The Offspring: Smash (RSD Essentials, milky clear vinyl) [EPITAPH]

Why you'll love it

This RSD Essentials pressing is remastered on milky clear vinyl with an RSD obi strip. Smash reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and has sold over eleven million copies, the best-selling album ever put out by an independent label.

This edition

• RSD Essentials edition
• Milky clear vinyl
• Remastered
• Obi strip

About the album

When the Offspring went into Track Record in North Hollywood in early 1994, their previous album had sold maybe 15,000 copies. They had a budget of $20,000, about 20 days, and a habit of phoning the studio to find out when it was empty so they could sneak in at a discount. Dexter Holland was still writing lyrics right up to the last minute.

Thom Wilson produced, as he had on their first two records, and the songs came out lean and catchy. "Come Out and Play" went to No. 1 on the Modern Rock chart with its snake-charmer guitar line, "Self Esteem" followed it into the Top 5, and "Gotta Get Away," the last song written for the album, made No. 6. One track swings on a ska beat, and "Killboy Powerhead" is a cover of the Chicago band Didjits.

Alongside Green Day's Dookie, Smash helped carry punk rock into the mainstream that year, and it was Epitaph's first gold and platinum record. Not bad for an album made in the studio's quiet hours; we've never got that much done after closing.

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

Tracklist

Listen

On Epitaph (cat# 86868-1), a reissue of the 1994 album.