Bad Religion
Bad Religion is an American punk rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1980. The band's lyrics cover topics related to religion, politics, society, the media and science. Musically, they are noted for their melodic sensibilities and extensive use of three-part vocal harmonies. The band has experienced multiple line-up changes, with singer Greg Graffin being the band's only constant member, though fellow founding members Jay Bentley and Brett Gurewitz have also been with the band for most of their history while guitarist Brian Baker has been a member of the group since 1994. Guitarist Mike Dimkich and drummer Jamie Miller have been members of the band since 2013 and 2015 respectively. To date, Bad Religion has released seventeen studio albums, two live albums, three compilation albums, three EPs, and two live DVDs. They are considered to be one of the best-selling punk rock acts of all time,[1] having sold over five million albums worldwide.[2]
This article is about the punk rock band. For other uses, see Bad Religion (disambiguation).
Bad Religion
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
1980–present
- Jay Ziskrout
- Pete Finestone
- Paul Dedona
- Davy Goldman
- Greg Hetson
- Tim Gallegos
- John Albert
- Lucky Lehrer
- Bobby Schayer
- Brooks Wackerman
After gaining a large underground following and critical praise through their releases on Gurewitz's label Epitaph in the 1980s and early 1990s, Bad Religion experienced mainstream success after signing to the major label Atlantic in 1993. The band pioneered the punk rock revival movement of the 1990s, establishing a formula for California-based punk bands such as Green Day and Epitaph-signed acts the Offspring, NOFX and Rancid.[3] They are also cited as an inspiration or influence on the 1990s and 2000s pop punk, skate punk, post-hardcore, screamo and emo scenes.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]
Atlantic reissued the previously-released-on-Epitaph album, Recipe for Hate (1993), which became commercially successful, as did its 1994 follow-up Stranger than Fiction.[13] Stranger than Fiction included some of Bad Religion's well-known hits, including "Infected", "Stranger than Fiction", and the re-recorded version of "21st Century (Digital Boy)" (the latter of which its original version appeared four years earlier on Against the Grain);[13] the album was later certified gold in both the United States and Canada. Shortly before the release of Stranger than Fiction, Gurewitz left Bad Religion to run his label Epitaph on a full-time basis, and was replaced by Brian Baker. The band's success had slowly dwindled by the late 1990s, and, after three more albums, they were dropped from Atlantic in 2001; this resulted in Bad Religion returning to Epitaph and Gurewitz rejoining the band. Since then, they have undergone a resurgence in popularity, with "Sorrow", "Los Angeles Is Burning", and "The Devil in Stitches" being Top 40 hits on the US charts while their sixteenth studio album, True North (2013), became Bad Religion's first album to crack the top 20 on the Billboard 200 chart where it peaked at number 19.[13] The band's seventeenth and most recent studio album, Age of Unreason, was released on May 3, 2019.[14]
Style and influences[edit]
Bad Religion has been described as melodic hardcore,[105][106][107][108][109][110] punk rock,[111][112][113][114] skate punk,[112][111][115][116] and hardcore punk.[112][117][118][110] The band's major influences stemmed from late 1970s punk acts like the Ramones, the Germs, the Sex Pistols, and the Clash, along with early 1980s American hardcore bands such as Black Flag, Minor Threat, and the Circle Jerks. Unlike many other hardcore bands of the era, they also acknowledged proto-punk bands like the New York Dolls, MC5, and the Stooges. Even more unusual for a band of the scene that spawned them, they were also informed by such new wavers as Elvis Costello, the Jam, and Nick Lowe, as well as authors like Jack Kerouac.[119] The Beatles were also a huge influence on Bad Religion. The band had said that the Beatles were about the only band everyone in Bad Religion really liked.
Reviewers have repeatedly cited an upbeat and positive tone to both the band's melody and lyrics, even when dealing with dark topics.[120][121]
Greg Graffin called his influences, "Pop-sounding rock tunes that were not necessarily commercial."[39] Brett Gurewitz acknowledges attempting to emulate Germs singer Darby Crash early on in Bad Religion's lyrical style. "He wrote some intelligent stuff and didn't shy away from the vocabulary, which I thought was cool."[122] In addition to their use of unusually sophisticated vocabulary for a punk band, Bad Religion is also known for their frequent use of vocal harmonies. They took their cues from the Adolescents in the way they used three-part harmonies. Bassist Jay Bentley said, "Seeing the Adolescents live, it was so brilliant. So, in a way, the Adolescents influenced us into saying we can do it too, because look, they're doing it."[24][123]
In turn, various bands cite Bad Religion as an influence, including AFI,[124] ALL,[125] Authority Zero,[126] the Bouncing Souls,[127] Death by Stereo,[128] Kreator,[129] Lagwagon,[127] NOFX,[130][131] the Offspring,[132][133] Pennywise,[134] Rise Against,[135] and Miss Vincent.[136][137] Funeral for a Friend vocalist Matt Davies-Kreye has also mentioned Bad Religion as an influence, particularly with their Against the Grain album.[138]
Beliefs[edit]
Politics[edit]
Many of Bad Religion's songs are about different social ills, although they try not to ascribe the causes of these ills to any single person or group. Greg Graffin believes that the current political situation in the United States can make it difficult to voice these concerns as he does not want to feed the polarization of viewpoints.[139]
The band contributed a song to the Rock Against Bush series organized by Fat Mike's Punkvoter, a political activist group and website whose supporters are primarily left-liberal members of the punk subculture.[140]
Brett Gurewitz attributed his anger towards former U.S. president George W. Bush as the major inspiration for The Empire Strikes First. "Our whole album is dedicated to getting Bush out of office. I'm not a presidential scholar, but I don't think you'll find a worse president in the history of the United States. He's probably one of the worst leaders in the history of world leaders. I just hate the guy."[139] In a similar fashion, the album Age of Unreason was inspired by the band's disdain for Donald Trump.[141]
Bad Religion performed at L7's abortion-rights benefit Rock for Choice at the Hollywood Palladium on April 30, 1993, with acts such as Stone Temple Pilots, White Zombie, Bikini Kill, King Missile, and Free Kitten with Kim Gordon. Hetson often wore a Rock for Choice T-shirt when performing, as he did when the band performed "21st Century (Digital Boy)" on Late Night with Conan O'Brien in 1994. Bentley has also worn Rock for Choice T-shirts, such as when they performed the Phoenix Festival in the United Kingdom in 1993. The band's song, "Operation Rescue", on Against the Grain is a pro-choice song (named after anti-abortion organization Operation Rescue).
Current members
Studio albums