Smash! cover art

Smash!

Green Day, The Offspring, Bad Religion, NOFX, and the '90s Punk Explosion

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Smash!

By: Ian Winwood
Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
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About this listen

 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. Entertainment & Celebrities History & Criticism Music Celebrity

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All stars
Most relevant
As much a biography on Westbeach Recorders in Hollywood as the bands mentioned in the title, this look at the 90s mainstream punk explosion is truly addictive. If you have even a little interest and working knowledge of the bands included, this exploration provides a great insight and chronology of their collective journeys to the big time.

Interestingly, it turns out I pretty much went to Westbeach Recorders without realising it as part of my honeymoon in 2018. The building now houses the Museum of Death and another recording studio on Hollywood Boulevard.

I honestly did not want this to end. It really spoke to the nostalgic music geek in me, and my love for this genre. Any chance of a sequel covering the pop-punk and emo explosion of the early to mid 2000s?

Punkalicious!

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Fantastic book. It could have been twice the length and I still would have been left wanting more. Punk rock was the soundtrack to my youth and continues to be the soundtrack of my mid-to-late thirties. There could not have been a better group of bands to be exposed to as a fed up and isolated youth in the mid 90s. Up the punks.

You're not punk and I'm telling everyone.

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I don’t think I could be more a perfect member of the desired target audience for this collection of stories. I have a playlist of about 10 or 12 band, I’ve had this same playlist since I was 18. It hasn’t changed and it won’t change. This book gives fascinating insight into the lives of the people who were there and who shaped the lives of 4 of the bands from my playlist. Not as in deep on the history of NOFX but we have their own book for that, this is really the story of green day, Bad Religion the offspring and Epitaph records. Well worth your time if you as invested in to any or all of these 3 bands. Of your not, I’d say it was still worth a go, but I’m guessing it was my love for the above that got me through the 12 hours or so in a little under 5 days.

If you think you’ll like it... you will!

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It’s like listening to a robot.
Shame as I really wanted to like it as it’s my era.
It’s how it goes with audio books, so much is in the narration.
Hey-go, on to the next.

Zzzz

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If you grew up with 90’s punk like I did, then this is the book for you.
Easy listen & great insight into the biggest bands in their genre

90s punk fan must

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