Hammerhead

"Hammerhead" is a song by American punk rock band the Offspring. The song is featured as the fourth track on the band's eighth studio album, Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace (2008), and was released as its first single. The song was first played at the Summer Sonic Festival in 2007. It peaked at No. 2 on Billboards Alternative Songs 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 Los Angeles (their hometown station). On May 5, 2008, the Offspring's official website released a free download of the song MP3 format, in much the same style as "Original Prankster" (from 2000's Conspiracy of One). 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. Song meaning According to singer/guitarist Dexter Holland, 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 Kevin 'Noodles' Wasserman 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