Given some of the news flashes that have blazed across TV and social media in recent weeks -- that a certain King of Pop's casket has left the building (that's not a joke), that his ghost was spotted in his mansion -- it's a good time to check in with the Dex. Better known as Dexter Holland, the lead singer of the punky rock band The Offspring, here's what the Dex, sounding very prophet-like, had to say in the song "Stuff Is Messed Up," released a year ago: "Thank god for the media, for saving the day. Putting it all into perspective in a responsible way, with more celebrity news -- typical bull*@&# views."
Elsewhere in the song, over the swinging, punky-pop guitar of Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman, Dexter barks with a devil-may-care attitude: "Therapy, I won't tell, rehab and LOL, worldwide calamity, TV reality, euthanize, supersize, death squads and boob jobs, VIP infamy, gratify instantly."
The Offspring are in the midst of their first tour in four years, a
tour that takes its name from the uncensored title of "Stuff Is Messed
Up" -- which in a family newspaper translates to the "*&# Is
%*$&#¢ Up Tour." That tour brings the band to the St. Augustine
Amphitheatre July 17.
But Dexter, who has been warning people that stuff is messed up since The Offspring released their album "Rise & Fall, Rage & Grace" in June 2008, is being treated like most other prophets: His wisdom is being ignored.
Despite being a dead-on sign-of-the-times song, "Stuff Is Messed Up" is going over merely "OK" on the tour, says bassist Greg "K" Kriesel. K co-founded The Offspring with Holland in Southern California in 1984 -- when, according to "The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll," "neither knew how to play their instruments."
"Stuff" "is not one of the radio songs and now people don't buy the album," Kriesel said by phone from a tour stop in Toronto. "A lot of people just know what they hear on the radio. So that one does OK. Some of the other newer songs do better."
The good news for The Offspring is that their old songs -- the ones that put the band on the map and all over MTV in the mid-1990s -- are still connecting. He's a bit perplexed by bands who "get sick of their own hits."
"'Self Esteem' still gets the biggest reaction, so that's always still really fun to play," Kriesel said. "We do it pretty straight. Most of the songs we haven't tried to mess with too much. We play pretty much all the favorites. We want to play the songs that entertain the most people."
When The Offspring released their self-titled debut album in 1989, followed by "Ignition" in 1992, they were tossed into the punk bins.
"But even from the beginning we never worried about the label 'punk,'¤" Kriesel said. "When people thought about punk back in the '80s, they thought about the hardcore screaming stuff, where we always had melodies in our music. So we always thought of us as a rock band, but we had a punk sound."
"Smash," their 1994 breakout album, included the hits "Self Esteem" and "Come Out and Play" and sold 11 million copies. The band returned to the charts and MTV in 1998 with the hits "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)" and "Why Don't You Get a Job?"
The Offspring released a greatest hits set in 2005. Last year's "Rise & Fall, Rage & Grace" was the band's first album of new material in five years.
The band's Web site (offspring.com) features a video clip in which Holland, in a mock-up of a presidential press conference, announces that "the state of the union is deteriorating. People are losing their jobs, their homes, their jet skis and their girlfriends. To put it mildly, stuff is messed up" (not his exact phrase).
And so, Holland pledges that The Offspring will "stimulate the spirit of the American people" on their current tour.
So, is Dexter planning on running for political office one day?
"It's something we joked about years ago, but I don't know," Kriesel said. "I'm sure somebody nowadays would dig up something on him."
If You Go
WHO: The Offspring, Sum 41 and Frank Turner
WHEN: 6:30 p.m. July 17
WHERE: St. Augustine Amphitheatre, 1340C A1A South, St Augustine
TICKETS: $25.50-$37.50
INFORMATION: 904-471-1965
But Dexter, who has been warning people that stuff is messed up since The Offspring released their album "Rise & Fall, Rage & Grace" in June 2008, is being treated like most other prophets: His wisdom is being ignored.
Despite being a dead-on sign-of-the-times song, "Stuff Is Messed Up" is going over merely "OK" on the tour, says bassist Greg "K" Kriesel. K co-founded The Offspring with Holland in Southern California in 1984 -- when, according to "The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll," "neither knew how to play their instruments."
"Stuff" "is not one of the radio songs and now people don't buy the album," Kriesel said by phone from a tour stop in Toronto. "A lot of people just know what they hear on the radio. So that one does OK. Some of the other newer songs do better."
The good news for The Offspring is that their old songs -- the ones that put the band on the map and all over MTV in the mid-1990s -- are still connecting. He's a bit perplexed by bands who "get sick of their own hits."
"'Self Esteem' still gets the biggest reaction, so that's always still really fun to play," Kriesel said. "We do it pretty straight. Most of the songs we haven't tried to mess with too much. We play pretty much all the favorites. We want to play the songs that entertain the most people."
When The Offspring released their self-titled debut album in 1989, followed by "Ignition" in 1992, they were tossed into the punk bins.
"But even from the beginning we never worried about the label 'punk,'¤" Kriesel said. "When people thought about punk back in the '80s, they thought about the hardcore screaming stuff, where we always had melodies in our music. So we always thought of us as a rock band, but we had a punk sound."
"Smash," their 1994 breakout album, included the hits "Self Esteem" and "Come Out and Play" and sold 11 million copies. The band returned to the charts and MTV in 1998 with the hits "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)" and "Why Don't You Get a Job?"
The Offspring released a greatest hits set in 2005. Last year's "Rise & Fall, Rage & Grace" was the band's first album of new material in five years.
The band's Web site (offspring.com) features a video clip in which Holland, in a mock-up of a presidential press conference, announces that "the state of the union is deteriorating. People are losing their jobs, their homes, their jet skis and their girlfriends. To put it mildly, stuff is messed up" (not his exact phrase).
And so, Holland pledges that The Offspring will "stimulate the spirit of the American people" on their current tour.
So, is Dexter planning on running for political office one day?
"It's something we joked about years ago, but I don't know," Kriesel said. "I'm sure somebody nowadays would dig up something on him."
If You Go
WHO: The Offspring, Sum 41 and Frank Turner
WHEN: 6:30 p.m. July 17
WHERE: St. Augustine Amphitheatre, 1340C A1A South, St Augustine
TICKETS: $25.50-$37.50
INFORMATION: 904-471-1965
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