The Offspring continue to mix some humor with their music

The Offspring won fans in the mid-'90s by playing pop-punk songs that were witty odes to everyday life. The conclusion of their "Self-Esteem" is an all-time classic:

"Late at night, she knocks on my door. Drunk again and looking to score. Now I know I should say no, but that's kind of hard when she's ready to go. ... I'm just a sucker with no self-esteem."

Two years ago, though, they played wacky music to go with wacky lyrics. The result gave them a big hit, "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)," and a smaller, more slapsticky single, "Why Don't You Get A Job?" -- which sounded a lot like the Beatles' "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da."

On Tuesday, the band released its new album, "Conspiracy of One," and it mostly reflects the group's mid-'90s approach to mix serious and funny lyrics into real rock songs.

"When we went in to make this record, we wanted to make something rocking that held throughout the record," guitarist Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman says.

The songs use attack guitars, harmonies and subtle lyrical lines that revolve around both dramatic to comedic ideas, he says.

"We experimented with some (sounds), especially with `Why Don't You Get a Job?' I think there's a lot of attitude in it, but it doesn't seem to rock," Wasserman says. "If you put one song like that on this record, it's totally different."

The Offspring's league has grown lately. There are pop-punk bands with the the same shrugging sensibilities -- Blink-182, Green Day. Those are the older ones. There are also younger bands, such as OPM, whose album, "Menace to Sobriety," recently spit out the modern-rock single, "Heaven Is a Halfpipe."

Wasserman says he thinks there's room in people's brains for serious bands he enjoys (Pearl Jam, for instance) and those crazier, quirkier punkers.

"There are times when I want to listen to (wacky punk legends) the Dickies or the Vandals, so irreverent and poking fun at everything," he says.

Wasserman is 37, a one-time school custodian. He still surfs at Huntington Beach, Calif., but he realizes he's an aging punk.

"I'm old as (fornication)," he says.

He's so old he remembers what it was like to be a pierced surfer punk during the early Ronald Reagan years, and getting picked on by jocks and such.

"You see (punks) everywhere now. At least one family has one kid with a piercing and green hair," Wasserman says. "It doesn't mean as much."

Still, he likes the young people. The most fun he's had this year was letting fans onstage, and hosing them, and such.

"I pulled down a fire hose and hosed down the whole crowd. That's interaction. The fans are connected to the band, physically," he says.

The band just got back from Europe, where they attract as many fans as they do in America. Wasserman says he's glad The Offspring do well at home and abroad, unlike such musical artists as David Hasselhoff, who kills in Germany but can't buy a crowd in America.

"Yeah, we opened for (Hasselhoff) in Germany, Jerry Lewis in France. We're suppose to open for Spinal Tap in Japan," Wasserman says. "God, wouldn't that be great?"

Opening for The Offspring at 8 p.m. Sunday and Monday at the Hard Rock Hotel are the punk rockers of MxPx. Tickets, $31.50, are on sale at the box office, 4455 Paradise Road, and through Ticketmaster. To charge by phone, call 693-5000.

By Doug Elfman, from Las Vegas Journal - November 17, 2000