The Offspring

The Offspring is the debut studio album by American rock band the Offspring, released on June 15, 1989, by Nemesis Records. After being out of print for years, the album was re-released by Nitro and Epitaph Records in 1995 with a different album cover. Both the re-releases on the two respective labels are nearly identical. The Offspring has rarely played any songs from this album live since the Ignition tour finished in 1994. Background and history After recording a demo tape in 1988, the Offspring began preparations for their first full-length album. They recorded it in March 1989 at South Coast Recording in Santa Ana, California, with Thom Wilson producing. During the sessions, the band re-recorded their early songs "I'll Be Waiting" and "Blackball", which both originally appeared on the band's 1986 single "I'll Be Waiting". The album was released on June 15, 1989, in limited numbers by Nemesis Records, only in 12" vinyl and cassette format. When it was released, the album initially sold 5,000 copies and it took the band two and a half years to sell them all. The album's closing track "Kill the President" was met with a great deal of controversy and as a result, one of the copies was destroyed by Wally George at his show Hot Seat in 1992, thus leaving only 4,999 copies left. This song was removed from the reissues after 2001. Some copies also have the Cargo Records logo next to the Nemesis logo on the back cover. To support the album, The Offspring embarked on a six-week national tour, but Noodles was stabbed during a performance at the Hollywood anti-nuclear benefit. Following the small success of The Offspring, the band signed with Epitaph Records in 1991. "Beheaded" is the only song of the album that is still played live on special occasions and has been played at least 44 times as of August 2023. The Offspring has rarely played any songs from the rest of the album.