Number 493 - Offspring

Number 493

The Offspring

"Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)"

(1998)
.

Genre:Alt Punk Rock

art by melonhead118

How could Rolling Stone leave this song out huh? But of course, they did. Oh and while I remember, Rolling Stone have released The Greatest 100 Guitar Songs of all Time .... PAUSE .... Ah, well without going into it in detail .... just read the article yourself. Put it this way, it already has upset a lot of music fans as you will see in the comments. Okokokokokok .. here's one example, there is no mention of "Smoke On The Water" by Deep Purple on the RS list. (You were warned!) However there was some good news to be found on the Rolling Stone website (gasp), ... Metallica is releasing a Guitar Hero version very much like what Aersosmith has just done. I know we all don't care for Metallica anymore, but at least we can still enjoy the music. Right? No? Oh and some more good news! Obama has clinched the nominee! Now, only 5 more months till the world can take an even deeper sigh of relief.

art by omppu

With integrity intact and a hearty combination of poppy punk and wit throughout, the Offspring's fifth album is a raucous ride through America as seen through the eyes of a weary, but still optimistic, young kid. Riffs on political correctness, '70s radio fodder, and suburban disquiet are spread thick on Americana. If the band's targets seem a bit simple and predictable, its music rarely is. The SoCal roots aren't played to a fault, the blend of salsa and alterna-rock sounds natural, and the Offspring pretty much laugh at their culture, as well as themselves, the entire time. Best track is "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)," which manages to bridge Def Leppard and Latin hip-hop (and the musical timeline they represent) and, in the process, disrobes Middle America's average white teen's quick fascination with and instant disposability of a once-regional heritage. With Americana, the Offspring are merely contributing their part. ~ [Michael Gallucci, All Music Guide]

Pretty Fly?

art by thwackoogrrbaby

Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)" is a single, released by The Offspring, from their 1998 album Americana. It achieved significant pop and alternative radio play and popularity, peaking at number 53 on the US charts, number 1 on the UK charts and Australian charts. It is arguably The Offspring's most successful song commercially. Beginning with a sample of the quasi-German nonsense phrase "Gunter glieben glauten globen" from Def Leppard's song "Rock of Ages," chanted as a replacement for the traditional "1, 2, 3, 4" to start the recording, the song ridicules a "wannabe gangsta" (or "wigger") who is immersed in hip-hop culture not because he truly loves it, but because it is trendy, makes him feel tough and makes it seem that he can get all the girls ("and all the girlies say I'm pretty fly - for a white guy"). The song openly mocks the middle-class suburban youths who listen to rap music for this reason. ~ [Soruce:Wikipedia]

For more Offspring visit Mellow Mix Vol 1 #045

For Metallica visit Mellow Mix Vol 1#033

For more Metallica visit Mellow Mix Vol 2 #136

What does Rolling Moan think of Offspring?

Though they were raised in the cradle of Orange County, California, punk, the Offspring are more about songs than attitude. This quartet's sound has as much to do with the crazed anything-goes novelty of Nuggets-era garage rock from the Sixties as it does with the loud-fast skateboard anthems of the last decade. Half of Americana, the band's fifth album, salutes mid-Eighties hardcore, and it's a record that any TSOL fan has already heard a million times: pogopony polka beats; bass lines that fly on a carpet of eighth notes; zooming, solo-free guitar riffs; and lots of "whoah-ohhh!" sing-along parts. Frontman Dexter Holland rants on about "fragile lives, shattered dreams" on "The Kids Aren't Alright" and, on another track, offers this SoCal extreme-sports manifesto: "Faster now, you know I got no brakes." There's no sense of risk, though – even the hyperventilating remake of Morris Albert's pathetic "Feelings" is predictably snide.

art by Eyaldar

But the other half of Americana flips purists the bird. The Offspring toss processed percussion and wordless surfballad harmonies into their bag of hooks on "She's Got Issues," while "Pay the Man" is a three-part, eight-minute opus with a pronounced Middle Eastern vibe. With steel drum and sleigh bells, "Why Don't You Get a Job?" echoes the insidious singsongy charm of both the Beatles' "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" and Simon and Garfunkel's "Cecilia." And "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)" is the goofball, Latin-loco-rock successor to the band's catchy-as-hell 1994 single "Come Out and Play"; the new track is even reprised as a mariachi instrumental. This may not be fuel for the punk lifers in the mosh pit, but those who value pop for its gleeful window-smashing novelty will find something to crank up. [Source:GREG KOT RS 801)

For the Beatles see Number 587, #894 & #947

For Simon & Garfunkle see Number 964

Rolling Stone magazine deemed their '493rd Song of all Time' was "Then He Kissed Me" by The Crystals. The Crystals have not appeared in The Definitive 1000.

Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number (We're slightly detecting ...) the Album ranked at Number (You're having a go at us?) {no not meeee ~ smirk}

This song has a crowbarred rating of 75.5 out of 108

Offspring- Pretty Fly For A White Guy
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Tags:The Offspring, 1998, Alt Punk Rock, The Beatles, Metallica, Aerosmith, Simon & Garfunkel, Deep Purple, YouTube, Music Video, Rolling Stone Magazine, Crowbarred, New Zealand, Crowbarred Unleashed, The Definitive 1000 Songs Of All Time, Mellow Mix Volume 1, Mellow Mix Volume 2, Mellow Mix Volume 3, Mellow Mix Volume 4, Mellow Mix Volume 5, Mellow Mix Volume 6, Mellow Mix Volume 7, Mellow Mix Volume 9, Mellow Mix Volume 10, Mellow Mix Volume 11, Mellow Mix Volume 12

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