Guess what? The Offspring just left Epitaph and things got pretty dramatic between them and Brett. Brett now regrets all the negative things he said in the press after The Offspring left. He realizes he shouldn’t have taken it personally when they signed with Columbia. The tension between them was all about whether Brett wanted to sell the record or the label. Brett claims he never wanted to sell, but The Offspring disagrees. They think he did. Brett used to love Smash and called it a “very good record.” But just one week after Ixnay on the Hombre was released (which wasn’t on Epitaph), Brett called it “uninspired derivative pablum” and asked if anyone actually liked it. He even said that the new Offspring record had no originality and sounded like other bands. Greg thinks The Offspring got so big because Bad Religion left Epitaph and the label could focus on them. But Brett disagrees and thinks it’s ironic that The Offspring blew up right after Bad Religion left. The Offspring leaving Epitaph also influenced Brett’s decision to leave Bad Religion. In 1999, Bad Religion was supposed to play with The Offspring in Argentina, but it didn’t happen. Contrary to rumors, it wasn’t because The Offspring wanted to be the headliners. It was because the promoter asked Bad Religion to play without telling The Offspring, and Dexter had invited the Vandals to play too. Dexter was upset because he had made a commitment to the Vandals, and they wanted them on the bill as direct support. It’s funny because someone from NME said Bad Religion ripped off The Offspring and should be sued by them. Bobby and Jay were asked what bands influenced Bad Religion, and they jokingly said The Offspring because they saw them live in 1980 and stole all their stuff. “All I Want” was originally a Bad Religion song called “Protocol” with complex lyrics. Dexter wanted to show it to Brett, but he was told to play it on acoustic later. Dexter felt rejected and rewrote the song. The chorus of “Protocol” was “Your backs to the wall, that’s protocol, it’s sequestering your spirit, misleading us all.”
This content was originally written by the badass contributors of thebrpage.net, the best superfan resource and website that exists for any band, let alone the best band in the whole entire world. I’ve been lurking on that site for over 20 years and if you’re into Bad Religion as much as I am, I’m sure you’re familiar. If you are not, go there right now and never come back to this site again. You should, and I totally understand.
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