Rancid's music recreates the world of late-70's punk the way a Southern preservation society might recreate a Civil War battle - not literally, but with disparate pieces blurred together by memory and longing. When the lights go down in the Horticulture Building, fans squeeze in like ears of corn - fans who have driven from Wyoming, Idaho and all parts of Utah. Rancid has found its own crossroads, the X where punk rock and the mass audience meet. Now Rancid is playing a sold-out show in Salt Lake City, its bus parked beside a marker commemorating where the Donner Party crossed the Jordan River. The band has been away, touring Europe while the new record was released. But maybe if you go away for a few months and then come back. Think about it: you never see your friend get fat. "It's like being in the eye of the tornado, everything's gradual. He smacks a fresh pack of Winstons so hard that when he pulls one out, the cigarette is bent like a nail. "Personally, I try not to think of it too much," says Matt Freeman. Even though the musicians stayed at the label where they were comfortable, the pressure continued to grow. The band re-signed with Epitaph, which released Rancid's new ". At the peak of the bidding war, Rancid turned them both down. Madonna started coming to Rancid shows, and sent a naked photograph of herself, pleading with the band to sign with her label instead of Epic, which offered a deal worth $1.5 million. By the end of last year Green Day's "Dookie" had sold an estimated eight million and the Offspring's "Smash" five million. Rancid's original fans loved the music because it shot away from the mainstream, but the new punk has been devouring the mainstream. Today's punk is having one of the same problems as grunge - the curse of its own popularity. Today's punkers have returned class identity to pop radio they talk about the disenfranchised nobility of "the kids" the way Woody Guthrie once talked about the farmer. Its attitude is me-against-the-world, not punk's us-versus-them. Grunge is noisier, darker, less catchy and far less political than the music that Rancid and Green Day are making. But this punk is different from grunge too. It's still hopping mad, and radiates the hostility that made grunge a household word. But punk in the age of Rancid, Green Day, the Offspring and the flood of bands now signed to major labels is as tuneful as anything on the radio. Punk wanted to smash things up - the idea of a hit record, of the pop star, of the record business.īack then, punk's anger had the ability to shock even its own fans. It chewed up melodies, scoffed at arrangements. Back in 1977, British punk was a working-class music that with a few chords and a lot of volume tried to disassemble the pop tune. Punk became the answer, or rather the answer again, the next logical step for kids looking for a little more rebellion in their music. Record company executives called the music alternative, but with groups like Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Soundgarden selling millions of records, the question was, alternative to what? They became local heroes.Īround the same time, Seattle grunge, a new strain of hard rock with a sound reminiscent of late-70's punk, was sweeping the country with a little help from MTV and the summer Lollapalooza tours. They toured in one ratty Econoline van or another. They made two records for the Los Angeles-based independent label Epitaph. They started four and a half years ago, Bay Area homeboys with absolutely no ambition but to hang together as friends and punk rock fans. The latter seems to be the case with Rancid. Some bands achieve hugeness others stumble off the bus only to find it thrust upon them. Ten minutes and four Green Day songs have passed, and four punk action figures go to battle: Frederiksen and Armstrong wear bondage pants and combat boots the bassist, Matt Freeman, 29, is in all black, and the drummer, Brett Reed, 23, looks like a tattooed Ed Norton. "That's the punk rocker's secret."įrederiksen stands back and admires his handiwork - a crown that could pop balloons. "But the best is Knox gelatin," says Armstrong sub rosa. "Ultimate Hold, the poor man's quick fix," boasts Frederiksen. Then he bakes the whole thing with a hair dryer.
Frederiksen deftly divides the crest of hair into six spikes, twisting each to a point and dousing it with Aqua Net Ultimate Hold. He shaves the sides of his head every other day so they shine. Armstrong's color of choice is Midnight Blue, the brand Manic Panic.
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