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When The Offspring first emerged with their 1994 release Smash, they were widely criticized as punk-wannabe's who had no place in either the punk or pop worlds. Although the media had little place for Southern California band, fans begged to differ, taking to Offspring's power-riffs and mosh pit-inducing vocals. The same fans have since brought the band to superstar status, buying millions of their albums and ensuring the constant airplay of the band in both mainstream radio and music television.
If the early 1990s was the hayday of grunge music (Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains) then the late 1990s has to be called the years of punk. Thanks to bands such as The Offspring, Green Day and Blink 182, the music world saw the rise of a genre of music that had progressed with little coverage since the late '70s. Suddenly, punk music was the in genre, with its fanbase growing by the thousands and the number of bands emerging from those fans uncountable.
The Offspring managed something special just in releasing a second album. It wasn't until the band's fifth album that the band finally established themselves as a band here to stay. The scale of that album's release is perhaps unprecedented in the genre's history. 1998's release Americana, with it's monster hits "Pretty Fly For A White Guy" and "Why Don't You Get A Job", remained on the charts - and on the airwaves - for what seemed like forever. Fans from Nova Scotia to Taiwan rocked to the album's kooky lyrics and heavy head-twitching melodies, selling hundreds of thousand of copies of the album and turning the four bandmates into recognizable superstars.
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The band found its own roots in Orange County way back in 1984. Friends Dexter Holland and Greg K formed a local band called Manic Subsidal which did little but form the basis for the pair's next project. After teaming with newcomers "Noodles" Wasserman and Ron Welty the band changed monikers to "The Offspring" and set about making music, releasing their self-titled debut release in 1989 on Nemisis Records. They soon followed with 1993's Ignition (Epitaph Records) which didn't sell a lot of albums but garnered the band a growing fanbase and attracted the attention of larger labels.
1994's Smash was by all accounts a smash hit. Backed by the success of it's teenage anthems "Self Esteem" and "Come Out And Play", the album achieved platinum status, which was unheard of for a independent-label punk album. Along with the success came the backlash, and the Offspring bash-fest began by not only with popular press but by some of the band's former labelmates.
Although 1998's Americana silenced many of the band's critics, it did not silence their fans, who continue to support the band with sold-out shows and high record sales. The Offspring have most recently been in the public eye with their outspoken support of the MP3 file-sharing application Napster and the release of their sixth album, Conspiracy Of One in late 2000.
Erin Boyle, CanEHdian.com. Copyright 2000.
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