Formed in Berkeley, CA, in 1983 and relocating to Los Angeles not long afterwards, NOFX steered clear of major labels and commercial exposure over the course of their career, recording an impressive number of full-lengths albums plus an assortment of EPs and singles. The band started out as a trio comprising vocalist/bassist Fat Mike (Mike Burkett), guitarist Eric Melvin, and drummer Erik Sandin (aka Erik Ghint/Erik Shun). Sandin quit in 1985, and his place was taken by Scott Sellers; that same year, NOFX also recorded two 7" EPs for the Mystic label, No F-X and So What If We're on Mystic? Sellers quit shortly thereafter and was replaced by Scott Aldahl for only two weeks, upon which point Sandin re-joined the band; vocalist Dave Allen also joined in 1986, but his tenure was tragically cut short by a fatal car accident.

NOFX's first recording was a demo from 1983, produced by The Germs drummer Don Bolles, which did not sell any copies. They released their self-titled debut EP on Mystic Records in 1985, which was later re-released in 1992 as part of the Maximum RocknRoll CD. For a year, Erik Sandin left the band and was replaced by Scott Sellers, then Scott Aldahl. Dave Allen was in the band for about four months, until he died in a car accident. In 1986, the band released So What if We're on Mystic!. Dave Casillas joined the band on second guitar in 1987 and was featured on the EP The P.M.R.C. Can Suck on This!, attacking the PMRC's call for censorship of music. The original cover was an edited S&M photo, but the re-released version was changed to a photo of Eric Melvin.

Dave then left the band and was replaced by Steve Kidwiller. They recorded Liberal Animation in 1988 (before Dave was replaced by Steve) with Brett Gurewitz of Bad Religion. Although the title and some lyrics mocked vegetarianism and animal rights, Fat Mike says that he became a vegetarian after he wrote Liberal Animation. 'If a big enough animal had a chance it would eat you up!' The album was re-released in 1991 on Gurewitz's label Epitaph. NOFX had signed to Epitaph by 1989, releasing their second album, titled S&M Airlines. 1990 saw the release of Ribbed. By 1991, there had been a lot of changes to the band lineup. However, the original three members had reunited and Aaron Abeyta (aka El Hefe), joined to round out the group. White Trash, Two Heebs and a Beanwas released in 1992, which originally had the title White Trash, Two Kikes, and a Spic. The original title was changed because Eric Melvin's grandmother was upset about the racial epithets.

Read more about NoFx, click here: