Offspring: Ixnay On The Hombre
Columbia
Alternative

Rating: 71

Letting go of youthful passions is always hard. And punk rock, perhaps more than any other genre, feeds off youthful aggression. One need only ask the Sex Pistols (whose much-publicized tour last year spurred little interest at the box office) if it is possible to grow old and remain vital in the ever-changing alternative music scene. Three of the Offspring's four members have been together well over ten years now, and the gray is beginning to creep onto their temples, too. Sure, they've still got the chops, but their mild sermonizing and positive messages, admirable as they may be, are beginning to sound a little, uh, parental. Ixnay on the Hombre--the follow-up to the multi-platinum breakthrough Smash, and the band's first since leaving indie label Epitaph for monolithic Columbia Records-- shows the Offspring can still rock. Though there's nothing here as insanely memorable as the guitar riff that drove Smash's big hit, "Come Out and Play," the band does churn out an appealing cross between the classic rock of the seventies (check out the Boston riff on "I Choose") and the punk rock of the nineties. "Way Down the Line," "The Meaning of Life," and "Cool to Hate" are palatable prototypes of this new hybrid; with their bouncy tempos and rah-rah choruses, they're not nearly as subversive or edgy as original punk, but they still share a touch of its spirit. This explains why you're just as likely to hear the Offspring in an NBA arena or fraternity house as you are at a subterranean rock club. Ixnay is good enough to maintain the Offspring's legions of fans, though the band should try to check its urge to scold and sermonize. Remember, punk rock came from "bad" boys, not choir boys.

By Bob Gulla, From Wall Of Sound