The Offspring

The Offspring is a popular punk / alternative rock band, formed in 1984 in Garden Grove, California by vocalist/rhythm guitarist Dexter Holland and bassist Greg Kriesel under the name “Manic Subsidal”, inspired by a Social Distortion concert. In 1985 their school janitor, noodles, joined on lead guitar with drummer James Lilja. Lilja later left before their first LP to become a gynecologist. Their second drummer, Ron Welty, played with The Offspring from their self titled debut album until the making of Splinter. They hired Josh Freese to play the drums on that album, then brought in Atom Willard to go along on tour. Willard later left to join Angels & Airwaves, and after Freese returned to drum on Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace, Pete Parada joined as the band’s fulltime drummer.

The Offspring is also known as one of the first bands to allow downloads of their songs. ‘Original Prankster’ was the first song they released this way. The band was originally going to allow the rest of ‘Conspiracy of One’ to be downloaded for free from their website, in order to show The Offspring’s support in downloading music. However, their label Columbia Records objected to this move and threatened to sue the band.