One could argue that The Offspring was already selling out by the time their breakout third album, Smash, hit the store shelves. They'd broken away from the unfiltered punk sound that populated earlier records and started incorporating some ska and alt rock elements into the mix. Punk "purists" will tell you that's the first sign of a sell-out. But semantics aside, Smash is still a punk record. Its follow-up, 1997's Ixnay on the Hombre, on the other hand, is a total mixed bag. There were still some skate punk tracks to be found ("I Choose," "All I Want") but there was also the post-grunge desperation of "Gone Away" and "Amazed," with the latter even having lead singer Dexter Holland adopting Gavin Rossdale's version of "grungy" vocals. Cracks were starting to form, and the band was becoming influenced by whatever was popular at the time. But that's part of any band's evolution, so you can't hold really hold that against them. But the genre-hopping was out of control on their next album, Americana. The punk tracks were poppier, the alt-rock tracks not even hiding their ambitions to get that sweet college radio airplay. And then there's the one-two slap of "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)" and "Why Don't You Get a Job." Once their foray into the kitschy, silly side of things yielded their two biggest hits to date, there was no turning back. The uninspired immaturity of "Original Prankster" and "Hit That" weren't far behind, cashing in on the Blink-182 brand of pop-punk that had made their pockets flush.
