Formed California, 1984.

An embryonic version of Offspring was formed in 1984 when singer Dexter Holland (Brian to his folks) met Greg K (Kreisel), in the high school cross-country running team in Garden Grove, California. Holland had shown a penchant for punk through his interest in underground bands, particularly the likes of T.S.O.L, The Adolescents, The Vandals and Agent Orange. Holland roped in Kreisel to form a band after they failed to get into a Social Distortion gig. Unfazed at the obstacle of neither of them being able to play any musical instrument, the pair got together with two fellow cross-country runners and formed Manic Subsidal.

Learning guitar to survival level, Holland turned his hand to songwriting. Their first recording looked to be jeopardized with the departure of one of the original guitarists. A replacement was found, however, in the form of ex-graduate, then-janitor Kevin ‘Noodles’ Wasserman. Breaking the athletic mould, Wasserman wasn’t much into cross-country running, preferring to spend time practising guitar and drinking beer.

By 1987 Ron Welty had moved to Garden Grove and joined as drummer. That year the band invested in the pressing of a 7" single called “Born To Kill”, a lightning-paced fusion of power-chord metal and can’t-stand-still punk, which was to earmark the style of much of their later material. Unable to pay the extra 25 cents per copy to paste the front cover to the back of the record sleeve, they purchased a couple of glue sticks and did the task themselves. Singer Dexter recalls that they didn’t hold very well.
It was over two years later that the band signed a record deal with Nemesis, a small underground label, and released the single “Baghdad”, and their debut album, THE OFFSPRING. By 1992, the band had switched to Epitaph Records, run by ex-Bad Religion guitarist, Brett Gurewitz, to release the energetic but patchy IGNITION.

Having been, until now, a fairly well-kept secret, The Offspring exploded on to the rock scene with three successive singles: “Come Out And Play (Keep ’Em Separated)”, “Self Esteem”, and “Gotta Get Away”, their widespread success being the snowflakes that preceded the avalanche of global recognition. With the US-media interest in punk-style bands -- a by-product of the grunge explosion -- Offspring (now mysteriously ‘The’-less) were well placed to release the album SMASH (1994), an irresistibly tuneful offering, which crossed both genres. The album sold over nine million copies, making it the most successful independent record ever sold.
In 1997 Offspring signed to Columbia Records, picking up a multimillion-dollar advance for their next record, IXNAY ON THE HOMBRE. Whilst not as fresh and catchy as SMASH, the sound remained as frenetic as any past offering by the band. During the changeover they apparently decided they sounded better with the ‘The’, and became THE Offspring again.

The album was preceded by the single, “All I Want” (which also contained a cover of The Damned’s “Smash It Up”, as featured on the BATMAN FOREVER soundtrack album). AMERICANA (1998) finally cracked the previously unconvinced British market. The band took their chart-topping single “Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)” on to Top Of The Pops in a masterpiece of marketing crossover. All good punky stuff -- though these days it’s rumoured the band no longer glue their own record sleeves. © Rough Guides