Army Of One Dividing By Zero Slim Pickens The Offspring

Army of One Album: Let The Bad Times Roll (2021)
Dividing by Zero Album: Days Go By (2012)
Slim Pickens Does the Right Thing and Rides the Bomb to Hell Album: Days Go By (2012)
by The Offspring

Let the Bad Times Roll is the tenth studio released on April 16, 2021. Produced by Bob Rock, it is the band's first release on Concord Records, and their first studio album in nine years since Days Go By (2012), marking the longest gap between two Offspring studio albums. Let the Bad Times Roll also marks the band's first album without bassist and co-founding member Greg K., who was fired from the Offspring in 2018. Even though new bassist Todd Morse had already joined the band and appeared in the video for the album’s title track and "This Is Not Utopia", bass guitar accompaniment was provided by guitarist and vocalist Dexter Holland. It is the second and last album to feature drummer Pete Parada, who parted ways with the band in July 2021 for refusing to get a COVID-19 vaccination, due to suffering from Guillain–Barré syndrome.

The band's tour schedules, lineup changes, legal issues and the search for a new label after their split with Columbia Records, who released the Offspring's previous six albums, contributed to a years-long delay behind Let the Bad Times Roll. The band started recording new material for the album with Rock as early as the summer of 2013, and after re-recording it at various studios and at various periods between 2013 and 2020, it had been completed by 2020 and was ready for release later that year. However, due to the aforementioned issues, other inner disputes and the COVID-19 pandemic, the album's release was pushed back to 2021. Track 4 is Army of One

Vocalist Dexter Holland explained to Spinner about Dividing by Zero: "It's the idea that something is coming back to you. When I read those lyrics, it sounds like a military guy on a bombing mission, someone going after Osama, or someone getting tried for fraud. The idea of vengeance in a pure adulterated way. It's an unapologetic eye for an eye. People tend to temper that, but it's about tapping into what that emotion is."

The Offspring close their ninth studio album, Days Go By with this black comedy cut. Slim Pickens Does the Right Thing and Rides the Bomb to Hell. Vocalist Dexter Holland explained to Spinner that the idea of this song, "is the world's going to hell so let's have a drink and watch it burn."

The song title references the actor Slim Pickens and his role in Dr. Strangelove as the B-52 pilot Major T.J. "King" Kong. The movie's most famous scene has Pickens on top of a dropped H-bomb, waving his cowboy hat as he rides to his certain death. Said guitarist Noodles to Spinner: "The Slim Pickens reference adds a comedic tone to the song. That movie was hilarious, but it was very dark too. That's what this song is. It's a nihilistic thing, but at the same time we're making fun of the nihilists. It's not bad for 2 minutes and 50 seconds."

This follows "Dividing by Zero," and Days Go By's final two tracks intentionally sound like one song. Holland explained to Spinner: "Those were actually the last two we did for this record. We thought it would be cool to put two short songs together almost as if it were a short punk medley that adds up to one five minute song."