No idea what was churning in the seawater off the Californian coast. But in the early ’90s, one punk rock band after another leaped from the underground straight into the mainstream. From modest airplay on obscure local alternative radio stations to platinum records and MTV in just a few months. Meanwhile, independent record labels like Epitaph Records, Fat Wreck Chords, Hellcat, and Nitro provided a stage for less successful bands with great CD compilations like ‘Punk-O-Rama’, ‘Fat Music’, ‘Give ‘em the Boot’, and ‘Go Ahead Punk… Make My Day’.
In 1994, skate punk achieved what it couldn’t in the ’70s. It entered the commercial music world with unprecedented vitality. The dark grunge days were over. It was time for a generous dose of Californian sun. Bands like Green Day, The Offspring, NOFX, Bad Religion, and Rancid led the charge.
But few music genres remain relevant for more than five years. By the late ’90s, a new wave of pop-punkers was already replacing the veterans of the golden punk year. Who were these Californian giants? And how did they suddenly conquer the world? You’ll discover that in detail in this Top 10 Best & Most Famous Punk Bands of the 90s!
10. Descendents
Why can’t you see you torture me / You’re already thinking about someone else / When he comes home / You’ll be in his arms and I’ll be gone – Long before a thousand emo and pop-punk bands sang about unattainable loves, there were the Descendents. Without this legendary band from Manhattan Beach, we might never have even heard of Blink-182. The lyrics, the guitar playing, even Tom DeLonge’s characteristic vocals – it all traces back to the Descendents.
The original pop-punk band has roots in 1977, though their real birth year is arguably 1979. That’s when Milo Aukerman completed the quartet. The sixteen-year-old brainiac must be one of the most atypical frontmen ever to grab a microphone in The Golden State. While other Californian South Bay punks angrily raged about everything wrong with society, he personified the school nerd who always missed out on the pretty girl. The ultimate anti-rockstar. And he looked the part completely. A caricature of his bespectacled face became the official band mascot adorning all Descendents records.
‘Milo Goes to College’ (1982) is fast, hard, and exceptionally melodic. The classic debut album features 15 songs that fly by in barely 22 minutes and 10 seconds. That timeframe was enough to influence an entire generation of musicians. In another life, the punk rock quartet could have sold millions of copies of this scorching gem. Dave Grohl once summed it up nicely: “If the Descendents had made Milo Goes to College in 1999, they’d be living in fucking mansions. That’s a fucking amazing record.” – The album title turned out to be dead serious. Singer Milo Aukerman traded the rehearsal space for university studies in biochemistry at UCSD after the recordings.
Fortunately, the break didn’t last long. Between molecules and petri dishes, the student found time for no fewer than three new Descendents albums. After ‘I Don’t Want to Grow Up’ (1985), ‘Enjoy!’ (1986), and ‘All’ (1987), Aukerman definitively chose the academic world. His bandmates Stephen Egerton, Karl Alvarez, and Bill Stevenson continued punk-rocking with their new project, All.
What no one had dared to dream happened amidst the great ’90s skate punk boom. The original lineup made a grand comeback with ‘Everything Sucks’ (1996). The unexpected fifth album from the pop-punk pioneers barely fell short of their influential debut record.
The following years remained turbulent. But blood is thicker than water. In 2004, the band returned with new material. On the EP ‘‘Merican’ and the full-length album ‘Cool To Be You’, the Descendents effortlessly reclaimed their status as ‘The Kings of the Lovelorn Anthem’. Another 14 years later, the professor definitively left the world of science to dedicate himself full-time to punk rock again. With records like ‘Hypercaffium Spazzinate’ (2016) and ‘9th & Walnut’ (2021), the South Bay legends prove that a little patience always pays off.
9. Lagwagon
In 1994, the musical epicenter of America briefly resided in California. That year, even before summer ended, four crucial punk rock milestones emerged from The Golden State. The Californian grizzly bear clawed hungrily at the American Billboard Charts with the unexpected success albums of Green Day (‘Dookie’), The Offspring (‘Smash’), NOFX (‘Punk in Drublic’), and Bad Religion (‘Stranger than Fiction’). In the light of this Golden Four, a fifth, smaller fish is sometimes forgotten: ‘Trashed’ by Lagwagon.
Admittedly, the band could hardly boast the same sales figures as the aforementioned punk rock giants. But the success of their second album and the hit ‘Island of Shame’ had not gone unnoticed by the major labels smelling dollars. The band from Goleta politely declined the honor and the money. Fat Wreck Chords was their home. That little record label was founded in 1990 by Fat Mike. The NOFX frontman simply wanted to give a platform to punk bands he personally liked.
Coincidentally, it turned out better than he could have ever dreamed. This gave the Fat Wreck Chords bands unprecedented creative freedom: “What was very fortunate for us is that the first six or seven bands we signed all made great records. They were all great bands and they all sold shit loads. It made it so that we could be fair to everybody – to our employees to our bands. We could spend lots of money and that’s when we were like ‘Okay, one-record deals with bands and we’re going to do it how nobody does it.’”
The first band Fat Mike signed? Lagwagon. On their first albums ‘Duh’ (1992) and ‘Trashed’ (1994), the group led by singer Joey Cape already demonstrated their lightning-fast, melodic riffs schooled in hardcore punk and heavy metal. As well as their less obvious influences in the CCR cover ‘Bad Moon Rising’ and the Van Morrison interpretation ‘Brown Eyed Girl’. The skate punk of ‘Hoss’ (1995) tore through more than 100,000 American teenage bedrooms the following year. Anyone who hears tracks like ‘Razor Burn’ and ‘Violins’ understands why.
However, the ultimate Lagwagon song is on their excellent fifth record ‘Let’s Talk About Feelings’ (1998). But most of the world knows it from another shiny disc: ‘Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2’ (2000). The best-reviewed Playstation game of all time came with a superior soundtrack that definitely matched the gameplay and graphics. On the tracklist, among others: Rage Against the Machine’s ‘Guerilla Radio’, Bad Religion’s ‘You’, Millencolin’s ‘No Cigar’, and of course… Lagwagon’s ‘May 16’!
8. Social Distortion
The history of Social Distortion dates back to 1978. What rough bands were making waves in Southern California back then! Legendary hardcore punk pioneers like Black Flag, Circle Jerks, T.S.O.L. (then known as Vicious Circle!), and Middle Class laid the first stones of the genre in the South Bay and Orange County. Amidst this explosion of pounding, primitive punk rock, the 15-year-old Mike Ness was a bit of an odd duck.
The young guitarist idolized American gangsters from the ’30s, like the notorious bank robber John Dillinger and the crime couple Bonnie & Clyde. He himself wasn’t averse to a bit of theft here and a punch there. His desperate father and stepmother kicked the unruly teenager out of the family home. At seventeen, he dropped out of school as well. It was 1979, and Mike Ness was determined to break through with his band Social Distortion. Their first record, ‘Mommy’s Little Monster’ (1983), is the sound of a searching, angry, misunderstood young man. At the same time, songs like ‘Another State of Mind’ demonstrated that Ness, raised on blues, country, and ’50s rock ‘n’ roll, harbored a remarkably gifted songwriter.
But the angry, misunderstood young man sought solace in the wrong places. His drug addiction and various criminal behaviors explain the five-year wait for ‘Prison Bound’ (1988). “But I’ve gotta do my time / There’s a lesson to be learned here / But what a price to pay”, sings the reformed street tough on the title track. The song marks the moment when the talented musician finally managed to knock down the ruthless heroin junkie within.
Things moved quickly after that. In 1989, Social D signed a three-album deal with Epic Records. They were the first band from the Orange County scene to achieve this. The punk of the early years had by now completely absorbed Ness’s country influences. Music connoisseurs sometimes label this unique punk variant as ‘cowpunk’. And was there a market for it! Especially when you add a generous splash of rockabilly and blues.
The audience more than appreciated the candor of ‘Social Distortion’ (1990). The frontman had lived a damned hard life. Now he passed on his wise life lessons about getting back up after years of pain, heartbreak, and loss in beautiful songs like ‘Let It Be Me’, ‘Story of My Life’, and ‘Ball and Chain’. Naturally, ‘Ring of Fire’, a cover of that other country outlaw, Johnny Cash, was not missing.
‘Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell’ (1992) did simply even better. Social D’s fourth album and the single ‘Bad Luck’ proved to be the commercial prize winner of their career. On the heavy ‘White Light, White Heat, White Trash’ (1996), a disillusioned Mike Ness reverted musically and lyrically to the early years: “Our intention is to bring back the soul and emotion of that first wave of punk in the late ’70s, which I feel is sorely lacking today.” – This manifested in raw songs like ‘I Was Wrong’, ‘Don’t Drag me Down’, and ‘When the Angels Sing’, dedicated to Ness’s grandmother.
After the mainstream success and the death of guitarist Dennis Dannell (1961-2000), the story of Social Distortion seemed over. ‘Sex, Love and Rock ‘N’ Roll’ (2004) broke the silence. A cheerful Mike Ness was completely back in the game: “You can’t forever tell yourself and others that life’s all bad. Apart from other things, punk rock also is about fun and loud guitars.” – Thank goodness. Otherwise, we would have missed out on great new songs like ‘Reach for the Sky’ and ‘Don’t Take Me For Granted’. Speaking of which. It’s high time the punk rock legends from Orange County started working on that long-awaited follow-up to ‘Hard Times And Nursery Rhymes’ (2011)!
7. Pennywise
The South Bay of Los Angeles holds an important place in the history of American punk music. In Hermosa Beach, iconic hardcore punk bands like Black Flag and Circle Jerks emerged in the late ’70s. A few miles away in Manhattan Beach, the Descendents were inventing modern pop-punk. A decade later, in the fertile Californian coastal region facing the Pacific Ocean, one of the biggest skate punk bands of the ’90s sprouted. They took their name from the terrifying dancing clown in Stephen King’s horror classic ‘It’ (1986).
Founded in 1988, Pennywise showcased their quality wares on their first EPs ‘A Word from the Wise’ and ‘Wildcard’. Fast, energetic melodic punk rock, highly singable lyrics with a message that shone a ray of Southern Californian sun on the depressed Generation X, and a damn good cover of Ben E. King’s ‘Stand By Me’. Epitaph Records boss Brett Gurewitz promptly slid a record contract under the quartet’s noses. Their full-length debut ‘Pennywise’ (1991) ended with ‘Bro Hymn’. A massive singalong where bassist Jason Thirsk honored his deceased friends over a simple yet indestructible guitar riff with the words ‘Canton, Colvin, Nichols, this one’s for youuuu!’
Something was brewing. And definitely not just for Pennywise. In 1993, the band toured the United States with The Offspring, an Epitaph Records labelmate who, the following year, would sell a staggering 11 million CDs completely out of the blue. After the languid grunge guitars from Seattle, it was now the turn of the bouncing Californian punk rockers to conquer the world. ‘Unknown Road’ (1993) and ‘About Time’ (1995) hardly sold as many copies as The Offsprings’ ‘Smash’ and Green Day’s ‘Dookie’ (1994). Staying loyal to their independent punk rock record label likely had something to do with that. But anyone who skated carefreely through life on Vans and Airwalks in the ’90s definitely popped these discs into their Sony Discman in the morning with a good mood.
On July 29, 1996, the Californian beach sun briefly stopped shining. That day, 28-year-old Jason Matthew Thirsk passed away. Cause of death: a gunshot wound to the chest. Suicide, ruled the police. A stupid drunken accident, believed his bandmates. “If you knew how he partied, then you know when he gets hammered, he’s the kind of guy who would fall off a balcony backwards. So it’s pretty conceivable that it was an accident,” according to guitarist Fletcher Dragge.
Regardless. The following year, Pennywise returned with ‘Full Circle’ (1997), dedicated to their fallen band member. The fourth studio album closed with ‘Bro Hymn (Tribute)’. A rewritten version of the tribute the bassist had written six years earlier for his three dead friends.
Football clubs like the Dutch Vitesse and the Belgian Racing Genk, and countless American hockey, football, and baseball clubs loudly chant ‘Whooooa-ohhh-ohhh-ohhhhhh!!!’ when a goal is scored. There are horrendous ski lodge, gabber, and carnival covers of it. But essentially, it remains one of the strongest songs ever about friendship and celebrating life: “Life is the most precious thing you could lose / While you were here the fun was never ending / Laugh a minute was only the beginning / Jason, my brother, this one’s just for you!”
The punk rock veterans from Hermosa Beach still make solid records today (‘Yesterdays’ (2004), ‘Never Gonna Die’ (2018)). Moreover, three decades later, they still bear the logo of their trusted Epitaph stable. Occasionally, they scored a modest alternative hit with songs like ‘Same Old Story’, ‘Homesick’, ‘Society’, and ‘Fuck Authority’. Above all, they sold over 3 million records without anyone ever being able to call them ‘sellouts’.
6. Rancid
With Operation Ivy (1987-1989), childhood friends Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman ignited the sacred fire of ska in an entire generation of punk and hardcore bands. The legendary cult band from Berkeley, California, called it quits after two years and one album. The influence of ‘Energy’ (1989) on the ska-punk and ska-core genres remains completely insane. After the abrupt split, Tim Armstrong grabbed onto any drug and drink that could numb his pain. Depressed and homeless, the left-handed guitarist wandered the desolate streets of the East Bay at night. ‘I know what it’s like to walk among the dead’, the punk rocker later reflected on those dark days on his solo debut ‘A Poet’s Life’ (2007).
But once again, music would save the young punk. Matt Freeman convinced the pitiful wreck of a man he had known since age five to clean up his act. Their new band Rancid, with housemate Brett Reed on drums, became the saving hand that pulled Armstrong out of the dirty ditch by his disheveled mohawk in 1991. What else? ‘When I got the music, oh I got a place to go!’, Armstrong mumbled unintelligibly yet more vitally than ever three years later, like a crazed Joe Strummer, on ‘Radio’, the second track of Rancid’s solid ‘Let’s Go’ (1994).
The trio had since been reinforced by a second guitarist: Lars Frederiksen, a Danish-American punk rock Viking with a fondness for British working-class street punk, potent hairspray, Millwall FC, and the San Jose Earthquakes. The raw energy bursting from ‘Nihilism’ and ‘Salvation’ did not escape the major labels. Rumor has it that Madonna even sent the punk quartet nude photos in an attempt to sign Rancid to her Maverick Records. Nice try. The band from Berkeley remained loyal to Epitaph. Rancid entered the studio with Jerry Finn, the beloved producer who was also behind the controls for Green Day’s ‘Dookie’, Blink-182’s successful records, and AFI’s groundbreaking ‘Sing the Sorrow’ (2003).
On August 22, 1995, ‘… And Out Came the Wolves’ saw the light of day. Rancid’s third record is undoubtedly one of the undisputed punk masterpieces of the ’90s. The spirit of Operation Ivy was never far away. The band injected copious amounts of ska into songs like ‘Time Bomb’, ‘Old Friend’, and ‘Daly City Train’. Meanwhile, Matt Freeman demonstrated with his otherworldly basslines in ‘Maxwell Murder’, ‘Journey To The End Of The East Bay’, and ‘Roots Radical’ that, at least in the punk universe, he is ‘the greatest fucking bass player in the world’. And who doesn’t get happy listening to a song like ‘Ruby Soho’?!
Three years after the platinum success, Rancid fully unleashed its inner The Clash. On ‘Life Won’t Wait’ (1998), the East Bay punks deftly juggled music genres like ska, reggae, rockabilly, dub, and hip-hop in a ‘Sandinista!’-like fashion. Their fifth effort, ‘Rancid’ (2000), was all about old-school hardcore pounding. Meanwhile, Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme ran off with Tim Armstrong’s girlfriend, Brody Dalle of The Distillers.
However, the frontman proved to be ‘Indestructible’ (2003). Besides, he had his hands full with his Hellcat Records label and a string of side projects like The Transplants, Devils Brigade, Tim Timebomb, The Armstrongs, even penning half of Pink’s album ‘Try This’ (2003) and producing reggae legend Jimmy Cliff’s ‘Rebirth’ (2012). The latter even earned Armstrong a Grammy. Rancid still makes records today (‘Honor Is All We Know’ (2014), ‘Trouble Maker’ (2017)) and convincingly delivers on the promise ‘See ya in the pit!’ show after show.
5. NOFX
On September 2, 2022, Fat Mike announced that his band NOFX would call it quits after a final tour in 2023. Skate punks worldwide sadly wiped away a tear, but were simultaneously grateful for all the wonderful things the crazy Californian punk quartet had given them over the past forty years. The musicians themselves were certainly not unmoved either. “It’s been an amazing run … Los Angeles will be the last place we play. It’s where we started, it’s where we’ll end.”
Could the sixteen-year-old teenagers Fat Mike, Eric Melvin, and Erik ‘Smelly’ Sandin have dreamed in 1983 of the legendary status they would achieve after four decades full of mad chaos and highly enjoyable punk rock classics? After ‘Liberal Animation’ (1988), ‘S&M Airlines’ (1989), ‘Ribbed’ (1991), and ‘White Trash, Two Heebs and a Bean’ (1992), NOFX had a date with history. The circumstances were right. With the arrival of El Hefe in 1991, the band took a musical quantum leap. The multi-instrumentalist first showcased his trumpet and Fender Telecaster on ‘The Longest Line’ (1992). That EP was also the first release on Fat Wreck Chords, the independent record label through which Fat Mike would provide a platform for dozens of excellent punk rock bands in the following years.
In 1994, the year punk rock conquered the mainstream, NOFX released its fifth album into the world on July 19th. The timing was perfect. ‘Punk in Drublic’ would sell over 1 million records, including 500,000 copies in the US alone. An exceptional feat, considering the band from Los Angeles avoided commercial radio stations and the gatekeeper MTV like the plague. “We made the ‘Leave It Alone’-video, and we decided not to send it to MTV. We just didn’t want to be a part of that machine, of that ‘punk wave’.”
‘Punk in Drublic’ achieved its gold status solely through its incredibly strong songs. The ultimate skate-punk record played overtime in the CD players of bands like Blink 182, Sum 41, and Anti-Flag, who would later put their own stamp on the ever-evolving punk rock genre. ‘Linoleum’ immediately floored the gas pedal, followed by seventeen tracks of joyful partying in songs like ‘The Cause’ and ‘The Brews’. Amidst all the absurd joking around, the anti-racism message of ‘Don’t Call Me White’ also made it clear that NOFX definitely had something serious to say.
After the sublime ‘The Decline’ (1999), a single 18-minute, 19-second song where the band lamented the decline of modern America, NOFX increasingly positioned itself as the left-wing conscience of the Californian punk genre. “NOFX is pissed off and they want to tell you all about it.” The Bush administration took a heavy beating on records like ‘The War on Errorism’ (2003) and ‘Wolves in Wolves’ Clothing’ (2006). Meanwhile, Fat Mike also united a host of fellow disgruntled musicians with his militant ‘Rock Against Bush’ project.
Fortunately, it wasn’t always about heavy political issues. The exceptionally gifted lyricist didn’t lose his sense of humor even after George Bush’s second term. When NOFX released a follow-up to their live album ‘I Heard They Suck Live!!’ (1995), the new gem was titled ‘They’ve Actually Gotten Worse Live!’ (2007). And what about the compilation ‘45 or 46 songs that weren’t good enough to go on our other records’ (2002), while their ‘greatest hits’ was called ‘The Greatest Songs Ever Written (By Us)’ (2004)? Not to mention ‘Surfer’ (2001), a brilliant parody of the leaden seriousness of Bad Religion’s ‘Suffer’ (1988).
A band like NOFX comes along only once in a lifetime. Anyone still doubting that should definitely flip through the hilarious, bewildering autobiography ‘The Hepatitis Bathtub and Other Stories’ (2016).
4. Bad Religion
Sometimes you need a little patience in life. Bad Religion had been part of the punk scene for thirteen years when, in 1993, after excellent records like ‘Suffer’ (1988), ‘No Control’ (1989), ‘Against the Grain’ (1990), and ‘Generator’ (1992), they finally got their piece of the pie with their seventh studio album, ‘Recipe For Hate’ (1993). ‘American Jesus’ and ‘Struck a Nerve’ suddenly started getting airplay on radio and MTV. It was about time. Because meanwhile, a new generation of bands raised on Bad Religion’s Californian punk rock, like The Offspring, Pennywise, and Lagwagon, were making waves. The modest success of ‘Recipe for Hate’ turned out to be the proverbial calm before the storm. When the punk pioneers from Los Angeles swapped Epitaph Records for Atlantic the following year, the long-awaited and well-deserved breakthrough finally arrived.
‘Stranger than Fiction’ (1994) became Bad Religion’s first (and only) gold record in the US. Singles like ‘Stranger Than Fiction’, ‘21st Century (Digital Boy)’ and ‘Infected’ were inescapable on alternative radio stations and MTV that late summer. At the same time, the sudden success already carried the seeds of decline. Guitarist and primary songwriter Brett Gurewitz skipped the subsequent world tour. To focus on his record label, was the official version. After all, his small Epitaph Records suddenly had its hands full now that The Offspring’s ‘Smash’ (1994) was shooting through the mainstream stratosphere like a runaway rocket. The truth was slightly less poetic. With the modified lyrics “I want to know where Brett gets his crack,” Bad Religion singer Greg Graffin toxically alluded during live performances of ‘Stranger than Fiction’ to the real reason behind Gurewitz’s sudden departure.
The man’s heroin addiction did neither the guitarist nor the band any good. Bad Religion never makes a bad record, but you’ll have to search a while to find a glowing positive review of the weak, Gurewitz-less albums ‘The Gray Race’ (1996) and ‘No Substance’ (1998). After the turn of the millennium, a notable resurrection followed. The band gladly let themselves be dropped by Atlantic. ‘The Process of Belief’ (2002) was released on their old trusted Epitaph stable. And lo and behold! Who revived the fading band with a fresh batch of scorching fast melodic punk rock songs? Brett Gurewitz! The now clean guitarist gave the quintet back the musical urgency they had lost. This resulted in delightful songs like ‘Supersonic’, ‘Broken’, ‘Sorrow’, and ‘The Defense’.
Bad Religion remains more vital and relevant than ever today. In a world without certainties, Greg Graffin offers his clear perspective on the numerous social ills corrupting our society. The man knows what he’s talking about. When his band isn’t tearing up international stages with fast, catchy punk rock riffs and the characteristic ‘oozin’ aahs’ harmonies, Graffin moonlights as a lecturer in paleontology and evolutionary biology at UCLA. A remarkable side job for the man whose childhood band changed lives right from their debut album ‘How Could Hell Be Any Worse?’ (1982). More than forty years later, early skate punk classics like ‘We’re Only Gonna Die’ and ‘Fuck Armageddon… This Is Hell!’ still feature prominently on Bad Religion’s live setlist.
3. The Offspring
The Offspring is invariably mocked in the tough, hardcore punk scene. Songs like ‘Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)’ and ‘Original Prankster’ likely have something to do with that. But the self-proclaimed real punks shouldn’t jest too much. The band from Garden Grove was crucial for the survival of punk rock in the ’90s. Or was the genre supposed to die an anonymous death on the sticky, vomit-covered floor of a dingy squat? And do those puritanical mohawks even know who was behind the Nitro Records label?
Inspired by Californian punk legends T.S.O.L and Social Distortion, teenagers Greg K. and Dexter Holland formed their own band in 1984. ‘Manic Subsidal’ is a pretty terrible band name if you want to conquer the world, but the Vincent Price horror vehicle ‘The Offspring: They Were Born to Kill’ thankfully provided a better band moniker two years later. School janitor Kevin ‘Noodles’ Wasserman proved handy not only for legally buying beer but also squeezed out some decent lead guitar from his Ibanez Talman. When sixteen-year-old Ron Welty took over the drums in the summer of 1987, the classic lineup was complete.
The early years were wild and tumultuous. For instance, a crazed skinhead occasionally jumped on stage to knock down guitarist Noodles. When they weren’t touring the country with fellow locals like NOFX and Pennywise, Noodles kept Earl Warren Elementary School tidy. Meanwhile, frontman Dexter Holland delved into the wonderful world of molecular biology at USC. Because the top math student of 1984 found that ‘just as exciting as punk rock’.
Their debut album ‘The Offspring’ (1989) did not escape Brett Gurewitz’s notice. The band subsequently released ‘Ignition’ (1992) on Epitaph Records, the punk rock haven from which good folks like NOFX, Pennywise, Rancid, and of course Gurewitz’s own Bad Religion launched their records into the wide world. These were peak times for the Californian skate punk scene. But what happened next, not even Nostradamus with a thousand bowls of milk could have predicted.
On April 8, 1994, the day a handyman discovered the lifeless body of Kurt Cobain, The Offspring’s third album was released. ‘Smash’ (1994) caused a veritable earthquake in the music world. The record sold 6 million copies in America alone. With worldwide sales exceeding 11 million copies, ‘Smash’ remains the best-selling music album ever released by an independent record label.
Apart from its historical significance, ‘Smash’ is also just a damn good album. Provided your ears are receptive to Dexter Holland’s nasal, high-pitched screaming voice, at least. In the summer of 1994, all of America apparently was. The delightful riff work of ‘Come Out And Play’, the timeless losers’ anthem ‘Self Esteem’, and the powerful rhythm section of ‘Gotta Get Away’: the singles alone justify the monstrous success.
For their fourth album, the punk rockers moved to Columbia Records. Good thing Twitter didn’t exist back then, because the original fanbase reacted furiously to this commercial career move. With three million copies sold, ‘Ixnay of the Hombre’ (1997) could hardly match the success of its predecessor. A bit ironic, when half the punk scene is blasting you for being sellouts. But what a great record it was! The extra production budget yielded excellent songs like ‘The Meaning of Life’, ‘Cool to Hate’, and the sensitive ‘Gone Away’. That voice in the opening track ‘Disclaimer’? Dead Kennedys chief Jello Biafra!
Moreover, the Californian band was far from finished. In late 1998, The Offspring reached their commercial peak with ‘Americana’ (1998). The album sold over 10 million copies. It was impossible to escape the worldwide hit ‘Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)’ and singles like ‘The Kids Aren’t Alright’, ‘She’s Got Issues’ (note the then completely unknown Zooey Deschanel!), and ‘Why Don’t You Get A Job?’ on MTV and the radio.
After the sixth album ‘Conspiracy of One’ (2000), The Offspring’s commercial peak seemed to be over. Not that this knowledge stopped the band from making new records. With ‘Let the Bad Times Roll’, the group released their tenth studio album in 2021. Their entire discography has meanwhile sold over 40 million copies.
In between, frontman Dexter Holland even found the time to finally earn his PhD in molecular biology. Yes, surprisingly many brainiacs in that punk rock genre. The Offspring still tours the world today. They haven’t been hip for a long time. But anyone who catches them at a summer festival will definitely be cheered up by their impressive set of ‘Greatest Hits’.
2. Blink-182
Barely a few years after skate punk forced its major breakthrough in 1994, the genre retreated back into the underground. No band would ever again match the otherworldly sales figures of that magical punk rock summer. Some Californian punks stubbornly kept making the same record year after year. “It’s My Job to Keep Punk Rock Elite,” sang Fat Mike. Others opted for a broader rock sound. A band like Lagwagon later nicely summarized their commercial shelf life with the self-deprecating ‘I Think My Older Brother Used to Listen to Lagwagon’ (2008). But what do sales figures matter when you’re having loads of fun?
The major record labels couldn’t care less. They had already found the new goose that laid the golden eggs: POP-punk. In the late ’90s and early 2000s, bands like Sum 41, Bowling for Soup, Yellowcard, and New Found Glory recruited millions of teenage souls with their overly polished poppy punk tunes. The aging skate punker watched this musical evolution shaking his head. When he heard the scurrilous, trashy drivel of A Simple Plan and Good Charlotte on MTV, he even spontaneously smashed his Blind skateboard into the TV screen just to make the horror stop. This was the era when Blink-182, seemingly out of nowhere, became the biggest pop-punk band in the world in the summer of 1999.
Out of nowhere? Not quite. Bassist Mark Hoppus and guitarist Tom DeLonge had been aiming for absolute stardom since 1992 with their punk rock clearly inspired by Descendents, Screeching Weasel, and NOFX. Admittedly, they first needed quite a bit of practice. Hoppus and DeLonge were (and are!) hardly talented musicians. And their first drummer, the barely fourteen-year-old Scott Raynor, was certainly no Dave Grohl.
So what did the trio have? Passion, tons of passion. And the gift of playing highly enjoyable pop songs with their limited punk talent. And sooner or later, that gets you somewhere too. The Vans Warped Tour, for example. After a pretty crappy first demo ‘Buddah’ and debut album ‘Cheshire Cat’ (1995), Blink-182 toured Uncle Sam’s country with the legendary punk rock caravan. None other than Pennywise guitarist Fletcher Dragge convinced the organizers to give the punk band from Poway a chance. With songs like ‘M+M’s’ and ‘Carousel’, they built a modest fanbase.
By the follow-up ‘Dude Ranch’ (1997), the trio had even scored their first real hits with ‘Josie’ and Dammit’. But drummer Scott Raynor proved unable to handle the temptations of early success. Enter Travis Barker from The Aquabats. A brilliant percussionist who learned the entire Blink repertoire at the time in just 45 minutes. Which, in itself, wasn’t entirely impressive if you listen back to those first records. But then. Then it happened! On their third album, Blink-182 perfected their juvenile ‘dick jokes’ with the perfect sparkling punk rock sound.
Enema of the State’ (1999) hit like a cluster bomb. Just like Green Day and The Offspring five years earlier, Blink would single-handedly kickstart an entire music movement. The timing couldn’t have been better. It was the summer when ‘American Pie’ led a string of high school comedies. Naturally, the pop-punk trio was on the soundtrack with ‘Mutt’. Better yet, Mark, Tom, and Travis even made time for a cameo in the most talked-about scene of the film.
Blink knew all about making videos. ‘What’s My Age Again’ became an instant classic, partly thanks to the iconic naked-running video. In the irresistible ‘All The Small Things’, the jokesters mocked slick boy bands like Backstreet Boys, 98 Degrees, and ’N Sync; and the then wildly popular pop princesses Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.
But it wasn’t always jokes and pranks. The dark ‘Adam’s Song’ showed a completely different side of the pranksters. Millions of teenagers drew strength from the lines “I never conquered, rarely came / Tomorrow holds such better days”. The follow-up ‘Take Off Your Pants and Jacket’ (2001) placed bouncing hit singles like ‘First Date’ and ‘The Rock Show’ alongside the heavy divorce seriousness of ‘Stay Together for the Kids’. On the untitled fifth album from 2003, the band sounded musically and lyrically more mature than ever. Beautiful songs like ‘Feeling This’, ‘I Miss You’, and ‘Always’ unfortunately also marked the end of an era.
Tom DeLonge got lost in UFO paranoia and never delivered the promised musical revolution with his Angels & Airwaves. “This isn’t just goodbye / This is I can’t stand you”, sounded bitterly three years later on Mark and Travis’s new project +44. But look. What no one thought possible happened anyway in the fall of 2022. Blink-182 definitively returned in its classic lineup! And their first offering, ‘EDGING’, immediately sounded after one listen like the old familiar sound of a band that rightly conquered so many hearts in the summer of 1999.
1. Green Day
The unlikely story of Green Day begins in the cafeteria of Carquinez Middle School in Crockett, California. There, in 1982, two ten-year-old rascals formed a friendship that would change their lives and modern music history. They already knew then that life wasn’t always a party. Billie Joe Armstrong lost his father to esophageal cancer that year. 22 years later, he poured his grief into the song ‘Wake Me Up When September Ends’. Mike Dirnt’s drug-addicted mother gave the little tyke up for adoption after barely six weeks. But peace was elusive in his new family too. After yet another argument, the cops had to intervene. Mike was seven when he started shuffling between two homes. But there was music.
The guitarist and bassist were 14 when they formed the band Sweet Children in 1987. Their fondness for weed inspired the duo to adopt their new name, Green Day, two years later. Contrary to what critics might think, Green Day was anything but rolled off the pop-punk factory assembly line. The group fought hard for that astronomical number of over 75 million albums sold. The battlefield was 924 Gilman Street. A legendary music club in West Berkeley where The Offspring, Operation Ivy, and the bats from AFI also earned their stripes. A safe island too, in a time when punk shows were synonymous with losing teeth: “There was something in the air, you could say, back then. A good feeling, or a sense of pulling together, and unity among people who just wanted to see bands that was free of sexism, homophobia, racism, and especially violence.”
After the EPs ‘1,000 Hours’ (1989), ‘Slappy’, and the debut album ‘39/Smooth’ (1990), Green Day found its own identity on ‘Kerplunk!’ (1992). With the arrival of drummer Tré Cool, the power trio was finally complete. Tré’s father was pretty cool too. The man drove the band in his van to their first major gigs: “I watched them go from a bunch of kids to a group of musicians with work ethic.”
Green Day never made a secret of wanting to conquer the world. After ‘Kerplunk’, their star quickly rose above the East Coast. Their rock star dreams were too big for the little label Lookout! Records and the Gilman scene. This was not appreciated. On September 3, 1993, they played their last show on the Gilman stage. The organization showed them the door after it became known they had signed with the major label Reprise Records. Because nothing is punished as harshly in the punk world as ambition.
On February 1, 1994, ‘Dookie’ (1994) was released. The band sold over 15 million copies of the successful album worldwide. ‘Basket Case’, ‘When I Come Around’, and ‘Longview’ were inescapable on MTV.
Meanwhile, their old fan base tarred and feathered the band for ‘selling out’. Follow-ups ‘Insomniac’ (1995) and ‘Nimrod’ (1997) delivered fun tunes like ‘Geek Stink Breath’, ‘Brain Stew / Jaded’, ‘Nice Guys Finish Last’, and the nostalgic ‘Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)’. But after the turn of the millennium, Green Day seemed to have fired its last shots with ‘Warning’ (2000) and ‘Minority’.
Wrong! With ‘American Idiot’, Green Day made one of the most unlikely comebacks ever in September 2004. The ‘punk rock opera’ about the anti-hero ‘Jesus of Suburbia’ was packed with hits like ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’, ‘Holiday’, and of course the furious title track. The concept album sold 16 million copies and left the Grammy Awards the following year with the award for ‘Best Rock Album’. Supported by a brand new generation of Green Day fans, the reborn band began a second life as one of the biggest pop-rock acts of the 2000s.
