The album when I knew good Offspring had "Gone Away"

I thought I would go with an album this flashback that actually wasn’t one of my favourites, but still gets a bad rap. That album would be The Offspring’s Ixnay on the Hombre. “Gone Away” was one of the first releases from that album, and I don’t think many people including myself were excited about the direction that The Offspring had gone in. Ixnay definitely pales in comparison to there previous work on Smash, and Ignition, but there are a lot of classic style Offspring tracks on there that don’t get a fair shake because some of the goofier songs that have become the unrecognizable Offspring of the two thousands.
The album starts out with the Disclaimer which is not as funny as I believe they thought it was, but amps things up with “The Meaning of Life”, a great old school Offspring song, followed by “Mota” which harkens to the straight edge roots, and is actually funny as opposed to a few of the songs such as “Pretty Fly for a White Guy.” Wait I gotta be truthful, when that song came out I liked it, but after hearing it a million times on radio it got old quick, and for the record I only thought it was funny the song is way to gimmicky to be good I think.
The end of this album is really good too with “Amazed”, and “Change the World”, both of which are a darker style than I think any album they have ever released. They are both along the lines of “Gone Away the guitar and drums are still hard, but they are a little slower, and often lower than many Offspring fans are probably used to. The weakness of this album is the downfall, because other than “Gone Away” and “What I Want” (my personal fav. The video is good to which hopefully will be up on the blog by noon tomorrow, but check the link for now) there is a lyrical black hole that is sucking all redeeming qualities into oblivion. Don’t pick it up, and me and my old lady definitely aren’t the worst Offspring songs now, but at the time, although listenable these tracks stick the joint up. Last but not least “Way Down the Line” is a lyrically superb song, but maybe in an attempt to liven up the album do a song that has dark tones to goofy instrumentals. C’mon man. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us8OhI-OTHg&ob=av2n