The

from left to right, Dexter Holland, Ron Welty, 'Noodles' Wasserman, Greg K

The Offspring
I don't know why, but for some reason a few of the pictures mess up every so often, if this happens, please right click on them and go to view, if that doesnt work come back and try it until it does, it will after a few trys. Sorry, and thank you for your patience. (this means ALL THOSE DAMN things that say "XOOM.COM" are the ones NOT WORKING, but they will if you do as I just said)

The Offspring are credited with leading the charge of punk-influenced music into the mainstream during the mid-'90s. Their 1994 album Smash, along with Green Day's Dookie, and others, established a now-thriving pop/punk genre.

Formed in 1984 by singer/guitarist Dexter Holland and bassist Greg K, the band was origanaly named Manic Subsidal. Holland and Greg K had 2 other early members but both departed soon after, one (their lead guitarest) went on to continue medical school and left the band, the other parted his own way After being "fired" our replaced because of his lack of effort (he was a screw up) and after many many efforts of proving himself, and begging, Ron Welty FINALLY convinced Dexter to let him join. They were then joined by fellow Orange County guitarest "Noodles" Wasserman on guitar to replace the member who had left, and Manic Subsidal was no more. They changed their name to The Offspring. A self-titled debut album was released in 1989 on Nemesis Records. It wasn't a great succsess, they were known only underground mostly, and were seeking a differnt label.

The Offspring subsequently signed to the powerhouse punk label Epitaph Records and released Ignition in 1993. The album earned an underground following for the band, whose sound was becoming hook-laden enough to appeal to mainstream listeners while retaining enough of an edge to keep punk fans happy. The band was recruited by major labels but chose to remain with Epitaph for their next album.

The Offspring found just the right combination of loud punk with alternative music on 1994's Smash. The album's first single, "Come Out and Play (Keep 'Em Separated)," was added by influential Los Angeles radio station KROQ, and its chanted vocal hook coupled with a vaguely Middle Eastern guitar melody quickly spread to radio stations nationwide. Follow-up singles "Self-Esteem" and "Gotta Get Away" also were hits, and Smash went platinum and then some.

When the dust settled, Smash had sold some 4 million copies, the most ever for an indie label album. Major labels came calling again, and this time, after months of deliberation, the Offspring decided to sign with Columbia Records. The move created a significant backlash within the punk community, as several of their former labelmates and Epitaph owner Brett Gurewitz publicly criticized the band. The Offspring's Columbia debut, Ixnay on the Hombre, was finally released in Februry 1997 after a long delay caused by the label switch. The album received good reviews but did not match the sales figures of Smash.

The Offspring's latest album, Americana, was released in November 1998 on Columbia.

"I remember being amazed by Bryan," Wasserman says, "He was valedictorian, he was such a math geek. So when I first saw him with black hair and plaid bondage pants, I was like 'What are you doing?' But I thought it was cool, going beyond what I thought was society's role for him."

REVENGE OF THE NERDS

The Offspring put the pop back in punk and fashioned the indie success story of the decade. Chuck Eddy testifies.

The day after Orange County went bankrupt, and two days after California Highway 118 was renamed after Ronald Reagan, former high-school valedictorian Dexter Holland shouted, "You stupid dumbshit goddamn motherfucker," on live TV. His band the Offspring, perhaps the most popular independent-label rockers in the history of the world (four million copies of their Smash album have been sold in the U.S. alone), was opening up the Billboard Music Awards and singing about pulling guns on rude drivers who tailgate on the freeway. He did a swan dive from the stage into the celebrity mosh pit wearing a purple suit coat and green yarn braided into his dreadlocks, and his T-shirt said, "Corporate Rock Kills Bands Dead." A few hours later, the band watched the spectacle on TV. The network bleeped the bad words, but then Dennis Miller said, "I was talking to the kid from the Offspring, and apparently when he jumped into the crowd somebody pickpocketed his penis." Holland laughed.

"L.A. punk rock is mostly a bunch of smart kids pretending they're dumb kids- you know, going out and breaking windows," Holland, 28, hypothesizes. I'm not sure what windows the Offspring break- cussing on TV doesn't quite qualify anymore. But Holland's "smart kids" theory might make sense, at least in these guys' cases: Holland is a mere virus-cloning dissertation away from getting his Ph.D. in molecular biology from USC, which explains his Germs T-shirt in the "Self Esteem" video. His drummer, Ron Welty, 23, and bassist, Greg Kriesel, 29, have electronics and finance degrees. Their record label, Epitaph, was founded by a thesaurus-happy punk band (Bad Religion) whose singer (Greg Graffin) is at the same educational point as Holland, also in biology. "We don't look at GPA so much," Epitaph owner and ex-Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz jokes. "But I do prefer my bands to have good work and study habits."

Dexter's letter explaining THE TRUE reason they left Epitith records

In my oppinion The offspring's best cd was Ignition, my persinal favorite songs are Bad Habit, smash, Burn it up, staring at the sun, & pay the man. Ofcourse Noodles (Kevin Wasserman) is "THEE MAN"

Here are lyrics to all of The Offsprings songs (not including the latest album Americana) I have just taken them off another page because not only is it just too much god damn work to type them all up, but I don't even have enough space on this provider to post them all under differnt branches, sorry, but hey just use the back button to come back after you have seen them all Lyrics