From Smash to Saltair – My Story of the Offspring in the 90’s

From Smash to Saltair – My Story of the Offspring in the 90’s

The 90’s musically speaking was a decade of transition for me.  With the rise of alternative rock and grunge the metal scene that I was part of growing up was changing rapidly.  However, as much as this change was an adjustment the change was a good one.  I had very much embraced Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, and Alice in Chains while hanging onto all of the metal I held dear.  I was unique in the respect that I had one foot in both musical scenes which was very odd to my friends at Hillcrest.  At this point I am experimenting with punk and I’m starting to listen to bands like the Sex Pistols, Black Flag/Rollins Band, The Clash, The Misfits/Danzig, The Stooges, and MC5 which are all greatly shaping the direction I was headed musically, much to the dismay of some of my metal friends.

The Offspring was a band that forgiving the fact that I was already listening to a lot of punk music I was extremely resistant to giving this band a chance.  The first time I heard “Come Out and Play” mainly because the song became very popular very quickly in Salt Lake City I did not like it.  I still remember walking down the halls of Hillcrest High School hearing my friends sing lines from “Come Out and Play” and being totally annoyed by it.  The next single “Self Esteem” did not do much for me either for the same reasons.  One of my good friends back then named George C. who was the guitarist for a band of his own called Frosty Green Discharge was trying really hard to get me into the Offspring and it just wasn’t happening.  I still remember George went to see the Offspring at the Utah State Fairgrounds and just raved over the show the next day.  He was telling me about how they were filming a music video at the show and that he could not wait to see it.  At the time I thought “good for you George” but I was not sold on the Offspring at all.  However, things were about to change.

A couple of months later I saw the video for “Gotta Get Away” for the first time and I really enjoyed the song.  True to what my friend George told me I saw several of my friends, George included, in the music video and the next few times I watched the video it was like playing Where’s Waldo looking for my fellow punk and grunger friends.  Thus I grew to really like the song “Gotta Get Away” and Offspring was starting to grow on me.  At around the same time my father when he has driving home from work started hearing the song “Gotta Get Away” on KBER and just loved it so much so that my father bought a copy of Smash by The Offspring a couple of weeks later.  I will never forget the day when I came home from school and my Dad had “Come Out and Play” cranked up.  I don’t think it was possible for me to be more surprised.  However, as much as my Dad tried he really could not get into Smash at all and one day he just gave me his copy of the CD.  As much as I liked the song “Gotta Get Away” I was not exactly jumping up and down that I now had this CD.  

Smash collected dust in my bedroom for a couple of weeks and one day I was debating over selling the CD but decided to listen to it once before I got rid of it.  So I put the CD in my player and it begins with the track with famous announcer “ahh it’s time to relax and you know what that means, a glass of wine, your favorite easy chair and of course this compact disc playing on your home stereo” which I am immediately thinking “this is kind of lame”.  But before I could even finish that thought the song “Nitro” began and it completely took my breath away.  It was fast, heavy and got my attention really quick.  I literally could not believe a song this great was being performed by the Offspring and I was completely hooked from that moment on.  By the end of the album I had even fallen in love with “Come Out and Play” and “Self Esteem” much to my total shock.  What blew me away the most is as much as the singles from this album are great songs but they are not the best songs on the album which is what I think surprised me the most.  I still remember talking with my friend George the next day admitting that I was completely wrong about the Offspring and how much I loved Smash and he was very happy to say “I told you so”.  Shortly thereafter I found myself joining the sing-alongs to “Come Out and Play”, “Self Esteem”, and “Gotta Get Away” as I walked the halls of Hillcrest and hung out with my friends.

As much as Nirvana’s Nevermind, Pearl Jam’s Ten, Stone Temple Pilot’s Core and Alice In Chain’s Jar of Flies are some of my favorite albums of the 90’s Smash by the Offspring I think really captured my experiences of growing up in the 90’s better than any other album of the era and I identified with the album quite a bit.  The album lyrically covers everything from dating frustration, road rage, feeling overwhelmed, raw energy, and wanting to do your own thing and not follow the crowd.  To this day “Nitro”, “I’m Not the One”, and “Smash” are my three favorite songs on Smash.  In many respects this album is the official soundtrack of my junior and senior year of high school.

Unfortunately, because I got into the Offspring later than my friends did I was not able to catch them live on the tour for Smash, the album Ixnay on the Hombre came out while I was on my LDS mission and once again I could not see the tour, but I have a lot of fond memories of listing to the song “Gone Away” on the radio when I was serving in Punxsutawney, PA, on my LDS mission.  The tour for Americana I was working swing shift for Post Office when they came the first time and could not go and the second time they came I still could not go.  Finally, in November of 2000 my brother and I had tickets to see the Offspring at The E Center on the Conspiracy of One tour.  I was way excited for this show as I had been waiting five years to see the Offspring.  Unfortunately, the show did not sell very well and was rescheduled for the evening of November 27, 2000 at Saltair.  A show I will truly never forget.

Before I talk about this concert, a side note about the venue Saltair in Magna, Utah.  I HATE THIS VENUE WITH A PASSION!  If you are not from the Salt Lake area Saltair is on the shoreline of the Great Salt Lake on the western edge of Salt Lake County and is very isolated.  The venue is a dump and is very poorly ventilated.  Depending on the time of year the venue is either too cold or too hot and if the stench of the Great Salt Lake is strong it can be a very miserable place to see a concert.  The parking is really bad.  It’s just not a fun place to go and for me personally I have to want to see a band really, really bad to even go out there (which so far has included Dio, Offspring, The Killers, and Danzig). But that being said the Offspring concert I will admit would not have been the same if it were not at Saltair.

On the evening of the concert at the time my little brother Scott and I worked a book bindery together called Express Solutions.  We had a long day at work and because Saltair is so isolated we had dinner at a Winger’s in West Valley Utah and made the drive out to Saltair arriving at about 5:00pm.  Because Saltair is a standing room only venue getting there early is really important and Scott and I were within the first 10 people in line.  Next to us in line were two teenage punk/grunge rockers (15 or 16 years old) that this show was there first concert and they were busting at the seams with excitement.  Not only did we talk about the show but Scott and I have a lot of shows under our belts and these kids loved hearing about many of the bands we have seen in concert.  True to Saltair tradition as much as it said the doors open at 6:00pm the doors did not open until 7:00pm and the line to get in just grew and grew.  A few months earlier I had seen Dio with Ywgwie Malmsteen and Doro Tesh at Saltair and Saltair was about half full for that show.  I just kept looking at the line and I felt like there was no way all these people could possible fit in Saltair.  Once the door was opened Scott and I immediately made a mad dash for the balcony (the balcony at Saltair is a flat level and unless you are right on the railing it is impossible to see the concert) and got a great spot overlooking the stage; which pretty much meant that under no circumstances would we leave our spot on the balcony (we would not get it back). 

Once we were in Saltair and claimed our spot in the balcony the teenagers in front of us in line were right against the bar that separated the floor from the stage and they were totally primed and waved at Scott and I.  The first band to play was MXPX and about 5 minutes before they came on there were two really cute girls that had driven from Tremonton, Utah (about 90 miles from Saltair) to see the show and they asked Scott and I if they could stand in front of us.  Since they were both about 5’1”,95 pounds, and we could still see the stage with them in front of us we agreed and for what it is worth they were pretty cool to hang out with that night.   MXPX put on a great show and the crowd loved them.

After MXPX Scott and I were looking over the floor at Saltair and we spotted a girl named Amber who at the time was dating our good friend Chad M.  At first we saw her chatting with a guy and didn’t think much of it.  Then eventually they were standing a little closer to each other than most friends would.  Scott and I naively thought that maybe it was her brother or a cousin.  Eventually they had their arms around each other, they kissed, the guy slapped Amber’s butt.  Either this was one wacky family or Chad’s girlfriend was clearing two timing him.  At the time neither Scott nor I owned a cell phone so we couldn’t send photographic evidence to Chad.  Scott and I then had a moral dilemma on our hands.  Should we leave our premier spot in the balcony (I don’t think the cute girls from Tremonton could have held the spot if we had left) and confront Amber or should we keep our great spot in the balcony.  We decided that we would stay in the balcony and call Chad after the show.  I thought Saltair was pretty packed during MXPX but Saltair kept getting fuller and we were already crammed like sardines in the balcony.

Cyprus Hill then took the stage.  I am not into rap at all and I was really dreading having to sit through Cyprus Hill but much to my complete surprise they had a bassist, drummer, two guitarist, and a mixer onstage with Cyprus Hill and it was a great mix of rap and heavy metal.  They really knew how to get the crowd excited.  The highlight of the show for we is they performed an excellent cover of “War Pigs” by Black Sabbath and then ended with a very metaled out version of “Insane in the Membrane”.  Cyprus Hill was not at all what I was expecting and I was impressed.  They are a great live band.

After Cyprus Hill ended Scott and I looked over the crowd again and Saltair was still getting fuller and fuller for the Offspring.  I am glad the Fire Marshall of Magna didn’t drop by the show because at least in my opinion I did not think it was possible to get that many people into Saltair.  Much to my surprise because it got pretty wild during Cyprus Hill the kids in front Scott and I before the show were still holding on to their spot at the front of the stage.  They were holding their own which is impressive for a first concert.  Finally, Offspring took the stage and opened with the song “Bad Habit” from Smash and the crowd just went wild.  The floor of Saltair was one huge mosh pit instantly.  Early in the show Offspring performed “Pretty Fly For A White Guy” and there was a tall guy (I am 5’11” and I think this guy was about 6’5”) who came up to the balcony with his girlfriend who was 5’1” and 90 pounds at the most.  He started tapping people in the balcony on the shoulder and asking if he and his girlfriend could stand in front of them to which everyone said no.  I think this guy was just getting frustrated as more and more people told him no.  When he got to me he asked “Hey can me and my girlfriend stand in front of you” to which I said “no”.  I think I was the stick that broke the camel’s back.  He then yells “why not?” at me to which I responded “Because I got here at 5:00pm for this spot and I am not giving it up”.  He then yells “you want me to kick our ass” to which I looked him over and said “I think I can take you down”.  At this point his girlfriend got between us and yelled “it isn’t worth it!”.  He then looked at me and said “if my girlfriend was not here I would kick your ass” to which I responded “yeah right”.  He and his girlfriend stormed out of the balcony and went back to the main floor and I never saw them again after that. 

As the show went on I can honestly say when Offspring did “Gotta Get Away”, “Come Out and Play”, and “Self Esteem” the balcony shook.  At one part of the show Offspring took a five minute intermission and Dexter Holland went to the microphone and asked “what song do you want to hear next?”  At the top of my lungs I kept shouting “Smash! Smash! Smash!” and much to my surprise they then did the song “Smash” and I was ecstatic.  I did not think they were going to perform that one and I loved every second of it.  The show was awesome and the Offspring really brought it that night. 

After the show because there is minimal parking at Saltair all of the cars are parked in a straight grid and you cannot get out until either the cars in front or behind you are able to leave.  Scott and I went to the bathroom at Saltair since in order to keep our spots in the balcony had not used the restroom since 4:30pm.  When we finally got to Scott’s car the car diagonal from Scott’s was able to leave.  I maneuvered Scott’s Oldsmobile Cutlass Sierra diagonally with no more than two inches on either side of his car and repeated this a few more times until I was finally able to get out of Saltair’s parking lot and we were never happier to merge onto I-80 east and head back into Salt Lake City.  We loved the concert but had to get away from Saltair as quickly as possible.

At about 12:30am Scott and I exited the I-215 freeway at California Avenue and went into a Chevron for some bottled water.  Going back to earlier since Scott and I had seen our friend Chad’s girlfriend Amber with another guy at the Offspring concert we decided that he needed to know as soon as possible.  Fortunately for us Chad had a cell phone so we went to the pay phone at the gas station and called Chad and he was still awake.  Scott let him know about Amber to which Chad said “she told me she was at a family reunion!” (Chad broke up with her a couple of days later and to add one more piece of irony Amber ended up marrying the guy we saw her with at Offspring) and then finally got back home to Sandy after one wild evening.

This was a great concert but as time has progressed in my life this has gone down as one of the greatest concerts I have ever been to.  I have never been to a concert like it ever since and as much as I hate going to Saltair for concerts.  This particular show would not have been the same if it was not at Saltair.  As I have grown older this concert in my last great moment with the generation I grew up in the 90’s.  Not even a year after this show my life as a whole and the world would really change.  About a month after this show I would start at LDS Business College and the adventure of my life in college greatly changed my life in a positive way that I would not trade for anything.  On September 11, 2001 when Al Qaeda terrorists high jacked 4 airplanes, two of which destroyed New York City’s World Trade Center greatly changed the world and like everyone in my generation I remember exactly where they were when it happened.  Many in my generation were now in college, serving in the military, starting families, and growing up into the next rising generation.  That Offspring concert was for me at least the last truly great moment of growing up in the 90’s before the world changes.  To paraphrase the famous wave speech from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson personalized for me (although not nearly as brilliant as Hunter S. Thompson’s writing) “Hillcrest High School/Sandy, Utah in the middle 90’s was a very special time and place to be a part of.  There was great times and great friends anywhere I went.  The days when dancing with a beautiful girl, bicycling and rollerblading without helmets or safety gear at insane speeds and doing crazy stunts with no regard for safety, and Hillcrest Football and Basketball games were the best ticket in town.  Driving around in a 1989 Dodge Shadow was better that any sports car out there.  Everything was thrilling and fun anywhere I looked there was not a better time to be Hillcrest High School’s ultimate metal head/punk rocker.  They were days to be remembered and cherished where I felt like nothing in the world would ever change.  As I have grown up and as I look out over the west desert 5, 10, or whatever amount of years later with the right kind of eyes I see the high water mark where the crest of the wave which was 90’s I grew up in finally broke and rolled back at Saltair.”

The One and Only Saltair on the Shores of the Great Salt Lake