B-side "Beheaded (1999)" Recorded 1998 Length 2:49 | Released March 30, 1999 Genre Pop punk, ska punk | |
Format CD single, Cassette, 12" | ||
"Why Don't You Get a Job?" is a song by The Offspring. The song is the 11th track on The Offspring's fifth studio album Americana (1998) and was released as the second single from the album. The song also appears as the eighth track on the band's Greatest Hits album (2005). The single peaked within the top ten of the charts in many countries, including number two in the United Kingdom, Australia and Sweden.
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The song drew attention for its close similarity to the song "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", as multiple music writers pointed out that the melody sounded exactly like The Beatles' 1968 release from the White Album.
Music video
The music video, directed by McG, was shot on the backlot of Universal Studios Hollywood. Several TV and movie set locations can be seen throughout the video, including Colonial Street (which was used as Wisteria Lane in Desperate Housewives) and Courthouse Square from the Back to the Future trilogy. The video features the four members of the band walking through these locations while a steadily growing crowd follows them.
Dexter Holland opens the video by flying into a serene suburban setting on a hang glider. A male fast food worker (played by Dor Ashur) has a milkshake dumped on his face by a group of buxom female customers and then throws himself through a window, and a BMX biker falls off a roof shortly thereafter. Toward the end, Holland triggers an explosion that scatters his followers so that only his fellow band members remain.
Bob Eubanks, the host of the Newlywed Game, makes a cameo appearance. Towards the end of the video, Guy Cohen, who played the main character in the "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)" video, makes a short appearance. Chris "X-13" Higgins appears in the video as a lazy boyfriend. Pussycat Dolls member Carmit Bachar plays his girlfriend.
The video appears on the Complete Music Video Collection DVD, released in 2005.
Cover versions
South African singer Snotkop translated the song into Afrikaans as "Kry Jou Ass By Die Werk".