Offspring, Ixnay on the Hombre (*** out of four) - Offspring muscled into the charts with 1994's Smash, a multiplatinum album that spawned the youth-quaking hits Self-Esteem and Come Out and Play (You Gotta Keep 'Em Separated). The Southern California quartet returns with more jackhammer riffs and teen angst eruptions in songs such as All I Want and The Meaning of Life, with singer Dexter Holland's whiny roar perfectly suiting the music's party vibe and growing-pain tantrums. It's fun, addictive and thoroughly unthreatening, despite Disclaimer, a seething spoken opening by Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra. In the presence of such a true punk terrorist, Offspring's scrappy tunes are less menacing than a playground bully.

By Edna Gundersen, from USA Today - February 11, 1997