
For instance, in the first verse, they allude to the idea of violently confronting some unspecified individuals. But all lyrics considered, they can just be speaking to the overall notion of this being a violent world that we live in. Lyrics of “Let The Bad Times Roll”Īnd as we can see from the onset, the dudes are not taking the times passively, simply as spectators or analysts. All this means that Let the Bad Times Roll mirrors its time even if it doesn't sound a thing like it: it's a record by and for disgruntled old guys who are too sharp to indulge in nostalgia yet still don't want to let the past go.Well based on their explanation of the song we’re researching today, The Offspring definitely feel that times have changed quite a bit since the 1950s’ era. To them, this is manifest not only in the pessimism of our leadership but also a general feeling amongst the masses that “it’s all going to hell”.Īnd this band is not alone in recognizing such a mass sentiment. Verily within the past year, we have researched a number of songs which are premised on a feeling of widespread gloom, as the troubling 2020 would have it. But even beyond that, we can say also that this is The Offspring’s own reaction to the idea of the world progressively degenerating – a concept that has also been covered by musicians well prior to 2020. Here, the band sounds heavier and slightly thicker, qualities that certainly reflect the onset of age as much as lyrics where the group seems resigned to all the doom and gloom swirling around the culture at the dawn of the 2020s. They might sing about different things - witness the married-man lament "We Never Have Sex Anymore," which also has just a hint of a Swingers swing to its rhythm - but Dexter Holland and Noodles, the band's mainstays, retain a love of frenetic punk and loud guitars, elements that served them well back in the 1990s when they were delivered with a vigorous sneer. Mostly, Let the Bad Times Roll sounds like what it is: the work of middle-aged punk lifers who don't change their style, sound, or perspective. The glammy stomp "Coming for You" - Gary Glitter by way of SoCal punk - doesn't necessarily sound older than anything else on Let the Bad Times Roll, which doesn't mean to say the rest of the record sounds fresh. This backstory doesn't necessarily surface on the album itself.
The offspring let the bad times roll lyrics full#
The band managed to put out a single called "Coming for You" in 2015, but they didn't complete a full album until 2021, by far the longest period between the Offspring LPs. Not long afterward, they parted ways with their longtime label of Columbia, a process that didn't go smoothly. The group started to record material for a sequel to Days Go By not long after its 2012 release, entering the studio with producer Bob Rock in 2013. It's no understatement that Let the Bad Times Roll, the Offspring's tenth album, had a bit of a difficult birth.
