"The Kids Aren't Alright" is a song by

the Offspring The Offspring is an American rock band from Garden Grove, California, formed in 1984. Originally formed under the name Manic Subsidal, the band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Bryan "Dexter" Holland, lead guit ...

. It is the fifth track from the band's fifth studio album, ''

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana (music), a genre or style of American music *Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...

'' (1998), and was released as its third single. It became another top 10 hit on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart. The song was played over the end credits of '' Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage''. The song was used in the opening scene of the film ''

The Faculty ''The Faculty'' is a 1998 American science fiction horror film directed by Robert Rodriguez and written by Kevin Williamson. It stars Jordana Brewster, Clea DuVall, Laura Harris, Josh Hartnett, Shawn Hatosy, Famke Janssen, Piper Laurie, B ...

'' and appears on the soundtrack album. It is also available as downloadable content for the '' Rock Band'' video game series. '' Q'' reported that the song's title is an

allusion Allusion is a figure of speech, in which an object or circumstance from unrelated context is referred to covertly or indirectly. It is left to the audience to make the direct connection. Where the connection is directly and explicitly stated (as ...

to the

Who Who or WHO may refer to: * Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun * Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism * World Health Organization Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book '' Horton He ...

song " The Kids Are Alright" (from ''

My Generation "My Generation" is a song by the English rock band the Who, which became a hit and one of their most recognizable songs. The song was named the 11th greatest song by ''Rolling Stone'' on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It becam ...

''). The magazine also argued that the track "borrows heavily" from "

Electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as describ ...

" by

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) are an English electronic band formed in Wirral, Merseyside, in 1978. The group consists of co-founders Andy McCluskey (vocals, bass guitar) and Paul Humphreys (keyboards, vocals), along with Martin Co ...

, and pointed to NOFX's punk rock cover of "Electricity" as evidence.

Composition

The song lyrics tell the stories of several people from a town and the problems they faced growing up (unplanned pregnancy, unemployment, drug addiction, and suicide). Dexter Holland wrote the song after visiting his home town, Garden Grove,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, and discovering many of his old acquaintances had found problems in life. In his words, “The neighborhood looks like ''

Happy Days ''Happy Days'' is an American television sitcom that aired first-run on the ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marshall, it was one of the most su ...

'', but it’s really ''

Twin Peaks ''Twin Peaks'' is an American mystery serial drama television series created by Mark Frost and David Lynch. It premiered on ABC on April 8, 1990, and originally ran for two seasons until its cancellation in 1991. The show returned in 2017 for ...

''” , while guitarist

Noodles Noodles are a type of food made from unleavened dough which is either rolled flat and cut, stretched, or extruded, into long strips or strings. Noodles are a staple food in many cultures (for example, Chinese noodles, Filipino noodles, Ind ...

said that the song pointed out the subversion of the idea that "you grow up hoping you and your friends have a bright future".

Track listing

Original pressing

Alternative pressing

Second alternative pressing

Third alternative pressing

Promo CD

Cassette single

Music video

It features a room with a background of abandonment or family activity at different times. In the center of the room, there are scenes of various persons, including an appearance by

Bif Naked Beth Torbert is a Canadian singer best known by her stage name Bif Naked. Between 1996 and 2016, she was among the top 150 selling Canadian artists in Canada. Early life and education Bif Naked was born in New Delhi, India, to teenage parents ...

, doing stereotypical things and moves; occasionally band members show up. The camera pans around the room and the changing of the scenes of persons constantly morphing and shifting between each other. The background can be seen shifting between two time lines, one where the scene is the past, where things are new and white, and modern days where it is dreary and drab. The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

, directed by Yariv Gaber, released a month before the CD single, received heavy airplay on MTV. It was later nominated for Best Direction on the MTV Video Music Awards. The visuals in the video are made with rotoscoping techniques.

DVD appearances

The music video also appears on the ''

Complete Music Video Collection ''Complete Music Video Collection'' is an extensive video album (released in DVD and Universal Media Disc, UMD formats) by the American punk rock band The Offspring. It was released to accompany the ''Greatest Hits (The Offspring album), Greatest ...

'' DVD, released in 2004.

Album art

The album art features two different drawings for this song. The first depicts a scarecrow falling into the tentacles shown prominently in other single and album covers from ''

''. This art also appeared in the accompanying booklet for the album (however, this drawing appeared with the song "Have You Ever"). The second, alternative cover shows a young child reaching for a gun, with ominous blood near to it (the drawing that appears with the song in the ''Americana'' booklet).

Critical reception

"The Kids Aren't Alright" is widely considered one of the Offspring's best songs. In 2012, '' Loudwire'' ranked the song number three on their list of the 10 greatest Offspring songs, and in 2021, ''

Kerrang ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one-of ...

'' ranked the song number one on their list of the 20 greatest Offspring songs.

Other versions

Live versions of the song were released with " Want You Bad" and "

Hit That "Hit That" is a song by American rock band the Offspring, included as the fourth track on the band's seventh studio album, ''Splinter'' (2003), and was released as its first single. The song also appears as the 13th track on their ''Greatest Hi ...

". A remix (by

the Wiseguys The Wiseguys were a British electronic duo active in the mid to late 1990s. They produced the song "Start the Commotion", which was featured in a Mitsubishi TV advertisement, as well as the films ''The Lizzie McGuire Movie'', '' Zoolander'' a ...

) appeared as the b-side to " She's Got Issues" and was later included on the ''

Greatest Hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...

'' album. The download version of ''

Splinter A splinter (also known as a sliver) is a fragment of a larger object, or a foreign body that penetrates or is purposely injected into a body. The foreign body must be lodged inside tissue to be considered a splinter. Splinters may cause initia ...

'' (2003) included "The Kids Aren't Alright (Island Style)", an instrumental version of the song featuring

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

and steel guitar. It is also available on the Enhanced CD version of the album under the folder MP3.

Evergreen Terrace Evergreen Terrace is a five-piece American metalcore band from Jacksonville, Florida. Formed in 1999, they are named after the street inhabited by the Simpsons. The band's sixth and latest studio album '' Dead Horses'' was released on Decembe ...

recorded a version of the song for their 2004 covers album, ''

Writer's Block Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author is either unable to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown. Mike Rose found that this creative stall is not a result of commitment problems or th ...

''. The same year, the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

a cappella group Logarhythms recorded the song for their album ''Soundproof''.

Chris Webby Christian Walcott Webster (born October 13, 1988), better known by his stage name Chris Webby, is an American rapper from Norwalk, Connecticut. Chris Webby has released many mixtapes such as the DJ Drama-hosted ''Bars On Me'' (2012) and his EP ...

's "Fragile Lives" samples the song's chorus and uses a similar four-chord progression.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kids Aren't Alright, The The Offspring songs 1999 singles Animated music videos Songs about children Songs about death Songs about drugs Songs about suicide Songs written by Dexter Holland Skate punk songs 1998 songs Columbia Records singles