The Offspring came out and played their breakthrough album Smash in its entirety along with hit tunes and new tracks during the Punk Rock Summer Nationals 2014 tour at Cruzan Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach, Florida. Spawned from the California punk scene more than 25 years ago, Dexter Holland, Noodles, Greg K. and Pete Parada proved that they still have plenty of rebellious attitude and lots of stage moxie. The band’s performance was complemented by a chorus of periodic thunderstorms which gave fans at the outdoor concert an opportunity to salute Mother Nature with a collective great big middle finger.
Hearing the songs from Smash took everyone back to 1994 when the band was with Mr. Brett (Brett Gurewitz of Bad Religion) and his label Epitaph Records. The record sold 12 million copies, making it the best-selling album of all time on an independent label. The success of that recording turned The Offspring into punk rock royalty and catapulted the genre off tiny stages in cramped clubs into the mainstream spotlight. With 40 million albums sold and thousands of shows performed, the kids are definitely alright.
When Dexter Holland is not fronting and writing songs for The Offspring, he’s conducting AIDs research as a molecular biology PhD candidate at the University of Southern California. He’s also a certified flight instructor with a pilot’s license. And that’s pretty fly for a punk rock guy.
