I Want To Conquer the World
Welcome back to Radio Unfriendly.
Here’s another band that I featured on the podcast. It is another one of my favorite bands. Today, I will be writing about Southern California based punk band BAD RELIGION!
As always, let me talk a little bit about the band’s history…
Bad Religion is a band that was formed in 1980 by Greg Graffin, Jay Bentley, Jay Ziskrout, and Brett Gurewitz. At the time of its formation, all of its members were still in high school. They played their first show in November of 1980 in Burbank, CA.
Their first release was the 1981 self-titled EP. As of this writing, they have released 17 studio albums, 2 live albums, 3 compilation albums, 3 EPs, and 2 live DVDs. Their most recent release, as of this writing, is the 2019 album Age of Unreason.
They have gone through multiple lineup changes in their 40 plus years but, at least to me, the main core of the band has always been Greg Griffin, Jay Bentley, and Brett Gurewitz.
They are well known for the multiple vocal harmonies in their songs and have influenced countless other punk bands such as Green Day, the Offspring, Rancid, Pennywise, and more.
The book Do What You Want, published in 2020, is an autobiography of the band that was co-written by the band and Jim Ruland.
And now I’d like to add some personal information about the band. That is, how the band is personal to me.
I started listening to Bad Religion while I was in high school. The first album of theirs that I heard was How Could Hell Be Any Worse. I have seen the band live 3 times.
The first time that I saw them was in 1996 in Dallas, TX when they were touring for The Gray Race.
The second time I saw them was in Oklahoma City in 2014 where they played on the same bill as Stiff Little Fingers, Pennywise, and the headlining act, The Offspring.
The third time I saw them was at Riot Fest in Chicago in the fall of 2022.
I was planning to see them again this year in October but the tour was unfortunately cancelled.
And now, here are my top 5 favorite albums from this band.
#5 Generator
Generator is the band’s sixth full length album. It was released on March 13, 1991 by Epitaph Records. It was recorded in May 1991 at Westbeach Recorders in Hollywood and produced by Bad Religion themselves. The band recorded this album live in the studio. The lineup for this album consisted of Greg Graffin, Jay Bentley, Brett Gurewitz, Gret Hetson (on guitar), and Bobby Schayer on drums. This was the first album to feature Bobby on drums. According to “The Answer” which is a website containing correspondence with the band, essentially a list of questions and answers, the term Generator is a metaphor for God.
According to Brett Gurewitz:
"The vibe that I'm trying to give is like, if you've ever been in a room and the air conditioner's humming. You don't notice it, of course, because it's a constant hum. Then it turns off and you suddenly notice how quiet it is because it went away. That's the generator; it's just behind everything. It's funny, God and spirituality has been the central conflict of my entire life".
Some of my favorite tunes from the album include “Only Entertainment,” “The Answer,” “No Direction,” and this one, the title track:
#4 Stranger Than Fiction
Stranger Than Fiction was released on August 30, 1994 by Atlantic Records. It was re-released in September 2008 by Epitaph Records. It was produced by Andy Wallace and Bad Religion and recorded in May 1994 at Rumbo Recorders in Canoga Park. The lineup of the album was the same as Generator. It was the last album to feature Brett Gurewitz until he returned for the 2002 album The Process of Belief. It was the first album to be released by Atlantic Records and the first to appear on the Billboard 200 chart. The album peaked at #87. It was ranked #1 by Guitar World on their top 10 guitar albums of 1994. Some of my favorite songs from Stranger Than Fiction include “Tiny Voices,” “The Handshake,” “Marked,” “Inner Logic,” and “What It Is.” Rancid’s Tim Armstrong appeared as a guest vocalist on the song “Television” and “Marked” featured Pennywise vocalist Jim Lindberg on guest vocals. Here is the song “Marked.”
#3 How Could Hell Be Any Worse?
The band’s first full length album, How Could Hell Be Any Worse, was released on January 19, 1982 by Epitaph Records. It was re-issued in 1988 and also appeared in full on the 1991 compilation album 80-85. It was remastered and re-released in 2004 and included all of the tracks found on the 80-85 compilation, which itself was a comp of How Could Hell Be Any Worse, the debut self-titled EP, and some other tracks. The album was recorded between October 1980 and January 1981 at Track Records in Hollywood and was produced by Bad Religion. The band lineup on this record included Greg Graffin, Jay Bentley, Brett Gurewitz, Pete Finestone on drums and also on drums was Jay Ziskrout. Some of the songs featured Pete and others featured Jay. Most of this album was recorded in 2 nights in October. The reason that had to finish up the recording in January is because Jay Ziskrout left the band during the recording of the album. This was the first Bad Religion album that I heard. A friend of mine had the cassette and we were both immediately interested in this band. Some of my favorite tunes from this album include “We’re Only Gonna Die,” “Fuck Armageddon,” “In the Night,” and “Voice of God is Government.”
#2 Suffer
Suffer was released on September 8, 1988 by Epitaph Records. It was recorded at Westbeach Recorders in Hollywood in April 1988. Bad Religion themselves also produced this album. The lineup included Greg Graffin, Greg Hetson, Brett Gurewitz, Jay Bentley, and Pete Finestone. Donita Sparks and Suzi Gardner from L7 were also featured on the album as additional guitarists for the song “Best For You.” Suffer has been cited by many as one of the most important punk albums of all time.
At the time that I first heard this album, I had not really been listening to Bad Religion. I can’t really say why I just wasn’t. I dunno. Up until then I had really only heard How Could Hell Be Any Worse. Anyway, I was playing in some random band I was in at the time and the guitar player was a huge Bad Religion fan and he wanted us to play a cover of their song “Give You Nothing.” I told him that I had not heard it so he played it for me. I was impressed. Even now, I can agree with most people that this is one of the most important punk albums of all time. It is not, however, my favorite Bad Religion album.
My favorites from the album include “You Are the Government,” “Give You Nothing,” “Suffer,” and this one which is one of my all time favorite Bad Religion songs:
And now, my absolute favorite Bad Religion album…
#1 No Control
No Control was the album that directly followed 1988’s Suffer. It was released on November 2, 1989 by Epitaph Records. Recorded in June 1989 at Westbeach Recorders, the album was produced by the band and had the same lineup as Suffer.
The first time I heard this album was the same day that the album Suffer was played for me by the aforementioned guitar player. For whatever reason, and as much as I enjoyed Suffer, I gravitated more toward this album. To me, and maybe it is because I heard this album directly after I had listened to Suffer, I’ve always kind of seen this album as a sort of sequel to its predecessor. A sequel that just somehow turned out better than the original. It always seemed, at least to me, to be a little more aggressive in nature than Suffer. Not only is this my favorite Bad Religion album but the song “I Want to Conquer the World” is probably my overall favorite Bad Religion song. Other favorites from this album include “Change of Ideas,” “It Must Look Pretty Appealing, “Sanity,” and “I Want Something More.”
So there you have it. My 5 favorite albums from Bad Religion. Hope you are enjoying these little articles and I hope you come back for more.
See you next time!