As part of our Looking Back series, Spencer Scott revists a Californian punk classic.
In 1995, punk was running wild. By this point, grunge was well and truly dead in the water. The death of Kurt Cobain was almost poetic, in that it sadly illustrated the downfall of what was only a few years earlier a cultural revolution. Disenfranchisedteens across the globe were looking for something to pick up the pieces, and a new brand of punk music was able to rise from the ashes.
On August 22 this year, Rancid’s album …And Out Come The Wolves celebrates its 20th birthday. Much like Green Day’s breakout albumDookie(which we covered earlier in the year), it was a release that was crucial in exploding punk into the mainstream, and creating a wave of bands we know and love today.
Rancid formed in Berkeley, California in 1991. The band centered on the duo of Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman, who were previously part of the seminal ska punk band Operation Ivy. Although that band only lasted two years in the late ’80s, and their discography consisted of one EP and a sole LP, Op Ivy remain one of the greatest ska bands of all time, with a legacy that can be heard through everyone from Leftover Crack to Reel Big Fish.
Operation Ivy were one of the foundations of the SoCal punk scene that was being built around one particular iconic music venue, 924 Gilman Street. The famous room is an all-ages music venue in West Berkeley, with four rules – “No drugs. No alcohol. No violence. No racism” – as well as a controversial policy that no band signed to a major label can play there. In the glory days of punk, Gilman spawned bands such as Green Day, Jawbreaker, Fifteen, and of course, Rancid.
…And Out Come The Wolves was the third studio album from Rancid. Their second album Let’s Go was released in 1994 – the year that punk bands like Bad Religion and The Offspring were breaking into the mainstream for the first time since 1977.
Let’s Go was a success for the band, taking Rancid to levels they hadn’t seen before. The single from that album ‘Radio’ was co-written by Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong (and led to Rancid offering him a spot in the band, which he politely refused) and the group was now in the middle of a major bidding war to get signed and record its next album with a major label.
The legend goes that Rancid even convinced an A&R guy to cut his hair into a blue mohawk, just to please the band.
After several interesting bids (including one from Madonna’s own label), the band decided to stay with Epitaph Records, an independent label run by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. …And Out Come The Wolves (alongside The Offspring’sSmash) propelled Epitaph towards becoming one of the largest indie labels in the world.
The album was a commercial success, with it reaching #45 on the Billboard album charts. Three of the album’s singles also charted on the Billboard Modern Rock Charts. Rancid were receiving frequent airplay on both college and mainstream radio, as well as MTV, and scored an appearance on Saturday Night Live.
The album was a love letter to the sounds of punk that had come before them, from the heavy ska style on ‘Daly City Train’ to the undeniably catchy ‘Olympia WA’.Rancid had an edge the other bands breaking through just didn’t – dressed to the nines in a style that was equal parts Sex Pistols and Clash, they gave a home to the kids who found SmashandDookie just a little too sugary.Even the cover of the album – the iconic image of a punk rocker huddled over himself – was a reference to the cover of Minor Threat’s self-titled EP.
…And Out Come The Wolves was arguably the band’s musical peak. Over 50 minutes they lay 19 solid tracks down, only ever taking a beat before launching into the next one. Freeman puts every single punk bassist on notice in the opening track ‘Maxwell Murder’, sending the note-per-minute meter flickering into the red. Armstrong’s famous drawl, a faux-British snark, gave every song a special flavour, especially on tracks such as ‘Journey To The End Of The East Bay’.
For all the punk grit that was on the album, there were without a doubt a few pop-inspired moments. Three songs from the album charted in the US; ‘Roots Radicals, ‘Time Bomb’ and ‘Ruby Soho’. These songs were part of a movement that combined pop elements into punk ideas to smash into the mainstream. ‘Ruby Soho’, in particular, is an undeniably catchy jam that helped propel Rancid onto MTV alongside their SoCal brethren The Offspring and Green Day.
Even today, Rancid remain one of the most popular punk bands in the world. They’ve been writing and touring for well over two decades now, only taking a small hiatus in the mid-2000s, and most recently releasing Honor Is All We Know in 2013.
And as we light the birthday candles to celebrate …And Out Come The Wolves‘ 20th anniversary, we spare a moment to realise that in three short years Australia will be celebrating 20 years since Rancid last visited our shores. Come on dudes, share the love.
