Offspring - Original Prankster (cover)

Cygnus has made a fiesta from this song. 

Offspring's songs are - for me - by default hilarious. Melodic, 90's punk music, lots of noises, effects and instruments in the songs (think of "Why Don't You Get A Job" or "Pretty Fly For A White Guy") with often cheeky and provocative lyrics. This time Cygnus took this by default amusing song, made a twist with it and the result is an irresistible Latin fiesta.

I remember the guessing game for this song. We somehow figured out that it was Offspring, but we completely failed to find out the song title. Our Colombians encouraged us with the hint "you know, this song was a huge hit on MTV!". We got enthusiastic, we started to come up with song titles like those two above as well as "Self-Esteem", "The Kids Aren't Alright" or "Hit That" but our beloved rockers were just shaking their heads. We pretty much ran out of ideas quickly, I remember Deneb looked at us through the IG live session's camera a bit reprimanding and he said "come on, guys! It's not that difficult, it was a big hit back then on Music Television! It's from a bit later era of Offspring, it's from the early 2000's... did you not watch MTV?..." And we confessed that in Europe MTV was practically out of every cable TV network after 1994-96. (Even today I have no idea what happened, but I think it doesn't really matter after almost 30 years.) Finally, after keeping up the guessing and our Colombians constantly giving us hints - and laughing - we figured out the song title as well.

The first tunes are already full of Cygnus's characteristic trademarks. Blu's guitar is powerful and solid, Ruxx is literally playing with the drums and percussions, the bass is mouth-watering, Reny adds harmonies, and the madness begins in the moment Deneb shouts YOU CAN DO IT! with a megaphone-effect on his voice. Ruxx is playing the güiro

not the only special percussion in this song!

and then he starts to sing and you can hear the sound of the quijada as well.

Ruxx feels this song. I'm more than sure that playful, cheeky songs like this one were in fact written for his voice and performing abilities. He is having a blast while Deneb is doing the backing vocals.

A tiny trivia: Cygnus-fans also took part in the recording of this song with their voices. Our favorite Colombians very kindly and generously offered us this chance. Yes, even the humble chronicler of this blog is there somewhere - no, I will definitely not tell you how, when and where, you nicely figure it out for yourself. I'm not the only one who took part in it, and thankfully my voice is pretty much hidden behind the powerful vocals of my favorite singers. But one thing is sure: this was, still is a dream come true for me. I could fkin jam together with my favorite band!!!!

The song is flowing ahead, güiro, quijada, cowbell follow each other along with the massive basis of the rhythm section and the guitar-keyboard duo. Our favorite Colombians don't hold themselves back, they clearly enjoy playing around with all these instruments. And you can't resist; in fact you shouldn't either. This cover is merely about having fun. It's not heavy (yet it is serious) and it doesn't want to change the world (yet it's full of hidden gems). A shot of antidepressant

better than benzodiazepine, I can make everyone sure

for a dull day, especially when everyone around you takes themselves way too seriously.

The pre-chorus brings Ruxx's megaphone-effected voice and the next surprise comes afterwards. Those lines in the lyrics that were originally performed by Redman, here we get them from none else than Blu himself. He has a particularly charming, "evil" voice, while Ruxx keeps his own swirling around the listener.

...and the song keeps flowing, the percussions 

for those with open ears and heart

rattle, the megaphone-effect attacks again

I LOVE that!!!!

and even a car horn appears.

The song is flooding ahead, Ruxx is singing, the guitar and the rhythm section humbly stay in the background to let the humane voices and the percussions prevail. Ruxx gets support from Deneb's backing voicals and these two voices are like children playing catch-me-if-you-can.

And if you really, really open up your ears and heart, you will hear Reny adding a Hammond organ-sounding theme to the song! What a creativitiy!

We arrive again at the chorus; Ruxx's megaphone-effected voice along with Blu's backing is held up by the guitar and the rhythm section - these two are very strictly together for the whole song. The drums and the bass are practically merging

I always say it, but here I say it again: if you want a good band, you must have a strong, stable rhythm section that clicks together. Like in football: if you want a good team, find a good goalkeeper first!

It's that simple.

the guitar does its duty: simple, raw, without any magic or virtuosity

it's a punk song!

while the human voices dominate along with the percussions.

And after the chorus the mysterious quijada-player reveals himself.

Yes, dear Reader.

It's Deneb, our favorite bassist-singer-composer-multiinstrumentalist-from-now-on-percussionist superhero. It's him playing the quijada, the "donkey jaw" (or vibra slap, but I find this name schematic and lacking every creativity). Ruxx appears playing the güiro, then you can see him behind his drumset. The bass's deep, warm sound caresses your ears, the guitar's simple yet characteristic theme pops back up.

And then our bassist-percussionist superhero's time comes.

Deneb sings the first part of the last stanza, getting support from Ruxx's kickdrums. He just barely whispers into your ears, when our favorite drummer and his irresistible voice returns.

And I swear I hear a timpani in the background, playing hide-and-seek. Just for one hit. 

To be honest, after this percussion heaven, I wouldn't be surprised if our beloved Colombians had actually hidden a kettledrum as well somewhere here, around the end of this song.

The chorus returns one more time with the megaphone effect on Ruxx's voice and Blu's suave parts. You can't help but love it all.

This is one of those covers, when it's all about playing and trying out a lot of new things. It's about having a good time and being creative; this time it doesn't have to be nuclear, grim or powerful. You don't have to be a music expert to understand it, all it wants to do is to make you smile and enjoy it.

And in this - and in many other things as well 💓- it's totally successful.