"Why Rancid Does Not Suck" by Steven Porter
Ever since the days of Operation Ivy, fans
of ska/punk have been enthralled by the music legends contained in that
memorable band. I myself cannot understand how those that call themselves
fans of Operation Ivy, can come right out and say that they hate Rancid.
Before I delve deeper into this mystery, a little background information:
Operation Ivy was a pioneer ska/punk band in the 80's from California.
They successfully merged the sounds of ska and punk into their great music.
As they began to sell out clubs and their popularity grew, Operation Ivy
decided to call it quits before they got too big in hopes of keeping the
music true and not getting all sorts of business aspects to ruin their
image. The original members of Operation Ivy were Jesse, Lint/Tim Armstrong
(two names, one hell of a guy), Matt McCall (later, Matt Freeman), and
Dave Mello. These guys later formed other bands: Jesse went on to put out
a 7" with his band Big Rig before disappearing (rumors are that he
is now in a monastery somewhere after working in the Peace Core), Tim and
Matt Freeman went on to start Rancid with new drummer Brett Reed, and Dave
Mello went on to form Schlong. Now the way I see it, Rancid is definitely
a different sound from Operation Ivy. Rancid's first self-titled album
was a lot harder than most OpIvy stuff, but even most of the "hard
core punks" who now denounce Rancid for having "sold out"
(another term I can't understand) still liked this stuff. As Rancid began
to pick up a number of fans and moved to Epitaph, these so called "hard
core punks" started screaming bloody murder. They accused Rancid of
selling out as Rancid's second and third albums "Let's Go!" and
"...And Out Come the Wolves" actually began to sell a few copies.
These new albums led to a different sound for Rancid. Their latest really
reminds me of the Operation Ivy stuff due to the more upbeat feel and less
grating sound that their self-titled album brought out.Rancid's amazing
bass lines worked out by Matt Freeman and catchy guitar riffs now mainly
worked on by the newest member of Rancid, Lars Frederiksen (came to the
band to record "Let's Go!") of the U.K. Subs, really impress
me as sheer talent. If you can listen to the bass in most of their songs
(it is pretty prominent), you can hear the quickness of Freeman's hands
as he walks up and down the neck,never taking the easy way out to just
follow the guitar.The appeal of Rancid (to me) is through their hard, but
not harsh sounding music. Their first album is almost all punk, but there
is not a song on it that I can think of that is in any way, shape, or form
bad. The second album was more of a transition with the addition of Lars
into the group. Though it is my least favorite due to the few songs I do
not like, it still has some great tunes on it. Their newest really opened
up my eyes. Rancid continues to evolve in style and is growing into an
even better band. Those that call them sell outs have to realize that Epitaph
is still not a major label like Sony and that Tim was so poor at one point,
he had to live in a homeless shelter and work for the Salvation Army.