Latest Release
- DEC 13, 2024
- 30 Songs
- Smash (Remastered) · 1994
- Americana · 1998
- Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace · 2008
- Americana · 1998
- Smash (Remastered) · 1994
- Ixnay on the Hombre · 1997
- Americana · 1998
- Conspiracy of One · 2000
- Conspiracy of One · 2000
- Splinter · 2003
Essential Albums
- Arriving on the heels of Green Day’s blockbuster <I>Dookie</I>, The Offspring’s third album completed the one-two punch of records that forever transformed the ’90s alt-rock landscape into a pop-punk playground. But compared to their Californian peers—who benefitted from Warner Brothers’ promotional muscle—The Offspring were an even more unlikely success story, given that <I>Smash</I> lived up to its truth-in-advertising title as a shoestring release issued through Bad Religion’s Epitaph Records imprint. At more than 10 million copies sold, it became the biggest-selling independent release of all time. But even in a post-Nirvana marketplace that was more receptive to aggressive sounds, you certainly couldn’t accuse the Orange County band of taking the obvious path to stardom. <I>Smash</I>’s breakthrough single, “Come Out and Play,” not only represented a change in pace from The Offspring’s typical pogo-ready thrashers, it sounded like absolutely nothing else on radio at the time—an eccentric, insidiously catchy account of L.A. gangland violence spiked with a Latino-accented spoken-word hook and a wobbly Arabian guitar melody that snake-charmed millions of non-punks into the mosh pit. But if the song had all the makings of a novelty hit, <I>Smash</I> confirmed The Offspring’s staying power by harnessing their hardcore-schooled abandon into the steely, grungy grooves of “Gotta Get Away” and “Self Esteem.” And in these more controlled environments, frontman Dexter Holland emerged as one of the most charismatic and commanding vocalists in modern rock, flexing a mix of authentic, street-level angst and arena-ready bravado on the road-rage anthem “Bad Habit.” Riotous and irreverent in equal measure, <I>Smash</I> took a battering ram to the divide between the underground and the mainstream, clearing a path for the Warped Tour generation’s takeover of American youth culture.
- 2024
- 2012
Artist Playlists
- They won't grow up!
Singles & EPs
Compilations
More To Hear
- This 1994 hit was inspired by gang violence—and molecular biology.
- Dexter Holland and Noodles on their LP 'Let the Bad Times Roll.'
About The Offspring
The post-Nirvana ‘90s saw all manner of freaks crop up from the underground and make a bid for MTV glory, but no one could’ve predicted that the biggest-selling independent album of the era would come from these skate-punk pranksters. Originally formed by frontman Dexter Holland and bassist Greg K. in Orange County circa 1984, The Offspring (né Manic Subsidal) spent nearly a decade in the SoCal hardcore trenches before blindsiding the alterna-nation with “Come Out and Play,” a muscular rocker about gangland violence that nonetheless boasted a quirky, cheeky appeal thanks to guitarist Noodles’ snake-charming lick and a shout-it-out catchphrase delivered in a faux-Latino accent. That song served as the centerpiece of the group’s third album, Smash, whose equally potent follow-up singles “Gotta Get Away” and “Self Esteem” further mined the middle ground between circle-pit punk and hooky hard rock. Released in the spring of 1994, Smash blasted through the mainstream pop-punk portal that had been pried open by fellow Californians Green Day, and went on to sell a historic 11 million copies for indie label Epitaph Records. But as Green Day turned more serious, The Offspring thrived by playing the court jesters on 1998’s blockbuster Americana, mocking white kids’ appropriation of gangsta-rap culture on “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)” and spinning the ska-tinged anti-freeloader anthem “Why Don’t You Get a Job?” into the Warped Tour generation’s “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.” Firmly ensconced among the world’s biggest alt-rock bands, The Offspring could afford to record more sporadically in the 21st century. But as their 2007 disco-grooved mega-hit “You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid” and their 2015 chart-topping glam stomper “Coming for You” attest, whenever this group decides to come out and play, they play to win.
- GENRE
- Rock