The Offspring have shared a raging video for “This Is Not Utopia,” off their 10th studio album, Let The Bad Times Roll.
“This Is Not Utopia” is the first track on the album. Released earlier this year, it’s the first studio release from the group in nine years.
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Gas masks and microscopic splotches of blood in the video mirror the chaotic nature of the song. While both the masks and the blood are symbolic of the COVID-19 pandemic, they also reference singer Bryan “Dexter” Holland’s doctorate in molecular biology.
Colorful smoke bombs are set off by a dancer wearing an American flag bikini. While red, white and blue are present throughout the entirety of the video, the Offspring don’t intend for the song to be political in nature. In fact, they want it to be anything but.
“Look around: It’s obvious this is not utopia. To put it a nicer way, we could do better,” Holland told Forbes. “We could do better, right? It’s important for us to not come across as political. I never want to be preachy. I never want to tell you that you should think like this, that you should do something or act a certain way, but I do want to throw the observations out there, and you can draw your own point—whether you are a liberal or a conservative—to think about the things that we can all do to make things better.”
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After announcing Let The Bad Times Roll at the beginning of 2021, they kicked off the new era with the release of its titular track. It follows a similar sentiment to “This Is Not Utopia,” reflecting on the challenges both the U.S. and the world face every single day.
The band told HardDrive Radio how they came up with the album’s name and why it was important to them to call it Let The Bad Times Roll.
“We had a song two albums ago [on 2008’s Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace] called [‘Stuff Is Messed Up’],” Holland says. “We wrote that because we thought how terrible things were in the world back then, but it actually got worse. So we had to come up with a new title: Let The Bad Times Roll. You can apply it to a lot of things. I mean, we’re not a political band. Some people would apply it to the last administration. Some people would apply it to things that are going on today or just how messed up everything is, trying to fix our pandemic and all that kind of stuff.”
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You can watch “This Is Not Utopia” and check out the Offspring’s upcoming fall tour dates below.
The Offspring tour dates:
09/03 – Corpus Christi, TX @ ROCK 92/7 Birthday Bash
09/04 – Houston, TX @ 94.5 The Buzz BUZZFEST
09/05 – Dallas, TX @ 97.1 The Eagle BFD
09/25 – Camden, NJ @ 93.3 WMMR MMRBQ
10/09 – Sacramento, CA @ Aftershock Festival
11/13 – Daytona Beach, FL @ Welcome to Rockville
11/21 – Dublin, IE @ 3Arena
11/23 – Cardiff, UK @ Motorpoint Arena
11/24 – Birmingham, UK @ Resorts World Arena
11/26 – London, UK @ The SSE Wembley Arena
11/27 – Glasgow, UK @ The SSE Hydro
11/29 – Manchester, UK @ AO Arena
11/30 – Leeds, UK @ First Direct Arena
12/02 – Leeds, UK @ Crash Records
12/03 – Kingston, UK @ Banquet Records
“This Is Not Utopia” lyrics
Like a shot without a warning
Lies a life that’s left behind
And though I try
It’s something I
Just can’t unsee, it’s burned into my mind
And I wake up in the morning
News keeps flashing on my eyes
These dying streets are bruised and beaten
And riot flags are waving
Poor and weak, we extend this streak
These lives we could be saving
Life is cheap I sit and weep cause there’s just no mistaking
This is not utopia
The roots of America
Are the roots of hysteria
The rules don’t matter anymore
This is not utopia
The roots of America
Are the roots of hysteria
And you don’t matter anymore
The better angels of our nature
Well they’ve gone away to hide
Brutality
I can’t unsee
These pictures are just burned into my mind
It’s commotion in slow motion
It’s humanity denied
A violent race
Punch in the face
With all this hate how can we all survive?
And if a change is coming
What makes it take so long?
And if a change is coming
Why sing the same old song?
This is not utopia
The roots of America
Are the roots of hysteria
The rules don’t matter anymore
This is not utopia
The roots of America
Are the roots of hysteria
And you don’t matter anymore
This is not utopia
The roots of America
Are the roots of hysteria
And you don’t matter anymore
So now how long must we wait?
Until love conquers hate?
And heal these hearts
Cause it all starts
Right here
The post The Offspring release new music video for “This Is Not Utopia”—watch appeared first on Alternative Press.
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By: Augusta Battoclette
Title: The Offspring release new music video for “This Is Not Utopia”—watch
Sourced From: www.altpress.com/news/the-offspring-this-is-not-utopia-video/
Published Date: Wed, 07 Jul 2021 21:38:21 +0000
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