This usually calm, silent, least exposed member of the band posseses an almost mystical presence of power and otherworldly coolness, and not too surprisingly, a bag of Chuck Norris facts type legends are known about him...
According to one of them, Greg K. is so badass, when he moves side to side playing the bass guitar, it's actually his bass trembling with fear - weezly.
Another states that, while many people consider Beheaded to be the only joke song off their self-titled album, in reality, the lyrics are based on real events that occur when Greg K. has a bad day - bighead384.
What I've heard is that circa 1982, a teenage Greg managed to accidentally hook and land a one ton mako shark at the coast of Huntington Beach, using only his bare fists and an acoustic D string. The animal's jaws can bee seen on the drumset of this classic video:
Story goes, Greg met guitarist/vocalist Bryan 'Dexter' Holland in their school's cross-country running team and they got the idea of forming their own band after they couldn't get into a Social Distortion show. The formation was then called Manic Subsidal (it may sound somewhat familiar if you are reading this blog), and its most well-known line-up consisted of Dexter, Greg, drummer/soon-to-be-gynecologist James Lilja, and Kevin 'Noodles' Wasserman, a school janitor, who could lend the guys an amp and was old enough to buy them some booze. Oh yeah, he could also play the guitar.
Ron Welty, then only 16 years old relieved James in 1987, and remained the band's drummer until 2003.
A handful of recordings are known from this early era. The most famous demo collection is the recently discovered 6 song tape from 1986 - the very same year they changed their name to The Offspring. Thanks to some heartful fans, the whole thing - among 3 remastered songs - can be downloaded from TheOffspringSite.com.
My $0.2, as promised:
The Offspring - 6 Songs Tape (1986)
- Blackball: You may have heard the final version of this song (as appeared on their 1989 self-titled album) in the video game Tony Hawk's Pro-Skater 4. Almost identical chord progression and lyrics, although Dexter sounds less controlled here, and the background shouts of the chorus are not half that powerful. Got garage band quality written all over it, but still a very listenable demo.
- Tonight I Do: Starts out with When Johnny Comes Marching Home, the same song that was used as the recurring motif in the movie Dr. Strangelove, too. (Maybe after 20-odd years this tune will re-appear as Slim Pickens?). Anti-war, or more like anti-army truck, like a good chunk of their early music. Pretty fast stuff with a moderate breakdown that sounds like a sarcastic poem.
- Call It Religion: Or call it bullshit. You can't have a punk band without a rocking anti-religion song. Sadly, most of the statements are shouted instead of sang and almost half the track is actually the breakdown and solo. Dexter's voice foreshadows his older self the most here, when it cuts out at the my sins, my sins, my! part.
- Ballroom Blitz: Cover of the classic Sweet song with altered lyrics. The guys' discussion during the intro is priceless.
- Halloween: Freakin' great stuff! It could be probably labeled as proto-grunge, and the sound of Ignition, most notably Dirty Magic is deeply coded into this track's DNA. They are finally holding back the speed a little, and it still ends up as a highly energetic song with some killer riffs (0:36 is a distorted eargasm right there), and that evil sounding side of Dex makes an amazing entrance. I'd kill to hear a good quality version of this one.
- Fire and Ice: This is an early version of I'll Be Waiting, one of the best pieces from the self-titled record. In comparison it's a lot slower and has the breakdown from Beheaded (another S/T song) as the intro. It makes for a great opening, but ultimately I dig the final version a lot more. Still, just like the Blackball demo, it is still very listenable.
Next time... we're chestbursting as a Gigerian rock creature! Stay tuned.
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