<Table> <Tr> <Td> "I'll Be Waiting" (1986) </Td> <Td> "Come Out and Play" (1994) </Td> <Td> "Self Esteem" (1994) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> "I'll Be Waiting" (1986) </Td> <Td> "Come Out and Play" (1994) </Td> <Td> "Self Esteem" (1994) </Td> </Tr> <P> "Come Out and Play" (Sometimes stylized with an added' Keep' em Separated') is a song by the Californian punk rock group The Offspring . It is the seventh track on their third album Smash (1994) and was released as the first single from that album . Written by frontman Dexter Holland, the song was the second single to be released by the band, after "I'll Be Waiting" (1986). It is considered to be The Offspring's breakthrough song, as it received widespread radio play, with first attention brought by Jed the Fish of KROQ - FM, and reached number one on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, bringing both the band and the punk rock genre to widespread attention . </P> <P> Dexter Holland said most songs on Smash "were just about whatever was happening in front of me ." In the case of "Come Out And Play", it was about gang and school violence, as "Back then I was a grad student and I was commuting to school everyday in a shitty car, driving through East L.A. Gangland central . I was there the day of the L.A. riots . So I was very aware of that part of the world, and a lot of that gun stuff came out in songs like "Come Out and Play ." Inspiration for the "keep' em separated" lyric came from Dexter Holland's experience in a laboratory cooling Erlenmeyer flasks full of hot liquids . </P>

Who sings you gotta keep them separated