"Hammerhead" is a song by American

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

band

the Offspring The Offspring is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Garden Grove, California, in 1984. Originally formed under the name Manic Subsidal, the band currently consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Dexter Holland, Bryan "Dexter" Holland, ...

. The song is featured as the fourth track on the band's eighth studio album, ''

Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace ''Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace'' is the eighth studio album by American punk rock band the Offspring, released on June 11, 2008, by Columbia Records., Offspring.com, 04-09-2008 It was the band's first album of new material in five years, followi ...

'' (2008), and was released as its first single. The song was first played at the

Summer Sonic Festival is an annual music festival held on one weekend in August simultaneously in both Chiba and Osaka, Japan. The festival features revolving lineups performing one day in Osaka then performing the next day in Chiba and vice-versa. The lineup often ...

in 2007. It peaked at No. 2 on ''Billboard''s

Alternative Songs Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-play ...

chart. The song was originally set to go to radio on May 6. However, the world premiere of the song took place on May 2 at 6 PM PST on

KROQ KROQ-FM (106.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Pasadena, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock format known as "The World Famous KROQ" (pronounced "kay-rock"). The sta ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

(their hometown station). On May 5, 2008, the Offspring's official website released a free download of the song

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany under the lead of Karlheinz Brandenburg. It was designed to greatly reduce the amount ...

format, in much the same style as "

Original Prankster "Original Prankster" is a song by American rock band the Offspring. It is featured as the third track from their sixth studio album, '' Conspiracy of One'', and was released as its first single on October 10, 2000. The song features additional vo ...

" (from 2000's ''

Conspiracy of One ''Conspiracy of One'' is the sixth studio album by American rock band the Offspring, released on November 14, 2000, by Columbia Records. By the time of its release, the band had come out in support of peer-to-peer file sharing, claiming it would ...

''). To download it, users were required to provide an email address to receive a link to a high-quality MP3 of the track, which came free of

digital rights management Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures, such as access control technologies, can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. DRM ...

Song meaning

According to singer/guitarist

Dexter Holland Bryan Keith "Dexter" Holland (born December 29, 1965) is an American musician, best known as the co-founder, lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, main songwriter and composer, and only constant member of the punk rock band the Offspring. He co-found ...

, the lyrics are from the perspective of a gunman in a school shooting. This is supported by the closing lyrics "''and you can all hide behind your desks now/and you can cry teacher come help me''". Lead guitarist

Noodles Noodles are a type of food made from unleavened dough which is either rolled flat and cut, stretched, or extruded, into long strips or strings. Noodles are a staple food in many cultures and made into a variety of shapes. The most common noo ...

elaborated on this, stating that the lyrics describe a gunman who believes that everything he does is for the greater good - "''take a life that others may live''". He is affected by a huge force (Hammerhead - "''it hammers in my head''") in his mind that makes him deluded.

Music video

Video contest

The band created a competition for fans of the band to create their own video for the song with their own original material.
YouTube group
had been set up for this purpose. The band picked their favorite video and the winner received $10,000. The contest was only available to U.S. residents.

Video

The music video was directed by Teqtonik and debuted on

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

's website on June 9, 2008. The video alternates between the perspectives of the deluded shooter (who believes that he is a soldier) and that of the real world, often blending the two together. For instance, two children are shown tossing a "bomb" between one another, presumably simply a ball, while birds take the image of stealth fighters, and the shooter is consistently accompanied by the warped image of a military commander, presumably a personification of his military delusion.

Reception

Reaction to the song has been generally positive. Describing it as a 'good harbinger' to base the album on, Michael Roffman of ''Consequence of Sound'' also said that the song 'works lyrically', and that '

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former provinces of the Netherlands, province on the western coast of the Netherland ...

hasn't sounded quite this sincere since the very best ''

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana music, a genre or style of American music * Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1981 film), an American drama film * ''Americana'' (20 ...

'' had to offer'. Richard Cromelin of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' also claimed that "Hammerhead" had the strongest lyrics of the album, and ''The Dreaded Press'' praised the song's 'hard-hitting drums' and Dexter's 'urgent howling' giving a 'surprisingly fresh' result. However, Chris Fallon of ''

AbsolutePunk.net ''AbsolutePunk'' was a website, online community, and alternative music news source founded by Jason Tate (the most recent CEO). The website mainly focused on artists who are relatively unknown to mainstream audiences, but it was known to featur ...

'' claimed that it was too long and Roffman later commented that 'uninspired riffs' resulted in a lack of enthusiasm from the song.

Track listing

Chart performance

The song debuted at number five on the ''Billboard''

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...

airplay chart, making it the first song to debut on the top five of the Modern Rock Tracks since "

What I've Done "What I've Done" is a song by American rock band Linkin Park. It was released as the first single from their third studio album, '' Minutes to Midnight'' (2007), and is the sixth track. The song was released as a radio single on April 1, 2007, as ...

" by

Linkin Park Linkin Park is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Agoura Hills, California, in 1996. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn, bass ...

, and the band's highest debuting

Modern Rock Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college and commercial rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. ...

single. It went on to peak at number two for six weeks on that chart. It also debuted at number eighteen on the

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart published by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States. It is an administrative category that combines the " active rock" and " heritage rock" ...

, peaking at number eight on that chart.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

In popular culture

* The censored version of "Hammerhead" is featured in the soundtrack for the 2008

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

videogame ''

Madden NFL 09 ''Madden NFL 09'' is an American football video game based on the NFL that was published by EA Sports and developed by EA Tiburon. It is the 20th annual installment in the ''Madden NFL'' video game franchise. The game was released for the Ninten ...

''. * "Hammerhead" is featured as downloadable content for the ''

Rock Band ''Rock Band'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, the main ''Rock Band'' games have players use game controllers mod ...

'' video game. It was released on June 17, 2008. It was the first Offspring song to be released for the game.

Notes

External links

* {{authority control 2008 songs 2008 singles The Offspring songs Songs written by Dexter Holland Song recordings produced by Bob Rock Columbia Records singles