Gone Away

A much more mature and serious song than what The Offspring are known for, "Gone Away" finds lead singer Dexter Holland grieving the loss of a loved one. It was based on a real-life brush with violence that left him contemplating his mortality. Holland and his wife were at a Baskin-Robbins in Huntington Beach when gang members opened fire on the ice cream shop, forcing the patrons to take cover. No one was killed, but the incident left the couple shaken up. "The idea that we came so close to death was a real life-changing moment," Holland told The Bob Lefsetz Podcast in 2021. "It was right when we were recording Ixnay and I was coming up with the idea. I knew I wanted it to be heavy, but I didn't know what it was going to be about yet. I know it's not a direct connection, but it made you think about dying and about grief and about what that would feel like, and what if my wife would have been the one?"

This song got more airplay than any other on the Ixnay On The Hombre album. Still, the record sold poorly compared to its predecessor, Smash, which was released in 1994. The Offspring were signed to the indie punk label Epitaph Records for Smash, and when it sold over 10 million copies worldwide, it became the best-selling indie album of all time. The group then left Epitaph for Columbia, which made Ixnay On The Hombre their major-label debut.

This was a #1 hit on the Mainstream Rock chart and also peaked at #4 on the Alternative Songs tally. It wasn't eligible for the Hot 100 because it wasn't sold as a single in America, a strategy to encourage album sales.