somebody on their mailing list was putting together an offspring cover disc. this is half-serious and half tongue-in-cheek - as the band was at the time. while the reaction on the mailing list was polarized, the truth is that it's not outside of the realm of imagination to think they could have released this on smash or ixnay as an 'intermission' or something. well, minus the noise aspect, i guess.
keep in mind that this was just before 'pretty fly' was released (this was oct, that was nov), which had a large effect on the band's fan base. not to say that the offspring were an underground punk band in 1998 or anything, but they had yet to really hit that crossover audience. they were a popular punk band, rather than a punk-influenced pop band.
personally, i didn't like 'americana'. at all.
what this, here, is, is a cover of a track on their second record, ignition, which was released in 1992. even there, it stood out as a sort of a pop/rock song that wouldn't have been out of place on a police record. that's kind of why i went with it. in fact, the offspring have revisited this track themselves on multiple occasions, although i can't cite precise track names.
i think it works on a post-punk level.
recorded in september, 1998.
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/dirty-magic
