Classic Songs: ‘Self Esteem’ by The Offspring.

I often find myself revisiting some of the bands from the 1990s which had an impact on me and my listening habits. While not my favourite band from that era, The Offspring for some reason has been one my mind this week.

A little over three decades in the business, the Offspring are still with us! Can you believe it? While a lot has changed, especially the personnel, what matters most today is that founding member frontman Dexter Holland and lead guitarist Kevin John Wasserman, better known as ‘Noodles’, are still the driving force of the band, which was once a punk rock mainstay of the 1990s and early 2000s. In recent years though, The Offspring has coped some backlash from disgruntled fans, unwilling to accept the evolution and changes that comes with being around so long. While it’s true that The Offspring have mellowed they haven’t entirely forsaken the authenticity to their lyrics or the grittier sound of the early days. Interestingly, Supercharged (2024), their 11th studio album, which was released late last year, walks the line between 90s punk rock and a contemporary sound for the 21st Century. From it comes tracks like Come To Brazil and Light It Up which is as raw and in-your-face as anything The Offspring have done in the past. Both tracks sounds like they would easily feel at home on an album like Americana (1998).

But when we talk about The Offspring’s infectious energy and their best album ever, we can’t go past their punchy and brilliantly produced Smash (1994). With the release of the album Smash, The Offspring went mainstream big time. This of course upset many punk purist, but their success was generally welcomed by all. The album went platinum six times over, producing massive hits like Come Out And Play and Self Esteem. While the former (a song about the unending cycle of gang and school violence) stands as the song that introduced the band to the mainstream, the latter is arguably the best song from the album Smash. In fact Self Esteem is arguably The Offspring greatest song ever, which features one of the band’s most memorable guitar riffs with lyrics which explore themes of heartache and low self-esteem as a result of a toxic relationship.

‘Well I guess, I should stick up for myself / But I really think it’s better this way / The more you suffer / The more it shows you really care, right? Yeah!’ – Self Esteem, The Offspring.

Dexter Holland wrote the lyrics for Self Esteem from a male point of view about the perils of falling in love and staying with someone who is toxic. In the song the male protagonist is the victim of the story, even though it seems it is at his own doing. It’s worth noting that songs about domestic violence and emotional abuse can offer perspectives from either the victims and or abusers point of view, regardless of gender. Sometimes songs even offer a dual perspective of a toxic relationship like in 2010’s collaboration between Eminem and Rhianna’s for Love the Way You Lie Part 1 and Part II. Occasionally too, musicians have overstepped the line glorifying violence. In the 1980s countless song of misogyny were produced by glam metal bands. That said, problematic artists and their songs should always be called out. Moreover sometimes songs can even be misconstrued leading to all sorts of trouble. For instance, Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas self-penned song Push upon release in 1997 attached the ire of feminist groups who believed the song was misogynistic in nature. A few months after its release, Thomas had to clear up the misunderstanding, stating that the song was actually about a guy who is being emotionally abused. This is where we find The Offspring’s Self Esteem in its attempt to highlight that men can also feel used, troubled and vulnerable in romantic entanglements.  

Like most of Dexter Holland’s songs with The Offspring, Self Esteem is based on experiences and observations he had gathered from in real life. His ability to confront social stigmas and shed light on important issues head on is one of the integral parts of being a punk rocker. Maybe that’s why Self Esteem is regarded as one of The Offspring’s best songs. It’s both brave in its subject matter and execution. That said there is something definitely also rebellious about a song like Self Esteem that punk rock fans just get. With the protagonist of the song telling us his self-abasing story, the listener is left to decide whether to sympathise with him or call him out as an idiot and or fool. Moreover what might have seemed like an odd choice for a punk song to be played at mid tempo rather than at a thrashing, breakneck speed is one of those things only Holland can really answer. Interestingly The Offspring’s producer, Thom Wilson, didn’t like the baseline in Self Esteem at first. He was so against it but Holland stuck to his guns. He knew the baseline was the key to the whole song. It compliments the melody to perfection. Check it out!

I can’t let you go without pointing out that on The Offspring’s latest album Supercharged they revisit the same themes of Self Esteem on their song, Ok, But This Is The Last Time. The Offspring’s resident guitarist Noodles recently describes their new single Ok, But This Is The Last Time as Self Esteem, Part 2 (sort of). While Holland wasn’t necessarily channeling Self Esteem when writing the lyrics for Ok, But This Is The Last Time, he does admit that it share the same wit and vulnerability that is behind Self Esteem:

“Oh you know it’s true, I’m living proof, I’m a sucker for you / So here we go again.”

Of course, the difference this time is that the song’s protagonist isn’t a simple fool like the Self Esteem character. He is a far more willing participate in this bad relationship. He knows that it is wrong, but keeps returning to it, with the promise of “this is the last time’.