Bad Religion

Bad Religion is an American punk rock band founded in Southern California in 1980 by Jay Bentley (bass), Greg Graffin (vocals), Brett Gurewitz (guitars), and Jay Ziskrout (drums). They are often credited for being involved in the revival of punk rock and inspiring several subsequent punk bands
To date, Bad Religion has released fourteen studio albums (with a fifteenth due in 2010), two EPs ^{Extended play} , three compilation albums, one live recording ^{live album} , and two DVDs. Their 1988 album Suffer ^{Suffer (album)} has been regarded by some critics as one of the most important punk rock albums of all time, although it was not charted in Billboard. Bad Religion rose to fame with their 1993 album Recipe for Hate, which reached number 14 on Billboard ^{Billboard magazine}

 
Formation and early career (1980–1982)

Bad Religion was formed in Los Angeles, California in 1980 by high school students Greg Graffin (vocals, keyboards), Jay Bentley (bass), Jay Ziskrout (drums), and Brett Gurewitz, also known as "Mr. Brett" (guitar). James O'Hanlon from New York filled in on guitar briefly as well while Brett was in the hospital with a broken leg. The band's major influences stemmed from earlier punk acts such as The Ramones, The Adolescents, Black Flag ^{Black Flag (band)} , The Germs, and The *** Pistols. Outside of the punk scene, their influences ranged from Elvis Costello, The Jam, and Nick Lowe to authors like Jack Kerouac. Greg Graffin called his influences "pop sounding rock tunes that were not necessarily commercial."

In 1981, the band released their eponymous debut EP ^{Extended play} on the newly-formed label, Epitaph Records, which was and continues to be managed and owned by Gurewitz. 1982 saw the release of their first full-length album, How Could Hell Be Any Worse?, gaining the band a sizable following. During the recording of How Could Hell Be Any Worse?, Jay Ziskrout left the band and was replaced by Peter Finestone.


Into the Unknown, Back to the Known and hiatus (1983–1985)

In 1983, the band released Into the Unknown ^{Into the Unknown (Bad Religion album)} , a keyboard-driven progressive rock album that was enormously unpopular with the band's core fanbase. It is now officially out of print, after almost all of the 10,000 copies were surreptitiously sold out of the warehouse they were being stored in by Gurewitz's ex-girlfriend, Suzy Shaw (who currently runs Bomp Records). The record has since become a collectors item, and has also gained acceptance from some fans. It can be seen going for more than $100 on eBay ^Ebay .

Also in 1983, the Mystic Records compilation album "The Sound Of Hollywood, Vol. 2" was released featuring two Bad Religion songs- "Every Day" and "Waiting For The Fire" which continued in the mellow acoustic/keyboard direction of the previous album. These songs are exclusive to this vinyl-only release which has been out of print for many years.

In 1984, Greg Hetson of Circle Jerks ^{The Circle Jerks} fame, who had played the guitar solo for "Part III" on How Could Hell Be Any Worse?, teamed up with Graffin on the song "Running Fast" for the soundtrack of the film Desperate Teenage Lovedolls ^{Desperate Teenage Lovedolls (film)} . Originally credited to Greg Greg on the initial release, the 1997 CD reissue lists the artist as Greg Graffin and Greg Hetson. Soon after, Graffin reassembled Bad Religion with Hetson replacing Gurewitz, who had gone into rehab for his drug problem. Bad Religion returned to a somewhat mellower, rock and roll version of their original sound with the Back to the Known EP, but disbanded temporarily soon after.

In 1985, Brett Gurewitz released a 5-song EP on Epitaph Records under the name The Seeing Eye Gods. This psychedelic influenced record is long out of print and has never been released on CD.


Reunion and Suffer (1986–1988)

Bad Religion slowly reformed in 1986 out of the Back to the Known lineup when Greg Graffin called Jay Bentley and asked him to return. Bentley's response was tentative, but after being assured that the setlist consisted mostly of tracks from How Could Hell Be Any Worse?, he agreed to return for one show, and ended up staying on because he had so much fun. A freshly rehabilitated Gurewitz was eventually convinced to come back aboard, and with Pete Finestone returning on drums and Greg Hetson on second guitar, Bad Religion was back.

The reunited band released their long-awaited third album Suffer ^{Suffer (album)} in 1988, cementing their comeback in the punk community. Not only is this album often cited as one of their very best by fans, but it is credited with "saving" the Southern California punk rock scene by fans and Bad Religion's contemporaries alike.


No Control, Against the Grain and Generator (1989–1992)

During the Suffer tour in 1988, Bad Religion began writing "albums worth of material". In early 1989, while the band was on a brief break from their Suffer tour, they decided to commence work on their next album and entered the Westbeach Recorders studio in June of that year to record it. The resulting album, No Control ^{No Control (Bad Religion album)} , was released in November 1989, and ended up selling more than 50,000 copies. By the time it was released, the band had become one of the most critically-praised hardcore punk bands of the time, in spite of a lack of mainstream success.

Bad Religion's hardcore punk style continued with their next album, Against the Grain ^{Against the Grain (Bad Religion album)} , which was released in 1990. While the album still did not break the band into mainstream audiences, it was the first 100,000 seller, and showed how quickly they were growing. "21st Century (Digital Boy)", one of the tracks off the album, is generally regarded the band's most well-known song, and has been played at almost every live show.

Drummer Pete Finestone left Bad Religion again in April 1991 to focus on his other band, The Fishermen, which had signed with a major label, and Bobby Schayer joined the band as his replacement. In May 1991, Bad Religion entered the Westbeach Recorders studio to begin recording material for their sixth studio album, Generator ^{Generator (Bad Religion album)} , which was not released until March 1992. The album was recorded almost live in the studio, because, at the time, Gurewitz had moved Westbeach to larger premises, and for the first time, the entire band could play in the studio at the same time. He stated that it was "time to change" and the band "did it in a different studio, but as far as the songwriting, it was a deliberate effort to try something different". Before the release of Stranger Than Fiction, Gurewitz left the band. He officially cited the reason for his departure as the increasing amount of time he was needed at Epitaph as The Offspring (who had just released Smash ^{Smash (album)} to unexpected success and acclaim) became one of the biggest bands of the mid-1990s, but it was well known that his departure was not on good terms. Gurewitz, along with many fans, accused the band of selling out for leaving Epitaph to seek greater financial success despite the fact that Gurewitz was making millions off of The Offspring alone.

As tensions increased, Graffin would sing alternate lyrics during concerts such as "I want to know where Brett gets his crack" or "I want to know why Gurewitz cracked," on the song "Stranger Than Fiction ^{Stranger Than Fiction (song)} ". These barbs referred to Gurewitz's struggles with crack, heroin and other addictions which plagued him for years. Brett discussed his drug use in an interview on the band's Suffer Tour documentary, Along the Way, and is now clean and sober. In response, Gurewitz recorded a song with his new band The Daredevils ^{The Daredevils (band)} entitled "Hate You", reportedly directed towards Jay Bentley.

Gurewitz was replaced as a guitarist by Brian Baker ^{Brian Baker (musician)} , a former member of bands such as Minor Threat and Dag Nasty. Since Greg Graffin and Gurewitz had split songwriting duties, Graffin was now Bad Religion's primary songwriter.


Post-Gurewitz period (1996–2000)

Bad Religion continued touring and recording without Brett Gurewitz and released three more albums for Atlantic, starting with The Gray Race (1996), produced by former Cars frontman Ric Ocasek. Despite never garnering the amount of attention that Stranger Than Fiction received, it would score Bad Religion a minor U.S. radio hit with the song "A Walk" as well as the European release of "Punk Rock Song" (sung in both English and German). The band would find its greatest success in Europe, where the album would reach the German music charts at #6 and score the band their first European gold record for sales in Scandinavia alone.

(left) with Bad Religion, live in the Netherlands, 1995.
Their next album, No Substance (1998), was not as well received by the critics or fans. For The New America (2000), Todd Rundgren, an early musical inspiration for Graffin, was brought in to produce. "Todd was kind of an underground sensation back in 1974. Here's a guy who was making pop music but in a way that you wouldn't hear on the radio. So much of my early musical identity was wrapped up in the way he conducted himself." In the summer of 1999 they set out on a three month US arena tour opening for Blink 182. Unfortunately, the experience might not have been all that Greg and the rest of the band might have hoped. Interest in recording the record waned, due to Rundgren's poor attitude. Jay Bentley reflects on this by saying, "I didn't feel we were going anywhere and so did Greg. Todd didn't like Greg and that made Greg so mad! He met his idol and he was a jerk! I don't think Todd gave a shit about anything." Meanwhile, Bobby Schayer left the band following a serious shoulder injury and was replaced by Brooks Wackerman (Suicidal Tendencies).

Bad Religion departed from Atlantic Records in 2001 and returned to Epitaph.


Reunion with Gurewitz (2001–2004)

In 2001, Brett Gurewitz rejoined the band. The expanded six-piece lineup then recorded and released The Process of Belief (2002). Graffin states, "there was a little bit of disappointment on my part when he left the band, but we never had any serious acrimony between the two of us. I can't say the same for the rest of the band. But he and I, being the songwriters from way back, we really wanted to try again."

Their next album, The Empire Strikes First, was released in June 2004. Like The Process of Belief, it is widely regarded by fans and critics as a return to form for the band, as opposed to their time on Atlantic.

The band also re-released digitally-remastered versions of several of their early albums on Epitaph Records, including How Could Hell Be Any Worse?, Suffer, No Control, Against the Grain, and Generator. The How Could Hell Be Any Worse? re-issue, though reclaiming the original title of the band's debut LP, contained all of the same material as the previously issued 80–85 compilation, including their first EP, the Public Service ^{Public Service (EP)} EP (with different versions of the songs Bad Religion, Slaves, and Drastic Actions than the self-titled EP) and the "Back To The Known" EP.


New Maps of Hell (2005–2008)


On March 7, 2006, a live DVD, Live at the Palladium ^{Live at the Palladium (Bad Religion DVD)} was released. This DVD featured a live show performed in late 2004 at the Hollywood Palladium, as well as extensive interviews, several music videos, and a photo gallery. During one of the interview segments, guitarist Brett Gurewitz said the band's next album would be a double length release, but this turned out not to be the case.

Hetson formed a supergroup ^{Supergroup (music)} band called Black President ^{Black President (band)} , consisting of Charlie Paulson (from Goldfinger ^{Goldfinger (band)} ), Jason Christopher, Wade Youman (both from Unwritten Law) and Christian Martucci (from Dee Dee Ramone).

In early March 2008, Bad Religion played several-night residences at House of Blues venues in Southern California as well as Las Vegas ^{Las Vegas Strip} . They also played at the KROQ Weenie Roast (y Fiesta) on May 17 along such bands as Flobots, Metallica, The Offspring, Pennywise ^{Pennywise (band)} , Rise Against, and Scars on Broadway. Following that, they performed four European festival appearances in May and June.

On July 8, 2008, Bad Religion released their first-ever deluxe edition CD, a reissue of then-current album New Maps of Hell. The deluxe version includes the original 16 song CD, along with seven new acoustic tracks recorded by Graffin (vocals) and Gurewitz (guitars/back vocals). Three of the acoustic songs are new, written specifically for this release; the other four tracks are new acoustic versions of BR songs. The release also includes a DVD with an hour-long live performance, music videos, and behind-the-scenes footage.


Next album and beyond (since 2009)

In June 2008, Jay Bentley said in an interview at the Pinkpop Festival in Landgraaf, Netherlands that Gurewitz had already begun writing new material for the next Bad Religion album. Bentley stated that the band was planning to return to the studio after Graffin teaches UCLA to start work on the follow-up to New Maps of Hell planned for a June 2009 release. However, according to a December 2008 report on the fan site The Bad Religion Page, Bentley revealed that due to Bad Religion's upcoming touring commitments for 2009, the band would not have a chance to record their new album until around the end of the year, for an expected 2010 release date.

In December 2009, Bentley revealed to the fan site The Bad Religion Page that the band was expected to go into the studio on April 26, 2010 to start recording their new album. He stated that a few songs for the album had been written and "it feels like the songwriting is picking up momentum. Baker said he was going to drive up to Graffin's, Brooks and I are going to do some demos with Brett, so we have a pretty good jump." According to Brett's Twitter, Bad Religion is aiming for a fall release of the new album. In January 2010, Bentley revealed that Bad Religion would record their new album at a studio in Pasadena, California with Joe Barresi, who engineered 2004's The Empire Strikes First and produced its 2007 follow-up New Maps of Hell. Despite the statement made by Bentley about entering the studio in April, he has noted that the recording date is now May 1.

Bad Religion are going to tour California in March. They also playing Europe around June time.

On top of the new album, Bad Religion have announced a live album called 30 Years Live, which will be a free download for those who sign up on the mailing list on . It will consist of songs recorded during their House of Blues tour during March and April of 2010 which will include some new songs before the actual album is released. It will be released on May 18, 2010.

At a House of Blues concert in Anaheim, CA on March 17th, 2010, the band debuted a new song called "Resist-Stance" off their upcoming album.Brett Gurewitz acknowledges attempting to emulate The 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."

Despite the name of the band, or the bands logo, the members do not consider themselves antitheist. Singer Greg Graffin states that more often than not, the band prefers to use religion as a metaphor for anything that doesn't allow for an individual's freedom to think or express themselves as they choose. In this way, their songs are more about anti-religion. Contrary to popular belief, Greg Graffin does not identify himself as an atheist, but chooses to identify as a naturalist.



Despite this, he did co-author the book Is Belief in God Good, Bad or Irrelevant?, which is based on a series of lengthy debates about science and religion between Graffin and historian Preston Jones.
The band's bassist Jay Bentley has stated that he has spiritual beliefs. Brett Gurewitz is a "provisional deist ^deism ."Bad Religion has appeared once on The David Letterman Show in 1994, twice on The Jon Stewart Show in 1994 and 1995, twice on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn in 2000 and 2002 and Late Night with Conan O'Brien five times in 1993, 1995, 1996, 2002, and 2007. In the early days, Bad Religion appeared twice on the New Wave Theatre in 1981 and 1982. During the 90's, Bad Religion appeared a lot on MTV which sponsored their The Gray Race Tour. They were considered a "classic" band on MTV's 120 Minutes, appearing a number of times live on that show. They also appeared on MTV's Most Wanted in 1995. Frontman Greg Graffin appeared three times on Politically Incorrect in 1994, 1996, and 2000. In 1993, one of their concerts at the Riviera Theatre in Chicago, IL was featured on JBTV.

In movies, Bad Religion's "Crossbuster" logo has appeared in Juno ^{Juno (film)} , SLC Punk!, 8mm ^{8mm (film)} , and Helmiä ja sikoja. Posters for The Empire Strikes First appear in Superbad ^{Superbad (film)} , Strange Wilderness, Fifty Pills, Special ^{Special (film)} , Kids in America ^{Kids in America (2005 film)} , Lilla Jönssonligan och stjärnkuppen ^{Lilla Jönssonligan} and Dishdogz. A Bad Religion sticker appears in The Ring ^{The Ring (2002 film)} ; it is worth noting that Gore Verbinski, director of The Ring, directed several Bad Religion music videos early in his career. A Bad Religion poster appears in PCU ^{PCU (film)} . Bad Religion music has appeared in movies such as Clerks, The Chase ^{The Chase (1994 film)} , Glory Daze, The Hammer, and Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator. Two Bad Religion songs appear in the 2000 short movie entitled "What to Do?". In Cheaper by the Dozen ^{Cheaper by the Dozen (2003 film)} , a Bad Religion sticker appears. In TV, Bad Religion's song "New America" appeared in the final episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 and "Portrait of Authority" was in an episode of Lizzie McGuire. A Bad Religion poster appears in an episode of Weird Science ^{Weird Science (TV series)} . During the 2000 MTV Movie Awards, a guitar riff from "New America" was played before it cut to commercials. A sample of "Infected" was played during a commercial for Vans Warped Tour 2009. In an episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, a group of kids play with a gun. One of them gets shot. In the moment he is shot he wears a Bad Religion t-shirt. In an episode of The Gilmore Girls, Rory is explaining how college and rock n' roll go together. She uses Graffin's ^{Greg Graffin} master in geology and his Ph.D. in evolutionary biology as an example. In an episode of Las Vegas ^{Las Vegas (TV series)} , Piper requests that she has Saturday off because Bad Religion are in town and she has "killer tickets". A poster for The Empire Strikes First appears in an episode of Zoey 101. In 2009, Bad Religion's song The Answer ^{Generator (Bad Religion album)} was accidentally read out on a British religious TV program , when a fan, pretended to be a religious person, e-mailed the show with lyrics to The Answer and claimed that it was a poem that describes his faith. The presenter of Genesis TV, Lesley Conder, then read out the lyrics to the song thinking that it was a poem about religion.

In video games, Bad Religion songs made it into Crazy Taxi, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, Tony Hawk Underground, Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, Tony Hawk's Project 8, NCAA Football 2006, Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller, and NHL 2K9. Bad Religion's song "Infected ^{Infected (song)} " (from Stranger Than Fiction ^{Stranger Than Fiction (Bad Religion album)} ) is in Guitar Hero ^{Guitar Hero (video game)} and downloadable for Guitar Hero 2. However, these are covers, not the actual song. The song "21st Century (Digital Boy)" (from Against the Grain ^{Against the Grain (Bad Religion album)} ) is downloadable for Guitar Hero: World Tour; however the date of the song in the game claims the song was made in 2004 (possibly referring to Against the Grain's remastered date) even though it was made in 1990. The songs "Sorrow ^{Sorrow (Bad Religion song)} " (from The Process of Belief) and "21st Century (Digital Boy)" (from Against the Grain ^{Against the Grain (Bad Religion album)} ) appear as downloadable songs for both Rock Band ^{Rock Band (video game)} and Rock Band 2. On an episode of ScrewAttack's ^ScrewAttack Video Game Vault ^{ScrewAttack#Video Game Vault} , they review Crazy Taxi and the reviewer mentions the soundtrack and makes a comment about Bad Religion and shows a picture of their "Crossbuster" and also their songs "Hear It" and "Them and Us" can be heard for brief seconds in the review.
As of 2007, the famous Los Angeles modern rock radio station KROQ ^KROQ-FM has listed Bad Religion at #39 in the "top 106.7 biggest KROQ bands of all time" memorial for the past six years in a row. Bad Religion has played at all three of KROQ's festivals several times; they played at the Weenie Roast ^{KROQ Weenie Roast} four times in 2002, 2004, 2007, and 2008, four times at the Almost Acoustic Christmas ^{KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas} in 1993, 1994, 2001, and 2007, and once at the L.A. Invasion ^{KROQ LA Invasion} in 2002.

Alternative Press did a Top Ten Singles of the Decade list in 2009. It was a list for the noughties. "Los Angeles Is Burning" came in at number 90 and "Sorrow ^{Sorrow (Bad Religion song)} " came in at number 56.Bad Religion's logo has been referred to by fans as the "Crossbuster". It features a black cross with a red prohibition sign over it. It was created by guitarist Brett Gurewitz by drawing it on a piece of paper and showing it to the rest of the band. They supposedly thought it would be a good way to annoy their parents. In the live documentary Along the Way, frontman Greg Graffin claimed to regret choosing that as their symbol because it may put off a lot of religious people who he feels could benefit from listening to Bad Religion. When bassist Jay Bentley was asked about it in the same documentary he claimed it was symbol meant to "piss off our parents" and that it was "something easy to put on t-shirts and for kids to spray paint on walls" and that when people ask him what it means he says "whatever you think it means". Guitarist Greg Hetson claims in the documentary that it stands for anti-establishment.

The Crossbuster caused controversy in Russia when a religious group found a shop in Moscow selling Bad Religion posters. Items like these can no longer be sold in Russia.

A lot of Bad Religion merchandise including hats, t-shirts, and hoodies contain the Crossbuster. The logo was also used on the covers for their early EPs, 1981's self-titled ^{Bad Religion (EP)} and 1985's Back to the Known, and the disc for New Maps of Hell. It can also be found on other Bad Religion albums including Suffer ^{Suffer (album)} (on the back of the boy on fire's t-shirt), No Substance (on Kristen Johnston's right breast, behind one of the actors playing a TV host and on a woman's fingernails) and The Process of Belief (inside the booklet there is a small one mixed with all the other symbols).*Early Shows (1980–1987)
*Suffer Tour (1988–1989)
*No Control Tour (1990)
*Against the Grain Tour (1991)
*Generator Tour (1992–1993)
*Recipe for Hate Tour (1993–1994)
*Stranger Than Fiction Tour (1994–1995)
*The Gray Race Tour (1996–1997)
*No Substance Tour (1998–1999)
*The New America Tour (2000–2001)
*The Process of Belief Tour (2002–2003)
*The Empire Strikes First Tour (2004–2005)
*New Maps of Hell Tour (2007–2008)'Timeline'




Although Greg Graffin is the only constant member of the band's lineup, the band currently features two other original members, Brett Gurewitz and Jay Bentley.

Current members

*Greg Graffin: lead vocals, piano, synthesizer, acoustic guitar, main songwriter ^songwriter (1980–present)>
*Brett Gurewitz: guitar, backing vocals, main songwriter ^songwriter (1980–1983, 1986–1994, 2001–present)>
*Jay Bentley: bass, backing vocals (1980–1982, 1986–present)>
*Greg Hetson: guitar (1984–present)>
*Brian Baker ^{Brian Baker (musician)} : guitar, backing vocals (1994–present)>
*Brooks Wackerman: drums, percussion (2001–present)>