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Rancid (band)

American punk rock band

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 14, 2026
Entity authorityQ390590
Source-derived summary

Rancid is an American punk rock band formed in Berkeley, California, in 1991. Founded by Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman, former members of the band Operation Ivy, Rancid is often credited (alongside Green Day and the Offspring) as being among the wave of bands that revived mainstream interest in punk rock in the United States during the mid-1990s. Over its 35-year career, Rancid has retained much of its original fan base, most of which was connected to its underground musical roots.

Rancid has had two lineup changes since its inception, with Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman being continuous members. Their current lineup consists of Armstrong on guitar and vocals, Freeman on bass and vocals, Lars Frederiksen on guitar and vocals, and Branden Steineckert on drums. The band was formed by Armstrong, Freeman, and former drummer Brett Reed, who left the band in 2006 and was replaced by Steineckert. This lineup recorded their first album, with Frederiksen joining the band on their subsequent tour.

To date, Rancid has released ten studio albums, one split album, one compilation, two extended plays, and a series of live online-only albums, and has been featured on a number of compilation albums. The band has sold over four million records worldwide, making it one of the most successful punk rock groups of all time. The band rose to popularity in 1994 with its second studio album, Let's Go, featuring the single "Salvation".

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Rancid (band)” as american punk rock band. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1991, 2006, 1994—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1991. The account is most persuasive where Rancid, band and American can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as american punk rock band. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q390590. VIAF identifies the subject as 148063733. The Library of Congress control number is no98081103. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1991, 2006 and 1994.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

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Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Rancid (band)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.