The Kids Aren't Alright
Encyclopedia
Alternative pressing
Second alternative pressing
Third alternative pressing
Music video
It features a room with a background of abandonment or family activity at different times. In the center of the room, there are scenes of various persons, including an appearance by Bif NakedBif Naked
Bif Naked is a Juno Award-winning, Indian-born American-Canadian multi-platinum record selling, rock singer, writer, poet, motivational speaker and actress.-Personal life:...
, doing stereotypical things and moves; occasionally band members show up. The camera pans around the room and the changing of the scenes of persons.
The background can be seen shifting between two time lines, one where the scene is the past, where things are new and white, and modern days where it is dreary and drab. This is a clear connection to the songs lyric 'when we were young the future was so bright...' and the overall feeling of the song to be looking to what has happened since and 'how can one little street swallow so many lives'.
The music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
, directed by Yariv Gaber, released a month before the CD single http://www.mvdbase.com/video.php?id=20894, received heavy airplay on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
. It was later nominated for Best Direction on the MTV Video Music Awards
MTV Video Music Awards
An MTV Video Music Award , is an award presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in music videos...
. The visuals in the video are made with rotoscoping techniques.
DVD appearances
The music video also appears on the Complete Music Video CollectionComplete Music Video Collection
Complete Music Video Collection is an extensive DVD by The Offspring. It was created to accompany the "Greatest Hits" CD released a month earlier, and shows all of the band's videos between 1994 and 2005...
DVD. It was released in 2005.
Album art
The album art features two different drawings for this song. The first depicts a scarecrow falling into the tentacles shown prominently in other single and album covers from "Americana". This art also appeared in the accompanying booklet for the album (however, this drawing appeared with the song "Have You Ever"). The second, alternative cover shows a young child reaching for a gun, with ominous blood near to it (the drawing that actually appears with the song in the "Americana" booklet).Rock Band
The song was also released as downloadable content for the game Rock BandRock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
. It was released on March 10, 2009.
Covers/alternative versions
- Melodic hardcore band Evergreen TerraceEvergreen Terrace (band)Evergreen Terrace is a five-piece melodic hardcore/metalcore band from Jacksonville, Florida. Formed in 1999, they are named after the street on which The Simpsons claim residence...
recorded a cover of The Kids Aren't Alright for their album Writer's Block, which is comprised almost exclusively of covers.
- The "blue cover" version of the "She's Got IssuesShe's Got Issues-Version 2/UK CD1:-Version 3/UK CD2:-Music video:The video, directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, shows a usual workday of a woman, and the things in her everyday life, that she finds disturbing or annoying, are enhanced by grotesque cartoons, which represent her imagination.-DVD...
" single includes as B-sides a remix of The Kids Aren't Alright by The WiseguysThe WiseguysThe Wiseguys was a British electronica and hip hop band that was responsible for creating the song "Start the Commotion" that was in a Mitsubishi TV advertisement, as well as the films Lizzie McGuire, Zoolander and Kangaroo Jack; and "Ooh La La", which was used in Budweiser commercials...
, and an instrumental of this remix. The remix takes a different approach to the song, removing the energetic, angry guitars and instead trying to create something bleaker, more of a sad lament than an angry one. This version also appears as a bonus track on the European and South American releases of the band's Greatest HitsGreatest Hits (The Offspring album)-International bonus tracks:*On each edition, "Next to You" appears as a hidden track on track 15.-DualDisc edition:The DualDisc edition of the album has the standard 14 track album on the CD side...
.
- The college marching band version can be enjoyed in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum during home football games of the USC Trojans. The USC Trojan Marching Band plays the song during referee time-outs for viewing replays of critical plays; it is played at least once each home and away football game. The song has thus been broadcast on network television on weekly ABC network College Game Day broadcasts, several Rose Bowl broadcasts, and at least two BCS National Championship game broadcasts. The marching band added the song to its game day repertoire back during the year Offspring appeared with the band during a half time show for fans.
- One of the two versions of the "Want You BadWant You Bad"Want You Bad" is a punk rock song by The Offspring. The song features as the fourth track on the band's sixth studio album Conspiracy of One and was released as the second single from the album...
" single released in the UK has a live version of the song as one of the B-sides. This version is very faithful to the original, although the guitars don't quite sound the same.
- Another live version of the song appears on the "Hit ThatHit That"Hit That" is a pop punk song released by the punk rock band The Offspring. The song is featured as the fourth track on the band's seventh studio album Splinter and was released as the first single from the album. The song also appears as the 13th track on their Greatest Hits .The single was first...
" single. This version comes from a session recorded for BBC Radio 1BBC Radio 1BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
, and features more subdued instrumentation than the original.
- On The Making of the Da Hui Video, in the Music DVD Bonus Material, a Hawaiian guitar version of the song can be heard. This version is also included as an MP3MP3MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
download on the SplinterSplinter (The Offspring album)-Enhanced version:The Enhanced CD portion of the CD contains the following:* Da Hui Video* Da Hui Video * Demo Studio Tour* 4 wallpapers* 2 MP3 tracks:*"The Kids Aren't Alright" *"When You're in Prison"...
album as "The Kids Aren't Alright (Island Style)".
- The Logarhythms, an all-male a cappellaA cappellaA cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
group from the Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyThe Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
, recorded an a cappella version of the song for their 2004 album Soundproof. Their version of the song was also chosen for included in the 2005 "Best of College A CappellaCollegiate a cappellaCollegiate a cappella ensembles are student-run and -directed singing groups that perform entirely without instruments. Such groups can be found at many colleges and universities in the United States, and increasingly worldwide....
" (BOCA) album.
Charts
| Chart (1999) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| France | 32 |
| Germany Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie... |
45 |
| New Zealand | 39 |
| Sweden | 16 |
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
11 |
| US Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks | 11 |
| US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks | 6 |