Smash!, Ian Winwood
Smash!, Ian Winwood
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Smash!
Green Day, The Offspring, Bad Religion, NOFX, and the '90s Punk Explosion

Author: Ian Winwood

Narrator: Kevin T. Collins

Unabridged: 11 hr 43 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Da Capo Press

Published: 11/20/2018


Synopsis

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.

About Ian Winwood

Ian Winwood is Britain’s foremost rock and metal journalist. His writing has appeared in Rolling Stone, the Guardian, Mojo, Kerrang!, Classic Rock, Revolver, NME, Q, the Mirror, and on the BBC. He lives in London.


Reviews

My first introduction to punk was a couple of used records I found at a garage sale: the Clash’s “London Calling” and the Cramps’ “Songs the Lord Taught Us”, both absolute masterpieces, but they were already “old” records by the time I got my hands on them. The punk music I actually grew up on is th......more

They need to be kept separate Don't wanna be an American idiot Don't want a nation under the new mania And can you hear the sound of hysteria? The subliminal mind fuck America... Instead of American, you can substitute any other of your choice. It won't make you happy, but it will make you feel a little......more

Goodreads review by Mark

I was eager to read this because its subject is due for comprehensive revisiting. I have not read any other Ian Winwood books, and unfortunately I am not eager to after this. In terms of content, information and detail, it is a great idea. But the author refuses to get out of his own way. His writin......more

Goodreads review by Ryan

Required reading. An essential survey of some of the greatest music ever made and a thorough telling of a watershed moment in music history. What’s more, the author gives credit where credit is due to the greatest band in the universe: “…most of these events, and perhaps all of them, would not have......more

Comprehensive, entertaining, but a bit full of itself. Winwood loves telling us that “this author” hung out with all the bands and heard all the music. Somehow, I feel like a lot more of the story of the nineties could be told, since this book is so short.......more