Track Listing: 1. True North 2. Past Is Dead 3. Robin Hood in Reverse 4. Land of Endless Greed 5. Fuck You 6. Dharma and the Bomb 7. Hello Cruel World 8. Vanity 9. In Their Hearts Is Right 10. Crisis Time 11 .Dept. of False Hope 12. Nothing to Dismay 13. Popular Consensus 14. My Head Is Full of Ghosts 15. The Island 16. Changing Tide
Bad Religion's 16th studio album. To me this album feels like the spiritual follow-up to "Against the Grain." It's fast, lean, catchy and surprisingly breezy. After listening to all the Bad Religion albums in chronological order these last couple weeks there's an effortlessness to this album that makes its immediate predecessors feel a bit belabored in retrospect.
And oddly enough for such an enjoyable album, it takes a few tracks for it to click with me, the first few seem solid but somewhat unremarkable, but once the album reaches "Fuck You," almost every single track works for me in a major way..."Fuck You" is a lot of fun...Graffin delivers a hilariously eloquent explanation as to why it's so satisfying to "fuck you."
Other highlights on an packed with them are the stair-step harmonies of "In Thier Hearts is Right," and the freakin' "Hell Yes!" break during "Nothing to Dismay," where the bass drops out, and the drums pound as Graffin shouts , "No! No! No Security!" So awesome! We also get a solo vocal performance from Mr. Brett in "Dharma and the Bomb." His voice is a little colorless compared to Greg Graffin's but the variety is always welcome...I can never understand why more band's don't trade-off vocals...I mean, all the great band's swapped vocals...the Beatles...the Kinks...the Stones..Kiss...O-Town...
There's been lots of speculation that this is going to be the final Bad Religion album, although the band themselves have not confirmed this...Boy, I hope that's wrong...It just seems wrong to live in a world where Bad Religion aren't still playing sweaty live shows and periodically serving us a new batch of intelligent punk rock...Intelligence is something sorely lacking in music right now...the world, whether they know it or not, still needs these guys...But if this really is their last album, they definitely went out on an incredible high...To be honest it kind of blew past me the first time I heard it, but by the third listen I was hooked...Check this out and make sure you give it a chance...There's a ton of great stuff here....
Now, let's take a look back at the important events of 2013, the year Bad Religion released "True North...":
Well, yesterday I ate an egg for breakfast...
...and a piece of toast...It was a little dry because I was out of butter, which was a little disappointing but sometimes you've just got to pick yourself up off the ground and tell yourself, "You know, life is sometimes full of devastating setbacks, and just because you experience this insurmountable adversity you can't just roll over and die...I mean, there's starving kids out there who have never even seen butter, and...Oh nevermind...there it is..behind the bottle of 1961 Chateau la Mission Haut Brion Pessac Leognan...whew...Crisis averted...
I also went to the local Hardware store and had copies of my keys made...You can never have enough copies of your keys...Sometimes at the end of the year, I hand out the extras as Christmas gifts...
Wow, what an exciting year! Let's listen to "Fuck you" by Bad Religion to calm ourselves down...
Track Listing: 1. The Day That the Earth Stalled 2. Only Rain 3. The Resist Stance 4. Won't Somebody 5. The Devil in Stitches 6. Pride and the Pallor 7. Wrong Way Kids 8. Meeting of the Minds 9. Someone to Believe 10. Avalon 11. Cyanide 12. Turn Your Back on Me 13. Ad Hominem 14. Where the Fun Is 15. I Won't Say Anything
Bad Religion's 15th full-length studio album finds the band easing the pace for the first time since 2000's "New America," while maintaining their upswing in quality. Really, this is probably my second favorite of the three-guitar era of Bad
Religion (coming in second to "The Process of Belief" and just a tick ahead of "True North")...and that's
pretty high praise...I think we're currently in the midst of an
incredible run of albums by the band..
.Fans of "Recipe for Hate" (of which I am one) will be thrilled to hear all the mid-tempo anthems the band has here. The steel guitar last heard in "Man on a Mission" even makes a surprising return on the folk-punk "Cyanide." The single "The Devil in Stitches" is pretty awesome too...To be honest it took a few listens before that song fully kicked my ass...but once it happened...wow! I love it...It seems like a more mature version of the type of folk-punk they had nailed on "Stranger Than Fiction."
The album closer "I Won't Say Anything" has really grown on me too...It's actually a catchy jangle-pop song, that I can't really imagine fitting on any of their previous albums..Hell, I never imagined putting the words jangle-pop and Bad Religion in the same sentence, but here it is...and I love it! It's probably even too laid back for "New America." Great nonetheless...
Lyrically and musically this comes off as a little more personal. Did Bad Religion go soft? Well, yea...Kinda...but what's wrong with that for once? This is the B.R. album I turn to when maybe I don't feel much like throwing my furniture around the living room...Maybe I'd like to sit in it for a change and nod my head to some good tunes...
Way off subject here (Y'know, I'm off subject so much that at some point it's probably time to retire that disclaimer)...but I was recently going through some old photo albums and scanning them into my computer to preserve them a little better... I thought I'd share a few of my favorites today...
Here's one of me, circa 1991, rocking out in my garage with a My Pet Monster arm sticking out of my pants, as my friend Josh (wearing a wig) watches on...If you look really closely at the boxes in the rafters there's some pretty cool stuff there...I see a Captain Power box, for example..
Back in the day before digital cameras, double-exposed pictures like this were pretty common...There's a lot of good stuff here...I think I see my Brother Todd, a cat and a duck...I'm sort of in love with this photo...I think I might use it somewhere in my next record...
I think it's a snow man we made of the Pillsbury Doughboy...
Here's a cover of a TV Guide that my friend Tony Jansen drew on that I thought was so freakin' hilarious I've managed to save it all these years...
Here's a picture of the Meat-man at the local supermarket, circa 1998...Me and Jens took this photo at about 3 am one night..Or morning I guess...That's technically morning...Anyway, the Meat-man was pretty cool and posed with the meat for us...and he had an awesome "Chevy" belt-buckle too...I can't find the photo but I remember us taking pictures of a couple of Policeman that night also...and the cops came over and told us it was illegal to take photos of the Police...I wondered for years if that was really a law...hmmm...
Alright, I'm not going to bore you with any more of my slide-show..Let's kick back and listen to "Cyanide" by Bad Religion...(which I just realized kind of reminds me of the Wallflowers..Oh well..Rocks anyways...)
Track Listing: 1. 52 Seconds 2. Heroes & Martyrs 3. Germs of Perfection 4. New Dark Ages 5. Requiem for Dissent 6. Before You Die 7. Honest Goodbye 8. Dearly Beloved 9. Grains of Wrath 10. Murder 11 . Scrutiny 12. Prodigal Son 13. The Grand Delusion 14. Lost Pilgrim 15 .Submission Complete 16. Fields of Mars
Bad Religion sounds reinvigorated here...especially after playing this back to back with "The Empire Strike First." The tempos are even more racing but they maintain quality hooks for a good chunk of the running time.
The record kind of fools you at first...It starts with a series of brief, blistering hardcore songs (the likes of which you haven't heard since "How Could Hell be Any Worse.") Their effect is somewhat like a 500 mph bucket of ice water in the face...It certainly gets your attention...And I'm crazy about that harmonized lead during "New Dark Ages," the band is making good use out of their many guitarists...I love it...
..And just when you start to become fatigued by this approach, they start tossing in the pop songs...and there's certainly some great ones here..."Prodigal Son" is a like a punk rock take on 70's power-pop, and it ultimately comes off unlike anything they've ever attempted before.
"Honest Mistake" is another mid-tempo fist-pumping anthem and "Fields of Mars" is seriously one of the most glorious Bad Religion tracks yet...I'm dead serious...You have to check this one out...Finally an epic closer that can stand up to "Skyscraper" from "Recipe for Hate." Hell, I probably like this one more...It absolutely soars...with it's grand vocal harmonies and surging classic rock chorus...There's even a majestic piano break...If anything check out this album for this alone...You don't want to miss it...
I do somewhat think that all the fast stuff on here is eclipsed by the high-quality of the mid-tempo material.. Discounting their pre-"Generator" material, of course, I don't think they successfully pulled off a 100% effective full-speed hardcore record until 2013's True North." But all in all, another recommendable record if melodic hardcore's your thing... If you're not already into them at this point, I doubt there's much here that would change your mind...
Let's check out "Fields of Mars" by Bad Religion...You're gonna like this...
Track Listing: 1. Overture 2. Sinister Rouge 3. Social Suicide 4. Atheist Peace 5. All There Is 6. Los Angeles Is Burning 7. Let Them Eat War 8. God's Love 9. To Another Abyss 10. The Quickening 11. The Empire Strikes First 12. Beyond Electric Dreams 13. Boot Stamping on a Human Face Forever 14. Live Again (The Fall of Man)
Bad Religion's 13th album, was released right in the thick of the George W Bush administration, so naturally Bad Religion doesn't sound too happy. They righteously rail against war, inequality and religion, and give probably their most pissed-off performance in the process. There's a pitch black cloud hovering over the entire event, and they sound beyond passionate, but somehow only about half of this clicks for me...
This album does pack quite a few knockout punches though...After a brief atmospheric into, the band explodes into their most intense songs ever! With its hyper-speed guitar chugging and double-bass drum, "Sinister Rouge" sounds like Bad Religion's take on speed-metal. The harmonies take on an eerie quality as the band rages against the church, even invoking the sexual abuse scandal that was going on in the Catholic Church at the time...(and probably is still going on...). You may feel bad for enjoying it so much, but c'mon...how do you not bang your head to this?!!
They also pull off a couple of winning pop tracks on the single "Los Angeles is Burning" and "Is That All There Is?" which are tied with "Sinister Rouge" as the album's finest moments...
The rest of the album swings back and forth between furious hardcore and doomy rockers...There's even a rapper on "Let Them Eat War." He's not one of those rims and bee-yotches rappers though...
He's more of the political backpack type of rapper...but yea...there's a Bad Religion song that has rap in it now, so I guess that was notable...The other day me and Jens were reminiscing about the fact there was a Rush song back in the 90's where Geddy Lee rapped... If for some reason you've never heard it or have successfully erased from your memory like I had, I hate to dredge this back up for you, but you've GOT to hear this for your life to be complete...
Alright...Sorry, to put you through all that... To sum things up, despite a few tracks that hold up to "Process of Belief" I feel this record isn't quite up to that album's rousing comeback, but it really does distinguish itself with its political fire. Check it out if you're feeling nostalgic for 2004 for some unholy reason...
The same year that brought us the revelation that there were no Weapons of Mass Destruction after all in Iraq...
...the trail of death and destruction brought on by Hurricane Ivan...
...and Janet Jackson's titty...
Oh well...at least we got "Sinister Rouge" by Bad Religion out of it...
Track Listing: 1. Supersonic 2. Prove It 3. Can't Stop It 4. Broken 5. Destined For Nothing 6. Materialist 7. Kyoto Now! 8. Sorrow 9. Epiphany 10. Evangeline 11. The Defense 12. The Lie 13. You Don't Belong 14. Bored and Extremely Dangerous
Bad Religion's 12th album, and their return to Epitaph Records. Mr. Brett rejoins the band, yet they still retain his replacement Brian Baker, which leaves them with a total of three guitarists...No matter which era you favor, Bad Religion is undeniably back on track here..This album strongly recalls past glories, alternating between "Stranger Than Fiction" pop-hardcore and "Suffer" style speed-balls... The band even found themselves back on the radio, with "Sorrow," which made you want to make a fist and sing along again...
And there's really no shortage of this type of material on here, I mean, check out "Kyoto Now!" That's prime B.R. that I'm hearing! The tempos and performances are once again in the red, while maintaining the musicality and melodic touches they've acquired,and also add some new contours to their sound, so it's no mere throwback...For evidence, reference the sound collage that breaks up "Bored and Extremely Dangerous" (That section apparently sets my friend Russ on edge...the ticking clocks and the alarm going off...) They also add dub reggae touches to the intro of "Sorrow." I can't recall anything like that on their prior albums.
You know, I always hear the complaint that all Bad Religion albums are "exactly the same." I can't really agree with this, but it might just be due to the fact that I've spent so many years at this point listening to punk rock music and B.R.in particular. I think it might be the audio version of meeting twins for the first time and not being able to tell them apart, but once you know them for awhile they don't seem to look alike at all anymore...I see certain parallels with their albums at times, but I don't think they've ever straight-up made the exact same album twice...there's always something to distinguish it if you give it some time...
The flip-side of this are Bad Religion fans I run into who say the band changes too much...I hear this all the time too... "Bad Religion used to be good but ever since 'Generator' or 'Recipe for Hate' or 'No Substance' or 'the Dissent of Man' they changed too much!"
Can't please everyone I guess...
But I think that if there is a Bad Religion album that might please everyone it's "Process of Belief." My wife swears by this album, by the way...It's her favorite B.R. album and she's played it sooo many times that I know the whole thing inside and out just from second hand listening...I think playing it the few times I did to write this entry was probably one of the only times I put it on of my own volition. So guys, next time you're at the record store pick up a copy of this for your wife, too...She just might like it...
And hey, check out "Epiphany," where they totally borrow the opening bassline of "Stickin' In my Eye" by NOFX. Why is that? I mean, it's so exact that it has to be on purpose...Is there some sort of subtext here that holds a deeper meaning? Are the reptilians already here?
Let's check out "Kyoto Now" by Bad Religion...Enjoy...
Track Listing: 1. You've Got a Chance 2. It's a Long Way to the Promise Land 3. A World Without Melody 4. New America 5. 1000 Memories 6. A Streetkid Named Desire 7. Whisper in Time 8. Believe It 9. I Love My Computer 10. The Hopeless Housewife 11. There Will Be a Way 12. Let It Burn 13. Don't Sell Me Short
Ohhh, I love this album! I was thrilled to hear this back in 2000...They sounded like they actually wanted to be here, after the phoned-in "No Substance." There's great hooks galore and new ideas being thrown around left and right (Although, they throw in quite a few old ones too...just for good measure!). I could tell this was going to be an improvement over the last album right away, as soon as I heard the urgent and speedy guitar into to "You've Got a Chance."
Barring the odd hardcore-speed tune, the tempo of this album is pretty similar to "No Substance," but the song-writing is on a much higher level...Mr. Brett even returns to the fold for "Believe It, " which is a pretty cool song, however, it's overshadowed by the title track, which is seriously one of my all-time favorite Bad Religion songs. It's not in a style I've ever heard them attempt before; a bright, bouncy pop-rock song that bring prime Cheap Trick to mind...and don't they sound awfully optimistic for a change? Of course 9/11 and George W Bush would come along shortly hereafter and it was time to kick ass again, but it was fun to hear them in this mode for a change...
"Street Kid Name Desire" is nearly as flawless, aside from a pretty lame opening line ("It was Punk 15 in the morning...). This thing is so well put together and catchy I can scarcely believe it's the same band that dragged us through "Raise Your Voice." Really, it's just one spectacular song after another here, the only song that I ever skip at my Friday Night Record Party is "I Love My Computer," which is hilarious but also unbelievably dorky...
To be honest, I had kind of counted the band out before the release of this album, but this proved me wrong. I don't know if it was producer Todd Rundgren who's responsible for pulling this off, since he does have a well documented history of pulling great albums out of band's that seem to be floundering (see Cheap Trick's "Next Postion Please" and XTC's "Skylarking") or if this was what the band really wanted to do all along and just didn't have the guts to do until now...
As much as I've enjoyed their follow-up albums, I kinda wish they would have made one more like this...It might still happen one day...who knows....I doubt it though...But to anyone who might have missed out or overlooked this because they felt a little burned by "the Gray Race" and "No Substance," like I was, I highly encourage you to give this another chance...So let's check out "New America" by Bad Religion...Enjoy....
Track Listing: 1. Hear It 2. Shades of Truth 3. All Fantastic Images 4. The Biggest Killer in American History 5. No Substance 6. Raise Your Voice! 7. Sowing the Seeds of Utopia 8. The Hippy Killers 9. The State of the End of the Millennium Address 10. The Voracious March of Godliness 11. Mediocre Minds 12. Victims of the Revolution 13. Strange Denial 14. At the Mercy of Imbeciles 15. The Same Person 16. In So Many Ways
Probably my least favorite Bad Religion record. I've heard "Into the Unknown" and I think even that album is even better than this one, so I can't understand their hesitancy to reissue that album, but leave this in print....Not that this album shouldn't be in print mind you, it's not all bad...In fact, some of it's great...
The album opens strongly enough with "Hear It, " which is is an exciting and ear-catching opener. Then we have the single "Shades of Truth," which I'm not so sure deserved to be a single, but it's an enjoyable track nonetheless...Sort of in the slow, epic mode of "Infected" or "Sanity." But after "Shades of Truth" things start to go downhill, with a long run of forgettable tracks and some downright awful ones..
(wow...there's a band called the Hate Fuck Trio?)
Now for the worst offenders: "The Hippy Killers' is just embarrassing, and the sitar break just makes things worse..." Then there's Raise You Voice," which is perhaps the nadir...It's corny and hollow...Though it's worth mentioning that it prominently features Campino from Die Toten Hosen, who I've been fascinated with since I first saw them on Deutsche Welle in the 90's...
"State of the End of the Millennium Address" is also completely awful...imagine if "The Voice of God is Government" never went into an actual song...This might have worked as an atmospheric intro or scene-setter to the album, but its placement, smack dab right in the middle, kills any goodwill the album had built up to that point...Which wasn't much..
Then, suddenly a funny thing happens...After "State of the End of the Millennium Address" ends, the rest of the album is totally enjoyable...(even the dopey "Mediocre Minds),
"Same Person" is memorably catchy and they're even smart enough to close with "In So Many Ways" which the best track on the album. It's so effective, that after it ends I'm always tempted to restart the entire disc over...It leaves you remembering the album as being better than it actually is...Now that's a good closer!
So all in all, a bit of a mixed bag, I don't dislike it... If I were you I would save it for your very final B.R. purchase... Long after you've exhausted all their other albums...Not all was lost though, we would see a rebound starting with their very next album...
(that was foreshadowing...)
I
I saw these guys twice while they were touring behind this album...At one of the shows Greg Hetson spent a good chunk of time fighting and yelling at a Nazi in the crowd...Who says these guys aren't punk?! You don't ever see Justin Bieber fighting Nazi's during his shows...God bless Punk...
I think I've gone on long enough, let's check out "In So Many Ways" by Bad Religion...Enjoy...
Track Listing: 1. The Gray Race 2. Them and Us 3. A Walk 4. Parallel 5. Punk Rock Song 6. Empty Causes 7. Nobody Listens 8. Pity the Dead 9. Spirit Shine 10. The Streets of America 11. Ten in 2010 12. Victory 13. Drunk Sincerity 14. Come Join Us 15. Cease
I never knew what to make of this one. This was Bad Religion's first album after Mr. Brett (who wrote half the songs on the previous albums, and a good number of the really great ones) left the band. The remaining members hired Ric Ocasek of the Cars, who had recently become a hot producer again after working on Weezer's hugely successful 1994 album, to produce the Gray Race. After hearing about this I didn't know what to expect really. Would Bad Religion finally just go power-pop? Would there be New Wave touches? Would it be raw and aggressive like "Rock for Light?" Nobody knew, so my excitement levels were off the chart when this album was released.
I remember putting the CD on the big gaudy six-disc CD changer we used to have back then...
I sat back and listened to it. The first time it just kind of flew rightb by me.
So I played it again. The second listen it just kind of flew by again, but "A Walk" and the insanely infectious folk-punk of "Drunk Sincerity" stuck with me this time.
I played it a third time and the melodic urgency of "Parallel, " the grandiose "Streets of America," and stately closer "Cease"stood out.
And that was about it.
Then I played it a fourth time, and a fifth time and a one hundredth time...and to this day "the Gray Race" hasn't ever grown on me. I mean, it seems like they're doing everything right. The recording is punchy and powerful, the harmonies are glorious as usual, Everything was played with proper conviction and new guitarist Brian Baker (of Dag Nasty, Minor Threat and ....gulp...Junkyard) sounded indistinguishable from Mr. Brett...But the songs just aren't there this time...
It's not bad by any means, if you've heard "Suffer" or "Stranger Than Fiction" one too many times and you need to pogo in your bedroom, this does the trick just fine. Like I said, the band is slamming, and Greg Graffin is in great voice, and there's some incredible tracks here...but some of their prior consistency has been sacrificed...
On that note, let's pogo in our bedrooms to "Drunk Sincerity..."
Track Listing: 1. Incomplete 2. Leave Mine to Me 3. Stranger Than Fiction 4. Tiny Voices 5.The Handshake 6. Better Off Dead 7. Infected 8. Television 9. Individual 10. Hooray for Me... 11. Slumber 12. Marked 13. Inner Logic 14. What It Is 15. 21st Century (Digital Boy)
Woah, Bad Religion ups the tempos again...following the slower material of "Generator" and "Recipe for Hate" the band cranks up the speed but continue their recent pop melodicism. Is melodicism a word?
It is now...
This was released in 1994. the year punk rock actually collided with mainstream tastes. This was the same year that saw the release of Green Day's "Dookie", the Offspring's "Smash, " Rancid's "Let's Go," and "Punk in Drublic" by NOFX.(Not to mention, other albums that would later become 90's touchstones, like "24 Hour Revenge Therapy" by Jawbreaker and "Cheshire Cat" from a then-under-the-radar Blink 182.) My god, what a year! I don't know what I'd do if I heard that many good punk rock records in a year now...
I seem to remember some fear that Bad Religion's "Stranger Than Fiction" was going to be some watered-down cash-in I think they proved everybody wrong, and actually showed the younger upstart bands how mainstream punk should sound. This is maybe the most representative Bad Religion album, as all of the band's various modes are accounted for and in peak form...
I think they were firing on all cylinders here and I don't think they've made an album quite as good as this since...I'm not sure if they've written a better pop-punk song than "Hooray for Me..." or the title track. I also consider "Infected" to be one of their best slow tracks, likewise, I consider "Inner Logic" and "Better Off Dead" some of their best straight-up punk pulverizers. Pretty much everything worked this time around...
The only tracks that don't bowl me over are "Television," despite a memorable cameo from Rancid's Tim Armstrong...and the totally pointless re-recording of "21st Century Digital Boy," from "Against the Grain," but other than that this is top-notch.
This album reminds me of riding around in Pinhead's '74 Buick Apollo...
...with the windows rolled down, ridiculously huge bass cannon in the back seat..
...cruising the backwoods of Michigan with nothing to do...But things weren't always going to be this good...For there was a dark cloud on the horizon...a dark cloud called..."Sixteen Stone" by Bush...
An album so bland it would later signal a dark era of Rock & Roll so awful it could only go by the unholy title "Active Rock."
But we didn't have to worry about that quite yet...we were blissfully unaware...riding around, listening to "Hooray for Me" by Bad Religion...
Track Listing: 1. Recipe for Hate 2. Kerosene 3. American Jesus 4. Portrait of Authority 5. Man With a Mission 6. All Good Soldiers 7. Watch It Die 8. Struck a Nerve 9. My Poor Friend Me 10. Lookin' In 11. Don't Pray on Me 12. Modern Day Catastrophists 13. Skyscraper 14. Stealth
This is another good one from Bad Religion that seems to get mixed review, although I really don't understand why. I think some of the band's catchiest and most well-written material appears here...I often hear the word "Grunge" thrown at this album, but I don't hear it (despite a guest appearance from Eddie Vedder). To me it just sounds like a continuation of the slower punk approach they started on "Generator."
The band also continues experimenting with more interesting instrumentation ...Check out the Fugazi-ish "All Good Soldiers," and the steel guitar on "Man on a Mission." Where did that come from? I remember back when I was in High School, my Mom was driving me in to school one morning, I usually brought along some cassette to play on the ride in. I used to have a cassette of this, by the way, it looked like this....
...Anyway, I put on the tape and it so happened to be on "Man on a Mission" and my Mom tells me, "You know, your Grandfather used to play music like this?"
"Punk rock?" I asked incredulously.
"No. Bluegrass."
So I guess I can see how this might rub the B,R fans who were in it for the Adrenalin-rush the wrong way, but for me, this is classic. "Skyscraper" is also on my short list of favorite B.R. track. Greg Graffin's easygoing delivery juxtaposed against the thrashing punk playing is brilliant! I also never get tired of the chorus harmonies on "Kerosene." Another high point is the immortal "American Jesus," with a classic riff that's now a punk rock standard...
There are a few tracks on here that I've never quite warmed up to ("Portrait of Authority,"
"Modern Day Catastrophists"), but the rest of the material is so top notch that it's easy to overlook a few flaws...let's crank up "Skyscraper",,,
Track Listing: 1. Generator 2. Too Much to Ask 3. No Direction 4. Tomorrow 5. Two Babies in the Dark 6. Heaven Is Falling 7. Atomic Garden 8. The Answer 9. Fertile Crescent 10. Chimaera 11. Only Entertainment Bonus Tracks: 12. Fertile Crescent (alternate version) 13. Heaven Is Falling (alternate version)
I think I said yesterday that "Against the Grain" was my favorite Bad Religion album, but after listening to it back to back with this I'm not so sure...This is definitely slower than any of the previous releases but the songs are so catchy that I don't really care...I guess if all you care about is speed and don't pay attention to songwriting or melody this could seem inferior...Hard saying....
But this is a cool album. It seems to have a darker tone, and they get more adventurous with the arrangements, adding lots of little guitar detail, complex vocal harmonies, and the piano comes back for "Atomic Garden." I love "Atomic Garden" by the way, one of my favorite B.R. track. At first glance it may seem a little dated with the references to Cold War and Gorbachev., but really just change the names around a bit and I think the sentiment still holds up... I can recall seeing the video for this song back in the day on 120 minutes...I think this was probably the first Bad Religion song I ever heard...Is it lame that I learned about Bad Religion from MTV?
oh well, fuck it.
You know...I also remember reading about the band a looong time ago in RIP magazine? Anyone else remember that magazine?! I used to have a subscription for it...it was awesome! It mostly had articles and photos of hair metal and heavy metal bands...with some punk and alternative bands tossed in for variety....
Here are some pictures from RIP magazine....
(Woah! You used to be able to put Jackyl on the cover of a magazine...and people would buy it...Hell, I would buy it!)
(Kiss my Sassafrass!)
(This one really makes you think..."Is there Life on Lars?" If you look at this one really closely there's tons of funny stuff..."Poison gets serious for the 90's!" "Sebastian Bach Part 2" Like Sebastian Bach had so many profound things to say that it took two magazines just to hold it all...)
Okay, back to "Generator," like I said, there's a distinctly darker tone to this, which could stem from the fact that it takes on the Gulf War that was still raging back in 1992, "Heaven is Falling," in particular is a beautiful indictment, and another favorite of mine...Really the only songs on this I've ever skipped are maybe "Chimaera" and "Two Babies in the Dark," which has the redeeming line:
"I'll put you to sleep at night,
Like a Foreign Movie..."
That's a pretty great line, although I don't exactly agree with the statement. I usually find Foreign movies thought-provoking and intellectually stimulating. Why just the other night I was watching Godzilla Vs Megalon and found it to be food for the spirit...
The title-track is just an iconic punk song...Who can forget throwing this on for the first time and hearing...
"Like a Rock...Like a Planet...Like a Fucking atom Boooomb!"
That still gets me to this day...So let's play it again...Ladies and Gentlemen..."Generator" by Bad Religion...
Track Listing: 1. Modern Man 2.Turn on the Light 3. Get Off 4. Blenderhead 5. The Positive Aspect of Negative Thinking 6. Anesthesia 7. Flat Earth Society 8. Faith Alone 9. Entropy 10. Against the Grain 11. Operation Rescue 12. God Song 13. 21st Century (Digital Boy 14. Misery and Famine 15. Unacceptable 16. Quality or Quantity 17. Walk Away
This is possibly one of my favorite Bad Religion albums. Released in 1990 (again, a year after their previous album), the band sounds like they're fed up with the state of the world and are going to do everything in their power to drill it into our thick skulls once and for all...
The title track is a towering moment in the band's catalog...a racing punk backdrop set against a Thin Lizzy-ish dual guitar lead and a defiant vocal melody...it feels like updated protest-folk..."I maintain against the grain..."
Some people point to this album as the moment Bad Religion starts to "go soft." It's true that there's more "Hard Rock" material on here, but the songs with the slower tempo are such undeniable winners that I can't understand how they can be a problem..."21st Century Digital Boy" is so confident and different than anything they've even attempted to this point. I know the song's impact has been lessened somewhat by its return on "Stranger Than Fiction" but I'm telling you...Think back before "Stranger Than Fiction," before it was overplayed on the radio...you know this song came on and it rocked your shit...
But outside of a small handful of more measured moments, the remainder of the album is as fast (if not faster) than ever...I mean, does "Modern Man" sound like a band going soft to you? And "Entropy" is one of the most philosophically blunt songs ever recorded...
Come to think of it their lyrics are getting extra thesaurus-y. starting here...Check out this line from "the Positive Aspects of Negative Thinking:"
"Syntactic is our elegance, incisive our disease,
the swath endogenous of ourselves will be our quandry..."
Alright, this calls for a quick game of "Spot the Made-Up Word: Bad Religion Edition." Three of the below words are actual words used on the "Against the Grain" album, the fourth word is a word I just made up, See if you can spot the fake word...
Here we go:
a. Rectilinear: Moving in, consisting of, bounded by, or characterized by a straight line or lines.
b. Discomfiture: Lack of ease
c. Obscilliance: To move away from the mid-line of the body.
d. Anthropocentric: Interpreting reality exclusively in terms of human values and experience.
If you chose C as the made up word you are correct! Move ahead 2 spaces...
I kinda feel it's too bad that my favorite Bad Religion album doesn't even have their coolest cover...I mean, I guess the picture of the ear of corn fits the title, but it's just not kick-ass enough...I mean, an ear of corn? How can an ear of corn be kick-ass? I mean look at corn...
Does that look kick-ass to you?
Come to think of it, despite how much I enjoy their albums I don't generally get too excited about their artwork...It' s kind of hit or miss, compared to the consistent high quality of their music...You know, I kinda feel like wasting time today...Here's my list of favorite to least favorite Bad Religion album covers...Did I give this list a ton of thought? I don't know, I have a hard time converting 5 minutes into a proper measurement of weight, but here they are...
#1: Self-Titled
I think I may have talked about this a couple posts ago but this simplistic, yet striking design makes it an easy favorite....
#2. How Could Hell be Any Worse?
Oddly enough, I just realized these might go in chronological order for a bit...The Plain red reminds me of the low-budget hardcore aesthetic that I love so much...
#3. Suffer
The Burning Boy is just a punk icon at this point...
#4. The Empire Strikes First
The black, white and red color scheme is striking against the grainy xerox-quality photo...it looks urgent...I like it...
#5: Stranger Than Fiction
Again, simplicity makes this one work...a nice black & white photo...I believe I used to have a t-shirt of this cover back in the 90's...
#6: Back to the Known
In my heart of hearts, this is probably my favorite, but I have to acknowledge the fact that it's a re-tread of the first e.p cover...just with Frogger footprints added...but those Frogger footprints mean a lot to me, dammit! Oh well...
#7: Into the Unknown
This looks like an awesome Trapper-Keeper!
#8: No Substance:
The pixelized image reminds me of an Adam Ant cover...Plus it has that girl from "Third Rock from teh Sun" on the cover...I think it looks pretty cool...I'll give it number 8....
#9: All Ages
Nothing earth-shaking...just the B.R font against some old flyers... I think everyone's aware of my love of old flyers...
#10: No Control
Doesn't do a whole lot for me...that color scheme brings back nightmares of the late 80's early 90's...I think with a more appealing color scheme this could be one of my favorites though...
#11: Tested
This one's kind of cool, I like the idea of a postage stamp...I wouldn't recommend licking this though...
#12: Recipe for Hate
Why do I have this so low? It's got dogs wearing suits! Again, I didn't really give this list too much thought... I think I'm rating it this so low because of the color scheme doesn't do it for me... I think if you took the "Empire Strikes First" approach to this image it could be really awesome...
#13: Against the Grain:
I don't know it seems kind of...Corn-y.. (rimshot)
# 14: True North
It's not very eye-catching but I like the thought behind it...
15: New Maps of Hell
Looks kind of like a T-Shirt that a tattoo company or something would put out...
#16: the Gray Race
I guess conceptually this holds up...I mean, with a title like "the Gray Race" it shouldn't have the most exciting cover but...
#17: 80-85
This is an example of minimalism not working...The photo itself is very cool, and often duplicated but I think it'd look a little cooler if the border was maybe another color...Maybe a black border with a white font for the text...the white border doesn't do the photo justice...
#18: Generator
It's really 1991-looking to me... sort of nondescript...I feel such an amazing album deserves a cooler cover...
#19: the Process of Belief
dull. Again killer album, but the cover doesn't do anything for me...
#20: the Dissent of Man
It should be an exciting 3-D blockbuster, but instead it's kind of boring...Kind of like "Titanic 3D"...Now if you put the dog heads from "Recipe for Hate" in 3-D, then you'd have something!
21: New America
I don't know why I don't care for this...Good concept but it seems like it should look cooler than it does...the red around the logo looks too cluttered but if it wasn't there it wouldn't stand out against the helicopters...Maybe they could have put some sort of border around it and placed the logo on that, but I'm not so sure there's enough room on a tiny CD cover for that...
#22: Punk Rock Songs
The others are all the Mona Lisa compared to this one...My Lord, that's an ugly ass cover...
Well, I think I've wasted enough of your time today, let's listen to "Against the Grain" by Bad Religion...Enjoy...
