Artist Profile: The Offspring

Today's Artist Profile is on one of the first bands I ever bought an album with my own money, The Offspring. The Offspring were formed back in 1984 in Huntington Beach, California and the band consists of Dexter Holland on lead vocals and guitar, Noodles on lead guitar and backup vocals, Greg K on bass, and Pete Parada on drums. Back then, the band was known as Manic Suicidal and changed their name to The Offspring in 1986. Ron Welty was the drummer for the group back then, and would go on to be their drummer for the next 16 years after that. The band maintained a healthy following in the burgeoning California punk scene, and eventually signed a record deal with Nemesis Records in 1988. The band would release their self titled album a year later under very limited quantities. The band would release their next album Ignition in 1992 to much greater fanfare and success, and the band went on tour for the next 2 years promoting the album alongside many other up and coming bands in the Cali music scene such as No Doubt and Pennywise.

The band's real mainstream breakthrough came in 1994 with their third album titled Smash. This was the first album under their new record label, Epitaph Records and the album went on to sell over 16 million copies worldwide, setting a record for the biggest selling album on an independent label. The album produced such genre defining tracks like "Come Out and Play", "Self Esteem" and "Gotta Get Away". After a lengthy tour, the band signed with Columbia Records and began work on their next album, Ixnay on the Hombre released in 1997. The album contained such blistering tracks like "All I Want" and "Gone Away" and even though it wasn't as successful as Smash was, it did eventually reach platinum status. The band's next album followed a year later titled Americana and was a massive commercial success, selling over 4 million copies and spawning hit singles such as "Pretty Fly For A White Guy", "Why Don't You Get A Job?", my personal favorite "The Kids Aren't Alright", and "She's Got Issues".

Following a successful tour to support the album, the band released their next effort in 2000 titled Conspiracy of One. The album contained tracks like "Original Prankster" and "Want You Bad" on its way to platinum certification. The band released a new song titled "Defy You" for the Orange County soundtrack in 2002 which became a Top 10 hit on the Modern Rock Tracks charts, and the band released their next studio effort Splinter the year after with hits such as "Hit That" and "Can't Get My Head Around You". The band released a Greatest Hits disc in 2005 with the new track "Can't Repeat", which became a Top 10 hit on the Modern Rock Charts. The band's most recent effort, Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace came out in 2008 and produced massive hits like "Hammerhead", "You're Gonna Go Far Kid", (which spent a record 11 weeks at #1 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks Chart) and "Kristy, Are You Doing Okay?". The band is working on their next album which should be out sometime later on this year. Smash was the first album I ever bought when I was 9 years old. I remember scrounging up enough money to buy the album from chores and mowing the lawn, and then my mom eventually drove me to the local Coconuts record store so I could buy the CD. I still listen to songs from this album today and remember fondly on the memories it brought me when I was young, and the band still remains to this day one of my favorite bands from when I was growing up.