Offspring, Punk Rockers With 'Feelings'

Don't let the tough-guy exterior of Offspring fool you. Sure, the band members are adorned with spiky hair and tattoos, looking like they could take a spill on a skateboard ramp without a flinch. But when they bring their adrenaline-fueled punk rock to the stage, one of the tunes that inspires the most moshing is a sentimental song best suited for karaoke: "Feelings" by Morris Albert.

"The whole idea (for using the song) was the backing vocals, the 'whoa whoa,"' said guitarist Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman in a telephone interview. "We felt it had this full-on Southern California punk rock feel if you sped it up a little bit. It's fun for me as a guitar player. I can just totally jump out there and noodle away on it. It's kind of stupid, which is what we're all about."

Mixing wry social observation with humor over a frenetic "1-2-3-4" punk beat has brought platinum sales for the Orange County quartet. The Offspring's latest album, "Americana," has sold more than 2 million copies. It features plenty of tongue-in-cheek yuks, including a sample from the very un-punk rock group Def Leppard.

"To be honest, I think (the sample is) lost on most of the listeners we have," said Noodles about the Def Leppard sample that starts the Offspring's "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)."

"It was lost on me. I thought it was actually (singer) Dexter being silly. I think (Def Leppard) got a kick out of it."

That song's look at suburban kids trying to emulate ghetto superstar rappers, and at people flailing about while trying to fit in with their peers, is a subject that Noodles can relate to.

"It's a topical version of somebody who's jumping into a lifestyle without really knowing anything about it," he said. "I know what it's like to be that kid, too. When I was a teenager I remember jumping head over heels into the church and all of a sudden (saying), 'I'm going to be saved' and 'I'm going to save all my friends.' It was ridiculous. I really didn't know what I was doing."

The Offspring may have a weary "been there-done that" attitude toward trends from being longtime musicians in Orange County's heralded punk rock scene. When the group formed in 1985, such Southern California bands as TSOL and Agent Orange were putting "O.C." on the punk map, while the crowds were shocking parents and police with their dyed hair, studded bracelets and sneers. In 1999, wearing a Mohawk hardly causes a double-take.

"Every family now has a kid with green hair and piercings," said Noodles.

"It's rad that there're a lot more forms of expression available to kids, but at the same time it doesn't mean as much, I don't think. To have green hair and piercings back when we used to do that ... we'd get beat up for that."

Moreover, Noodles said, the area that once tried to stop punk rock now embraces it.

"It's totally different from then," Noodles said in comparing today's Orange County punk scene to the old days. "There're way more bands. All the clubs are punk clubs now. It didn't use to be that way. Punk clubs were not allowed to exist. You either had the heavy-metal cover-band club or the cops would shut you down (because) you looked frightening with a Mohawk or purple hair or whatever."

And despite the bloody noses and bruises that often result from today's mosh pits, Noodles said that punk rock gigs of yore were much more dangerous.

"Part of the attraction of (early) shows was, any night you could get killed," Noodles continued. "In 1988 we played a show with Final Conflict in Hollywood, and these skinheads decided to start a fight. So, I walk up there, probably a couple of beers in me feeling all tough like I'm gonna break up this fight, and I got stabbed in the shoulder."

Now, apart from punker-than-thou fans resentful of the Offspring's success, the group has had to deal with fans who become unruly when their opening acts are onstage.

Ozomati, a multicultural Southern California group that fuses hip-hop, Latin music and rock, recently dropped off an opening slot on the Offspring's tour because of jeers from crowds.

"I thought things were going great," said Noodles, who lobbied to have the group play on the tour. "Unfortunately, there's this certain very vocal minority of Offspring fans that don't want to hear people sing in Spanish. People who are booing them, or whatever, are the fans that embarrass me."

In the meantime, the Offspring, the current sultans of slam-dancing, will charge through their current tour.

From Nando Times - March 28, 1999