Offspring, Green Day, Blink and Budget Tapes & CDs – Dead Hipster Remembers the 90’s

CB from Dead Hipster and I have a very similar list of favorite bands and albums, I imagine that goes the same for you. So I wanted to share a write up he recently did for the I Love the 90's dance party, and a truly epic era of pop punk.

Can we talk about "Smash" (the 1994 album by the Offspring) really quick? It's an AMAZING record. I assume the band had no idea they were making a landmark, genre-shaping, trend-setting album while they recorded it, but they must have known something was up. I bet it was insanely exciting. Say what you will about the relationship between the Offspring, punk rock (in quotes, whatever the hell that is) and worldwide commercial success but the songs are just too damn good to ignore. I (CB) was one month from turning 13-years-old when I bought "Smash" at Budget Tapes & CDs and that shit changed my life. That's not hyperbole. "Dookie" by Green Day came out 2 months before "Smash". Would the seismic pop-culture shift that followed have occurred in quite the same way had the release schedule be reversed? Probably not. Green Day could have been nothing more than a small blip on the "well that was a neat song" radar had "Smash" not come so soon after, lending even more force to the pop-punk wave crashing all over the mainstream. Then "Punk In Drublic" by NOFX happened (though not as widely appreciated at the time, it definitely blew my mind and is now considered an absolute classic of the genre), then "Stranger Than Fiction" by Bad Religion (a bit boring overall, but important nonetheless because Brett Gurewitz) and a year after THAT "...And Out Come the Wolves" by Rancid. And what came next, a mere 4 years down the road? Fucking "Enema of the State" by Blink-182. And now here we are.

Our monthly I Love The 90's dance party is tonight at the Badlander starting at 9. It's only 3 bucks at the door and well drinks are $1 'til midnight, woop woop!