This article is about the punk music group The Adolescents. See Adolescent for other meanings.
The Adolescents were a punk band formed in 1980 in Fullerton, California.
The Adolescents were formed by Steve Soto after leaving Agent Orange in December 1979. The original line-up was led by frontman Tony Cadena, with Steve Soto on bass, Frank Agnew on guitar, John O'Donovan on guitar and Peter Pan on drums. Both O'Donovan and Pan left in June and were replaced by Rikk Agnew and Casey Royer formerly of Social Distortion and The Detours respectively. The band created fast, energetic music that was at the forefront of the Orange County punk music scene.
Later that year, the group released the classic hardcore single "Amoeba" on Posh Boy Records. The track also appeared on the Rodney on the ROQ compilation, assembled by L.A. DJ Rodney Bingenheimer.
The Adolescents signed with Frontier Records in January 1981 and recorded The Adolescents the following month. It quickly became one of the best-selling California hardcore albums behind the Dead Kennedys' Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables. Despite this Rikk Agnew left and was replaced by Pat Smear, formerly of The Germs. This line up lasted until the end of June when Smear left (he would later go on to Nirvana and the Foo Fighters).
