Smash

Those are the singles.

Smash is a big fucking album.

I've just

never gotten the feeling that they even wanted to have a single for radio play.

Not off the top of my head.

You think it could have been on Offspring's Smash album? Yeah, I think that's a fair comparison, for sure.

Again,

I'm not saying exact, and obviously the vocals are different, but I hear a lot of Offspring on this track, or what would become the Offspring in a couple of years.

When I was younger, I used to really gravitate towards songs that weren't radio songs or single songs because there weren't a ton of albums that I really listened to from end to end.

Honestly, all the important ones we've talked about on this podcast at one time or another between...

You know, the Collective Soul, Blue Album, and Throwing Copper from Live, Smashed by Offspring.

You chose Dookie and Ten.

"Come Out and Play" [clears throat] is a song by American punk rock band, The Offspring.

It is the seventh track on their third album, Smash, from 1994.

It was released in August of 1994 by Epitaph Records, and it's the first single written by frontman Dexter Holland.

It is considered, uh, The Offspring's breakthrough song.

Oh, I didn't know that.

Yep.

[clears throat] Yeah, this is from the Smash album, and there are so many good songs on this album.

Oh, yeah.

He had him on there because they're label mates with Epitaph.

And Epitaph made more money on Smash than anything, but probably like everything else they've ever released combined.

Oh.

Yeah, easily.

Easily.

That fed Epitaph forever.

That's incredible that Smash came out on Epitaph.

I always forget that that was on Epitaph.

Welcome to the History of Punk Rock podcast.

Today, we're digging into how The Offspring catapulted punk onto the mainstream without a major label at first, looking at their DIY roots, Epitaph partnership, Smash, and the '90s commercial wave.

The Offspring's story is a textbook example of how an underground band can explode onto the mainstream without needing a major label at first.

Formed in Garden Grove back in '84 under the name Manic Subsidal, they were part of a sleepy Orange County scene that also spawned Bad Religion and Black Flag fans in nearby Los Angeles.

But Ignition only sold a few thousand copies because distribution was still limited to independent chains and tape trading circles, even though it received great word of mouth from college radio hosts who loved its skank guitars.

By 1993, the band had toured with other Epitaph acts, played house shows in warehouses, and built a dedicated fan base that followed them from basement to a handful of venues in Orange County and San Diego.

The shift happened when they began working again with Tom Wilson to record their next album, Smash, starting in January 1994 at Track Record in North Hollywood.

At Smash, The Offspring refined their sound, higher tempos on tracks like Come Out and Play, paired with more melodic choruses that still had that aggressive punk bite, a recipe that would become iconic for the era.

By 1992, Epitaph was already shipping vinyl and CDs to stores across the United States, and their network had expanded enough for international distributors to notice the California sound.

It wasn't until the Offspring's second album, Smash, came out in 94 that a DIY label shattered records.

It shipped over 11 million copies worldwide.

Smash was recorded on a shoestring budget of $15K and mixed with cheap gear.

Yet its hook-laden tracks like Come Out and Play were blasting MTV and radio across the globe.

The album's success made Epitaph one of the most powerful indie labels, but Bret refused to sell it.

Meanwhile, NOFX's 1992 LP, Punk & Drublick, was also on Epitaph and sold around 120k copies, another proof that punk could thrive commercially without a major label's polish.

Brett produced that album, using the same low-budget method but with meticulous attention to detail, giving NoFX their signature crisp guitar work and punchy drums.

So let's hit the button and see what album we're going to be listening to this week.

And the album we're going to be listening to is The Offspring, Smash.

Okay, this will be punk, I guess.

Yeah.

Okay, so here's a description of the album.

It says, Smash by The Offspring is a loud, fast, and unapologetically rebellious punk rock record that helped drag Southern California skate punk into the mainstream in the mid-1990s.

Packed with razor-sharp riffs, breakneck energy, sarcastic humor, and bursts of social frustration, the album captures the feeling of youthful anger and alienation without ever losing its sense of fun.

Songs like Come Out and Play, Self Esteem, and Gotta Get Away balance catchy hooks with themes of insecurity, violence, dysfunctional relationships, and suburban disillusionment.