On Friday, the A.V. Club posted an article with a headline of, “Sweet merciful crap, this is the new Offspring video.” I haven’t thought about the Offspring since 2000’s Conspiracy of One, so I was curious to see what the original pranksters were up to now. The answer reminds me of something John Goodman said on “Community”: “I’m going through some stuff right now.” The Offspring are going through some stuff right now.
The “crap” song’s called — I sh*t you not — “Cruising California (Bumpin’ in My Trunk),” and it’s somehow worse than Weezer’s call-for-help “Beverly Hills.” Why, after so many years of being a successful(ish) pop-punk band, have the Offspring decided to amp up their previously unacknowledged LMFAO-side? (In a recent interview, singer Dexter Holland said, “We’re so punk, we’re not punk at all. That’s how punk we are,” which, ugh.)
Then there’s the video. I can’t do it justice. You have to watch, but know one thing: there’s a stripper in a flashy party limo wearing hipster glasses, who later dances with a grandma. Obviously, the Offspring have made “joke” songs before (“Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)” being the most obvious example), but what’s the joke here? It’s kind of a parody of Katy Perry, I think, but a parody has to be clever, or at least funny — after watching the video for “Cruising California (Bumpin’ In My Trunk),” the only thing I laughed at was the Offspring. At, not with.
