The Offspring: The Offspring [CRAFT]

Why you'll love it

Craft's reissue of the band's first album, produced by Thom Wilson. It's a rawer, harder-edged set than Smash, cut fast and loud in Santa Ana in the summer of 1989.

About the album

Before the stadiums and the radio hits, The Offspring were four young men from Garden Grove with a producer, a studio booking and a lot of songs. Dexter Holland (credited here as Keith Holland), Noodles, Greg K. and Ron Welty recorded the album at South Coast Recording in Santa Ana with Thom Wilson, and Nemesis Records put it out on vinyl and cassette.

"Jennifer Lost The War" and "Elders" kick the doors in, "Beheaded" was written by Holland with original drummer James Lilja, and "I'll Be Waiting," first heard on the band's 1986 single, gets a fresh recording here alongside "Blackball." Nitro reissued it in 1995 with new artwork by Mackie Osborne, and it's a sharp snapshot of the speed and snarl that would fill the later hits, with Holland's yelping vocals and Noodles' buzzsaw riffs already in place.

Holland later re-recorded "Beheaded" for the 1999 horror comedy Idle Hands, which tells you roughly how seriously to take the title.

Also at Kops: more The Offspring on vinyl · browse Punk

Tracklist

Listen

On Craft Recordings / Nitro, a reissue of the 1989 album.