Part IV

Children Of the Revolution

Following The punk tradition of early 80s but embracing the limelight of new found mainstream acceptance. Green Day along with Rancid and the Offspring emerged into the commercial platform and the new genre to come, simply, the pop punk.

RANCID.
After Operation Ivy disbanded in 1989, varying accounts hold that Michaels became either a Buddhist monk or a Central American missionary, but later emerged in bands like Big Rig and Common Rider. Freeman joined the legendary hardcore band MDC and Tim was a roadie. Meanwhile, Armstrong was waging a battle with alcoholism (but, fortunately, winning). To help keep his friends occupied, Freeman suggested they quit their day jobs by forming a new band, “RANCId” which would later be one of the leading bands of the 90’s punk revival. Rancid’s unabashedly classicist sound new heavily from the Clash’s early records, echoing their left-leaning politics and fascination with ska, while adding a bit of post-hardcore crunch. But the influence wasn’t just stylistic; they soaked up blues, reggae and world styles with same ravenousness as their idols and brought a breath to East Bay punk that’s still unequaled.
Tim Armstrong remembers being approached one night before a sold-out show by a fifteen-year-old kid who didn’t have a ticket, “I can’t get in”, the boy informed Armstrong, “but I love you guys and we have the same last name”, Armstrong led him through the backstage entrance without a moment pause and till today, Billie Joe Armstrong lists that night as one of his unforgettable experiences.
Recommended albums: Rancid/Let’s Go/…And out come
The wolves/ Life Won’t Wait

GREEN DAY
Having dropped out of school (encouraged by his high-school dropout mom herself), Billy Joe Armstrong hung out with Mike Dirnt and formed a band called ‘Sweet Children’ whose name they’d later change after one of their songs based on hanging out and enjoying pot: ‘Green Day’. Punk went platinum with DOOKIE, and with their new found glory Green Day soon found themselves the center of attention even in mainstream circles. Green Day certainly didn’t set out to be popular. “Someone said to me before a show the other day, ‘Fifteen thousand people at this arena-this is everything you’ve ever dreamed of’,” says Dirnt, “I turned to him and said, ‘Correction. Its everything I never dreamed of”. But Green Day is still a potent brew of insight, irreverence, ferocious rock and roll, everything punk’s supposed to be.
Recommended albums: Dookie/Insomniac/American Idiot

THE OFFSPRING
The offspring, along with the Green Day, can be credited for bringing punk to the mainstream in the mid-90, and like Green Day, success for them did not come overnight. Long before there was The OC, The Warped Tour or even X games, there was The Offspring, formed by a pair of Orange County high school buddies Dexter Holland and Greg K back in ’84 following a show in Irvine by local legends Social Distortion.
Featuring Holland, guitarist Kevin “Noodles” Wasserman, bassist Greg Kriesel, and drummer Ron Welty, the Offspring released their self-titled debut album in 1989. Four years later, their second album, Ignition, became an underground hit, setting the stage for the across-the-board success of 19994’s Smash. Successful singles from the album got them a lot of attention and they got constant airplay on MTV and radio. Following a prolonged bidding war and much soul-searching, the offspring decided to leave Epitaph Records in 1996 for Columbia Records. The move was particularly controversial within the punk community, and many artists on the Epitaph roster, including Pennywise and owner Brett Gurewitz, criticized the band. Although their popularity since then has increased worldwide, they have lost a lot of credibility and fans among the punk audience.
Recommended albums: Ignition/Smash/Ixnay On The Hombre.

REFUSED
Though they have sold les than 100,000 copies of their albums to date, these Swedes have become one of the most influential punk bands of the past half-decade. They’ve been nominated for Swedish Grammies, they’ve won Zeppelins (the Swedish MTV music awards), but they recently fell apart as a band, holding true to their anarchist principles over becoming music superstars. With their groundbreaking collage punk, hardcore, emo, jazz, techno, and hip hop influences; their music still sounds way ahead of time.
Recommended album: The Shape Of Punk To Come.