Biography
Rancid were formed in 1991 by vocalist and guitarist Tim Armstrong and bassist Matt Freeman, who then recruited drummer Brett Reed. The band signed to Lookout! Records, and released its first EP, Rancid, in 1992. Later that year, they signed to Epitaph Records (a label owned by then-former and now-current Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz) and released their self-titled debut album in 1993. While Rancid was writing a second album, Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong, a friend of the band, joined them to co-write the song "Radio". This led to him playing a live show with the band. Armstrong eventually asked Billie Joe to become a member of the band, but he decided to continue playing in Green Day. Armstrong had previously asked Lars Frederiksen to be Rancid's second guitarist, but he turned down the request. After Billie Joe declined, Frederiksen changed his mind and decided to join Rancid, making them a four piece.
Frederiksen was present on Rancid's second album, Let's Go, which was released in 1994 and spawned the radio hit "Salvation", which reached number 21 on the modern rock charts. Its U.S. release date, June 14, 1994, was also Freeman's 28th birthday. That year their label-mates, The Offspring, experienced a huge success with their album Smash. The Offspring took Rancid on tour with them, and helped Let's Go make it to number 97 on Billboard's Heatseekers and Billboard 200 charts, respectively. With the success of the album Rancid were pursued by several major labels, including Madonna's Maverick Records, but the band eventually turned down the idea of signing to a different label and decided to just stay on Epitaph.
In August 1995, Rancid released their third album, ...And Out Come the Wolves. The critically acclaimed album, also the band's most successful, debuted at number 45 on the Billboard 200, produced three singles, "Roots Radicals", "Time Bomb", and "Ruby Soho", which all charted on the North American Billboard Modern Rock Tracks, and the band performed two of these songs on Saturday Night Live. ...And Out Come the Wolves has continued to sell consistently well in the sixteen years since its release, and on January 22, 1996 was certified gold by the RIAA. It was also certified platinum on September 23, 2004.
In 1998, Rancid returned to the scene with their fourth album, Life Won't Wait. That album branched out from Rancid's previous musical styles, and combined punk rock with elements of roots reggae, rockabilly, dub, hip-hop, and funk. Due to this it was often compared to The Clash's Sandinista!. Although not as successful as ...And Out Come the Wolves, Life Won't Wait peaked at number 35 on the Billboard 200 album chart, the highest position the band had attained at the time. After its release, Rancid moved to Armstrong's vanity label (and subsidiary of Epitaph) Hellcat Records. That label would release their next album, 2000's Rancid (Skull Cover), which was not as successful as Rancid's previous three releases, but is considered the band's most hardcore offering to date, which was released as a follow up to the more ska and reggae oriented Life Won't Wait.
After the release of the Rancid (2000) album, Rancid went on hiatus while members were involved in their own projects. Frederiksen released a self-titled album with Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards in 2001 and Armstrong released an album with the Transplants a year later. Rancid released their sixth studio album, Indestructible, in August 2003, which featured the hit song "Fall Back Down", and peaked at number 15, marking the highest initial charting album in Rancid's career. After the release of that album, Rancid went on hiatus again when all members decided to continue working on their projects.
After no activity at all in most of 2004 and 2005, Rancid reunited in 2006 to embark on a successful tour and played several acoustic sets as part of Hellcat Records' Hellcat Nights concert series at The Echo before Reed quit the band later that year. He was replaced by former Used drummer Branden Steineckert. Rancid released their long-awaited seventh studio album, Let the Dominoes Fall, on June 2, 2009 and was their first album of new material in six years.
Read more about this topic: Rancid Discography
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