Conspiracy of One

Conspiracy of One
Studio album by The Offspring
Released November 14, 2000
Recorded June–August 2000
Studio
  • NRG, North Hollywood, California
Genre Punk rock, skate punk, pop punk, alternative rock[1]
Length 37:44
Label Columbia
Producer Brendan O'Brien
The Offspring chronology

Americana
(1998)		 Conspiracy of One
(2000)		 Splinter
(2003)
Brazilian limited edition
from MTV Brazil's contest: "Design The Offspring's album cover"[2]
Singles from Conspiracy of One
  1. "Original Prankster"
    Released: October 24, 2000
  2. "Want You Bad"
    Released: December 23, 2000
  3. "Million Miles Away"
    Released: June 26, 2001
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic (60/100) [3]
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [1]
Alternative Press [3]
Entertainment Weekly B [4]
Kerrang!
Q [3]
Robert Christgau [5]
Rolling Stone [6]
Spin (7/10) [3]
Wall of Sound (62/100) [7]
Yahoo! Music UK [8]

Conspiracy of One is the sixth studio album by the American punk rock band The Offspring, released on November 14, 2000 through Columbia Records. Following a worldwide tour in support of its previous album, Americana (1998), The Offspring commenced work on a new album. By the time of its release, the band had come out in support of peer-to-peer file sharing, claiming it does not hurt sales. Conspiracy of One was originally planned to be released directly on their website before retail, until their label threatened to sue and the album ended up as a physical release.

Conspiracy of One debuted at number nine on the Billboard 200 with around 125,000 copies sold in its first week,[9] and spawned the singles "Original Prankster", "Want You Bad", and "Million Miles Away". The band supported the album with a worldwide tour. Conspiracy of One would end up becoming The Offspring's final studio album with drummer Ron Welty, as he left the band in early 2003 to pursue his career with Steady Ground. Although the album was not as successful as Americana, it went 2x platinum by the RIAA in the United States, and has sold 5.5 million copies Worldwide.

Background and recording

The Offspring spent much of 1999 on tour promoting the Americana album. They also appeared at the infamous Woodstock 1999, where their performance was broadcast live on pay-per-view television. After some time off, the members reconvened in early 2000 to begin work on new material, nine songs of which were in the demo phase at the time. Frontman Dexter Holland told Rolling Stone in May 2000 that, "we came home last Christmas and we kind of took a month just trying to recoup and we started thinking, 'Well, do we want to get started on another record right away?'. "We're all pretty excited about the way things have gone so I spent a couple of months trying to come up with some new material and then [started] jamming out these demos."[10] The Offspring officially entered the studio to begin recording sessions for Conspiracy of One in June 2000. For the recording of the album, the band tapped Brendan O'Brien as its producer and recorded the album at NRG studios in North Hollywood, California over a two-month period.

Reception

Conspiracy of One was released on November 14, 2000 and peaked at number 9 on the Billboard 200 album chart.[11] Five weeks after its release, the album was certified gold and platinum.[12] The album was also successful in Canada, selling 25,231 copies in its first week and debuting at #4 on the Canadian Albums Chart.[13] The album was certified 2x Platinum by the CRIA in February 2007.[14]

Liana Jonas of AllMusic described Conspiracy of One as The Offspring's "most musically mature collection to date". Jonas praised the music as "tight arrangements, vocal interplay and refined guitar work" and claims the band injected "elements of hip hop, nu metal, and Nirvana-like grunge into a few songs". The album received a rating of three and a half out of five stars, while producing three singles, "Original Prankster", "Want You Bad" and "Million Miles Away", that earned The Offspring its commercial success.[1] So far, the album holds a score of 60 out of 100 from Metacritic based on "mixed or average reviews".[3]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Dexter Holland [15]. 

No. Title Length
1. "Intro"   0:06
2. "Come Out Swinging"   2:47
3. "Original Prankster"   3:42
4. "Want You Bad"   3:23
5. "Million Miles Away"   3:40
6. "Dammit, I Changed Again"   2:49
7. "Living in Chaos"   3:28
8. "Special Delivery"   3:00
9. "One Fine Day"   2:45
10. "All Along"   1:39
11. "Denial, Revisited"   4:33
12. "Vultures"   3:35
13. "Conspiracy of One"   2:17
Total length:
 37:44

Bonus tracks

Australian and European bonus track
No. Title Length
14. "Huck It"   2:38
Total length:
 40:22
Japanese bonus tracks
No. Title Length
14. "Huck It"   2:38
15. "The Kids Aren't Alright" (Live) 3:03
Total length:
 43:25
Vinyl bonus track
No. Title Length
14. "80 Times" (T.S.O.L. cover) 2:07
Total length:
 39:51
Best Buy bonus tracks
No. Title Length
14. "Staring At The Sun" (Live) 2:28
15. "All I Want" (Live) 2:08
Total length:
 42:20

Notes

Chart performance

Chart (1998–1999) Peak
position
Argentinian Albums Chart[16] 9
Australian Albums Chart[17] 4
Austrian Albums Chart[17] 5
Belgium Albums Chart[17] 18
Brazilian Albums Chart 3
Canadian Albums Chart[18] 4
Finnish Albums Chart[17] 4
French Albums Chart[17] 3
German Albums Chart[19] 8
Italian Albums Chart[17] 12
Japanese Albums Chart[20] 2
Netherlands Albums Chart[17] 32
New Zealand Albums Chart[17] 11
Norwegian Albums Chart[17] 11
Polish Albums Chart[21] 7
Swedish Albums Chart[17] 8
Swiss Albums Chart[17] 4
UK Albums Chart[22] 12
U.S. Billboard 200[1] 9

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Australian[23] 2× Platinum 140,000+
Argentina (CAPIF)[24] Gold 30,000x
Austrian[25] Gold 8,000+
Belgium (BEA)[26] Gold 25,000*
Brazil (ABPD)[27] Gold 100,000*
Canada (Music Canada)[28] 2× Platinum 200,000^
Finland (Musiikkituottajat)[29] Gold 29,330+[29]
France (SNEP)[30] 2× Gold 200,000*
Germany (BVMI)[31] Gold 150,000^
Italy (FIMI)[32] Gold 50,000*
Japan (RIAJ)[33] 2× Platinum 400,000^
Netherlands (NVPI)[34] Gold 40,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[35] Platinum 15,000^
Norway (IFPI Norway)[36] Gold 25,000*
Poland (ZPAV)[37] Gold 50,000*
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[38] Gold 50,000^
Sweden (GLF)[39] Platinum 80,000^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[40] Platinum 50,000x
United Kingdom (BPI)[41] Gold 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[42] 2× Platinum 2,000,000^
Summaries
Europe (IFPI)[43] Platinum 1,000,000*
Worldwide 5,500,000+

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

|}

Personnel

The Offspring

Additional personnel

Production

References

General references

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Conspiracy of One". AllMusic. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
  2. ↑ "Offspring, The – Conspiracy Of One". Discogs. Retrieved August 5, 2013.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 "Critic reviews for Conspiracy Of One". Metacritic. Retrieved 2012-10-23.
  4. ↑ Browne, David (2000-11-17). "Conspiracy of One Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2012-03-04.
  5. ↑ Robert Christgau: CG: the offspring
  6. ↑ Kemp, Rob (2000-11-23). "The Offspring: Conspiracy of One : Music Reviews". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2007-10-01. Retrieved 2012-03-04.
  7. ↑ Remstein, Bob. "Wall of Sound Review: Conspiracy of One". Wall of Sound. Archived from the original on 2000-12-04. Retrieved 2012-10-23.
  8. ↑ Dien-Johns, Rebecca (2000-11-13). "The Offspring - 'Conspiracy Of One'". Yahoo! Music UK. Archived from the original on 2004-11-08. Retrieved 2012-10-23.
  9. ↑ Joe D'Angelo (2003-12-17). "Ruben Debuts At #1 But Can't Match Clay's First-Week Sales - Music, Celebrity, Artist News". MTV. Retrieved 2010-12-19.
  10. ↑ Stephen Thomas Erlewine (May 1, 2000). "Offspring Prep for Next Album". Euro.Real.com. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
  11. ↑ "Conspiracy of One's entry at Billboard.com". Billboard.com. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
  12. ↑ "RIAA Certification (type in "Offspring" in the artist box)". RIAA. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
  13. ↑ "'Beatles 1' debuts at #1 in Canada". Jam!. Retrieved 2011-04-03.
  14. ↑ "Gold & Platinum Certification - February 2007". Canadian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 2011-04-03.
  15. ↑ "BMI Entry". Repertoire.bmi.com. Retrieved 2012-06-04.
  16. ↑ " Capif.com.ar.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 17.5 17.6 17.7 17.8 17.9 17.10 "Conspiracy of One - Chart Positions" HitParade.ch.
  18. ↑ "The Offspring - Charts & Awards - Billboard Albums" AllMusic.
  19. ↑ "Media Control Charts - The Offspring" Media Control Charts.
  20. ↑ "Oricon Album Charts Search for The Offspring" Oricon.
  21. ↑ "Polish Charts Database - Search for The Offspring - Conspiracy of One" Polish Albums Chart.
  22. ↑ "Chart Log UK (1994–2006) The O – Ozric Tentacles" Zobbel.
  23. ↑ UNSUPPORTED OR EMPTY REGION: Australian.
  24. ↑ "Argentinian album certifications – The Offspring – Conspiracy Of One". Argentine Chamber of Phonograms and Videograms Producers.
  25. ↑ UNSUPPORTED OR EMPTY REGION: Austrian.
  26. ↑ NO certyear WAS PROVIDED for BELGIAN CERTIFICATION.
  27. ↑ "Brazilian album certifications – The Offspring – Conspiracy Of One" (in Portuguese). Associação Brasileira dos Produtores de Discos.
  28. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – The Offspring – Conspiracy Of One". Music Canada.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 The first web page presents the sales figures, the second presents the certification limits:
  30. ↑ "French album certifications – The Offspring – Conspiracy Of One" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique.
  31. ↑ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (The Offspring; 'Conspiracy Of One')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
  32. ↑ "Italian album certifications – The Offspring – Conspiracy Of One" (in Italian). Federation of the Italian Music Industry. Select Album e Compilation in the field Sezione. Enter The Offspring in the field Filtra. The certification will load automatically
  33. ↑ "Japanese album certifications – The Offspring – Conspiracy Of One" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan.
  34. ↑ "Dutch album certifications – The Offspring – Conspiracy Of One" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers.
  35. ↑ THE FIELD id (chart number) MUST BE PROVIDED for NEW ZEALAND CERTIFICATION.
  36. ↑ "Norwegian album certifications – The Offspring – Conspiracy Of One" (in Norwegian). IFPI Norway.
  37. ↑ "Polish album certifications – The Offspring – Conspiracy Of One" (in Polish). Polish Producers of Audio and Video (ZPAV).
  38. ↑ "Spanish album certifications – The Offspring – Conspiracy Of One" (PDF) (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Select the "Chart", enter ' in the field "Year". Select ' in the field "Semana". Click on "Search Charts"
  39. ↑ "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 2003" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden.
  40. ↑ "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards (The Offspring; 'Conspiracy Of One')". Hung Medien.
  41. ↑ "British album certifications – The Offspring – Conspiracy Of One". British Phonographic Industry. Enter Conspiracy Of One in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Gold in the field By Award. Click Search
  42. ↑ "American album certifications – The Offspring – Conspiracy Of One". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
  43. ↑ NO certyear WAS PROVIDED for EUROPEAN CERTIFICATION.

External links