The Offspring
From Free net encyclopedia
Template:Cleanup-date Template:Infobox band
- For the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, see The Offspring (TNG episode).
The Offspring is an American punk band from Orange County, California that originally formed in 1984. The band now consists of vocalist and rhythm guitarist Dexter Holland, lead guitarist Kevin 'Noodles' Wasserman, bassist Greg Kriesel (known as Greg K), and Atom Willard on drums. Although they are primarily a punk rock and pop-punk group, they have been known to dabble in other genres such as ska, grunge, and even alternative metal.
Contents |
History
Early career (1984-1993)
The Offspring started in 1984 by founders Bryan "Dexter" Holland and Greg K. The decision came outside of a Social Distortion concert, when both were refused entry. The Offspring started out as a small SoCal garage band dubbed Manic Subsidal. Kevin 'Noodles' Wasserman was welcomed into the band because he was 21 and could purchase alcohol for Dexter and Greg, both of whom were under the legal drinking age. In those early times, they had multiple members filling in on other instruments, one of whom was multi-instrumentalist and school mate of future drummer Ron Welty, Marcus Parrish. Marcus left before any recording was completed. Their only recorded song under the name Manic Subsidal was called 'Hopeless,' and was on a compilation album called Party Animal: We Got Power II, released in 1984 by Mystic Records [1].
In 1987, newly dubbed The Offspring, they recorded their first release, the 7" I'll be Waiting, released on the fictitious Black Label. Black Label was an inside joke by the band, as they could not find a production company to release the single, to make themselves more tempting to future labels, they decided to name their record company after the cheap beer they were drinking while they were pressing the records. The line up for this single was Dexter on vocals, Child C-2017 (Noodles) on Guitar, Greg on Bass, and James Lilja on Drums. Lilja quit shortly after this, and was replaced by Ron Welty, who was only 16 years old.
In 1989, The Offspring brokered a recording deal with a small-time label, Nemesis Records. With buddhist punk-guru producer Thom Wilson and a new lineup, the band recorded the album The Offspring. Their self-titled debut was released in limited amounts by the label, only in a 12" Vinyl format.
In 1991, again with Wilson, The Offspring produced the Baghdad 7". This single was instrumental to the band's signing with Epitaph Records. Wilson had been trying to get the Offspring to switch to Epitaph, a label run by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. Gurewitz felt that The Offspring was just not quite pronounced enough for his label, but Baghdad convinced him to give the band a shot. Wilson and The Offspring entered the studio again and recorded Ignition. Released in 1992 (the only single off this album, Kick Him When He's Down, was not released until 1995), Ignition exceeded all of the label's and band's expectations. The band went on tour for the next two years with punk heavyweights such as Pennywise, The Voodoo Glow Skulls, and then ska band No Doubt.
Rise to fame (1994-2002)
When they went back into the studio, the Offspring's relations with producer Thom Wilson had begun to strain. The darker atmosphere in the studio resulted in 1994's landmark album Smash. This album set the all-time record for most units sold by an independent label band at 8 million records. Since then, the album has extended the record to 11 million units. Fueled by hit singles Come Out and Play, Self Esteem, and Gotta Get Away, The Offspring, along with NOFX, Green Day and Rancid, helped revive punk for a new generation. Holland credits Seattle-based grunge band Nirvana for creating the environment which allowed both the Offspring and Green Day to succeed. Some fans were turned off by the vitrolic lyrics found on the album compared to the relatively light and amusing lyrics of the radio hits.
After the release of Smash, and armed with a newly expanded income, the band decided to buy out the rights to their first album. Holland and Greg K then created their own record label, Nitro Records, and started signing bands. One of their first releases was The Offspring on CD. (The album had previously been released on vinyl and was long out of print.) The label also signed a number of punk bands, the best known of which are AFI, The Vandals, and Guttermouth.
After Smash and the subsequent two years of touring, Wilson, who during the Smash studio sessions criticized the direction of the band's music as straying away from punk, was fired.
Around the same time, the band left Epitaph and signed with Columbia Records, allegedly because they were offended by an insurance policy that Brett Gurewitz had taken out on the band. Epitaph sued, claiming that the band had not fulfilled its contract. The settlement was an estimated $2 million and the rights to all European single sales.
After three years out of the studio, The Offspring released Ixnay on the Hombre in early 1997. This album was not as successful as Smash, although it did sell 4 million units. The album saw the band move away from the political-punk themes common to many Epitaph bands, and more into mainstream rock. The sales of this album were fueled by four singles: All I Want, Gone Away, The Meaning of Life, and I Choose.
A year and a half later in 1998, The Offspring released Americana. This album was lighter than Smash and Ixnay in attitude, while still maintaining a punk-like sound. The album was a success both with the audience and with critics, and easily outsold Ixnay. The four singles, Pretty Fly (for a White Guy), Why Don't You Get a Job, The Kids Aren't Alright, and She's Got Issues, were all big hits on MTV and radio. This period is generally regarded as the peak of the Offspring's mainstream popularity, and the world tour the band embarked upon was highlighted by an electric performance at the Woodstock '99 Festival in Rome, New York.
In 2000, after much touring, the band released a new and drastically different album: Conspiracy of One. The band intended to release the entire album for free online through their official website, to show their support for downloading music on the internet. However, under threat of legal action by Columbia, only the first single Original Prankster was released online. The song Huck It was featured as a hidden track to support a DVD of the same name. The band was also selling T-shirts on their website with the Napster Cat on it. The band donated money to Shawn Fanning of Napster with their profits.
Post-Welty period (2003-2005)
Nearly two years after the release of Conspiracy of One, long-time drummer Ron Welty left the band in 2003 to start Steady Ground, a band in which he plays the drums and co-produces. The parties have not elaborated on the departure.
In their off-time after Conspiracy, the band recorded the new song Defy You for the Orange County Soundtrack. The song and video were well-received by fans, some of whom took the song as an indication that the Offspring were attempting to distance themselves from the Pop-Punk genre. After a three-year hiatus, hopes were high for a new Offspring album.
In 2003, the band released Splinter. The Offspring got Josh Freese to record the drums for Splinter, much like he did with Good Charlotte on the The Young & The Hopeless album. The band announced that Atom Willard would be the official replacement for Ron Welty, however his name remained absent from the album credits. The album's name was the subject of some controversy, as its original title was to be Chinese Democracy. However, this was first the name of the long-delayed album by Guns N' Roses. As a result, Axl Rose filed a cease and desist order against The Offspring, and to avoid delaying the release, the band chose to simply rename the album. The first single Hit That enjoyed moderate success on MTV, unlike the second single (Can't Get My) Head Around You, which had almost no MTV exposure. In 2005, the band released three greatest hits packages, a CD, a DualDisc, and a DVD called The Complete Video Collection. The Greatest Hits album contains 14 of the band's hits from 1994 to 2003, as well as the previously-unreleased song Can't Repeat (The insert credits Freese as drumming on the song, meaning it was left over from the Splinter sessions) and the Police cover Next to You as a hidden track. The DualDisc is the same on the CD side, but contains a bonus acoustic version of Dirty Magic from Ignition on the DVD side. The Complete Video Collection holds all 17 of the band's music videos, plus a variety of bonus features including band commentary on each video.
During the summer of 2005, the band played the Vans Warped Tour for the first time, and followed that with a tour of Europe and Japan.
Current and future plans (2006-present)
The band is currently recording tracks for their eighth album, with a planned release date of sometime in 2006. An official title and release date for that album is yet to be confirmed as of March 2006. There are also rumors of the band releasing a rare/b-sides album.
While Atom Willard is working as the drummer for Tom DeLonge's new band Angels and Airwaves, there are no indications he is leaving The Offspring. He recently posted on the Offspring.com forums stating:
- "I am ABSOLUTELY NOT leaving the Offspring! I am very happy as someone said and plan to continue in that way! I have played with a lot of bands and I can honestly say.....these guys are the shit. Super cool, super fun......what else is there?"
On March 7th, 2006, it was announced on the band's webpage that Dexter Holland would be running in the 2006 Los Angeles Marathon, set to occur on March 19th. Quoted from the entry:
- "'All I want to do is beat Oprah', says Dexter (Oprah‘s previous marathon time is 4 hours, 29 minutes and 30 seconds). 'Well, I‘m also running to raise money for a really worthy charity called the Innocence Project.' The Innocence Project is a non-profit legal clinic that handles cases where post-conviction DNA testing of evidence can yield conclusive proof of innocence."
However, Dexter did not accomplish his goal of beating Oprah's time of 4 hours, 29 minutes and 30 seconds, as his time was 5 hours, 1 minute and 7 seconds. He finished 7900th.
Live Performances
The Offspring are well known for their energetic live performances. The band has sparked controversy in the past. In 2001 while touring Australia with guest band 28 Days, 28 Days claimed that The Offspring used a backstage singer to cover up Dexter's flaws. However there has been no other evidence to support that claim [2]
Band Members
Current Members
- Bryan "Dexter" Holland - Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, drums in very early stages
- Greg Kriesel - Bass, backing vocals
- Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman - Lead guitar, backing vocals (Since 1985)
- Atom Willard- Drums (Since 2003) - Also plays in Angels and Airwaves
Live Backing Members
- Chris "X-13" Higgins- backing vocals, percussion, synthesizer, samples, and rhythm guitar on occasion
Past members
- Doug Thompson - Vocals (1984)
- Jim Benton - Drums (1984)
- James Lilja - Drums (1984-1987)
- Ron Welty - Drums (1987-2003)
- Josh Freese - Drums on Splinter, but not an official member (2003)
Discography
Studio albums
Compilations
- Greatest Hits, 2005 #8 US, #14 UK, #2 Australia
EPs
Singles
| Year | Song | US Hot 100 | US Modern Rock | US Main- stream Rock | UK singles | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | "Come Out and Play" | - | 1 | 10 | - | Smash |
| 1994 | "Self Esteem" | - | 4 | 7 | 37 | Smash |
| 1994 | "Gotta Get Away" | - | 6 | 15 | 43 | Smash |
| 1995 | "Kick Him When He's Down" | - | - | - | - | Ignition |
| 1995 | "Smash It Up" | - | 16 | - | - | Batman Forever Soundtrack |
| 1997 | "All I Want" | - | 13 | - | 31 | Ixnay on the Hombre |
| 1997 | "I Choose" | - | 24 | 5 | 42 | Ixnay on the Hombre |
| 1997 | "The Meaning of Life" | - | - | - | - | Ixnay on the Hombre |
| 1998 | "Gone Away" | - | 4 | 1 | - | Ixnay on the Hombre |
| 1998 | "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)" | 53 | 3 | 5 | 1 | Americana |
| 1999 | "Why Don't You Get a Job?" | 74 | 4 | 10 | 2 | Americana |
| 1999 | "She's Got Issues" | - | 11 | 19 | 41 | Americana |
| 1999 | "The Kids Aren't Alright" | - | 6 | - | 11 | Americana |
| 2000 | "Totalimmortal" | - | 36 | 27 | - | Me, Myself, and Irene Soundtrack |
| 2000 | "Original Prankster" | 70 | 2 | 7 | 6 | Conspiracy of One |
| 2001 | "Want You Bad" | - | 10 | 23 | 15 | Conspiracy of One |
| 2001 | "Defy You" | 77 | 8 | 8 | - | Orange County Soundtrack |
| 2003 | "Hit That" | 64 | 1 | 6 | 11 | Splinter |
| 2004 | "(Can't Get My) Head Around You" | - | 6 | 16 | 48 | Splinter |
| 2005 | "Can't Repeat" | - | 9 | 10 | - | Greatest Hits |
| 2005 | "Next to You" | - | 37 | 29 | - | Greatest Hits |
- Videos were made for the songs 'Mota', 'Burn it Up', 'Cool To Hate', and 'Da Hui', but they were never released as singles.
DVDs and Videos
- The Complete Video Collection, July 19, 2005
- Huck It, 2000
- Americana (The DVD), 1999
Filmography of Songs
- Come Out and Play was played on an episode of Cold Case
- The Worst Hangover Ever was played on a news story about hangovers
- All I Want, Way Down the Line, The Meaning of Life and Change the World were played in the game Crazy Taxi
- Come Out Swinging, One Fine Day, Walla Walla, No Brakes, and Americana were played in the game Crazy Taxi 2
- Want You Bad and Special Delivery were played in the game Crazy Taxi 3
- Beheaded and I Wanna Be Sedated (a cover of The Ramones) was played in the soundtrack of Idle Hands
- Bloodstains (song cover of Agent Orange) was played in the soundtrack of Ready to Rumble
- Defy You was played in the soundtrack of Orange County
- D.U.I. was played in the soundtrack of I Know What You Did Last Summer
- Smash It Up (song cover of The Damned) was played in the soundtrack of Batman Forever
- Take It Like a Man and Forever and a Day were played in the movie The Chase
- Want You Bad was played in the soundtrack of American Pie 2
- Totalimmortal (song cover of AFI) was played in the soundtrack of Me, Myself and Irene
- Blackball was played in the game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4
- Dammit, I Changed Again was played in the film The New Guy
- Want You Bad was played in the film Tomcats
- Genocide was played in the video game Jeremy Mcgrath Pro Supercross
- Nitro (Youth Energy) was played in the film Varsity Blues
- Come Out and Play was played in the film Bubble Boy
- Come Out And Play was the theme song for ECW wrestler Raven
- Americana was played in the film Bowling for Columbine
- Pretty Fly (For a White Guy) was played in the film Loser
- The Kids Aren't Alright was played in the advertisement from MTV
- The Kids Aren't Alright was played in the film The Faculty
- The Kids Aren't Alright was featured in an educational movie about drug abstinence.
- Original Prankster was played in the film The Animal
- Hit That played in a Control Your TV commercial.
- Can't Repeat was the Theme song of the 2005 Dew Action Sports Tour.
- Want You Bad was played on an episode of Dawson's Creek
- Want You Bad was played In The Movie American Pie 2
- All I Want was played on an episode of the cartoon series Daria
- Original Prankster was played on an episode of the cartoon series Daria
- Staring at the Sun was one of the theme songs on the Japaniese version of Yu-Gi-Oh!
- The Kids Aren't Alright was played in an advertisement for the 2001 MLB All Star Game on FOX.
- Pretty Fly (For a White Guy) played in an Ed, Edd 'n Eddy episode
- Pretty Fly (For a White Guy) played on an episode of King of the Hill.
- Pretty Fly (For a White Guy) played on a commercial for Family Guy
- Pretty Fly (For a White Guy) played on an episode of Pizza.
- The Kids Aren't Alright was played in the anime movie based on the video game Tekken (film)
- The Meaning of Life was played in the anime movie based on the video game Tekken film
- Self Esteem was played in the game Singstar Rocks!
See also
External links
- Official band web site
- The Offspring.com
- Jake's Offspring - More Than The Average Fan Site!
- Brazilian Web site
- Smash it up Forums
- The Offspring Russian Portal
- Offspring Nation
- OffspringMedia.tk
- Offspring-online.com
- RockTimes - rock magazine with The Offspring
- Offspring Polish Website
- Offspring 101cs:The Offspring
da:The Offspring de:The Offspring es:The Offspring fr:The Offspring is:The Offspring it:The Offspring he:אופספרינג csb:The Offspring lt:The Offspring hu:The Offspring nl:The Offspring ja:オフスプリング no:The Offspring pl:The Offspring pt:The Offspring simple:The Offspring sk:The Offspring fi:The Offspring sv:The Offspring tr:The Offspring