Album · The Offspring
Americana by The Offspring
Americana is an album by The Offspring, released in 1998. 4 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 167 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “The Kids Aren't Alright”, on 60 lists with a best position of #3.
Americana, the Offspring's fifth album, came out on Columbia on November 17, 1998, and it's a pop-punk carnival ride, loud, snotty and built for singalongs. After touring the world behind Ixnay on the Hombre, the band started on it in July 1998 and wrapped the sessions in roughly two months, with Dave Jerden producing them for the second and final time.
The record swings between the goofy and the grim. "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)" is a cartoon of a song, all daffy chants and bounce, "Why Don't You Get a Job?" struts along with a jaunty, almost music-hall lilt, and "The Kids Aren't Alright" drops the jokes for something harder, faster and a lot darker. Underneath it all the guitars stay buzzsaw-tight and the tempos keep hurtling.
It was a smash. It entered the Billboard 200 at number two, a peak no other Offspring album has matched, moved more than 198,000 copies in its first week, and has sold over ten million worldwide, second only to their 1994 breakout Smash. The tour behind it circled the globe and took in Woodstock '99.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Americana on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Kids Aren't Alright | 60 | #3 | – | 1999–2026 | |
| 2 | Pretty Fly (for a White Guy) | 55 | #1 | 1 | 1998–2024 | |
| 3 | Why Don't You Get a Job? | 39 | #8 | – | 1998–2026 | |
| 4 | She's Got Issues | 13 | #21 | – | 1999–2004 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.