When The Offspring released Smash in 1994, the band was still on Epitaph, an independent punk label. Nobody treated the record as if a worldwide hit was about to happen.
Producer Thom Wilson did think it could become bigger than earlier Epitaph releases. He estimated that perhaps 150,000 copies might sell. Even the band thought that sounded exaggerated.
“You gotta keep ’em separated”
The real breakthrough came with Come Out and Play. According to Wilson, the song only truly came into focus when the spoken line “you gotta keep ’em separated” was added late in the recording process. Self Esteem and Gotta Get Away followed.
What happened next no longer fit the scale of a small punk release. Smash sold millions and became one of the most successful albums ever released through an independent label.
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