Yesterday evening, I was looking on Youtube and I was delighted to see that one of my favourite bands – the long-running punk/pop-punk band The Offspring – had put out a new single called “Make It All Right” (2024) and that they have a new album – “Supercharged” – coming out in October too 🙂
Seriously, I’d thought that – with new Bruce Dickinson, Judas Priest, Alestorm and Sum 41 music this spring – there wasn’t going to be any more great new music this year. And I’m so glad to be wrong 🙂
Anyway, as for the song itself, it took a while for it to grow on me. Since at least the late 1990s, The Offspring have had a long-running tradition of either putting out the weakest and/or least heavy song as a lead single.
Sometimes – like with “Cruisin’ California (Bumpin’ In My Trunk)” in 2012 – this is done purely as a joke to troll the fans and sometimes this is done for the sake of “radio-friendliness” or not to spoil the full album.
“Make It All Right” is definitely one of The Offspring’s more unusual and experimental songs. Unusually for a punk song, the lyrics and mood are surprisingly cheerful and optimistic. Although, in this age of relentless pessimism and gloom (well, according to social media and the press, at least), there’s something genuinely rebellious about actually releasing unashamedly cheerful music.
Musically, it sounds a lot like classic pop-punk music in some ways – the guitars initially sounded slightly “tinny” like they had more treble, but I could also hear deeper (and more “Classic Offspring”) guitar/bass music in the background when listening more closely.
What is most interesting is the vocal sample of the lady saying “All I want to do is fly away with you“. I’m not 100% sure who this is from, but the vocal style reminds me a lot of the song “Chaise Longue” (2021) by Wet Leg and it was also a cool surprise to hear an accent from southern England (eg: where I’m from) in an Offspring song too 🙂
[Edit: According to the credits below this other official video for the song, the vocal sample is apparently from a voice actor called Rebecca Shoichet, rather than the band Wet Leg. The style of voice-acting is still reminiscent of Wet Leg though. Sorry about this error.]
And the combination of a cheerful mood, the animated music video and the use of vocal samples also reminded me a lot of the feeling of hearing a Gorillaz song on the radio during the late 1990s/early 2000s.
And, yes, this song has grown on me. It’s probably the most “pop-punk” song that The Offspring have put out in a while, but it’s weirdly catchy and – again – it’s just surprising to hear a punk song with cheerful lyrics as well. It feels like a “lost song” from a more optimistic age, like the sort of song which should have appeared in 2000 or 2012 – but in a really good way which instantly transports you back in time.
The music video is really cool as well – this awesome “motorbikes, skulls and post-apocalyptic deserts” animation with a red/yellow/grey palette and the sort of cel-shaded comic book look which instantly made me think of old PS2 games from the early-mid 2000s. It’s a totally new song which still somehow manages to be nostalgic.
So, yes, this single is better than it first appears to be. Again, The Offspring rarely release the best and/or heaviest songs as lead singles these days. It’s oddly refreshing to hear an optimistic song in 2024, the vocal sample is an interesting experimental element and the song really does feel like something from a rose-tinted version of the past too 🙂
If I had to give it a rating out of five, it would get a four.
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