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As established in this question, "Rock of Ages" by Def Leppard starts with

"Gunter, Glieben, Glauchen, Globen"

because of an in-joke by the band and their producer, Mutt Lange.

But why does "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)" by The Offspring start with that same line? It even seems to be a sample.

Please note that I'm looking for sourced answers, not just opinion. It's obviously a reference to Def Leppard, but why? Are they big fans, or was it a suggestion by an engineer that they liked enough to use?

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  • The answer that I provided was sourced, hence the link that I provided. This was the ONLY explanation that I could find after almost 1hour of research. I could not find any references citing The Offspring being fans of Def Leppard. As I posted in my answer, The Offspring simply used this intro as a replacement to a numerical countdown. This is not my opinion, I referenced a website listed in my answer.
    – steelersquirrel
    Commented Aug 15, 2015 at 21:18
  • @steelerfan that's true and I appreciate the effort, but the site you cite doesn't provide any sources itself. It could still be nothing more then someone noticing it's the same line. I'm interested in knowing why they did it, not just confirmation that it's the same bit.
    – SQB
    Commented Aug 15, 2015 at 22:05

3 Answers 3

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From Rocky Mountain News - November 29, 1998:

The group's guitarist, Noodles, says not to read too much into the Def Leppard sample. It was just one of the many nonsensical touches with which he and frontman Dexter Holland loaded the song.

"Dexter wanted to see how far he could take that riff and keep it funky and load it with hooks -- like the girls' voices and the 'uno, dos, tres ... ' in the chorus and all that stuff," said Noodles (a k a Kevin Wasserman) "He wanted to see how hooky and kooky he could make it."

As to the Def Leppard sample, "Dexter just put that on there. We hit them up with the idea and we reached an amicable agreement, financially, for the sample. I knew nothing about Def Leppard until I saw a VH1 Legends show on them."

Found it in this link.

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The Offspring used it to replace the 1,2,3,4 count that some bands (i.e. The Ramones) would start their songs off to. Of course, a few seconds after the opening, they count to 6 in Spanish....go figure!

Def Leppard actually used this beginning for Rock of Ages for the same reason, it was just made up jibberish by their producer, Mutt Lange as you mentioned in your question.

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=3831

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    Of course, a few seconds after the opening, they count to 6 in Spanish....go figure! "5" twice, then 6, technically.
    – user1604
    Commented Mar 14, 2016 at 14:52
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I believe they said it as a reference to Def Leppard's song. A funny little fact that supports this is that the singer or anyone in the band didn't say it, it was actually sampled directly from Rock Of Ages!

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