Americana (The Offspring Album)

Americana
The Offspring's studio album
Publication (s)	November 17, 1998
Label (s)	Columbia Records
Format (s)	CD, LP
Genre (s)	Pop punk , punk rock
Title (number)	13
running time	43:35
occupation	Bryan "Dexter" Holland - vocals / guitar Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman - guitar Greg Kriesel - bass Ron Welty - drums
production	Dave Jerden
Studio (s)	Eldorado Recording Studios, Burbank ( California )
chronology Ixnay on the Hombre (1997) Americana Conspiracy of One (2000)
Single releases November 9, 1998 Pretty Fly (for a White Guy) March 30, 1999 Why don't you get a job? September 21, 1999 The kids aren't alright October 19, 1999 She's Got Issues

Americana is the fifth studio album of American punk rock - band The Offspring and was on 17 November 1998 on the label Columbia Records released. It has sold around 15 million copies worldwide to date, making it the group's most commercially successful album.

Content and production

The main theme of the album is American society and its unpleasant peculiarities, such as riots in the suburbs.

Like its predecessor, Ixnay on the Hombre, Americana was produced by music producer Dave Jerden and recorded in the Eldorado Recording Studios in Burbank , California .

Cover design

The album cover shows a comic-style blonde child, rocking on a swing and holding an insect in his left hand. The background is kept in blue tones. At the top right of the picture is the white lettering The Offspring and at the bottom of the picture is the title Americana in red.

Track list

1. Welcome - 0:09
2. Have You Ever - 3:56
3. Staring at the Sun - 2:13
4. Pretty Fly (for a White Guy) - 3:08
5. The Kids Aren't Alright - 3:00
6. Feelings - 2:51
7. She's Got Issues - 3:48
8. Walla Walla - 2:57
9. The End of the Line - 3:00
10. No Brakes - 2:06
11. Why don't you get a job? - 2:52
12. Americana - 3:15
13. Pay the Man - 10:19

Individual songs

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Americana   DE 5 11/30/1998 (63 weeks)   AT 1 December 20, 1998 (43 weeks)   CH 5 11/29/1998 (61 weeks)   UK 10 11/28/1998 (56 weeks)   US 2 01/16/1999 (67 weeks)

Singles

Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)   DE 2 02/15/1999 (20 weeks)   AT 2 02/28/1999 (18 weeks)   CH 4th 02/28/1999 (27 weeks)   UK 1 01/24/1999 (13 weeks)   US 53 01/16/1999 (16 weeks) Why don't you get a job?   DE 16 06/14/1999 (12 weeks)   AT 16 06/06/1999 (9 weeks)   CH 24 06/27/1999 (11 weeks)   UK 2 05/02/1999 (10 weeks)   US 74 05/15/1999 (15 weeks) The kids aren't alright   DE 45 04/10/1999 (8 weeks)   UK 11 09/05/1999 (8 weeks) She's Got Issues   CH 60 December 26, 1999 (5 weeks)   UK 41 04/12/1999 (2 weeks)

The intro of the first single Pretty Fly (for a White Guy) is based on the intro of the 1983 song Rock of Ages by Def Leppard . The four nonsense words used for counting are "Gunter glieben glauten globen" and should sound German. The song is about a white gangsta who uses hip-hop culture in a rather clumsy way for self- presentation without actually representing the corresponding values. The song is intended to illustrate conformity and consumer behavior using the example of the supposedly unsuitable, because inappropriate behavior of white upper class youth.

The second single Why Don't You Get a Job? is about a man whose girlfriend constantly demands money from him due to her lavish lifestyle, but without any willingness to work herself. In the chorus, the singer advises the man not to pay for his girlfriend's expenses and suggests that she look for a job. Towards the end of the song, another couple is mentioned with the same problems but reversed roles.

The song title The Kids Aren't Alright , which was released as the third single, is a reference to the 1966 song The Kids Are Alright by The Who . The song describes the ruined lives of four childhood friends Dexter Hollands from Garden Grove in Orange County , California . The idea came to him while visiting his former neighborhood. The four protagonists, Jamie, Mark, Jay and Brandon all had the potential for extraordinary lives, but were thrown off course by an accident such as a car accident or a nervous breakdown . Jamie became pregnant and dropped out of high school, Mark still lives at home, plays the guitar and smokes marijuana , Jay committed suicide , and Brandon died of a drug overdose . The line of text “fragile lives, shattered dreams” serves as a conclusion.

The fourth single, She's Got Issues, is about the friend of the lyric self who constantly complains about mental health problems, which tires the narrator. He thinks she could overcome her problems if she really tried. The theme of the song is the “victim complex” when people generally seek the origin of their problems in others or refer to external reasons, such as in this case a mental illness.

Dexter Holland wrote in the same year the title Too Much Drama for album Hitler Bad, Vandals Good of The Vandals . The offspring song Walla Walla uses the same basic melody as Too Much Drama .

Feelings is a cover of the song of the same name by Morris Albert from 1975. All words in the text that indicate "love" have been replaced by words of "hate".

Chart successes and singles

Americana reached number 5 on the German album charts and stayed in the top 100 for 63 weeks, including nine weeks in the top 10. In the United States, the album reached number 2 on the Billboard 200 album charts on November 10, 1998 , which is still the case today The highest ranking of the band in their home country. Americana was particularly successful in Austria, Sweden, Australia and New Zealand, where it topped the charts. In the German annual charts for 1999, the sound carrier was ranked 9th.

The singles were the songs Pretty Fly (for a White Guy) , Why Don't You Get a Job? , The Kids Aren't Alright and She's Got Issues decoupled. Pretty Fly (for a White Guy) is the band's most commercially successful song to date. He received u. a. in Germany, Austria and the United Kingdom a gold record and achieved u. a. tops the chart in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Australia.

Sales figures and awards

With around 15 million copies sold worldwide, Americana is The Offspring's most commercially successful album. In the United States alone, it received five -times platinum for more than five million sales in 2005 . In Germany, Americana was awarded a gold record in 1999 for over 250,000 units sold . The album also went double-platinum in Europe for more than two million sales.

Professional reviews
Reviews
source	rating
laut.de
Rolling Stone
allmusic

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
Argentina (CAPIF)	gold	30,000
Australia (ARIA)	5 × platinum	350,000
Belgium (BEA)	gold	(25,000)
Brazil (PMB)	platinum	250,000
Germany (BVMI)	gold	(250,000)
Europe (IFPI)	2 × platinum	2,000,000
Finland (IFPI)	platinum	(52,798)
France (SNEP)	2 × platinum	(600,000)
Japan (RIAJ)	4 × platinum	800,000
Canada (MC)	8 × platinum	800,000
Mexico (AMPROFON)	gold	100,000
New Zealand (RMNZ)	4 × platinum	60,000
Netherlands (NVPI)	gold	(50,000)
Norway (IFPI)	platinum	(50,000)
Austria (IFPI)	platinum	(50,000)
Poland (ZPAV)	platinum	(100,000)
Sweden (IFPI)	2 × platinum	(200,000)
Switzerland (IFPI)	platinum	(50,000)
Spain (Promusicae)	platinum	(100,000)
United States (RIAA)	5 × platinum	5,000,000
United Kingdom (BPI)	platinum	(300,000)
All in all	5 × gold 40 × platinum	9,390,000

Main article: The Offspring / Music Sales Awards

Trivia

• The title Pay the Man originally comes from the recordings of Ixnay on the Hombre but was not released at the time because it did not fit into the album's sound.
• Davey Havok from AFI contributed some background vocals , as on Ixnay on the Hombre .
• The intro of Pretty Fly (for a White Guy) with the German-sounding nonsense words "Gunter glieben glauten globen" is a sample from the song Rock of Ages by Def Leppard (released 1983 on their album Pyromania ).
• The melody of Why Don't You Get a Job? comes from the 1968 published Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da by the Beatles .
• The last track Pay the Man ends at 8:08 am, followed by silence until 9:16 am , then the hidden track Pretty Fly (for a White Guy) (recapitulation) begins .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Americana sales worldwide approx. 15 million
2. ↑ allmusic.com
3. ↑ album cover
4. ↑ Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
5. ↑ FAQ. In: home.wanadoo.nl. Archived from the original on August 15, 2010 ; accessed on December 15, 2007 . 
6. ↑ billboard.com ( Memento from November 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
7. ↑ International chart tracking Americana
8. ↑ DE: Annual charts # 9
9. ↑ International chart tracking Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)
10. ↑ US: 5 × platinum
11. ↑ DE: Gold
12. ↑ EU: double platinum
13. ↑ Rating: laut.de
14. ↑ Rating: Rolling Stone ( Memento of October 16, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
15. ↑ Rating: allmusic.com