Conspiracy of One

Reviewed by:
David Peisner

Though we’ve been suitably repulsed by the Offspring’s overreliance on snarky novelty hits in the past (the look-how-cool-we-are camp crap of 1998’s “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)” being the most blatant offender), we’ve never questioned the band’s ability to rock the house. Fortunately, with their latest, Conspiracy of One, the group just kicks out the jams. The aptly titled opener, “Come Out Swinging,” fires off machine-gun guitar riffs at breakneck speed, setting the bar high. But not too high. Melodic punk-rock bombing raids like “Million Miles Away,” shout-alongs like “One Fine Day,” and the ultracatchy Cheap Trick–gone-punk of “Want You Bad” find the southern California foursome hitting on all cylinders, with lead singer Dexter Holland’s fervid wails kicking in the afterburner. Elsewhere they flavor “Living In Chaos” with some Chili Peppers–like funk, and even cough up (gulp!) a ballad with “Denial, Revisited.” Don’t worry. It’s not the sort of tearjerker that sounds as if it oughta be the soundtrack for the final episode of Seinfeld (we see you, Green Day); it’s a grand, Bic-flicking arena-rock overture. The Offspring won’t win any awards for inventiveness, but if we wanted inventors, we’d go to a museum. For meat-and-potatoes rock’n’roll, we’ll pig out here.

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