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The Offspring (album)

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The Offspring
drawing of a chestburster holding an electric guitar exploding out of a man’s body
Original cover art
Studio album by
the Offspring
ReleasedJune 15, 1989
RecordedMarch 1989
StudioSouth Coast Recording in Santa Ana, California (USA).
GenrePunk rock[1]
Length31:25
Label
ProducerThom Wilson
The Offspring chronology
The Offspring
(1989) 		Baghdad
(1991)
Singles from The Offspring
  1. "I'll Be Waiting"
    Released: July 1986
Alternative cover
An out-of-focus image of a man on a black background. The artist title appears above in yellow.
Re-issue cover art

The Offspring is the debut studio album by American rock band the Offspring, released on June 15, 1989, by Nemesis Records.[2] After being out of print for years, the album was re-released by Nitro and Epitaph Records in 1995 with a different album cover. Both the re-releases on the two respective labels are nearly identical. The Offspring has rarely played any songs from this album live since the Ignition tour finished in 1994.

Background and history

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After recording a demo tape in 1988, the Offspring began preparations for their first full-length album. They recorded it in March 1989 at South Coast Recording in Santa Ana, California, with Thom Wilson producing. During the sessions, the band re-recorded their early songs "I'll Be Waiting" and "Blackball", which both originally appeared on the band's 1986 single "I'll Be Waiting".

The album was released on June 15, 1989, in limited numbers by Nemesis Records, only in 12" vinyl and cassette format. When it was released, the album initially sold 5,000 copies and it took the band two and a half years to sell them all. The album's closing track "Kill the President" was met with a great deal of controversy and as a result, one of the copies was destroyed by Wally George at his show Hot Seat in 1992,[3] thus leaving only 4,999 copies left. This song was removed from the reissues after 2001. Some copies also have the Cargo Records logo next to the Nemesis logo on the back cover. To support the album, The Offspring embarked on a six-week national tour, but Noodles was stabbed during a performance at the Hollywood anti-nuclear benefit.[4] Following the small success of The Offspring, the band signed with Epitaph Records in 1991.

"Beheaded" is the only song of the album that is still played live on special occasions and has been played at least 46 times as of August 2023. The Offspring has rarely played any songs from the rest of the album.

For a long time, it had been incorrectly assumed that there were three distinct recordings of "Hey Joe" due to the song being erroneously credited as "previously unreleased" when it was re-released officially in 1996.

Reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[6]

The Offspring received mixed reviews. AllMusic writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine stated that The Offspring "is a rawer, harder-edged collection than their breakthrough set, Smash, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a better record", and that it "lacks the metal guitar crunch that dominated Smash.".[5]

The Offspring did not initially reach the Billboard 200 chart or become a commercial success. However, when the album was reissued in 1995, it reached a peak position of number 85 on the Dutch Chart for three weeks.[7]

Reissues

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The Offspring was reissued several times, with formats in different countries, and with different labels (see the table below). The album was reissued on CD (and again on vinyl and cassette) in 1995, a year after the Offspring's commercial success with its third studio album Smash. This version is nearly identical to the one released on Nemesis. It features a different artwork instead of the controversial "Guitar Alien" front cover artwork, designed by Marc Rude. The album was reissued once again on Nitro in 2001, with "Kill the President" omitted; according to frontman Dexter Holland, it was removed to prevent legal pressure falling upon the band and Nitro. Coinciding with Record Store Day, The Offspring was reissued in 2017 on blue translucent vinyl; like the 2001 reissue, it does not include "Kill the President".

Region Date Label Format Catalog # Notes
United States June 15, 1989 Nemesis Records 12" vinyl
Cassette 		NEMESIS 6 First pressing. Cassette release includes bonus track "Hey Joe".
Europe November 18, 1995 Epitaph Records CD
12" vinyl
Cassette 		86460 First CD pressing; features an alternative cover.
United States November 21, 1995 Nitro Records CD
12" vinyl
Cassette 		86460 First CD and cassette pressing; features an alternative cover.
Poland 1996 Audio Max Cassette 704 Rare collector's item, released without The Offspring's consent; features an alternative cover.
United States June 26, 2001 Nitro Records CD 15803 Does not feature the last song "Kill the President"; features the same cover as 1995 reissue.
United Kingdom July 16, 2001 Nitro Records CD Does not feature the last song "Kill the President"; features the same cover as 1995 reissue.
United States April 22, 2017 Nitro Records Vinyl NTO00001 Does not feature the last song "Kill the President"; features the same cover as 1995 reissue.

Album covers

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Two covers of this album exist. The original version features an image of a man's body exploding as the xenomorph from the Alien franchise holding a Fender Stratocaster emerges from his chest. There is a report, which remains unconfirmed, that the album was banned from retail stores due to the "grotesque" cover.[8]

The 1995 re-release shows a different image which features a blurry black-and-white picture of a person's face. It was later admitted that the band and their studio never really liked the original cover and the re-release gave them an opportunity to change it. The reissue art was done by Mackie Osbourne.

The shadows on the back cover of the 1995 reissue also appear on the cover of the "I'll Be Waiting" single.

Track listing

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All tracks written by Dexter Holland, except where noted.

Original pressing

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Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Jennifer Lost the War" 2:35
2."Elders" 2:11
3."Out on Patrol" 2:32
4."Crossroads" 2:48
5."Demons (A Mexican Fiesta)" 3:10
6."Beheaded"Holland, James Lilja2:52
Side two
No.TitleLength
7."Tehran"3:06
8."A Thousand Days"2:11
9."Blackball"3:24
10."I'll Be Waiting"3:12
11."Kill the President" (excluded on rerelease versions since 2001)3:22
Total length:31:25
1989 cassette-only track
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
12."Hey Joe"William M. Roberts2:37

CD

[edit]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Jennifer Lost the War" 2:35
2."Elders" 2:11
3."Out on Patrol" 2:32
4."Crossroads" 2:48
5."Demons (A Mexican Fiesta)" 3:10
6."Beheaded"Holland, James Lilja2:52
7."Tehran" 3:06
8."A Thousand Days" 2:11
9."Blackball" 3:24
10."I'll Be Waiting" 3:12
11."Kill the President" (excluded on rerelease versions since 2001) 3:22
Total length:31:25

Notes

  • Track 1, "Jennifer Lost the War", is featured on Punk-O-Rama Volume 1.
  • Track 6, "Beheaded", is featured on Go Ahead Punk... Make My Day and was later re-recorded as "Beheaded (1999)" for the movie Idle Hands.
  • Track 7, "Tehran", was later re-recorded as "Baghdad", which appears on their 1991 long-out of print EP Baghdad.
  • Track 9, "Blackball", is featured on Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4.
  • Track 11, "Kill the President" is removed from rerelease versions since 2001 and is replaced by four seconds of silence. On the official website, the song is not mentioned in the track list. The song is also not featured on the iTunes, Spotify or Amazon Music versions of the album.
  • Track 12, "Hey Joe" (only released on the 1989 cassette), is featured on Go Ahead Punk... Make My Day, the single for "Gone Away," and Happy Hour!. It was also re-recorded for the Baghdad EP.

Personnel

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Adapted from The Offspring liner notes.

The Offspring

  • Dexter Holland (credited as Keith Holland on the 1989 version) – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (uncredited), backing vocals on "Blackball" (uncredited for further backing vocals)
  • Noodles – lead guitar (credited as guitar), backing vocals on "Blackball" (uncredited for further backing vocals)
  • Greg K. – bass, backing vocals on "Blackball" (uncredited for further backing vocals)
  • Ron Welty (credited as R. Welty) – drums, backing vocals on "Blackball"

Additional personnel

  • Jason – backing vocals on "Blackball"
  • Jeff 1 – backing vocals on "Blackball"
  • Jeff 2 – backing vocals on "Blackball"
  • Tyler – backing vocals on "Blackball"
  • Rick – backing vocals on "Blackball"
  • Michelle – backing vocals on "Blackball"
  • Marvin – backing vocals on "Blackball"
  • Cynthia – backing vocals on "Blackball"

Technical personnel

  • Thom Wilson – producer
  • Jim Dotson (credited as Jim Oddo) – engineer
  • Mad Marc Rude – cover art (for 1989 version)
  • Kirk Dominquez (credited as Kirk) – back cover picture (for 1989 version)
  • Mackie Osborne (credited as Mackie) – art (for 1995 version)

Charts

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Chart performance for The Offspring
Chart (1995) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[9] 84
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[10] 85
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[11] 20

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Smash by The Offspring". Classic Rock Review. 17 June 2014. Retrieved March 4, 2023. Unlike the group's first two releases, which were close to hardcore punk in genre, this third independent album leans more towards the emerging grunge rock and pop punk sound..
  2. ^ "WebVoyage Titles". cocatalog.loc.gov. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
  3. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "The Offspring @ Wally George Show 1989". YouTube.
  4. ^ The Offspring Archived 2013-10-29 at the Wayback Machine at NIPP
  5. ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "The Offspring - The Offspring". AllMusic. Retrieved 2009-11-09.
  6. ^ Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian, eds. (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  7. ^ "Discografie The Offspring" (in Dutch). dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved May 30, 2014.
  8. ^ "40 outrageous banned album sleeves | NME". NME. December 17, 2013. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
  9. ^ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 207.
  10. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – The Offspring – The Offspring" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  11. ^ "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 22, 2024.

Works cited

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