Dexter Holland is the lead singer and songwriter for the Offspring. We discuss his upbringing in Orange County, the formation of the band, his education, his Ph.D., his reaction to the band’s “overnight” success with “Come Out and Play,” label deals, his hot sauce, his plane and…

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/id1316200737

https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/33xYSLe

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3ojVVYt

Some songs you just know.

And I don’t know how I know this one. But I’ve never forgotten its chorus. That’s a hook!

It’s hard to believe, but prior to the consolidation of the Warner, Elektra and Atlantic labels, music was a free-for-all. As in there were a zillion labels, you’d buy a single and discover a new one, you knew them by their logos, you’d watch them spinning around on your record player.

Actually, after the Beatles, when the British Invasion began, and then free-form FM radio in ’67, with album rock, the consolidation started, but before that…

My mother got a Falcon in the early sixties, a ’60. My dad bought it used, only after he brought it home did he learn that it had been a Hertz rental car, which was a no-no, this was back when turning back the odometer was de rigueur, never mind having a zillion people drive the automobile.

Before that…

My mother drove this monstrous green Chevy, I think it was a ’52. I can picture it in my mind, but this was before I became car addicted in the late sixties, when I turned the pages of car magazines and memorized the images and facts. Did your car have a Hurst shifter? And what exactly where headers anyway? But the image…you could tell all the cars apart, back when they used to redo them every year and every one looked different.

My father drove Chrysler, Plymouth and Dodge station wagons. I remember one orange and white, another blue. Word was that Chrysler products were the best engineered, and my father was trained as an engineer, but all those cars were dogs, one caught fire on the way home from the dealership.

But where I heard “Personality” I cannot tell you.

That Falcon? It had a radio without push buttons. And it would stay on even if the car was off. You had to make sure to turn it off or the battery would die.

That old Chevy? I don’t even remember it having a radio, although I do remember standing up in the front seat for the drive to Penfield Beach. My mother loved the beach, we used to go every day during the summer. You had a sticker on the car, you could get one if you lived in town, if you didn’t…you got one per car, and someone would always scrounge one up for friends in Trumbull, other towns without seashore.

And the Chrysler products? The radio push buttons were long thin slivers. Took me years until I realized you pulled them out to set them, and did and made my father go berserk, which was not that hard, but this was before then.

As for radio at home… We almost never listened to it. We had a slew of transistors, if there was a big news event my mom might turn it on, otherwise we just listened to the radio in the car. That’s where I must have heard “Personality.”

Or maybe it was at the pavilion, where we bought our hot dogs and french fries at the beach. Or maybe from someone’s transistor on a blanket on the sand. It was a hit back in ’59, I was only 6 years old, I don’t remember much from that era, but I do remember “Personality.”

Lloyd Price just died. And his hits were so long ago, most of the world just shrugged. Yes, the younger generations are notorious for not caring about the past. And to tell you the truth, I knew the name but I couldn’t place the songs either, until I read the obits.

Turns out Price was from New Orleans, labels went down there to capture the sound. “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” came out on Specialty, and became a rock staple. Scratch an English rocker, and not only do they know the song, they’ve covered it! Joe Cocker most famously in my mind.

And then there was Price’s version of “Stagger Lee”…

“Lawdy Miss Clawdy” was released in ’52, before I was born!

“Stagger Lee” in ’58, but that’s not when I cottoned to it, I think it was a later version a decade or so later.

As for “Personality”…

There were so many covers… I just listened to contemporaneous ones.

Maybe my mother played the Anthony Newley one, she was a big fan of musical theatre. But no, that wasn’t the one.

Pat Boone? Well, his wasn’t really a hit.

Patti Page? Definitely not.

No, the one I remembered was the Lloyd Price original. 

“Over and over

I tried to prove my love to you

Over and over

What more can I do”

These lines are not that memorable, nor are those that follow them:

“Over and over

My friend says I’m a fool

But over and over

I’ll be a fool for you”

It’s a swinging band, even with a splashy horn, the groove is clear, it’s almost something Billy Crystal would make fun of. But THEN!

“Cause you got personality

Walk (with personality)

Talk (with personality)

Smile (with personality)

Charm (with personality)

Love (with personality)

And plus you’ve got

A great big heart”

Personality…that’s what mothers said was important to their not so good-looking kids. Yes, sometime, usually starts in junior high, looks become important. And you look into the mirror and you ain’t got ’em. And in the back of your mind you try to amplify your mom’s voice.

Now the truth is today’s men want to get rich to get some eye candy on their arm, they think it’s the most important thing. But do you really want to marry an uneducated model? What are you gonna talk about?

But the girls…they know personality is important, that it trumps looks, at least once they reach their twenties, if not before.

Personality, in this looks-based world, you never hear any discussion of this. Why did this happen? Was it MTV, requiring everybody to be good-looking to get traction? Is it today’s social media?

But…

There are certain people who just glow, that you want to be around, because of their personality, you smile when you think about hanging with them.

And the truth is personality shines. Irrelevant of looks. With the right personality it doesn’t matter what you look like, not that those with said personality realize this, but personality is what we truly desire. Someone to get the conversation started, to lead us where we’re afraid to go, to enrich our lives.

As a matter of fact the only musical artists with personality today are the rappers. The statements, the shenanigans, that’s half of the attraction, the music is just part of the package. Rockers used to fill this role, before they all became focused on their outfits and stage presentation. We’re interested in your identity, we’re even more interested in what’s under the skin, how you think, how you talk, how you act, how you light up a room…PERSONALITY!

Lloyd Price was just not the face of the song, he co-wrote “Personality.” And this one song would be enough to retire on if…he retained ownership. I don’t know if he did, he was a serial entrepreneur, did he need the cash, or did he just like coming up with ideas and executing them? And the truth is back then musicians were entrepreneurs, you couldn’t survive on record royalties, the records were just a key to fame, leading to gigs and sponsorships and…it was nearly cottage industry. That’s when all the excitement comes, when a business is new, full of renegades pushing the envelope, before consolidation. When it’s got personality.

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3tJVvf3

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3eyGqbC

This is a HIT!

“It’s 12:45

Got your body on my mind

And in fifteen minutes

You might be the one

For the night”

You can see it, you can feel it!

Come on, you’re in the club, you’re sweating, maybe taking a breather at the bar and you see her across the room…

“When we get, when we get, get, get together”

Isn’t that what it’s all about? Getting together? After all, we’re just animals, driven by sex, just ask Jeff Bezos.

Baby boomers might not realize that the mores of the sixties and seventies are history, women can and do make the first move now, they feel empowered, they know what they want and nothing is going to prevent them from getting it!

I can’t say I check out every new David Guetta tune. But it was atop this playlist a guy sends me every week and usually it takes me just a matter of minutes to listen to the twenty-odd tracks, I’m skipping through the dreck, some of it even famous, but I let “Get Together” slip, and suddenly I realized that my body was moving, I WAS INTO IT!

You can like AC/DC. You can like Joni Mitchell. You can even like Social Distortion. AND YOU CAN STILL LIKE THIS!

That’s one of the breakthroughs of Madonna, she taught us that pop wasn’t always anathema.

Then again, today’s pop? When Justin Bieber’s inane “Peaches” is number one it’s hard not to lose faith in the music business and today’s youth. But “Get Together”?

“Peaches” is number two worldwide, but it is slipping in the U.S., and “Get Together” is…NOWHERE!

Well, not completely, it does have a million and a half streams on Spotify in only four days, YouTube is pulling up the rear, it’s got 224,546 views, proving once again that YouTube has been superseded as the world’s primary music site, and it skews young, for the prepubescent, those still in school, those whose parents are afraid they might run up charges and want them nowhere near their credit cards.

So, maybe “Get Together” will stall, won’t become a worldwide hit, then again in Ibiza, in clubs…assuming they open this summer, this is not molly mindlessness, anybody can get and appreciate it.

Have you been to Ibiza, have you been to a dance club, one thing is for sure, you’ll realize there’s something happening there, you can either reject it outright, afraid of stretching to experience the new and different, too invested in who you are to open your horizons, or you could stay and survey the landscape…you’ll desire nothing so much as to be involved. You might think yourself too old, you might not be able to take the leap, but there’s no denying this group of people is having FUN! You remember fun, don’t you? And this ain’t a concert, with all that pushing needing security to keep order, everybody’s friendly and nice.

“There’s only one thing you can’t forget

You’ve got only one life

This is one night

And you’ll never see her again”

God, we’ve been dead, this virus has killed us emotionally if not physically, we’ve been so focused on politics, we’ve forgotten what it’s like to let our senses lead us, which is what music specializes in, it puts intellect in the back seat and you flow with the sound, lifting your mood.

As for not seeing her ever again… That may not be true, this could be a one night affair, but the reason you go out is because…you never know who you’ll run into, tonight could truly be the first night of the rest of your life, just ask the aforementioned boomers, who were in the marketplace before the internet, when you just couldn’t dial up a date.

And the truth is “Get Together” is reminiscent of C+C Music Factory’s “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now),” which is now a sports staple, it’s how you rev up the room, just like “Get Together” does, it raises the energy in the room instantly. And sure, it’s derivative, but not completely…

I needed to check myself. I listened to a bunch of similar tracks. I was surprised how good many of them were, Saweetie’s “Fast (Motion)” was very listenable, Cheat Codes’ “Lean on Me” even more, but they still came up shy to “Get Together,” because of the HOOK!

Oh, like most of today’s numbers, “Get Together” is laden with hooks, but there’s this one hook that grabs you, that appeals to your heart as opposed to your body and draws you right in. It’s undeniable:

“It’s 12:45

Got your body on my mind

And in fifteen minutes

You might be the one

For the night

But my number you can call

And the writing’s on the wall

Yeah, yeah

When we get, when we get, get, get together”

It’s the twist after the big hill of the roller coaster, it’s the invitation, the green light, it’s so sensual, without being completely mindless, you hear it and you’ve got to hear it again, because it feels so good!

That’s one of the things missing from today’s music. It’s one chord, without changes, but this twist in “Get Together”…and then the explosion…

“When we get, when we get, get, get together”

You’ve seen her, she’s more than a body, she’s got a personality, she’s inviting you, she wants you to…GET TOGETHER!

“It’s time I close my eyes

I see your skin on mine

When we get, get, get together

Yeah

When we get, get, GET TOGETHER!”

From: John Brodey

Subject: Re: Re-The Frank Zappa Movie

I can’t wait to see it.  He was the only artist I ever interviewed who truly intimated me and I was very anxious about it.  He was going to come to the station on my show (6-10 pm) and I had no idea what would happen.  He was obviously was a deep thinker and didn’t suffer fools period.  He might stay or five minutes or not at all.  How not to screw it up?.

He got there about 8 and all I could think of was to try something different.  He said he might stay for a few minutes and I just wondered how I could change his mind, so I said; How about if you do my job.  You be the DJ.  You can play any of the 10,000 records in our library and we’ll just talk.  He went to look at the records and seeing the array of genres including classical, he then asked me if he could play anything and I said, of course (He couldn’t believe we had a Moon Dog album).  The he asked if I liked real wine, I said; I’ve never tried it.  He gave his tour manager $300 (more than my weekly salary) to go out and locate three very specific classic Bordeaux’s.

And we got cracking, drinking, talking and playing music for 3 hours.  I didn’t worry about the time because it was Frank Fucking Zappa and I wasn’t about to say that we were out of time.  We went over into the next guy’s show for an hour.

He softened up a bit and it just clicked.  Then he was done.  But I got to see exactly how Frank Zappa would have done radio and it wasn’t like anything else.

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Subject: Re: More TikTok

A great listen and lesson.  I saw the power of these TikTok stars first hand at the 2020 Grammys.  I brought my son (12 at the time) and niece (13) thinking they’d have a blast and it was my last year as a Trustee, so a nice way to go out.  They had fun and got to meet a number of artists, but what blew their minds had nothing to do with the Grammys.  In our hotel, they ran into Charlie D’ Amelio and both just freaked out.  All the music artists I’d introduced them to and they didn’t ask for one pic.  With Charli, it was all about getting pics with her and posting away.  Mind you, at this point I had no idea who she was.  I chatted it up with her dad for a bit and got the scoop.  She couldn’t have been nicer.  The only “rule” was that the kids couldn’t post where they were, because it would create a frenzy and the hotel would turn into a sea of screaming fans.

Richard Stumpf

CEO

Hawkeye Music Group

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From: Wade Mosher

Subject: Re: Brad Stone’s New Amazon Book

The billionaire class, especially the likes of Bezos, need to be stopped. It’s incomprehensible that this not only has been allowed to happen globally, but that it continues to happen and grow. People would rather follow the Divide and Conquer doctrine, Left vs. Right. Bezos and his kind are almost always absent from those online conversations.

I haven’t ordered a single thing from Amazon in years; I’m not wealthy by any stretch, but I’ll pay a little more and wait a little longer just to avoid using Amazon. Of course, I realize I’m still lining the pockets of other billionaires by doing that. 

Here’s a story about the last thing I did order from Amazon…

I was looking for a niche ‘part’, found it on Amazon and I accidentally ordered the wrong size. So, when it arrived, I realized that and sent a quick email to the 3rd party seller asking if there was a way to retro fit what I stupidly bought or if I could do a swap of some kind, admitting fully my dumb mistake. I’m in Canada, and the owner of the company called me within FIVE minutes in a panic. I explained again that it was my dumb mistake, no worries if he couldn’t do anything about it. 

He was in a panic. Once he realized I was the one apologizing, he went on to tell me the fear he goes through as a 3rd party seller on Amazon. That one tiny slipup or bad review could get him booted and that’s where all of his money comes from. (It’s a very small company that only makes these ‘parts’.) We had a lengthy chat, and I really felt worse of an A-Hole by the end of it and told him that I’d just eat the cost. Instead, he insisted that he could send a replacement part that would work for me, free of charge. And he did just that, and I’m still using that product. Needless to say, I gave him a glowing 5 star review. He did ask me not to mention the favor he’d done in the review, which I complied with. 

Big Brother is here. Let’s stop pretending it’s the government. Big Corp IS the government.

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Subject: RE: Gone Away

Hey Bob,

I feel similar to you about The Offspring, I respect what they do and am a casual fan at best.  However, having grown up in Huntington Beach and have lived in Cypress for the past 20 years where most of the local taco and breakfast joints in town serve Dexter’s Gringo Bandito hot sauce, it’s hard not to feel The Offspring’s influence and legacy in the community.  West Garden Grove and Cypress are ground zero for the band and it’s common to see stickers on cars, bus benches, gas stations, random walls and lots of people rocking the bands black t-shirts.    I was still surprised to see you write about “Gone Away” and ironically I have been playing it non-stop for the past few weeks and really can’t explain why.   Maybe it’s the strings? Who knows? I just know the song is resonating with me.  I have taken it one step further.   I announce the basketball games and play in-game music at Oxford Academy in Cypress, which means I play pop songs from MGK, Glass Animals, Polo G, Post Malone, Dua Lipa, The Kid Laroi, and 24kGolden.  But I have been motivated to add “Gone Away” into the mix by starting off halftime with it,  I guess I just want to share good music with people.  In hindsight, I think it must be the strings.

Bill Gagnon

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From: Alan Johnson

Subject: Re: Extreme

I was mixing the live broadcast the day Extreme , along with Hootie and the Blowfish, Blues Traveler, Great White and a few other acts were a guests on the nationally syndicated Bob and Tom radio show.

Extreme’s song “More Than Words” was climbing the charts and they refused to play it. Everyone in the room was stunned.

It’s something I’ve given a lot of thought to over the years … good decision, bad decision, why even put it on the record if you’re going to refuse to perform it?

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From: Phil Brown

Subject: Re: Vaccinations

My sister and I were talking about polio today. I’m 74 and she’s 72 and people born after the late 40s have no idea about polio. Think you’re afraid of COVID? Multiply that by one hundred and you’ve got polio. And multiply again by X because pretty much every school class had a kid in braces who’d sort of recovered from polio so you had a daily reminder of the horror. Every summer the disease returned in force. People born after the vaccine have no idea of the fear. Swimming pools seemed to spread it so no swimming. Anything could spread it. COVID may put you in the hospital for a while but polio put you in the hospital FOREVER. COVID long haulers? I have a friend my age who recovered from it in childhood and then in her 50s the symptoms returned.

I will never understand the anti vaxers at all. If they had lived through the polio epidemics  they would get down on their knees and thank God for the vaccines. I do.

Phil Brown

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From: Shari Ulrich

Subject: Re: Vaccine Passports

Travellers to certain countries have been required for eons to be vaccinated for certain diseases, and if the traveller elects not to, they don’t get to travel there. Pretty simple. People are being asked to get vaccinated against Covid for their own protection, their friends, their families, and strangers they may come in contact with.The exponential economic impact alone on the medical system should they become ill thanks to their determination that it’s “they body” and “the man” can’t tell them what to do, is staggering. Business owners, venue owners – they all have the right to create a safe space for their clients, and those clients or audience members have a right to feel safe entering. Period. As a society we have allowed personal “rights” to override any consideration for our fellow man or even our very survival. You don’t get to hold this up as a “Human Rights” issue. Your right to refuse to give a crap about anyone but yourself does not get to prevail and put countless other people at risk.

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From: Toby Mamis

Subject: Re: Vaccine Passports

Good piece.  I think even “Vaccine Verifications” is too strong.  I’d go with “Vaccine ID.”  Like a driver’s license.  You are not required to have a driver’s license, it’s strictly voluntary. But if you want to drive, you have to have one.

It’s not just Rapino and/or AEG (which reminds me, when LN launched Crew Nation providing millions of $ for out-of-work tour personnel, and the Grammy gang offered millions more $ from MusiCares to crew and musicians, what did AEG do?).  It’s SPORTS.  The Buffalo Bills have already announced that all fans during the upcoming 2021 season will be required to show proof of vaccination to attend their games.  Other teams are likely to follow suit, though teams in Florida and Texas (and possibly elsewhere) may have problems due to their state governments.  And the NFL is requiring higher level employees, who interact with the teams, to be vaccinated.   And the NFL is big business, with a lot of fans who may be in the non-vax camp.  I think we need to watch, and maybe pressure, NASCAR, to do the same.  Basketball and hockey are nearly in their playoffs, but they play indoors and might follow suit in the fall.  Major League Baseball, outside of Texas, are still not at full capacity, but they all want to be.  So they’ve got incentive as well.  And thanks to the Buffalo Bills, nobody else has to be first.

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From: Corey Bearak

Subject: Re: Vaccine Passports

Interesting.

If you follow what’s going on in NYS, Yankee Stadium and Citfield have Vaccine sections and non Vax sections.  So as of May 19, 75% capacity but if no vax very limited seating options.

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From: Dave Conklin

Subject: Re: Vaccine Passports

Yep. Fuck ’em. Bring on the MAGA-free shows. Can’t wait to hear how ticketed events have anything to do with their constitutional rights.

Because of the seasonal timing, we’re going to see events open up in the outdoor venues first, where the atmosphere is inherently safer.  Later this month, the two NY baseball stadiums are opening 100% capacity in designated “vaccinated” sections.  If you’re unvaccinated, you’re in pod seating, 33% capacity.  You think these teams want to sell 33% capacity sections instead of 100%?  Prices have been low thus far because all the seating was pod style.  Moving forward, I expect the unvaxxed seats to cost more.  At Citi Field, they’re offering on-site single shot J&J on the way into the games!  Ok, fine, push push push.  But at a certain point, soon, we’re going to max out on converting hearts and minds.  All we’ll have left is making it inconvenient.  Live events, cruise lines and air travel.  I’m already over the bribes, the freebies and the bonuses.  If you don’t want the shot, we get it – we heard your solopsistic decree of indepedence, now fuck off.  The rest of us have some living to do.

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Subject: Re: Vaccine Passports

Venues should install glass walls and have that 25% portion of the venue be available for ‘socially distanced unvaccinated tickets’

The genera population vaccinated pays $50 and the behind the glass wall ‘tradesman entrance’ ticket costs $250. I would bet my bottom dollar that the ‘not me’ contingent would all rush out and get the ‘free shot’ all of a sudden.

If it’s financial and not political, we would be at herd in two seconds haha!

Loved this letter – best yet.

Paul Clegg

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From: lizzz kritzer

Subject: Re: Vaccine Passports

Bob, I live in the Hamptons and my friends sister died today from Covid, she lived up island, around Hampton Bays, still Suffolk county.  Anti Vaxer/Trumpsters.   This isn’t over.  She was in her 50’s.

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Subject: Re: Vaccine Passports

I got my first shot today.

Thank you for helping me make my decision and my heart goes out to you this day

Your first one without your Mom . . .

My prayers are with you towards your continued good health.

Mark Flores

Guitar