MEMORIES:
endurance remembers...I stumbled onto them and bought the Stranger than Fiction disc.Thirteen years later, it still has some good tunes I ... More »
Posted on 10/03/07
CATCH PHRASE:
In the case of most southern California punk bands, the choices are few: give up, sell out, break up, or make the same song over and over again. Somehow, Bad Religion, despite their rocky history, stayed away from that, growing, yet staying true to their musical roots. Fusing punk, psychedelia, heavy metal, and powerful vocals with a sense of self has been the Bad Religion trademark, and their fans have continually come back for more.
Bad Religion came together as teenagers in Los Angeles. Members Greg Graffin, Jay Bently, Jay Ziskrout, and Brett Gurewitz bonded over a shared love for the emerging SoCal music scene. They were influenced by the Ramones, Black Flag, The Clash, and got their harmonious vocal influence from the three-part harmonies of The Adolescents. Bad Religion formed their own label, Epitaph, and released their self-titled EP in 1981. The following year, they released their first full-length album, How Could Hell Be Any Worse?, which gave them a substantial following, and influenced many bands to come with songs like “We’re Only Gonna Die” and “F*** Armageddon, This Is Hell.” Peter Finestone stepped in after the departure of Ziskrout.
Their next album-- 1983's Into the Unknown-- brought keyboards and progressive rock sounds into the mix. It proved unpopular with the band’s fan base. In 1984, Greg Hetson (from Circle Jerks) came in to replace Gurewitz, who went into rehab for a drug problem. During this time, Bad Religion returned to the mellower rock sound of their early days with their next EP, Back to the Known, though they soon disbanded.
Over the next two years, the band slowly came back together with Graffin, Bentley, Finestone and the newly rehabilitated Gurewitz, playing concerts with set lists from their How Could Hell Be Any Worse? days. A couple of years later, in 1988, Bad Religion released Suffer, an album that has been a lasting favorite among fans and other artists, with singles like “Do What You Want” still catching alternative rock radio play.
1989’s No Control, 1990’s Against the Grain and 1992’s Generator only helped to grow their fan base, keeping them alive and well throughout the emergence of alternative rock and grunge. As their popularity grew, they left their own Epitaph Records in 1993 for Atlantic Records, and released their seventh full-length album, Recipe for Hate. “American Jesus” still tops many a fan's list of Bad Religion favorites.
The band recorded the song “Leaders and Followers” for the soon-to-be cult hit film, Clerks. The same year, in 1994, Stranger Than Fiction came out, and soon after its release, Gurewitz left the band, officially citing that he was spending too much time at the Epitaph’s offices with The Offspring, who at the time was on the Epitaph label and was becoming one of the biggest bands of the mid-90s. Stranger Than Fiction scored big alternative rock hits with “Infected” and “21st Century (Digital Boy).” The album was considered one of the best in 1994 by fans and magazines alike.
Bad Religion moved on without Gurewitz, adding Brian Baker on guitar, and releasing three albums, The Gray Race (1996) which was well-received by their fans, No Substance (1998) and The New America ( 2000). For The New America, they brought in Todd Rundgren, an early musical hero of Graffin’s. The experience producing with him was not what they wanted it to be, and the record didn’t have the kind of sound they wished it had. In 2001, Bad Religion returned to Epitaph, and bringing along Brooks Wackerman of Suicidal Tendencies. Brett Gurewitz rejoined the ranks in time for them to record 2002’s The Process of Belief . The album got considerable radio play for the single, “Sorrow.” Critics and fans alike hailed this as well as the next album, 2004’s The Empire Strikes First, for returning to their roots.
Bad Religion recent work touched upon topics that were close to home, like religion, the environment and the media. The album effectively distanced the band from the over-produced sound they had while with Atlantic. The Empire Strikes First struck a chord with their fans and radio listeners with the media-conscious “Los Angeles is Burning.” The politically-charged record charted to #40 on the Billboard 200, as well as hitting #2 on the Top Independent Albums in 2004. We may not yet have heard the last from Bad Religion.
