestly sounded like one of the songs on my Offspring pop-punk playlist!
It was also done in that classic ’90s pop-punk style I enjoy. Many say that it isn’t real punk compared to the ’70s, but I much prefer it to the overly produced and angsty sounds of modern acts like Machine Gun Kelly.
The crowd duly lapped it up, starting moshpits and even a Wall of Death for the final chorus! The comments on social media are mostly positive, saying how Swift’s music really works in this style, and appreciating The Offspring for doing this cover. A hilarious moment from a hilarious band.
After looking at the heavy rock festival Download, I wanted to see if there were any different artists I would like that have appeared at the plethora of heavy rock festivals around the world this year. Another massive rock and metal festival is Hellfest in France. Yes, as the silly celebrity DJ Khaled would say (I don’t really care about his music) – another one!
To me it seems heavier than Download, not having the same lighter acts such as Green Day headlining last year and bands like Ash and Feeder – so I’m not as interested. Download even had boyband Five as this year’s silly pop act – moshpits were started to their music! However, a similar moment happened during The Offspring’s headlining set at Hellfest that I had to cover…
The Offspring are quite a strange band for me. They are commonly seen as a one of the main players in the ’90s pop-punk movement, along with Green Day and Blink-182. However, I wouldn’t call them pop-punk at all, I would call them pop/punk…
This is because the majority of their albums are comprised of harder punk than those other massive ’90s bands. It’s minor-key, and to my ears features a lot of hard rock/metal inspired riffs and a fast skate punk drumbeat. That’s the punk side of the band – I can see why they headlined the heavier Hellfest Festival.
The pop side of the band is found in the insane amount of silly/joke songs they stuff every album with! These include massive hits like “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)” and “Why Don’t You Get a Job.” They are basically either a punk band or a pop band, not a blend of the two like Green Day and Blink.
However, going through their discography, there is a playlist (or two) worth of traditional pop-punk songs, in my opinion. The fun major-key melodies, distorted power chords and fast drumbeats – the basis set by bands like Ramones. I do love their joke and ska songs too – and will do a specific playlist of them someday – but I thought I’d keep this playlist strictly pop-punk. I don’t like most of their harder punk songs – they sound quite angsty and I can’t dance to them!
Thus, here is my Offspring pop-punk playlist, which contains a lot of silly songs as it is. I wanted to display my interesting thoughts on the band’s varied discography before looking at the hilarious moment that happened at Hellfest.
Time to Relax (silly intro)
Walla Walla
No Brakes
She’s Got Issues
Americana
Want You Bad
One Fine Day
Denial, Revisited
Half-Truism
Nothingtown
Kristy, Are You Doing Okay?
Let’s Hear It For Rock Bottom
Rise And Fall
Fix You (not the Coldplay song)
Days Go By
I Wanna Secret Family (With You)
All I Have Left Is You
In The Hall Of The Mountain King (Interlude)
Make It All Right
Ok, But This Is The Last Time
Truth In Fiction (a heavier yet still danceable track to end the playlist in a humorous style – almost reminds me of Motörhead)
