1.
Conyers, Georgia
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Conyers is the only city in Rockdale County, Georgia, United States. It is twenty-four miles east of Atlanta, as of the 2010 census, the city population was 15,195. The city is the county seat of Rockdale County, the formerly separate town of Milstead is now part of Conyers. Before European settlement, the area which is now Conyers, along with the county of Rockdale, was occupied by mound-building Native Americans. As time progressed, the Muscogee and Cherokee natives shared a common border here and this border was known as the Great Indian Road, and is known now as the Hightower Trail. This trail was used by white settlers following the American Revolution, between 1816 and 1821, the area known as Rockdale was open for settlement. John Holcomb, a blacksmith, was the first settler in what is now Conyers and he settled where the current Rockdale County Courthouse is located, in the middle of Conyers on Main Street. Eventually, there was pressure for a railroad to cross Georgia, John Holcomb was against the railroad and refused to sell his land, and threatened to shoot anyone from the railroad who came onto his property. Dr. W. D. Conyers, a banker from Covington, Dr. Conyers then sold the land to the Georgia Railroad. What is now Conyers began as a watering post along this line, by 1845, the railroad was in full operation. By 1854, nearly 400 residents lived around the watering post, Conyers has been nearly destroyed several times by fire. It is said that it survived Shermans March to the Sea thanks to a friend of Shermans who lived in the area between Conyers and Covington, the story goes that the houses were spared because Sherman was uncertain where his friend lived. In 1870, the area was incorporated into Rockdale County out of Newton County, Georgia. Over the next decade, Conyers grew into a wild town and it had twelve saloons and five brothels. The more reputable side of the town had 40 stores, Conyers College, a hotel, the Conyers post office contains a mural, The Ploughman, painted in 1940 by Elizabeth Terrell. Murals were produced from 1934 to 1943 in the United States through the Section of Painting and Sculpture, later called the Section of Fine Arts, the WPA was the largest and most ambitious American New Deal agency, employing individuals to carry out public works projects. Conyers was also home to sidewalk churches, along Main Street grew First Methodist, Conyers Presbyterian, and First Baptist. It is said that at point the congregants persuaded the brothels and saloons to close and leave Conyers for Covington
2.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
3.
Atlanta
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Atlanta is the capital of and the most populous city in the U. S. state of Georgia, with an estimated 2015 population of 463,878. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, home to 5,710,795 people, Atlanta is the county seat of Fulton County, and a small portion of the city extends eastward into DeKalb County. In 1837, Atlanta was founded at the intersection of two lines, and the city rose from the ashes of the American Civil War to become a national center of commerce. Atlantas economy is considered diverse, with dominant sectors that include logistics, professional and business services, media operations, Atlanta has topographic features that include rolling hills and dense tree coverage. Revitalization of Atlantas neighborhoods, initially spurred by the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, has intensified in the 21st century, altering the demographics, politics. Prior to the arrival of European settlers in north Georgia, Creek Indians inhabited the area, standing Peachtree, a Creek village located where Peachtree Creek flows into the Chattahoochee River, was the closest Indian settlement to what is now Atlanta. As part of the removal of Native Americans from northern Georgia from 1802 to 1825, the Creek ceded the area in 1821. In 1836, the Georgia General Assembly voted to build the Western, the initial route was to run southward from Chattanooga to a terminus east of the Chattahoochee River, which would then be linked to Savannah. After engineers surveyed various possible locations for the terminus, the zero milepost was driven into the ground in what is now Five Points. A year later, the area around the milepost had developed into a settlement, first known as Terminus, and later as Thrasherville after a merchant who built homes. By 1842, the town had six buildings and 30 residents and was renamed Marthasville to honor the Governors daughter, later, J. Edgar Thomson, Chief Engineer of the Georgia Railroad, suggested the town be renamed Atlantica-Pacifica, which was shortened to Atlanta. The residents approved, and the town was incorporated as Atlanta on December 29,1847, by 1860, Atlantas population had grown to 9,554. During the American Civil War, the nexus of multiple railroads in Atlanta made the city a hub for the distribution of military supplies, in 1864, the Union Army moved southward following the capture of Chattanooga and began its invasion of north Georgia. On the next day, Mayor James Calhoun surrendered Atlanta to the Union Army, on November 11,1864, Sherman prepared for the Union Armys March to the Sea by ordering Atlanta to be burned to the ground, sparing only the citys churches and hospitals. After the Civil War ended in 1865, Atlanta was gradually rebuilt, due to the citys superior rail transportation network, the state capital was moved from Milledgeville to Atlanta in 1868. In the 1880 Census, Atlanta surpassed Savannah as Georgias largest city, by 1885, the founding of the Georgia School of Technology and the citys black colleges had established Atlanta as a center for higher education. In 1895, Atlanta hosted the Cotton States and International Exposition, during the first decades of the 20th century, Atlanta experienced a period of unprecedented growth. In three decades time, Atlantas population tripled as the city expanded to include nearby streetcar suburbs
4.
Interstate 20
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Interstate 20 is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the Southern United States. I‑20 runs 1,535 miles beginning near Kent, Texas, at I-10 to Florence, South Carolina, between Texas and South Carolina, I‑20 runs through northern Louisiana, central Mississippi, western and north-central Alabama, and north-central Georgia. I‑20 intersects seven of the ten primary north–south Interstates and also the east-west Interstates 10 and 30, from its terminus at I‑95, the highway continues about 2 miles eastward into the city of Florence as Business Spur 20. I-20 begins 10 miles east of Kent at a fork with I-10, from there, the highway travels east-northeastward through Odessa, Midland, and Abilene before turning eastward towards Dallas/Fort Worth. The La Entrada al Pacifico corridor runs along I-20 between U. S. Route 385 and Farm to Market Road 1788, between Monahans and I-10, I-20 has an 80 miles per hour speed limit. From the highways opening in the 1960s through 1971, I-20 originally went through the heart of the Metroplex via the Dallas-Fort Worth Turnpike and this old route is now signed I-30, US80 and Texas Spur 557. In 1987, I-20 was rerouted to go through the sections of Fort Worth, Arlington, Grand Prairie, Dallas. Part of I-20 in Dallas is named the Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway, I-20 continues eastward from Terrell, bypassing Tyler, Marshall, and Longview, before crossing the Louisiana border near Waskom. In Louisiana, I-20 roughly parallels U. S. Route 80 through the part of the state. From that area, the highway traverses rural, hilly terrain, bypassing Minden, Ruston. From Monroe, I-20 enters flatter terrain as it approaches the Mississippi River, before crossing the Mississippi, the highway passes Tallulah. At the Mississippi River, I-20 leaves Louisiana and enters Vicksburg, upon entering Mississippi by crossing the Mississippi River, I-20 immediately enters Vicksburg. Between Edwards and Clinton, the highway follows the original two-lane routing of US80. In Jackson, I-20 sees a short concurrency with both I-55 and US49, also in Jackson is an unusually expansive stack interchange, at the junction of I-20, I-55 North and US49 South. The interchange replaces a former interchange at I-55 North and a cloverleaf at Highway 49. From the Stack, I-20 continues eastward to Meridian, where it begins the nearly 160-mile overlap with I-59, the route of the Mississippi section of I-20 is defined in Mississippi Code § 65-3-3. I-20 crosses the Alabama state line near York, and it stays conjoined as it passes through western Alabama, at Birmingham, the two highways pass through downtown together before splitting at Exit 130 just east of the Birmingham airport. I-20 continues eastward through Oxford/Anniston, Alabama, and the Talladega National Forest, passing by the Talladega Superspeedway in the process, I-20 enters Georgia near Tallapoosa and after passing through western Georgia, it enters the Atlanta metropolitan area
5.
1996 Summer Olympics
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A record 197 nations, all current IOC member nations, took part in the Games, comprising 10,318 athletes. The 1996 Summer Games were the first to be staged in a different year from the Winter Games, Atlanta became the fifth American city to host the Olympic Games and the third to hold a Summer Olympic Games. Atlanta was selected on September 18,1990, in Tokyo, Japan, over Athens, Belgrade, Manchester, Melbourne, and Toronto at the 96th IOC Session. Atlantas bid to host the Summer Games that began in 1987 was considered a long-shot and this would be Torontos fourth failed attempt since 1960. The Athens bid was based on the fact that 1996 marked 100 years since the first Summer Games in Greece in 1896, though Athens would eventually host the 2004 Summer Olympics. The Oxford Olympics Study 2016 estimates the outturn cost of the Atlanta 1996 Summer Olympics at USD4.1 billion in 2015-dollars and cost overrun at 151% in real terms. This includes sports-related costs only, that is, operational costs incurred by the committee for the purpose of staging the Games. The competition venues, the Olympic village, international broadcast center, and media and press center, which are required to host the Games. The cost and cost overrun for Atlanta 1996 compares with costs of USD4.6 billion, average cost for the Summer Games since 1960 is USD5.2 billion, average cost overrun is 176%. The 1996 Olympics was predicated on the model established by the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The cost to stage the Games was US$1.8 billion, to pay for the games, Atlanta relied on commercial sponsorship and ticket sales, resulting in a profit of $10 million. Events of the 1996 Games were held in a variety of areas, a number were held within the Olympic Ring, a 3 mi circle from the center of Atlanta. Others were held at Stone Mountain, about 20 miles outside of the city, to broaden ticket sales, other events, such as soccer, occurred in various cities in the Southeast. The opening ceremony featured Céline Dion singing The Power of the Dream, the mascot for the Olympiad was an abstract, animated character named Izzy. In contrast to the tradition of mascots of national or regional significance in the city hosting the Olympiad, Izzy was an amorphous. The 1996 Olympics were the first to have two separate opening ceremony events, Savannah, because of its geographical separation from Atlanta, had its own opening ceremonies on July 18,1996. The event featured Worldwide Connection, a composed by Savannah native Jeffrey Reed and a concert by Trisha Yearwood. Atlantas Olympic slogan Come Celebrate Our Dream was written by Jack Arogeti, the slogan was selected from more than 5,000 submitted by the public to the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau
6.
Netflix
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Netflix is an American entertainment company founded by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph on August 29,1997, in Scotts Valley, California. It specializes in and provides streaming media and video-on-demand online and DVD by mail, in 2013, Netflix expanded into film and television production, as well as online distribution. As of 2017 the company has its headquarters in Los Gatos, Netflixs initial business model included DVD sales and rental, although Hastings jettisoned DVD sales about a year after Netflixs founding to focus on the DVD rental by mail business. In 2007, Netflix expanded its business with the introduction of streaming media, while retaining the DVD, Netflix entered the content-production industry in 2013, debuting its first series, House of Cards. It has greatly expanded the production of film and television series since then, offering Netflix Original content through its online library of films. Netflix released an estimated 126 original series or films in 2016, in January 2017, Netflix reported having over 93 million subscribers worldwide, including more than 49 million in the United States. Netflix was founded on August 29,1997, in Scotts Valley, California, by Marc Randolph, Randolph worked as marketing director for Hastings company, Pure Atria Corporation. Randolph was a co-founder of MicroWarehouse, a mail order company. Hastings, a computer scientist and mathematician, sold Pure Atria to Rational Software Corporation in 1997 for $700 million in what was then the richest acquisition in Silicon Valley history. Hastings, Randolphs mother and Integrity QA founder Steve Kahn invested $2.5 million in cash for Netflix. Randolph admired the fledgling e-commerce company Amazon and wanted to find a category of portable items to sell over the internet using a similar model. He and Hastings considered and rejected VHS tapes as too expensive to stock and too delicate to ship. When they heard about DVDs, which were available in only a few markets in 1997, when the disc arrived intact, they decided to take on the $16 billion home video sales and rental industry. Netflix introduced the monthly subscription concept in September 1999, and then dropped the model in early 2000. Since that time, the company has built its reputation on the model of flat-fee unlimited rentals without due dates, late fees, shipping and handling fees. In 2000, Netflix offered to be acquired by Blockbuster for $50 million, Netflix initiated an initial public offering on May 29,2002, selling 5.5 million shares of common stock at the price of US$15.00 per share. On June 14,2002, the company sold an additional 825,000 shares of stock at the same price. After incurring substantial losses during its first few years, Netflix posted its first profit during fiscal year 2003, in 2005,35,000 different films were available, and Netflix shipped 1 million DVDs out every day
7.
2006 Winter Olympics
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This marked the second time Italy hosted the Olympic Winter Games, the first being the VII Olympic Winter Games in Cortina dAmpezzo in 1956. Italy also hosted the Games of the XVII Olympiad in Rome in 1960, Turin was selected as the host city for the 2006 games in June 1999. The official logo displayed the name Torino, the Italian name of the city, the Olympic mascots of the games were Neve, a female snowball, and Gliz, a male ice cube. The official motto of the XX Olympic Winter Games was Passion lives here, Turin was chosen as the host of the Olympics on June 19,1999, at the 109th IOC Session in Seoul, South Korea. This was after the IOC had adopted new procedures during the 108th Extraordinary IOC Session in light of the corruption scandals surrounding the votes for the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics. The full IOC Session then voted on the chosen as finalist cities by the Selection College. The selection of Turin over Sion came as a surprise, since Sion was the favorite in part because the IOC is based in Switzerland. Turins selection came two years after Romes unsuccessful 2004 Summer Olympics bid and those games were ultimately awarded to Athens, Greece. The information below comes from the International Olympic Committee Vote History web page, the Oxford Olympics Study established the outturn cost of the Torino 2006 Winter Olympics at USD4.4 billion in 2015-dollars and cost overrun at 80% in real terms. This includes sports-related costs only, that is, operational costs incurred by the committee for the purpose of staging the Games. The competition venues, the Olympic village, international broadcast center, and media and press center, average cost for Winter Games since 1960 is USD3.1 billion, average cost overrun is 142%. The Games featured 84 medal events over 15 disciplines in 7 sports, events that made their Olympic debut in Turin included mass start biathlon, team sprint cross country skiing, snowboard cross and team pursuit speedskating. Most of the cross country skiing events at these Games involved different distances from those in Salt Lake City, the following are the sports and disciplines that were contested at the games. The numbers in parentheses after each sport discipline indicate the number of events contested, all dates are in Central European Time Host country To sort this table by nation, total medal count, or any other column, click on the icon next to the column title. Stefania Belmondo, a 10-time Olympic medalist in cross-country skiing, lit the Olympic Flame during the ceremony on February 10. Before that, the ceremony celebrated the best of Italy and Sport including a segment honoring the Alps, the FilmMaster Group K-events created and produced the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the XX Winter Olympic Games in Turin in 2006. Executive Producer Marco Balich, Content Supervisor Alfredo Accatino, Art Direction Lida Castelli, monica Maimone of Studio Festi directed the section From Renaissance To Baroque, part of the Opening Ceremony. The first gold medal of the 2006 Games was awarded in the 20 kilometre biathlon, won by German Michael Greis on the first day of competition, on February 12, Latvia won its first winter Olympic medal when Mārtiņš Rubenis took the bronze in the mens luge
8.
Independence Day (United States)
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It declared that the thirteen American colonies regarded themselves as a new nation, the United States of America, and were no longer part of the British Empire. Independence Day is the National Day of the United States, Congress debated and revised the wording of the Declaration, finally approving it two days later on July 4. A day earlier, John Adams had written to his wife Abigail, The second day of July,1776, I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, adamss prediction was off by two days. Most historians have concluded that the Declaration was signed nearly a month after its adoption, on August 2,1776, although not a signer of the Declaration of Independence, James Monroe, another Founding Father who was elected as President, also died on July 4,1831. He was the third President in a row who died on the anniversary of independence, calvin Coolidge, the 30th President, was born on July 4,1872, so far he is the only U. S. President to have been born on Independence Day. In 1777 thirteen gunshots were fired in salute, once at morning and once again as evening fell, on July 4 in Bristol, ships in port were decked with red, white, and blue bunting. In 1778, from his headquarters at Ross Hall, near New Brunswick, New Jersey, General George Washington marked July 4 with a ration of rum for his soldiers. Across the Atlantic Ocean, ambassadors John Adams and Benjamin Franklin held a dinner for their fellow Americans in Paris, in 1779, July 4 fell on a Sunday. The holiday was celebrated on Monday, July 5, in 1781 the Massachusetts General Court became the first state legislature to recognize July 4 as a state celebration. In 1783, Moravians in Salem, North Carolina, held a celebration of July 4 with a music program assembled by Johann Friedrich Peter. This work was titled The Psalm of Joy and this is recognized as the first recorded celebration and is still celebrated there today. In 1870 the U. S. Congress made Independence Day an unpaid holiday for federal employees, in 1938 Congress changed Independence Day to a paid federal holiday. Independence Day is a holiday marked by patriotic displays. Similar to other summer-themed events, Independence Day celebrations often take place outdoors, Independence Day is a federal holiday, so all non-essential federal institutions are closed on that day. Many politicians make it a point on day to appear at a public event to praise the nations heritage, laws, history, society. Families often celebrate Independence Day by hosting or attending a picnic or barbecue, many take advantage of the day off and, in some years, decorations are generally colored red, white, and blue, the colors of the American flag
9.
Alternative rock
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Alternative rock is a genre of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s and 2000s. In this instance, the word refers to the genres distinction from mainstream rock music. The terms original meaning was broader, referring to a generation of musicians unified by their debt to either the musical style or simply the independent. Ethos of punk rock, which in the late 1970s laid the groundwork for alternative music, Alternative rock is a broad umbrella term consisting of music that differs greatly in terms of its sound, its social context, and its regional roots. Most of these subgenres had achieved minor mainstream notice and a few bands representing them, such as Hüsker Dü, with the breakthrough of Nirvana and the popularity of the grunge and Britpop movements in the 1990s, alternative rock entered the musical mainstream and many alternative bands became successful. By the end of the decade, alternative rocks mainstream prominence declined due to a number of events that caused grunge and Britpop to fade, emo attracted attention in the larger alternative rock world, and the term was applied to a variety of artists, including multi-platinum acts. Post-punk revival artists such as Modest Mouse and The Killers had commercial success in the early, before the term alternative rock came into common usage around 1990, the sort of music to which it refers was known by a variety of terms. In 1979, Terry Tolkin used the term Alternative Music to describe the groups he was writing about, in 1979 Dallas radio station KZEW had a late night new wave show entitled Rock and Roll Alternative. College rock was used in the United States to describe the music during the 1980s due to its links to the radio circuit. In the United Kingdom, dozens of small do it yourself record labels emerged as a result of the punk subculture, according to the founder of one of these labels, Cherry Red, NME and Sounds magazines published charts based on small record stores called Alternative Charts. The first national chart based on distribution called the Indie Chart was published in January 1980, at the time, the term indie was used literally to describe independently distributed records. By 1985, indie had come to mean a particular genre, or group of subgenres, at first the term referred to intentionally non–mainstream rock acts that were not influenced by heavy metal ballads, rarefied new wave and high-energy dance anthems. The use of alternative gained further exposure due to the success of Lollapalooza, for which festival founder, in the late 1990s, the definition again became more specific. Defining music as alternative is often difficult because of two conflicting applications of the word, the name alternative rock essentially serves as an umbrella term for underground music that has emerged in the wake of punk rock since the mid-1980s. Alternative bands during the 1980s generally played in clubs, recorded for indie labels. Sounds range from the gloomy soundscapes of gothic rock to the guitars of indie pop to the dirty guitars of grunge to the 1960s/1970s revivalism of Britpop. This approach to lyrics developed as a reflection of the social and economic strains in the United States and United Kingdom of the 1980s, by 1984, a majority of groups signed to independent record labels mined from a variety of rock and particularly 1960s rock influences. This represented a break from the futuristic, hyper-rational post-punk years
10.
Foo Fighters
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Foo Fighters is an American rock band, formed in Seattle, Washington in 1994. It was founded by Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl as a project following the dissolution of Nirvana after the death of Kurt Cobain. The group got its name from the UFOs and various phenomena that were reported by Allied aircraft pilots in World War II. The band began with performances in Portland, Oregon, Goldsmith quit during the recording of the groups second album, The Colour and the Shape, when most of the drum parts were re-recorded by Grohl himself. Smears departure followed soon afterward, though he would rejoin them in 2005 and they were replaced by Taylor Hawkins and Franz Stahl, respectively, although Stahl was fired before the recording of the groups third album, There Is Nothing Left to Lose. The band briefly continued as a trio until Chris Shiflett joined as the lead guitarist after the completion of There Is Nothing Left to Lose. The band released its album, One by One, in 2002. The group followed that release with the two-disc In Your Honor, Foo Fighters released its sixth album, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, in 2007. The bands seventh album, Wasting Light, produced by Butch Vig was released in 2011. In November 2014, the eighth studio album, Sonic Highways, was released as an accompanying soundtrack to the Grohl-directed 2014 miniseries of the same name. Over the course of the career, four of its albums have won Grammy Awards for Best Rock Album. As of 2015, the eight albums have sold 12 million copies in the U. S. and 30 million worldwide. Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl joined the grunge group Nirvana as its drummer in 1990, during tours, he took a guitar with him and wrote songs. Grohl held back these songs from the rest of the band, he said in 1997, I was in awe of, I thought it was best that I kept my songs to myself. Grohl occasionally booked studio time to record demos and covers of songs he liked, frontman Kurt Cobain was found dead in his Seattle home on April 8,1994, and Nirvana subsequently disbanded. Grohl received offers to work with artists, press rumors indicated he might be joining Pearl Jam and he almost accepted a permanent position as drummer in Tom Petty. Ultimately Grohl declined and instead entered Robert Lang Studios in October 1994 to record fifteen of the forty songs he had written. With the exception of a part on X-Static, played by Greg Dulli of the Afghan Whigs, Dave Grohl played every instrument
11.
The Offspring
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The Offspring is an American punk rock band from Huntington Beach, California, formed in 1984. Originally formed under the name Manic Subsidal, the band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Dexter Holland, bassist Greg K. lead guitarist Kevin Noodles Wasserman and drummer Pete Parada. The Offspring went through lineup changes over the years, and Holland. The band is often credited—alongside fellow California punk bands Green Day, Bad Religion, NOFX, Pennywise and they have sold over 40 million records worldwide, being considered one of the best-selling punk rock bands of all time. To date, the Offspring has released nine studio albums and their first three albums for the independent record labels Nemesis and Epitaph earned them a cult following. Splinter was followed five years later by Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace, the Offspring is currently in production of their tenth studio album, which is due for release in 2017. The foundations for the Offspring began with guitarist/vocalist Bryan Dexter Holland and bassist Greg Kriesel playing music together in a garage in Cypress, at a party, and following a riot at a 1984 Social Distortion show, they decided to form a band called Manic Subsidal. Holland changed his role from drums to guitar, and the band was rounded out by singer Doug Thompson, marcus Parrish briefly joined as a second guitarist, however, no recordings were made at this point. After Thompson was forced out, Holland took over vocals, in 1985, school janitor Kevin Noodles Wasserman joined as a second guitarist, allegedly because he was old enough to purchase alcohol for the other members, who were under the legal drinking age. In 1986, after changing their name to The Offspring, the released their first single. They released the single on their self-made Black Label record company, an earlier version of Ill Be Waiting, which was then known as Fire and Ice, appeared on the long-out of print Subject to Blackout compilation tape, which was also released in 1986. Also in 1986, the Offspring recorded a tape, which received a positive review in Maximum Rocknroll magazine. Lilja left the Offspring in 1987 to pursue a career in gynecology, and was replaced by Ron Welty. After recording another demo in 1988, The Offspring signed a deal with a small-time label. In March 1989, the band teamed up with producer Thom Wilson to record their first album, the album was released in limited numbers by the label, only on the 12 vinyl and cassette formats, and was not released on CD until 1995. A six-week national tour followed, but Noodles was later stabbed during a performance at a Hollywood anti-nuclear benefit, in 1991 the Offspring teamed up with Wilson again to produce the Baghdad 7 EP and a third demo tape. This EP and demo were instrumental to the signing with Epitaph Records. In 1992 Thom Wilson and the Offspring returned to the studio to record their second album Ignition, the band went on U. S. tours with Pennywise and Lunachicks, and a European tour with NOFX
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