The Offspring - The Meaning Of Life

The Offspring is an American rock band from Garden Grove, California, formed in 1984. Originally formed under the name Manic Subsidal, the band's current line-up consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Bryan "Dexter" Holland, bassist Todd Morse, guitarist Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman and drummer Pete Parada. Over the course of their 36-year career, they have released nine studio albums and experienced lineup changes, most noticeably with their drummers. Their longest-serving drummer was Ron Welty, who replaced original drummer James Lilja in 1987, and stayed with the band for 16 years; he was replaced by Atom Willard in 2003, and then four years later by Parada. Gregory "Greg K." Kriesel, one of the co-founders of The Offspring, was their bassist until 2018 when he parted ways due to business disputes with the band, leaving Holland as the sole remaining original member. Kriesel was replaced by Todd Morse of H2O, who had previously worked with The Offspring as their touring guitarist.

The Offspring is often credited—alongside fellow California punk bands Green Day, Rancid, Bad Religion, NOFX and Pennywise—for reviving mainstream interest in punk rock in the 1990s. They have sold over 40 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling punk rock bands in history. The Offspring achieved its first commercial success with their third studio album Smash (1994), which has sold over eleven million copies worldwide, setting a record for most albums sold on an independent record label, and was the first album released on Epitaph to obtain gold and platinum status.

My favourite album by them is their 1997 follow up to Smash, Ixnay On The Hombre. The title combines Pig Latin ("Ixnay" is the version of the word "nix", familiar in 1940s Hollywood movies) and Spanish ("hombre", "man") to convey the message "fuck The Man", as in "fuck authority". It is probably the first Offspring album I heard, not long after it came out and it always makes me smile when I heard it.

I am going with The Meaning of Life, which is the 2nd track and first proper track on Ixnay. It is a great punk rock song of its time and will always make me smile.