...And Out Come the Wolves
Encyclopedia
…And Out Come the Wolves is the third studio album by the American punk rock
band Rancid
. It was released on August 22, 1995 through Epitaph Records
. Rancid's popularity and catchy songs made them the subject of a major label bidding war (hence the title, ...And Out Come the Wolves taken from a poem in Jim Carroll's Basketball Diaries) that ended with the band staying on Epitaph. With a sound heavily influenced by ska
, which called to mind Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman's past in Operation Ivy
, Rancid became one of the few bands of the mid-to late-1990s boom in punk rock to retain much of its original fanbase. In terms of record sales and certifications, …And Out Come the Wolves is a popular album in the United States. It produced three hit singles: "Roots Radicals
", "Time Bomb" and "Ruby Soho
", that earned Rancid its heaviest airplay on MTV
and radio stations to date. All the singles charted on Modern Rock Tracks. …And Out Come the Wolves was certified gold by the RIAA
on January 22, 1996. It was certified platinum on September 23, 2004.
Along with Bad Religion
's Stranger than Fiction
, Green Day
's Dookie
and The Offspring
's Smash, ...And Out Come the Wolves helped revive mainstream popular interest in punk rock in the mid-1990s, signaled the initial rise of mainstream punk rock, and proved to be a massive success for the band, making them possibly the most popular American punk rock band to be signed onto an independent record label. Since 2004, the album has continued to sell millions of digital copies.
in 1991. They signed to Epitaph Records
(founded by Bad Religion
guitarist Brett Gurewitz
) in 1992 and released their eponymous debut album, Rancid
, a year later to rave reviews. While Rancid was already writing another album, Green Day
's Billie Joe Armstrong
, one of the band's friends, joined them to co-write the song "Radio". This led to him playing a live show with the band, and Rancid frontman Tim Armstrong
eventually asked him 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 the band. Rancid's second album, Let's Go, was released in 1994 to unexpected success and acclaim. After the release of Green Day's Dookie
and The Offspring
's Smash later that year, Rancid was pursued by several major labels, including Madonna
's Maverick Records
, but eventually turned them down. They decided to stay on Epitaph and soon began recording a follow-up album.
in Berkeley, California
(where Let's Go was recorded), but also at the famous Electric Lady Studios
(built by the late Jimi Hendrix
) in New York City. This is the first time Rancid recorded an album at more than one studio. Jerry Finn
reprised his role as the album's producer.
album chart. Five months after its release, the album was certified gold.
The album received positive reviews, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic described the album as having "classic moments of revivalist punk". Erlewine praised the music and claims the album "doesn't mark an isolationist retreat into didactic, defiantly underground punk rock". The album received a rating of four and a half out of five stars, while "Time Bomb," "Ruby Soho" and "Roots Radicals" earned Rancid its heaviest airplay on MTV
and radio stations to date.
, a landmark hardcore punk
band, that originally used the image of Alec MacKaye (brother of the band's lead singer Ian MacKaye
) with his head on his knees on steps of the "Dischord House" on their eponymous EP.
Singles – Billboard (North America)
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band Rancid
Rancid (band)
Rancid is an American punk rock band formed in Berkeley, California in 1991. Founded by Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman, both of whom previously played in the ska punk band Operation Ivy, Rancid is credited—along with Green Day and The Offspring—for reviving mainstream interest in punk rock in the...
. It was released on August 22, 1995 through Epitaph Records
Epitaph Records
Epitaph Records is a Hollywood, California based independent record label owned by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. The label was originally "just a logo and a P.O. box" created in the 1980s for the purpose of selling Bad Religion records, but has evolved into a large independent record...
. Rancid's popularity and catchy songs made them the subject of a major label bidding war (hence the title, ...And Out Come the Wolves taken from a poem in Jim Carroll's Basketball Diaries) that ended with the band staying on Epitaph. With a sound heavily influenced by ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
, which called to mind Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman's past in Operation Ivy
Operation Ivy (band)
Operation Ivy was an American ska punk band that formed in Berkeley, California, and was often credited with spurring the 1990s punk revival in California. It is well-known as one of the first bands to "mix" hardcore punk with elements of ska, known as ska-core...
, Rancid became one of the few bands of the mid-to late-1990s boom in punk rock to retain much of its original fanbase. In terms of record sales and certifications, …And Out Come the Wolves is a popular album in the United States. It produced three hit singles: "Roots Radicals
Roots Radicals
"Roots Radicals" is a song by the American punk rock band Rancid. It was released as the first single from its third album, ...And Out Come the Wolves. The song reached number 27 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks. The b-side, "I Wanna Riot" was originally featured on the Epitaph Records...
", "Time Bomb" and "Ruby Soho
Ruby Soho
"Ruby Soho" is a song by the American punk rock band Rancid. It was released as the third and final single from its third album, ...And Out Come the Wolves...
", that earned Rancid its heaviest airplay on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
and radio stations to date. All the singles charted on Modern Rock Tracks. …And Out Come the Wolves was certified gold by the RIAA
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
on January 22, 1996. It was certified platinum on September 23, 2004.
Along with Bad Religion
Bad Religion
Bad Religion is a punk rock band that formed in Los Angeles in 1979. Their current line-up consists of Greg Graffin , Brett Gurewitz , Jay Bentley , Greg Hetson , Brian Baker and Brooks Wackerman . Gurewitz is also the founder of the label Epitaph Records, which has released almost all of the...
's Stranger than Fiction
Stranger than Fiction (Bad Religion album)
Stranger than Fiction is the eighth full-length studio album by Bad Religion, released in 1994...
, Green Day
Green Day
Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool...
's Dookie
Dookie
Dookie is the third studio album by the American punk rock band Green Day. It was released on February 1, 1994 through Reprise Records. It was the band's first collaboration with producer Rob Cavallo and its major record label debut. Dookie became a worldwide commercial success, peaking at number...
and The Offspring
The Offspring
The Offspring is an American punk rock band from Huntington Beach, California, formed in 1984. Known as Manic Subsidal until 1986, the band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Dexter Holland, lead guitarist Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman, bassist Greg K. and drummer Pete Parada...
's Smash, ...And Out Come the Wolves helped revive mainstream popular interest in punk rock in the mid-1990s, signaled the initial rise of mainstream punk rock, and proved to be a massive success for the band, making them possibly the most popular American punk rock band to be signed onto an independent record label. Since 2004, the album has continued to sell millions of digital copies.
Background
Rancid formed in Albany, CaliforniaAlbany, California
Albany is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. The population was 18,539 at the 2010 census.-History:In 1908, a group of local women protested the dumping of Berkeley garbage in their community...
in 1991. They signed to Epitaph Records
Epitaph Records
Epitaph Records is a Hollywood, California based independent record label owned by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. The label was originally "just a logo and a P.O. box" created in the 1980s for the purpose of selling Bad Religion records, but has evolved into a large independent record...
(founded by Bad Religion
Bad Religion
Bad Religion is a punk rock band that formed in Los Angeles in 1979. Their current line-up consists of Greg Graffin , Brett Gurewitz , Jay Bentley , Greg Hetson , Brian Baker and Brooks Wackerman . Gurewitz is also the founder of the label Epitaph Records, which has released almost all of the...
guitarist Brett Gurewitz
Brett Gurewitz
Brett W. Gurewitz , nicknamed Mr. Brett, is the guitarist and a songwriter of Bad Religion. He is also the owner of the music label Epitaph Records and sister-labels ANTI-, Burning Heart Records, Fat Possum Records, and Hellcat Records...
) in 1992 and released their eponymous debut album, Rancid
Rancid (1993 album)
Mike DaRonco of Allmusic stated "This is where it all starts. Without any reminiscing about their former band, Operation Ivy, Matt Freeman and Tim Armstrong blast through their debut without any hints of ska or blatant Clash plagiarizing...
, a year later to rave reviews. While Rancid was already writing another album, Green Day
Green Day
Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool...
's Billie Joe Armstrong
Billie Joe Armstrong
Billie Joe Armstrong is an American rock musician and occasional actor, best known as the lead vocalist, main songwriter and lead guitarist for the American punk rock band Green Day...
, one of the band's friends, joined them to co-write the song "Radio". This led to him playing a live show with the band, and Rancid frontman Tim Armstrong
Tim Armstrong
Timothy Lockwood Armstrong is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, best known for his work with punk rock bands Rancid, Operation Ivy, Downfall, and the Transplants. He is also the owner and operator of Hellcat Records.-Personal life:Armstrong was born November 25, 1965 and was...
eventually asked him to become a member of the band, but he decided to continue playing in Green Day. Armstrong had previously asked Lars Frederiksen
Lars Frederiksen
Lars Erik Frederiksen is an American guitarist and vocalist, most notably for the punk rock band Rancid, and as the frontman of Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards and The Old Firm Casuals. He was also briefly a member of the UK Subs in 1991...
to be Rancid's second guitarist, but he turned down the request. After Billie Joe declined, Frederiksen changed his mind and decided to join the band. Rancid's second album, Let's Go, was released in 1994 to unexpected success and acclaim. After the release of Green Day's Dookie
Dookie
Dookie is the third studio album by the American punk rock band Green Day. It was released on February 1, 1994 through Reprise Records. It was the band's first collaboration with producer Rob Cavallo and its major record label debut. Dookie became a worldwide commercial success, peaking at number...
and The Offspring
The Offspring
The Offspring is an American punk rock band from Huntington Beach, California, formed in 1984. Known as Manic Subsidal until 1986, the band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Dexter Holland, lead guitarist Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman, bassist Greg K. and drummer Pete Parada...
's Smash later that year, Rancid was pursued by several major labels, including Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
's Maverick Records
Maverick Records
Maverick Recording Company is an American record label owned and operated by Warner Music Group, and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Company history:...
, but eventually turned them down. They decided to stay on Epitaph and soon began recording a follow-up album.
Recording and production
...And Out Come the Wolves was recorded mainly between February and May 1995. The recording took place at not only Fantasy StudiosFantasy Studios
Fantasy Studios is a recording studio in Berkeley, California at the Zaentz Media Center, known for its recording of award-winning albums such as Journey's Escape and Green Day's Dookie. Built as a private recording studio for artists on the Fantasy Records label in 1971, it was opened to the...
in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
(where Let's Go was recorded), but also at the famous Electric Lady Studios
Electric Lady Studios
Electric Lady Studios, at 52 West 8th Street, in New York City's Greenwich Village, is a recording studio originally built by Jimi Hendrix and designed by John Storyk in 1970...
(built by the late Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
) in New York City. This is the first time Rancid recorded an album at more than one studio. Jerry Finn
Jerry Finn
Jerry Finn was an American record producer. He was perhaps best known for his work with Blink-182, as well as Morrissey, AFI, Bad Religion, Alkaline Trio, MxPx, Rancid, Green Day, Sum 41 and The Offspring.-Death:...
reprised his role as the album's producer.
Release and reception
...And Out Come the Wolves was released on August 22, 1995 and peaked at number 45 on the Billboard 200Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
album chart. Five months after its release, the album was certified gold.
The album received positive reviews, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic described the album as having "classic moments of revivalist punk". Erlewine praised the music and claims the album "doesn't mark an isolationist retreat into didactic, defiantly underground punk rock". The album received a rating of four and a half out of five stars, while "Time Bomb," "Ruby Soho" and "Roots Radicals" earned Rancid its heaviest airplay on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
and radio stations to date.
Artwork
The cover art is a tribute to Minor ThreatMinor Threat
Minor Threat was an American hardcore punk band formed in Washington, D.C. in 1980 and disbanded in 1983. The band was relatively short-lived, but had a strong influence on the hardcore punk music scene, both stylistically and in establishing a "do it yourself" ethic for music distribution and...
, a landmark hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
band, that originally used the image of Alec MacKaye (brother of the band's lead singer Ian MacKaye
Ian MacKaye
Ian Thomas Garner MacKaye is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, musician, label owner, and producer. Active since 1979, MacKaye is best known for being the frontman of the influential hardcore punk bands Minor Threat and The Teen Idles, the post-hardcore bands Embrace and Fugazi, as well...
) with his head on his knees on steps of the "Dischord House" on their eponymous EP.
Track listing
Personnel
- Tim ArmstrongTim ArmstrongTimothy Lockwood Armstrong is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, best known for his work with punk rock bands Rancid, Operation Ivy, Downfall, and the Transplants. He is also the owner and operator of Hellcat Records.-Personal life:Armstrong was born November 25, 1965 and was...
– vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with... - Lars FrederiksenLars FrederiksenLars Erik Frederiksen is an American guitarist and vocalist, most notably for the punk rock band Rancid, and as the frontman of Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards and The Old Firm Casuals. He was also briefly a member of the UK Subs in 1991...
– guitar, vocals - Matt FreemanMatt FreemanMatthew "McCall" Freeman is an American musician. He is best known for his bass guitar work with the punk rock bands Operation Ivy, Rancid and as the frontman of Devil's Brigade.-Playing style:...
– bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, backing vocalsBacking vocalistA backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists... - Brett Reed – drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
- Bashiri Johnson – percussion
- DJ Disk – scratching
- Paul Jackson – hammond organ
- Vic RuggieroVic RuggieroVictor "Vic" Ruggiero, is a musician, songwriter and producer from New York City who has played in many ska bands, such as The Slackers, Stubborn All-Stars, SKAndalous All Stars, Crazy Baldhead and The Silencers...
– organ on track 4 - Brett GurewitzBrett GurewitzBrett W. Gurewitz , nicknamed Mr. Brett, is the guitarist and a songwriter of Bad Religion. He is also the owner of the music label Epitaph Records and sister-labels ANTI-, Burning Heart Records, Fat Possum Records, and Hellcat Records...
– engineer - Jim CarrollJim CarrollJames Dennis "Jim" Carroll was an author, poet, autobiographer, and punk musician. Carroll was best known for his 1978 autobiographical work The Basketball Diaries, which was made into the 1995 film of the same name, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Carroll.-Biography:Carroll was born to a...
– vocals on track 7 - Joe Pirrera – assistant engineer
- Michael Rosen – engineer
- Steve Sisco – assistant engineer
- Andy WallaceAndy Wallace (producer)Andy Wallace is a Grammy Award-winning music studio engineer with a long track record of successful productions, beginning with the 1986 production of the Run-DMC/Aerosmith collaboration on "Walk This Way" with Rick Rubin...
– mixing - Howie Weinberg – mastering
- Jerry FinnJerry FinnJerry Finn was an American record producer. He was perhaps best known for his work with Blink-182, as well as Morrissey, AFI, Bad Religion, Alkaline Trio, MxPx, Rancid, Green Day, Sum 41 and The Offspring.-Death:...
– producer, mixing - Lars Frederiksen – cover art, cover photo
- Jesse Fischer – artwork, photography
- Frank Rinella – assistant engineer
- Mike Fasano – technician
Chart positions
Album – Billboard (North America)| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
45 |
Singles – Billboard (North America)
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | "Roots Radicals" | Modern Rock Tracks | 27 |
| 1995 | "Time Bomb" | Modern Rock Tracks | 8 |
| 1995 | "Ruby Soho Ruby Soho "Ruby Soho" is a song by the American punk rock band Rancid. It was released as the third and final single from its third album, ...And Out Come the Wolves... " |
Modern Rock Tracks | 13 |