“And if a change is coming
What makes it take so long?” – sing The Offspring, outraged at the COVID-19 pandemic

The Offspring have just unveiled a music video for their newest single ‘This Is Not Utopia’, taken off the 10th album, Let The Bad Times Roll, their first album in nine years.

“This Is Not Utopia” is the opening track on Let The Bad Times Roll, and it couldn’t be better choice. It serves as a quintessence of the whole album. As for the accompanying music video, it’s a mix of band members playing in gas masks and biological background with blood cells popping up on and off throughout the visual.

Are the guys from The Offspring pointing at life during the COVID-19 pandemic? No doubt. Not to mention that the band’s vocalist Bryan “Dexter” Holland boasts a doctorate in molecular biology. Why is the song titled ‘This Is Not Utopia’? Because it is certainly not an ideal way to live, the band believes:

“Look around: It’s obvious this is not utopia. To put it a nicer way, we could do better. We could do better, right?” – Holland told Forbes

Despite the fact we see a lot of fragments with a dancer wearing an American flag bikini, The Offspring have underlined they had no intention for the song to be seen as political:

“It’s important for us to not come across as political,” – Dexter continues. “I never want to be preachy. I never want to tell you that you should think like this, that you should do something or act a certain way, but I do want to throw the observations out there, and you can draw your own point—whether you are a liberal or a conservative—to think about the things that we can all do to make things better.”

Listen (and watch) ‘This Is Not Utopia’ along with the song lyrics below:

And staying as optimistic as they can be, The Offspring are gearing up for the fall 2021 tour – check out their official tour dates below, which stretch all the way into early December.

The Offspring Tour Dates:

09/03 – Corpus Christi, TX @ ROCK 92/7 Birthday Bash
09/04 – Houston, TX @ 94.5 The Buzz BUZZFEST
09/05 – Dallas, TX @ 97.1 The Eagle BFD
09/25 – Camden, NJ @ 93.3 WMMR MMRBQ
10/09 – Sacramento, CA @ Aftershock Festival
11/13 – Daytona Beach, FL @ Welcome to Rockville
11/21 – Dublin, IE @ 3Arena
11/23 – Cardiff, UK @ Motorpoint Arena
11/24 – Birmingham, UK @ Resorts World Arena
11/26 – London, UK @ The SSE Wembley Arena
11/27 – Glasgow, UK @ The SSE Hydro
11/29 – Manchester, UK @ AO Arena
11/30 – Leeds, UK @ First Direct Arena
12/02 – Leeds, UK @ Crash Records
12/03 – Kingston, UK @ Banquet Records

“This Is Not Utopia” lyrics

Like a shot without a warning
Lies a life that’s left behind
And though I try
It’s something I
Just can’t unsee, it’s burned into my mind

And I wake up in the morning
News keeps flashing on my eyes
These dying streets are bruised and beaten
And riot flags are waving
Poor and weak, we extend this streak
These lives we could be saving
Life is cheap I sit and weep cause there’s just no mistaking
This is not utopia

The roots of America
Are the roots of hysteria
The rules don’t matter anymore
This is not utopia

The roots of America
Are the roots of hysteria
And you don’t matter anymore

The better angels of our nature
Well they’ve gone away to hide
Brutality
I can’t unsee
These pictures are just burned into my mind

It’s commotion in slow motion
It’s humanity denied
A violent race
Punch in the face
With all this hate how can we all survive?

And if a change is coming
What makes it take so long?
And if a change is coming
Why sing the same old song?
This is not utopia

The roots of America
Are the roots of hysteria
The rules don’t matter anymore
This is not utopia

The roots of America
Are the roots of hysteria
And you don’t matter anymore
This is not utopia

The roots of America
Are the roots of hysteria
And you don’t matter anymore

So now how long must we wait?
Until love conquers hate?
And heal these hearts
Cause it all starts
Right here

Photo credit: Daveed Benito

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR