Revisiting & Ranking The Offspring’s 10 Albums
For better or worse, The Offspring (along with Green Day and later Blink 182) was largely responsible for punk’s mainstream popularity within the 1990s. As the prevalence of grunge decreased, punk filled the void left by its absence and a band like The Offspring, with their appealing riffs and distinctive vocals, were perfect as a torchbearer.
The band was formed in 1984 but didn’t find more widespread popularity until 10 years later with the release of their 3rd album Smash. The group is made up of singer/guitarist Dr. Dexter Holland (who got his PhD in molecular biology in 2017), guitarist Kevin “Noodles” Wasserman, drummer Pete Parada, and more recently on bass, Todd Morse.
Greg Kriesel helped form the band with Dexter back when it was called Manic Subsidial and has played bass on every album besides their most recent release. Ron Welty was the band’s longest-running drummer, appearing on their first 6 albums, with Atom Willard filling in for a few years before Pete Parada took over.
With a career spanning 30+ years, The Offspring have a few different generations of fans with each impacted by what was new at their own impressionable age. To rank these albums, I tried to put aside any timeframe bias and really focus on the quality of each individual release.
