A group biography of '90s punk rock told through the prism of Green
Day, The Offspring, NOFX, Rancid, Bad Religion, Social Distortion, and
more
Two decades after the Sex Pistols and the Ramones birthed punk music
into the world, their artistic heirs burst onto the scene and changed
the genre forever. While the punk originators remained underground
favorites and were slow burns commercially, their heirs shattered
commercial expectations for the genre. In 1994, Green Day and The
Offspring each released their third albums, and the results were
astounding. Green Day's Dookie went on to sell more than 15 million
copies and The Offspring's Smash remains the all-time bestselling
album released on an independent label. The times had changed, and so
had the music.
While many books, articles, and documentaries focus on the rise of punk
in the '70s, few spend any substantial time on its resurgence in the
'90s. Smash! is the first to do so, detailing the circumstances
surrounding the shift in '90s music culture away from grunge and
legitimizing what many first-generation punks regard as post-punk, new
wave, and generally anything but true punk music.
With astounding access to all the key players of the time, including
members of Green Day, The Offspring, NOFX, Rancid, Bad Religion, Social
Distortion, and many others, renowned music writer Ian Winwood at last
gives this significant, substantive, and compelling story its due. Punk
rock bands were never truly successful or indeed truly famous, and that
was that -- until it wasn't. Smash! is the story of how the underdogs
finally won and forever altered the landscape of mainstream music.
