Smashed

I remember getting a great album on cassette when it came out back in 1994, but with the advent of CD players and the breakdown of my old cassette player, the album was essentially lost. I always spoke fondly of it, always extolling its musical genius, but all real memories of it had virtually faded. That recently changed.

This past winter I finally acquired a CD copy of Offspring's Smash. Without really recalling the songs and sounds of the album, I pressed play:

Ahhhhh, it's time to relax, and you know what that means, a glass of wine,
your favourite easy chair, and of course this compact disc playing on your home
stereo. So go on and indulge yourself, that's right, kick off your shoes, put
your feet up, lean back and just enjoy the melodies. After all, music soothes
even the savage beast.

What beauty! The openning track, Time to Relax, calmly invites the listener to sit back and enjoy the music. It is with this track, that my intimate connection with Smash begins. As I listen to the album today, I find more and more similarities between the themes of the songs, and my own views on life.

First, the obvious - Time to Relax. More than anyone else I've met, I love sitting back and enjoying music. When driving anywhere, my most pressing concern is what music to bring. It seems the soothing voice I first heard back in 1994, at age 12, ingrained itself in my psyche.

The next track, Nitro (Youth Energy), talks overtly about living life like there's no tomorrow, but the underlying message is about a generational divide. "Our generation sees the world, not the same as before," and "the official view of the world has changed," are a couple lines that expose this message. I see generational differences in virtually every aspect of life. I think cross-generational communication is important and difficult.

The third track is Bad Habit. This is almost eerie in how much it reflects my life. While I've never so much as held a gun in my life (I'm Canadian, eh), I do suffer from a bit of road rage. "When I go driving I stay in my lane, but getting cut off it makes me insane," is one line that could define my little problem. I am an excellent driver (don't bother complimenting me, I'll take care of that). I take great pride in driving well. Not simply obeying the rules of the road, but knowing how to avoid dangerous situations, knowing how to avoid accidents, knowing how to predict traffic and so on.* I can now trace this quirk back to Smash.

Track four, Gotta Get Away, is a bit of an anomaly. I don't generally find myself to be my own worst enemy, but I do have an internal locus of control, which this song sort of hints at. The subject of the song talks about how his problems in life are his own doing, which suggests an internal locus of control.

Track five, Genocide, is loosely based on what was happening in Rwanda while the Offspring were recording the album. Though the majority of the 800,000 or so murders happened after the album was released, the build-up had started as early as 1990, and the UN was in Rwanda by October 1993. Who knew that 6 years after first hearing this song I'd begin my studies in political science, concentrating on international relations?

Next up is Something to Believe In. "Do you accept what you are told, without even thinking, throw it all and make your own," and "And if you look away, you'll be doing what they say, and if you look alive, you'll be singled out and tried, if you take home anything, let it be your will to think, the more cynical you become, the better off you'll be," encourage listeners to think for
themselves and to look behind the stories being told. I wouldn't call myself a cynic, but I'm certainly not one to automatically accept what I'm told.

Come Out and Play, the first big single for Offspring, talks about gang violence on school campuses. "The kids are strappin' on their way to the classroom, getting weapons with the greatest of ease," was probably the first argument I ever heard about gun control, and the song in general, which does not glamorize violence, is probably why I'm the anti-gun pacifist I am.

Track eight is Self-Esteem. This one's pretty self-explanatory - when it comes to women and crushes, "I'm just a sucker with no self esteem."

It'll Be a Long Time is about war between states, specifically superpowers. Again, no surprise I did the whole polisci/international relations thing at WLU.

Killboy Powerhead is another anomaly. I don't really see any connection with who I am, but I do enjoy the song!

The next track is priceless. What Happened to You is a better explanation than any as to why I am so very anti-drugs:

Before you started tokin' you used to have a brain, But now you don't get even
the simplest of things, I can draw a little picture, Or even use my hands, I try
to explain but you just don't understand, Man you're really losin' it, And
you've really done a lot of junk now, But you keep on abusin' it, What in the
world happened to you?

Track 12, So Alone, talks about how even in a crowd, we're often all alone. It urges people to get along. I guess that's the extent of its influence on me - get along.

Next up is Not the One. I guess this is perhaps why I tend not to concern myself with seniority. I'm not one to look at someone who's been around and give them credit for just that. I always look at what people actually do, rather than how long they've been doing it. I also tend to distrust those in authority. Then there's the distaste I have for people who chastise youth for the clothes they wear, or the music they listen to, or anything really:

I'm not the one who made the world what it is today...we're not the ones who
leave the homeless in the streets at night, we're not the ones who've kept
minorities and women down...We're not the ones whose pollution blackened our
skies, And ruined our streams, We're not the ones who made the nuclear bombs,
That threaten our lives, We're not the ones who let the children starve in
faraway lands.

Blame Offspring and Not the One. I guess this song speaks to my international consciousness as well.

Finally, Smash: "Don't give a shit 'cause I'm not gonna budge, I just want to be who I want to be, Guess that's hard for others to see." Also, I'm not very trendy.

So there you have it, the story of how the Offspring and their album Smash informed who I am today. I can't imagine anyone, anything, or any single influence having so much effect on who I would become, but the evidence is unmistakable. Here I always thought I was my own person, but it turns out I'm just the sociological offspring of Noodles, Dexter, Ron, and Greg.

I guess that's okay, I have no problem with who I am.

*****

* My only accident came when some old lady decided to turn left while I was coming the other way going straight through a green light. If you're from the Sarnia-Lambton area, and you've ever wondered why the intersection at Waterworks and Lakeshore has two hydro poles on the south-east side, just ask me. I can tell you all about that - thanks to that lady.