Respect to the band for band for having the freedom to do whatever they please since at least 1998, but their albums from this century generally seem to lack focus because of it. It’s just a drag because they’ve shown they’re still very capable.
This was pretty much THE punk band for me until high school. Loved loved loved pretty much everything they'd released. Now I'd say Smash is probably my favorite, or maybe Ignition. Ixnay is like 900 different things at once, but it's a ton of fun. Splinter has some damn jams on it. Really the only one that no longer does anything for me is Conspiracy of One. Outside of 2-3 songs, it kinda feels like a wet noodle of a record
re-visiting their albums again recently, Days Go By is far and away their worst release. I remembered Bumpin In My Truck being bad, but mostly a joke, but jesus christ I forgot about OC Guns... absolutely embarrassing song
OC Guns is atrocious. Cruising Cali is aight as a joke song, I agree. Kind of a bummer because there's some decent tunes on there. I've always enjoyed Dividing By Zero and Slim Pickens. I think Ixnay has aged kinda badly too
Some of the songs are super legit, but then they'll bust into Don't Pick It Up or Me and My Old Lady. The songs on there are so weird! Like I LOVED the album as a kid and now I'm like wtf is I Choose
Days Go By certainly isn’t anywhere near their best, but there’s 5 or 6 songs on there I really love.
Man I loved Ixnay back in the day. I used to listen to it all the time playing THPS2 once I'd gotten tired of the game soundtrack. I haven't listened to it in probably close to a decade but I thought I Choose was a jam.
I still enjoy putting on Ixnay when I'm in the mood for some Offspring. I'd only listen to maybe half of the songs on their own (including "I Choose"), but the whole thing works really well as an album, and the tracks I don't enjoy so much aren't bad like half of Splinter is.
Smash > Americana > Ignition > Ixnay > Rise & Fall > Conspiracy > Splinter > The Offspring > Days Go By
Smash > Ixnay > Ignition > Rise and Fall > Americana = Conspiracy of One > The Offspring > Days Go By > Splinter
I've really soured on Conspiracy of One over the years. It just seems really like cheesy or something? IDK
I guess I should talk about what I love from this band. My dad introduced me to Americana at a very young age and I was hooked. Rise & Fall was a very influential album for me too. My high school rock band played Come Out and Play at our talent show, etc.