Greatest Hits (The Offspring album)

Greatest Hits is a 2005 compilation album by the American punk rock band the Offspring, compiling hit singles from five of their first seven studio albums along with the previously unreleased songs "Can't Repeat" and "Next to You", the latter a cover version of The Police song included as a hidden track at the end of the album. Greatest Hits peaked at no. 8 on the Billboard 200, with 70,000 copies sold in its first week of release, and has been certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

"Can't Repeat" was released as a single to promote the album, and peaked at no. 9 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart and no. 10 on its Mainstream Rock Tracks. "Next to You" was also released as a single to radio stations, peaking at no. 29 on Mainstream Rock Tracks. A DVD/UMD video entitled Complete Music Video Collection was released a month later to complement Greatest Hits. It included the music videos for all fourteen songs on Greatest Hits (excluding "Next to You", for which no video was filmed), as well as three additional songs which had been released as singles but were not included on Greatest Hits: "The Meaning of Life" and "I Choose" from Ixnay on the Hombre, and "She's Got Issues" from Americana. These songs, along with several others the band had released as singles during the course of their career, had not charted as highly as those selected for Greatest Hits.

Multiple drummers
The album's two new tracks, "Can't Repeat" and "Next to You", were recorded during the period in which Atom Willard was the band's official drummer. Original drummer Ron Welty had left the group in early 2003, and The Vandals drummer Josh Freese recorded the drum tracks for the band's 2003 album Splinter after his departure. Willard joined shortly after the album's release and appeared with them in the music video for the single "(Can't Get My) Head Around You". Willard appeared in the "Can't Repeat" music video and recorded the drum tracks for "Next to You". In July 2007 Willard officially announced that he was leaving The Offspring to focus on Angels & Airwaves. Freese again recorded drum tracks for The Offspring for their 2008 album Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace before it was announced that Willard's permanent replacement would be former Face to Face drummer Pete Parada.

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 DVD side has the same 14 tracks in 5.1 surround sound, commentary by singer Dexter Holland and guitarist Noodles, and the two performing an acoustic rendition of the song "Dirty Magic" from the band's second album Ignition.

Vinyl edition
The vinyl edition of the album was released July 29, 2022. It came in three formats: a black LP with lyric insert, a limited-edition picture disc featuring the band’s flaming skull logo and a limited-edition version with a slipmat also featuring the flaming skull logo. Prior to that, on Record Store Day 2022, Greatest Hits was released on vinyl in a limited run of 7,000 copies on either translucent or solid blue. All vinyl versions feature the standard 14 track album.

Personnel

 * The Offspring
 * Dexter Holland – lead and backing vocals, rhythm guitar (uncredited for rhythm guitar and backing vocals)
 * Noodles – lead guitar (credited as guitar), backing vocals (uncredited for backing vocals)
 * Greg K. – bass guitar, backing vocals (uncredited for backing vocals)
 * Ron Welty – drums (tracks 2–12, 15 of the European and South American editions)
 * Atom Willard – drums on "Next to You" (uncredited)


 * Additional musicians
 * Josh Freese – drums (tracks 1, 13, and 14, and track 15 of the Australian and Japanese editions)
 * Ronnie King – keyboards on "Hit That"
 * Gabe McNair and Phil Jordan – horns on "Why Don't You Get a Job?"
 * Derrick Davis – flute on "Why Don't You Get a Job?"


 * Additional vocalists
 * Jason "Blackball" McLean – additional vocals on "Come Out and Play (Keep 'Em Separated)"
 * Chris "X-13" Higgins – backing vocals, additional vocals on "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)"
 * Heidi Villagran and Nika Futterman – additional vocals on "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)"
 * Jack Grisham, Davey Havok, and Jim Lindberg – backing vocals on "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)"
 * Redman – additional vocals on "Original Prankster"


 * Production
 * Jerry Finn – producer and mixer of "Can't Repeat" and "Next To You"
 * Joe McGrath – recording engineer of "Can't Repeat", assisted by Seth Waldman
 * Thom Wilson – producer and engineer of tracks 2–4, with additional engineering by Ken Paulakovich
 * Dave Jerden – producer and mix engineer of tracks 5–9
 * Bryan Carlstrom – engineer of tracks 5–9
 * Brendan O'Brien – producer and mix engineer of tracks 10–14
 * Nick DiDia – engineer of tracks 10 and 11, recording of tracks 12 and 13
 * Billy Bowers – additional engineering on tracks 10–14
 * Chris Higgins – additional recording on tracks 10 and 12
 * Karl Egsieker – recording (with DiDia) of "Hit That", recording of "(Can't Get My) Head Around You"
 * Eddy Schreyer – mastering of all tracks except 1 and 13
 * Brian Gardner – mastering of tracks 1 and 13