Green Day is undoubtedly the uncrowned kings of the neo-punk movement (or whatever the term is). Only one other band comes to my mind that can give them some competition, and that is The Offspring. The first incarnations of this band goes back as far as the mid 1980´s, so to be frank, they are sort of the less successful big brother relative to Green Day.
Both bands started out more in the underground, but still with a sizeable chunk of pop-inspiration in their hooks and melodies. Around the 1994-95 time, both of them went mainstream, Green Day with Dookie and Offspring with Smash. Since then both band have balanced the act of staying true both to their punk- and their poprock roots. And both with considerable success. At the time of Green Days American Idiot though, the quality difference started to sort of appear, though The Offspring answered the call and put out Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace with the top producer Bob Rock under the helm.
The evolution of Green Day to new territory seem to have opened the same floodgates for The Offspring, but still they keep their general sound more true to their origins than Green Day did. Still I find a great deal of the same power pop tricks used here as on American Idiot and much of it is just a bit ripped off, without being too obvious. The sound is cleaner and more rock oriented than the lose and more improvised sound of the punk roots.
In my opinion this is by far The Offspring´s best album. The melodies are just about all very solid and some of them are blindingly melodic and contageous for your ears. The trick with pop is that if the melody and the hook works it is great. If it doesnt it is awful. Not the same with, say progressive rock, where the intricacies weigh out eventual small "faults". A popsong has to work or else, it is a failure.
The tracks are suffieciently diverse and there are even some balads, in the vain of Green Day´s Wake Me Up When September Ends. Clear inspirations, which cannot surprise, because of the impressive success of the American Idiot album (another of my personal favorites, but not a "forgotten gem" :-)).
The album does not reach the hights of American Idiot by some distance, but still it is a very solid and memorable alternative to the great "idiot" if you need some diversity. The production is top notch, the melodies and hooks are solid and memorable and it is a bit odd, that it did not receive much attention at the time (I may be mistaken, but thats my view).
