| Bad Religion EP | 1981 |
| How Could Hell Be Any Worse? | review #2 | 1982 |
| Into The Unknown | 1983 |
| Back To The Known EP | 1984 |
| Suffer | 1988 |
| No Control | 1989 |
| 80-85 (compilation) | 1990 |
| Against The Grain | 1990 |
| Generator | 1992 |
| Recipe For Hate | 1993 |
| Stranger Than Fiction | 1994 |
| All Ages (compilation) | 1995 |
| The Gray Race | 1996 |
| No Substance | 1998 |
| The New America | 2000 |
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(reviewed by Alex R.)
Before I start to review this, I would just like to say that if you want to buy this EP in it's original format then I have 3 words for you. Good fucking luck! This release is pretty damn hard to find and due to that it is the most bootlegged of all Bad Religion records. But the easiest way to get this EP is to buy the 80-85 album which features, of course, this EP, the 1982 classic How Could Hell Be Any Worse? and the 1984 EP Back To The Known.
Since there are only 6 songs on this EP that last a minute to 2 minutes long, this review won't take long. On a side note, this was the first recording that was released on the now popular indie-punk label Epitaph Records created by the band. Brett Gurewitz (AKA Mr. Brett) who plays guitar on this release has always been the president of the label. So for all you 14 year old pissants out there who think that Bad Religion had absolutely nothing to do with punk rock whatsoever, here's some proof. If there was no Bad Religion, then there's no Epitaph records. Dumbasses!
Anyways, getting back to the EP, all of the stuff on here except for the slow spooky and kick ass "Drastic Actions" is speedy. But that doesn't necessarily mean that it's a good thing. The great songwriting is not here yet, there's no harmonies or melodies, the songs just start then stop. However, I have to admit that "Bad Religion" and "Politics" kick some good hard ass, but the other songs?? Ugh! "Slaves" and "World War III" make me want to puke, but that's not the only thing that's wrong with this release. Greg Graffin doesn't have that awesome voice that's featured on the later releases, all he does on here is yell. Remember, when this EP was released, the guys in the band were like 15-16 years old, so the pubes haven't' quite kicked in yet I guess.
The other problem with this release is that the production really sucks. Jay Bentley's bass and Jay Ziskrout's hi-hat are way too loud in the mix, but do you really think that the average teenager knows a thing about recording?? Yeah, that's what I thought. And the lyrics on here pretty much set the stage for the future Bad Religion releases, government and politics and all that other stuff that bores the hell out of me. Man, this took longer than I thought. Anyways, I was going to give this a 5 but then I realized that I've heard lots of other albums that deserve 5's and they're better than this. Sorry about that.
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(Nick Karn's review)
HIGH POINTS: We're Only Gonna Die, Voice Of God Is Government, Fuck Armageddon... This Is Hell. LOW POINTS: Faith In God, Oligarchy.
A fun little debut this one is. Okay, this isn't really Bad Religion's first recording (see EP review above), but it is their first full length album, and as a result it's a good starting point to begin looking at their career. Not that there's very much to look at - this is basically a collection of 15 mostly very short, and mostly very fast, punk oriented tunes (well, duh) ranting against politics. I must say, though, that they're really intelligent and often amusingly clever political rants, and what better way to deliver them than Greg Graffin's voice, which has a really great growling quality to it? And it's not like the other instrumentalists in the band here are slouches either - a huge part of the appeal here is the fine raw-sounding riffs Brett Gurewitz comes up with here, and the rhythm section of Jay Bentley and Pete Finestone is tight (check out "Doing Time" and "Part III" for the best examples, particularly the basswork).
Anyway, there's not a whole lot I could say about these songs other than that, but other than a couple of unmemorable or half-baked songs ("Faith In God", "Oligarchy" and "Eat Your Dog") and a couple that really only catch fire at their choruses ("American Dream", "White Trash (2nd Generation)"), it's all basically a wildly entertaining experience, whether the songs are kinda bouncy ("Into The Night"), or they've got a simple adrenalizing rush like on "Damned To Be Free" and "Pity" (especially the way 'PITYYYYY.... PITYYYYYY...' is growled at high speed in the latter). Not surprisingly enough, there are references to the past, too - am I the only one who thinks the band's 'title track', which closes off the album, sounds a hell of a lot like something on The Clash's debut ("Garageland", maybe), or that "Latch Key Kids" starts off like a midtempo New Wave song before crashing into the fast verses?
There are also other interesting approaches that elevate the album as something higher than interchangable, rousing punk with no variation, particularly the highlights. The opener "We're Only Gonna Die" very much sets the tone of the album in terms of lyrical mood, sure, but in addition to having the catchiest and most entertaining melody of the album, it's also the most dynamic, shifting from the fast punk speed to a nice midtempo groove where acoustic guitar and piano make an appearance. Also, "Voice Of God Is Government" offers a hilarious spoken word portion about donate money to God and the churches so they can do such things as 'censor TV and radio and ban questionable books', which adds weight to an already damn cool song.
There are also instances where they seem to understand the impact of atmosphere as much as energy - check out that creepy bass tone at the beginning of "Fuck Armageddon... This Is Hell" as it's joined by a great six note guitar line, and the momentum that intro gives to the rest of the song (especially when it gets to the climactic chorus) makes it a damn near classic. Maybe the album's a bit too similar sounding in many places to get that same sort classic acclaim from me on the whole (most of the songs, other than the big three I mentioned, don't really rise above just 'good' status), but this is a somewhat promising, and at times even interesting, effort we have here.
Whoa! Big change here. The production has cleared up, they got a new drummer who's a hell of a lot better than the last one, Greg's singing is much more enjoyable this time around (I guess puberty finally kicked in) and pretty much all of the songs are here kick all sorts of ass. For those of you who are not too familiar with this album, it is an L.A hardcore classic. As I mentioned earlier, the production on here improved tremendously. Apparently from what I read, before the making of this album, Brett got a huge loan from his dad and it helped contribute to the production of this album. And man, did it ever pay off! It has a nice early 80's raw sound which is suited perfectly for punk rock, and unlike the last release where a couple of instruments drowned out the others, this one has everything evenly matched out. Cool raw guitar fuzz, listenable bass, great vocals and nice pounding drums, you can't go wrong with that.
On to the songs now, I must say that there are some great Bad Religion classics on here: "We're Only Gonna Die", "Part III", the hilarious "Voice Of God Is Government" and the punk-hardcore anthem (also my favorite BR song of all time) "Fuck Armageddon...This Is Hell". Man, that song really kicks some extreme ass! It starts out with an eerie bass line, then Brett joins in and plays these notes that go perfectly with the mood of the song, then when it goes away Brett plays this kick-ass simple riff and then the drums kick in and the rest speaks for itself. Awesome song!
And you can tell that the band actually spent some time working on these songs, unlike the last release where they just did the "Start Then Stop" formula. There's one song that cracks the 3 minute barrier and there are other instruments featured on here such as a piano and an acoustic guitar, but don't worry, they're used briefly until the songs start to kick ass again, listen to "We're Only Gonna Die" and "Damned To Be Free" and you'll see what I mean.
And before I end this review, I would just like to address all of the 14 year old pissants out there who listen to all of this new-wave punk shit and think that Bad Religion are wussies and were never punk in the first place. If you think that the bands you listen to today are extreme and intense, then I suggest you take a listen to this album. This album makes NOFX, Rancid and all of those other shitty punk bands look like a bunch of sissies. You want to hear "Real" Punk Rock?? Then go get this album.
So as all of you can tell, I think this album is awesome. Is it their best?? It could be, although it's not perfect due to the fact that "Eat Your Dog" and "Oligarchy" are filler tracks, but they're only a minute long each so they're hardly recognizable. Unfortunately, a strange turn of events happened right after this album, but I'll get to that later. But for now, if you're an "Old School" punk rocker, I demand that you go out and get this album, but why bother, you probably already have this.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Give You Nothing, Best For You. LOW POINTS: impossible to tell, for obvious reasons.
The first album released after the group went on a three year break, containing fifteen tracks of mostly high speed hardcore punk. Many fans consider this album amongst the band's best work - the music is certainly intense, and the politicized lyrics concerning the subject of society and authority are quite intruiging, though they're probably more interesting a read than the actual music is to listen to ('but I'll believe in god when 1 and 1 are 5', 'you're a sidewalk cipher speaking prionic jive', and 'it's superficial progress, they call it liberation, with opiates of silicon, Big Brother schemes to rule the nation' are just a few prime examples). Not that the actual music is worthless or anything, it's just that with a few exceptions, the music and tempo is extremely similar throughout each song, and the actual vocal melodies don't always deviate from each other too much either.
There are a few winners of course - "Give You Nothing", "Best For You" and "What Can You Do?" in particular are insanely catchy, the first almost seeming like a great fast paced rant with a hard-hitting midtempo bridge, the second having an extremely uptempo ending chorus and cool feedback at the end, and the third having the most top-notch, fast melody and glorious riffing. The opening "You Are (The Government)" certainly gets the no compromise subject matter off on the right foot, with some more extremely well-written lyrics at the beginning and a rebellious tone, and "Part II (The Numbers Game)" has a cool adrenalized chant at the beginning that pretty much makes the rest of the song. And we also have "1,000 More Fools", a simply delightful slap in the face ('1,000 more fools are born, every fucking day') equipped with a cool bass line.
Elsewhere, "Do What You Want" boasts the cleverest lyrics (the '1 and 1 are 5' line, plus a mention of a 'misanthropic anthropod with nothing to say'), so that one stands out I guess, but as far as the remainder of the album goes, I'm almost at a total loss to remember how it went. OK, maybe there's a memorable chorus here and there in "Forbidden Beat" and "Delirium And Disorder", and these other songs aren't isn't exactly bad. But if you're gonna make all these songs esentially the same musically, the high energy and intent aren't going to make up for the inevitably formulaic problems, as there's very little memorable about this stuff outside the lyrics and the familiar Greg Graffin 'snarl'. At least none of them songs last long enough to particularly offend or bore (you probably won't even notice the entire thing lasts less than 26 minutes), though, and there are enough worthwhile ones for this album to earn a good score.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: 21st Century Digital Boy, Turn On The Light, Unacceptable. LOW POINTS: again, I just can't tell...
This was the album that marked the first appearance of the classic "21st Century (Digital Boy)" - you know, the song later reprised on Stranger Than Fiction four years later which provided them with a big breakthrough. Pretty cheap, if you ask me. It's a great song any way you look at it, though, as it relates the lyrics of a "21st century digital boy who doesn't know how to read but he's got a lot of toys" exceptionally well with a great riff, catchy chorus, and 'whining' vocals. Well, I can safely say that if you like that one, you'll probably dig the rest of this album, as most of the songs here are in basically the same vein. There's quite a few of them here (seventeen!) slammed into 33 minutes of music, with several of the shorter ones being crammed into one seemingly lightning fast burst at the end. Were I a punk fan, I'd totally be hailing this one as a masterpiece, but I'd stop short of that and say it's just really good.
Several of the other songs are almost as good as the aforementioned classic, though. One of them, "Faith Alone", has the nerve to be an actual 3-1/2 minute midtempo number that plods along with a great enough refrain and simple, but captivating, riff to earn its' length, and the best of the speedier highlights are probably "Turn On The Light" (with the line 'a million blinding brilliant white incindiary lights' sung at a phenomenal fast pace in the chorus), the effectively angry and rebellious title track (with that cool yell of 'against the graaaaaaaaain'), the adrenaline rush chants "Unacceptable" (yeah, it's about unacceptable for you guys not to play really pissed off rants against the government!) and the opening "Modern Man", complete with high speed guitar solos. Not that they're art rock solos or anything, just carefree, really fast stuff that'll make you bang your head.
The 'blink and you missed it' "The Positive Aspect Of Negative Thinking" (with a fabulous tempo changing fast rant at the end) and "Quality Or Quantity" are other highlights to chew on, great for listening just after reading a chapter out of my Political Science 103 book, which is without a doubt one of the most boring and rambling things I've ever read, quite the opposite of this stuff. Most of these tracks just get right to the point with their statements (the continually excellent lyrics mostly written by guitarist Brett "Mr. Brett" Gurewitz) in two minutes or less at high speed, but at least there are occasional pace changes, solid melodies (the aforementioned tracks and "Walk Away", the closing track I didn't mention). I'll end this review by pissing the punk rock fans off by saying this ain't quite a great album, as a few of the tracks are still too limited and unmemorable for my liking. But to be fair, it is almost an 8, and probably one of the shining moments of the punk genre this decade.
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(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
One problem I've always had with punk rock is the lack of lyrical quality. They're ususally either dorky political statements like The Pistols' "God Save The Queen," typical angst like Pennywise's "Nothing," or just plain stupid romances like, oh don't make me ruin a review by writing out an example of one of those. There's also the completely idiotic nonsense, but that's almost as bad as the romances so it deserves no examples. But none of these are the case with Bad Religion. Their lyrics are actually intelligent and very well-written, the only great lyrics I know of in the punk genre. And the songs aren't all that bad either. Recipe For Hate hits my top five punk rock albums, maybe even top three right behind Unknown Road and Rusty. However if you're the head-banging punk kind you should stay away. This album is mostly pretty darn slow for punk, which explains why most Bad Religion fans don't like it a whole lot. I love it, though.
There's a whole bunch of songs on here, and every one of them is pretty good. My personal favorites are "Man With A Mission" with some excellent vocal harmonies sung very well, "Struck A Nerve," a depressing song, possibly the single most depressing tune in all of punk rock, and "My Poor Friend Me," which gives away the little twist in the song just with the title, but that's fine since the music is great. Oh, and another that deserves a mention is "American Jesus" because it might be the lyrical peak of the album. I won't quote anything from it, just strongly urge you to find a copy of the lyrics and give them a read. As far as the overall album goes, well this is punk rock so there really isn't a whole lot of creativity. But some of the guitar solos are very good, and there is enough feeling put into the music to earn a high rating. If your looking for good, slower, punk music with some great lyrics (I think the lyricist guy, Greg something, graduated from Harvard or Yale or one of those big schools) go get this right now.
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