The Offspring's Dexter Holland's Commencement Address at USC’s Keck School of Medicine

The molecular biologist told the graduates that right now is a "time when many people lost their faith in science" and that trust in the scientific community was being challenged and even ridiculed. Holland told them that, "your passion for truth will be tested every day—but if anyone can handle it, you can."

On May 14, 2022, Dr. Dexter Holland walked up to the podium at USC’s Keck School of Medicine commencement and reminded a class of new doctors that science and punk rock aren’t as far apart as they might think.

Holland was a Trojan himself. In 2017, after years on the road with The Offspring, he returned to USC and finished his Ph.D. in molecular biology. His bandmate Noodles sat in the crowd wearing a black Ramones shirt. “See, my particular path took me from education to rock and roll and back to education, but I never gave up on rock and roll and it never gave up on me,” Holland said.

The connection between USC and The Offspring has always been strong. In 2003, the Spirit of Troy added “Hit That” from “Splinter” to their setlist. Since 2008 they have played “You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid." The 1998 song “The Kids Aren’t Alright” from their album "Americana" is played at nearly every home agame along with "Come Out And Play (Keep 'em Separated)" from the 1994 album "Smash."

Holland even appeared on the field during the December 5, 2009 Trojans vs. Arizona Wildcats game.

The song “Bad Habit” also has USC roots. Holland wrote it after commuting from Garden Grove as a student, when another driver cut him off and hurled a beer can into the bed of his truck. What started as a flash of road rage turned into one of the band’s most celebrated tracks.

The Keck speech gave Holland the chance to connect that past with the graduates’ future. He told the story of struggling to cool off two Erlenmeyer flasks in a USC lab, stepping back and realizing: “These flasks are never gonna cool off. You gotta keep ’em separated.” That lab accident sparked the chorus to “Come Out and Play.”

Holland reminded the graduates that their degree was not the end of learning but a marker of persistence.

“Science is a hunch followed by passion,” he said. “You follow that hunch because you believe that there’s something out there, something that you’re about to discover that you don’t know yet. Something that maybe nobody else in the world knows yet or has ever known.”

The speech landed just as The Offspring were back on tour. They are currently out behind their tenth studio album “Let the Bad Times Roll.” The Offspring head back on the road to Boston on Saturday May 15, with stops in New York (5/17), Pittsburgh (5/18), Detroit (5/20), Chicago (5/21), and ending at the Eagles Ballroom at the Rave in Milwaukee on May 22.

Below is the full transcript of Holland’s 2022 Keck School of Medicine commencement address.

Thank you. Thank you. I want to thank the faculty. Thank you, Dr. Farham. Thank you, Dr. Rashid. It's also a real pleasure to meet the new dean of the Keck school of medicine, Dr. Meltzer. I want to thank the alumni, staff, and friends, and I want to send a special thank you to the parents. I know you're very proud of your graduates today, and for some of you, I know you thought this day would never come. Your child is an actual doctor. Just think, in about a month, some of you are going to have an actual doctor moving back home.

I especially want to thank the graduates and congratulate them. With all sincerity, it's truly an honor to be here. Of course, you probably assume that I'm obligated to say that. I mean, I am, after all, playing to an audience of skeptical minds. But I can’t just make statements without research to back it up. I am especially honored to be here because I too graduated from this school. As Dr. Farham said, my first degree from USC was in biology back in 1988. This is my school too, and I'm very proud of it.

When I first got the call to do this speech, I thought it was a prank, or maybe I owed money to the library, or they were just trying to get me to pick up the phone. Because really, I'm pretty sure I’m mid-placement on the doctor list to speak at commencements. At my commencement, the speaker was Dr. Desmond Tutu. That was the real deal. He was the guy. Well, today I’m the guy. You could have had almost any doctor speak—Dr. Fauci, Dr. Phil, Dr. Dre—but instead it's me, a proud doctor of molecular biology. Perhaps you’ve even read my dissertation. The title was “Discovery of Mature Micro RNA Sequences Within the Protein Coding Regions of Global HIV-1 Genomes: Predictions of Novel Mechanisms for Viral Infection and Pathogenicity.” The title barely fit on the front cover. A page-turner, nonetheless.

So many people don’t know this, but I’ve actually graduated from USC three times. The first time, when I came to USC out of high school, I received a bachelor’s in biological sciences. I thought I wanted to go to medical school, much to the delight of my parents. But along the way, I realized I really loved molecular biology. I was fascinated with DNA and its code, and how the processes related to genetic expression could be used to enhance life. But here’s the thing—huge plot twist. I also loved rock and roll. I loved playing in a punk band, I loved being a musician. So I had these two great loves. How would I decide?

As foolish as it sounds, I decided to pursue both. I continued on my educational path, first with a master’s degree and then as a doctoral candidate in molecular biology. But I also carried on as the singer in my band, The Offspring. The best of both worlds, right? Well, not quite. I never told my professors that I was in a punk rock band. Obviously, I didn’t want to distract them from my commitment, or make them think I wasn’t dedicated to research. And it was an easy secret to keep. It wasn’t likely that I was going to run into faculty at a midnight gig at the Roxy or the Troubadour in Hollywood.

Like I said, it was an easy secret to keep until 1994, when The Offspring took off. I’m talking about selling a million records in a month, being at the top of the charts. That was when the rubber hit the road. The time had come, and I had to make a decision. Nervously, I finally told my advisor—I'm sorry, Dr. Rashid—that I needed to leave the program. My punk band, The Offspring, was in heavy rotation on MTV. Imagine the look of shock, and maybe a little confusion, on her face when I tried to explain what a punk band was and what MTV was. Nevertheless, she was gracious and wished me well.

Of course, my mom, my family, and my professors all urged me to put the whole rock and roll thing on hold. But I knew that this opportunity had come, and it wouldn’t be there in a couple years. I had to go now. That “now” has lasted over 20 years—on the road playing concerts, in recording studios making records. My story has had both a musical side and a scientific side.

I believe there’s an intersection between art and science, and that even in our scientific field, we draw on creativity. Let me give you a specific example. True story: when I was a graduate student, I was in the lab one day holding two giant flasks filled with boiling liquid. They call them Erlenmeyer flasks, big at the bottom and narrow at the top. I was supposed to be pouring this hot liquid into Petri dishes, but before I could, I had to cool the flasks. I tried everything. I set them side by side on the lab bench—they wouldn’t cool off. I put them under the hood with the fan blowing air—they still wouldn’t cool off. Finally, I stepped back, looked at them, and said to myself: “These flasks are never gonna cool off. You gotta keep ‘em separated.” That was the lightbulb moment, the catch line for one of our best-known songs, “Come Out and Play.”

It was one of my most creative moments, and it was inspired by science. It happened in a lab, right here at USC. Crazy, huh? Who would have thought? And it did occur to me later that the university technically could claim intellectual property rights of graduate students. So hopefully USC doesn’t come after me for ownership of that song. They’ll be cool, right?

One thing I’ve learned is that you never stop learning. Life isn’t always a straight line from one place to another. In nature, there are no straight lines. Eventually, I decided to return to USC because I wanted to finish my degree with the professors I started with. I finally finished and received my doctorate in molecular biology here at USC in 2017.

My path took me from education to rock and roll and back to education. But I never gave up on rock and roll, and it never gave up on me. Today we are here to celebrate you—the graduating class of 2022. What you’ve accomplished is unprecedented. This school has had 138 commencements, but none of them had to face what you did. A couple years ago, what used to be a linear path was thrown into chaos by a worldwide pandemic. Everything changed. Suddenly academia became an obstacle course. It was “American Ninja Warrior.” You had to duck and weave, pivot and adapt, discover new ways to learn and communicate. But you did it.

You also did it at a time when many people lost their faith in science. Trust in the scientific community was challenged, even ridiculed. Suddenly scientific research itself wasn’t to be trusted anymore because supposedly it had a larger agenda, like being microchipped by Bill Gates or something. Your passion for truth will be tested every day. But if anyone can handle it, you can. Your ability to pivot and adapt is exactly what this new world requires, and you are ready.

I believe science is a hunch followed by passion. You follow that hunch because you believe something is out there waiting to be discovered—something nobody else knows yet. Here at USC, you learned to take that hunch and combine it with unwavering passion to find the truth. That perseverance has brought you here today.

I want to remind you of a poster you might remember: a kitten hanging on a branch with the caption, “Hang in there, baby.” That’s what you did. You persevered, you kept the faith, you kept science alive. You are ready to prove that science rocks. Today you’ll receive a piece of paper—your diploma. Hang it proudly. It’s not just evidence of your time in the classroom or the research you completed. It represents a hunch driven by passion. It marks not the end of your learning, but your commitment to the continued pursuit of truth.

As I close, remember Isaac Newton said, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” My friends, it is your shoulders others will stand on. You are the giants that future generations will look up to. You are the kittens dangling in 2022—you hung in there, baby. Congratulations to the class of 2022. Doctors in the house. Well done.