Bad Religion: C or D?

Suffer really is the album that got me into punk. All their early shit (yes I even own and like the one they deny making) is golden. I lost the thread when Against the Grain came out. That one has some good tunes, but isn't as solid as everything that came before it.

Still, I will always respect these guys for putting some good messages in the ears of children. And their vocabulary is hilariously awesome.

suffer is uber-classic

Suffer + No Control + Against The Grain (minus one or two tracks to make them fit) = my favourite 90 minute cassette for years

All their early shit (yes I even own and like the one they deny making) is golden.

A couple of years ago I was obsessed about hearing Into The Unknown, but I couldn't find a torrent of it that didn't include everything else they've ever done. I'm still curious as to what it sounds like...

You know you can pick which parts of a torrent you want to download, right?

You can? Damn. I must have been using shitty software. Back to searching for that torrent I go...

Does it have to be a torrent? because

(oh. ok, ignore the first result and click the green search button there)

Thank you! Maybe I can repay the favour (that is, if you like Saccharine Trust and don't have a copy of Surviving You, Always).

I do and don't :)

I don't, but you can thank the Kernel in my place!

Into the Unknown originally fascinated me because a) it was so absolutely unavailable and b) the Trouserpress guide gave it this stupidly glowing review.

My brother found it for me at a record convention in Barcelona back in '91. It's been a prized possession of mine ever since.

But most of you would hate it. It's power pop with heavy synth and has a weird space/folk vibe. Definitely original. But it's goodness is really only arguable if you are laughing. It gets my fist in the air every time though.

My dream for years has been to get a spot opening for Bad Religion, and come out and perform a live tribute of this album from start to finish. Would they kick my ass? Would they pretend to not notice? I wonder...

my friends are opening up for them tonight in vegas.

ill try to get them to do that.

Into the Unknown is so far and away the best, catchiest, least generic, and most interesting album they ever made it's not funny. (I honestly can't think of another band, ever, in any genre, whose view of their best work is so topsy-turvey.)

(It's also, for whatever it's worth, the first album I ever actually got paid money to write about.)

Well, I guess, you, me, and somebody at Trouserpress likes it!

The big strike against this record is that they were so clearly kids being misled by a producer... If this was really the undiluted BR vision, it wouldn't be so embarrassing to the band now, would it?

Still, I think they should get over it and put the damn thing out. People want to know and they've made much worse albums in the last fifteen years.

I played the crap out of some Suffer as a youngin'. I also had No Control and Against the Grain, which I liked, but not as much.

They're lyrics are pretty funny.

their

I love the way they include at least one difficult word in the lyrics of every song :-)

http://revolution.3-cities.com/~jadams/brdictionary.htm

Living in style:

Epitaph Records owner and Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz has listed his Hollywood Hills home for sale at $2,795,000.

The four-bedroom, 4 1/2 bathroom home was built in 1923. The three-story Spanish-style house is hidden from the street by a long, gated driveway, has 3,429 square feet and sits on more than a half-acre. There are views of downtown from the master bedroom suite and the high-ceiling living room has a fireplace. The bathrooms and kitchen have been remodeled, and the kitchen features Viking appliances. There is an outdoor gym, a saltwater pool and spa, a waterfall and an outdoor dining pavilion.

I like how the article only addresses the post 2000 Bad Religion albums.

They're saving up for a twenty-four page feature on Into the Unknown.

Now that would be a lock for my favorite music writing of the year.

Happy 30th birthday, Bad Religion!

(they're giving away a free live album to mailing list subscribers, to be recorded this spring - next album due in the Fall as well) -> http://www.badreligion.com

Been curious about Into the Unknown for some time now; should prob'ly start looking online

it's pretty good

It is pretty good! I have a soft spot for these guys. the first punk band I was really into when I was fifteen or so.

Wow, I started this thread a long time ago. Needless to say, they were my favorite band from '97 to '00. That probably doesn't say much about my musical tastes, but I still will throw on Suffer/No Control/Against the Grain/Stranger Than Fiction and enjoy the hell out of it.

hoped this revive would be to tell me Greg Graffin signed up to Chatroulette :/

I've never given them much of a thought since I was in the US in 1994 at age 13 and met some kids who were really into them, but I went to see them tonight and they were really great. I went with an open mind, pretty much without preconception at all beyond 'long-running US punk band' and enjoyed it immensely. They looked and sounded amazing for 30 years in the game as well.

http://krakow.zenfolio.com/img/s8/v9/p776417294-4.jpg

http://krakow.zenfolio.com/img/s9/v15/p516930042-4.jpg

I will keep my eyes peeled for some albums on the cheap.

one of my fav bands, can't wait for their new one.

New one is due out at the end of this month! who here is getting it on release date (or earlier)?

Did everyone else think New Maps of Hell was great? I still think Process of Belief has been their best album since Mr. Brett rejoined the band.

Back in about '93-'95 I absolutely loved this band. I don't think I've "loved" any album that has been released since, but I always "like" them to varying degrees. You are correct about Process being the best of this era of Bad Religion. I'm sure I'll pick the new one up on release date and I'll listen to it a couple times, enjoying it well enough each, then it'll sit back on the shelf next to all the other post-1996 albums that I never spend enough time with. Isn't meant as a knock on the band, just rarely find myself in the mood to listen to them, and when I do, its the stuff from the late 80s/early 90s. My 16 year-old self would be disappointed.

No Control is my overall favorite.

From age 12 to 16 or so Bad Religion was my favorite band and I even have a place in my heart for No Substance and The New America. With the vocals it's not all that surprising that many of us tween/teen BR fans were then turned onto the Beach Boys...I have had more than a couple conversations on Beach Boys forums veer into Bad Religion territory.

The first few tracks on New Maps of Hell are about as good as anything they have ever done, or at least it felt that way after so many years of midtempo sludge. It was such a pleasant surprise to hear them play quick and dirty again. Hopefully the new one has more sub-2-minute tracks.

That said I re-listened to the whole discography at work a while back and some of the lyrics are really stupid. They were super deep at age 14 though!

no idea what to make of this expression at 1:19 but it needs to be gif'd
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_Ft7LVCmDI

count me too among the 12-16 year old BR super fans. favorite was always a toss up between no control and ATG, although later years I would allow for the challops of naming recipe for hate as my favorite. nowadays I just might say into the unknown to fuck with people.

that said, I have absolutely no desire to listen to any of the new albums after the new america/process of belief

oh yeah that whole video is like pick a moment and gif his face.

the only Bad Religion I outright hate (besides Into the Unknown) is No Substance (aptly named) and The New America.

I even have a place in my heart for No Substance and The New America

The latter is one of my favorites, but I can't see how anyone would like anything about No Substance.

Granted, The New America pitters out towards its end, but that opening batch of songs is unfuckwithable imo.

I only like YOu've Got a Chance and Don't Sell Me Short

Rundgren's production was a pile of shit IMO. too shimmering, I mean they always have 'good' production but it didn't have the Bad Religion sound, there was too much polish.

Points taken off of new America because of the I Love My Computer song.

I was huge into these guys around Suffer/No Control era. Loved everything that came before (including my Into the Unknown LP). Liked Against the Grain pretty well. Recently bought Generator and still not impressed. Anything else post-Generator really worth a listen if ATG was the last stand for me?

No matter what, I will always rep for this band. Also curious if they're worth seeing live in 2010 and beyond. I've never seen them.

well, Generator is an anomaly I think -- I really think it's a mediocre album. It's kind of in the 'older' BR style, but with less catchy hooks and weaker writing.

Post-Generator is definitely more streamlined and favoring poppier choruses, but is still catchy and energetic. Stranger Than Fiction and Recipe for Hate were definitely more mainstream and less punky, but both are solid albums (the latter is the better, I think, and really displays a knack for the folksy melodies they were famous for). The Grey Race was a bit more aggressive, but didn't feature Mr. Brett, so it alienated many. It's one of my favorites of the latter era though.

No Substance and The New America are bland to me. However, Process of Belief is a nice blend of new and old, and is the best IMO of their newer era albums. The first three songs are just balls to the wall. Empire Strikes First and New Maps of Hell are solid, but essentially more of the same formula, so they're not as good. You can't really go wrong though. I love em all and greatly await the new one.

Generator and No Substance are my least favorite BR albums of the post-Suffer era.

Not even close to the worst Bad Religion song

this won't be online for long but wow, didn't know they were still this great live

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9azMEP2SRqY

officially online now: https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/083415-010-A/bad-religion-au-hellfest/

Age Of Unreason is out on Friday & it's a return to form, apparently

Has anyone else here read their new oral history autobiography? Pretty disappointing, especially after just finishing NOFX's tome immediately beforehand (and
I'm not a fan of NOFX, but it's a pretty remarkable book). Far too fawning from their co-writer, who essentially treats Greg Graffin like the Bertrand Russell of
punk music instead of a fairly articulate guy with a thesaurus. Very little on their process of working with various producers, save for a few critical words
about Todd Rundgren's shambolic Hawaiian study and even less on Gurewitz's expansion of Epitaph. Of all the other artists to come through that label, only a handful
are discussed in passing, like L7 (and even they show up way more in Mark Yarm's Everybody Loves Our Town, about the Seattle scene, even though they're from L.A.!)

Will always love this band. Seeing them for millionth time tonight

Classic-their 1980-1985 hardcore shit
Suffer
No Control
Against the Grain
Process of Belief

Very good- The Empire Strikes First
Recipe for Hate
The Gray Race
New Maps of Hell

Good-Stranger Than Fiction
True North
Age of Unreason

Meh-Generator
The Dissent of Man

Destroy with fire-

The New America
No Substance

What are people's thoughts on the Gray Race? It was one of my formative albums growing up (and third BR album after Stranger Than Fiction and All Ages) and I think it's pretty much perfect, but things you love when you're 13 tend to stick with you. "Cease" is one of their best album closers.

― skip, Monday, November 7, 2011 5:07 PM bookmarkflaglink

It rules. One of their best Brett-less moments

Funny timing, I just started reading their book (Do What You Want). Honestly not the best writing I’ve ever seen, but it’s a fun read so far.

Stranger Than Fiction and The Gray Race were my first two BR albums (also quickly followed by All Ages too!), so I’ll always love them.

Think I’m due for another spin through the catalog to see how everything stacks up. I played Recipe For Hate while I read last night, another great one.

xps agree that Generator is very meh, which is weird because it's smack in the middle of the sweet spot in their discography. Were they just totally burnt out that year?

Probably. I can't even name Ny songs besides title track and Atomic Garden and latter isn't great.

Tonight was amazing in that my out of shape, aging body could not keep up with my excitement. This band shaped me as a 20-something. I felt those memories tonight.

suffer -> no control -> against the grain

thats a special run. i listen to the latter two quite often really.

i need to listen to the post no substance stuff outside of process of belief.

I like The New America a lot more than Neanderthal does, it appears, but everything after The Process of Belief is kind of a samey blur to me.

No Substance was where I tapped out. Not that they were necessarily steering off a cliff, I’d just … had my fill.
I didn’t need any more, and got the point. (I was 21 then.) When the mood strikes, honestly, All Ages does the job. And I’ll always be glad they exist, and that new generations of 15 year olds discover them.

BR were a band a close group of friends in college were deeply into so it’s tied to that time/place, and is how I was introduced to this music (and also the Fat Wreck Chords verse, frankly).

I like The New America a lot more than Neanderthal does, it appears, but everything after The Process of Belief is kind of a samey blur to me.

― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Sunday, October 24, 2021 11:29 PM bookmarkflaglink

this is kinda true, tbh. I remember each album after Process being a lesser album until I outright stopped enjoying them around The Dissent of Man.

Empire Strikes First has a lot of great tunes on it, but none quite reach the heights of Process, but I was mega into it because it came out during Iraq War II and I was fucking ANGRY and a large portion of the album is about it.

New Maps of Hell was surprisingly good, but definitely didn't do as much for me on relistens recently.

I am a little bummed that "Sorrow" is the enduring song from Process that everybody knows. like, come on, it's an earworm, but it's like RAdiohead's "Creep".

same thing with "Los Angeles is Burning", fuck that song.

Has anyone else here read their new oral history autobiography? Pretty disappointing, especially after just finishing NOFX's tome immediately beforehand (and
I'm not a fan of NOFX, but it's a pretty remarkable book). Far too fawning from their co-writer, who essentially treats Greg Graffin like the Bertrand Russell of
punk music instead of a fairly articulate guy with a thesaurus. Very little on their process of working with various producers, save for a few critical words
about Todd Rundgren's shambolic Hawaiian study and even less on Gurewitz's expansion of Epitaph. Of all the other artists to come through that label, only a handful
are discussed in passing, like L7 (and even they show up way more in Mark Yarm's Everybody Loves Our Town, about the Seattle scene, even though they're from L.A.!)

Just finished the book today and yeah, this is sadly spot on. I didn't expect any tremendous bombshells from a book that the band is credited as co-writing, but even with that it feels extremely thin on Graffin beyond endless praise. Everyone else seems to get (surprisingly) candid about their struggles and addictions, but besides passing mentions of Graffin's divorce, he gets almost nothing. I feel like I learned a little bit more about pretty much every member of the band, except him. And, yeah, for as much time spent talking about Brett and mentioning how successful he was with Epitaph, it hardly touched on how the label survived after the Offspring and Rancid blew up.

I mean, if nothing else it has kickstarted another deep dive into their catalog, which has been fun, but it could have been better.

Just saw them tonight in Philly... In a friggin' opera house.

Punk rock in an opera house... pic.twitter.com/ISRie7cGNy

— Brian O'Neill (@NYC__Native) November 8, 2021

Had a great time, amazing that I first saw them 30 years ago and got to take my son.

It's @badreligion! pic.twitter.com/T3koZAtr48

— Brian O'Neill (@NYC__Native) November 8, 2021

Very solid set list, played one or two songs from like ten albums, giving it a "greatest hits" feel but also brought out some deeper cuts as well.

suffer -> no control -> against the grain

thats a special run. i listen to the latter two quite often really.

Glad you got to see the show! 21 year-old me is very, very disappointed in myself for not seeing a Bad Religion/Alkaline Trio joint tour. But, if only it would have been a few months from now...

the live version of infected is way better than the album version. just watched this at 1.2 speed and it became one of their best songs lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S_lAB2WpTE

I’m 90% sure I saw BR at Warped Tour ‘98.