The Kids Aren't Alright

This song looks at the shattered promise of youth for those who had a bright future they never realized. We hear about Mark, the unemployed dude still living at home; Brandon, who died of an overdose; and Jamie, who dropped out of school and had a couple kids. The song was written by Offspring frontman Dexter Holland after he took a nostalgic trip through his old neighborhood, Garden Grove in Orange County, California. Many people he knew had met tragedy through car accidents, nervous breakdowns, or addiction, and others were just muddling through life. "When you are a kid, it seems like you have this sort-of bright future," he told MTV. "But it doesn't turn out that way. The neighborhood may seem like Happy Days on the outside, but on the inside it's more like Twin Peaks."

The title is a play on the phrase "The Kids Are Alright," which is a 1965 song by The Who celebrating youth culture at a time when their elders were slagging them off as lazy and reckless. The Who released a concert documentary and compilation album in 1979 that was also called The Kids Are Alright.

The music video, directed by Yariv Garber, uses morphing and compositing techniques that look pretty dated in modern times but were rather eye catching in 1998. It got a lot of airplay on MTV.