How To Get Into: BAD RELIGION (Part 1) || Crash Thompson 

A "Don't fuck with the formula band" done right.

This is one of my go-to comfort RU-vid series along with your Bad Album Covers videos, well done Crash for breaking down the best Bad Religion albums to start with.

Finding out Bad Religion were signed to Atlantic at one point is like finding out Flying Lotus doesn't actually release his albums on Brainfeeder records.

I'm there with you on the 2000s game soundtracks. Soooo many bands I owe knowing of to Tony Hawk, Burnout, Guitar Hero. etc

Crash, your channel was the reason I got into Bad Religion and I can’t thank you enough. That being said - I’m still going to watch this intently and see where your picks line up, and more importantly - where into the unknown falls. Cheers!

Yup, I was one of those guys that had Guitar Hero's inclusion of "Infected" to thank for exposing me to Bad Religion. My little brother in particular had an attachment of sorts to that song in the game, and so the two of us explored their catalog together. I found "Infected" to be a catchy little tune, but I wasn't expecting their stuff to be as fast and heavy hitting as it was. "Sorrow" from Process of Belief went on to become my favorite song of theirs, and said album and No Control would be my two favorites in their discography.

YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW LONG IVE WAITED FOR THIS!!!

Finally I can stop mixing up Bad Religion and Bad Company

I will never forget the first time I downloaded a BR album: New Maps From Hell in 2008. Since that I got hooked forever with Bad Religion. Hard to choose a favorite record, because even in their less inspired times they made fantastic music. I love "New America" (the album) for example. Can't wait for the second part!

Stranger Than Fiction is my favorite album by them. It was a good mixture of their early hardcore punk stuff and the pop punk material of their next few albums, with even a little alternative rock in the mix (such as on "Infected" and "Slumber"). I would say that's a good album to start with for anyone trying to get into the band.

Hearing "You" on the Tony Hawk 2 soundtrack made me aware of who BR was. My cousin playing The Empire Strikes First made me a fan. I was digging the album, but once I heard Los Angeles Is Burning, I was HOOKED. That's still my favorite BR song to this day--that riff, Greg's lyrics, his vocal melody, and that absolute MONSTER of a chorus are too good to pass up.

Am I the only one who actually enjoys listening to Into the unknown every once in a while?

If I had a nickel for every time a popular band had one of their two original guitarists leave in the 90s only for said guitarist to return in the 2000s while the band still kept said guitarist's 90s replacement making the band a six-piece with three guitarists, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice, especially when both bands would end up in the same Crash Thompson Patreon poll for this episode.

Crash “We’ll Get Into It” Thompson. In all seriousness seeing them w/ Alkaline Trio on Halloween and I’m fucking excited.

My personal strategy for getting into bands like this basically anything 90s and below is just buying whatever CDs I find of them at the swap meet and my experiences purely based on the randomness of whatever I find xD

Crash's Bad Religion related videos make for intense drinking games.

I’m now thinking about H2GI2: Sleater-Kinney as an idea.

I absolutely adore Bad Religion. My favorite albums are a bit strange. Process Of Belief, Generator, and Against The Grain are some of my favorite albums period. Such an incredible band with great lyrics and a super distinctive sound.

I still need to check out this band’s stuff after hearing the name for so long. Thanks for the video! Also, I agree that if a band for the most part sticks to their one trick I don’t mind all that much if it’s a style of music I enjoy. It’s also great to hear how BR was able to innovate through the years without departing too far from punk rock. Also, that’s a hugeeeeee discography they got. Looking forward to part 2!

I’m glad I watched this video because without it I would’ve not known where to start. Also I love these guys. Bad Religion is awesome.

Suffer and No Control by Bad Religion and Living in Darkness by Agent Orange are the records that got me into SoCal melodic punk music. So I'm pretty jazzed to see this.

My introduction was Empire Strikes First although I wore their shirt just because I loved their logo in middle school before I heard a single song

It's not a problem. Bad religion does it right.

I'm not sure what came first: Crazy Taxi or Guitar Hero. But both of those contributed to my interest in this band.

See Crash is best boy because he appreciates the Dreamcast Also yes, there is nothing in Indiana but Corn

How could hell can be any worse is my favorite album by bad religion

I've wanted to get into this band for a long while, I suppose now is my opportunity

Not gonna lie, I'm hearing all these songs for the first time ever pulling up spotify every now and then while I watch the video and I'm BLOWN AWAY! 😄 Thanks a lot.

the work you put into these videos is insane, they’re always so in depth and enjoyable. keep up the amazing work!! can’t wait for iron maiden, and after that, man I would kill for one of these on the Chili Peppers.

This is a fun watch! Might check more of this band out sometime.

Haven't watched yet but you get my thumbs up. Been waiting forever for you to get to this one. PS how long til part two? Time to dive in

The Problem, or as I call it...The AC/DC problem! :) Fellow Turbo Nerd here and Empire Strikes First is my top album!

I've been waiting for this one since your Into The Unknown video!!! THANK YOU CRASH!!! ✌✌

Thank you for making this two parter on such an awesome band - definitely one of its kind of this platform, and such a comprehensive analysis as well

YAAAAS!!! I thought this was never gonna happen , you have made my day 👏

Bad Religion should get inducted into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

Been meaning to give my copy of The Process of Belief a spin, I trusted that old Album Wall of yours to be full of good stuff. BTW: Not saying bring that wall back, I like the new background, just saying that is why I picked up the album.

Not usually my genre but Crash can get my ass in a seat for a lesson on bands I have no experience with like no one can. Finding out Chad Wackerman has a brother who is also a virtuoso drummer but in a COMPLETELY different genre blew my mind and made my day.

Waiting with baited breath for part 2, awesome job with this video dude!

Dude thank you so much for doing this video. I'm a DIE HARD Bad Religion fan. To get this much gushyness and fan-boyishness that I do too over this epic band is just perfect

Atomic Garden from Generator was in NCAA 06. That’s what got me into them. The whole soundtrack is great. It also got me into the band Jawbreaker

Greg's lyrics a great example of what happens when someone who probably writes essays for fun starts a punk rock band. I'm really glad they figured out that experimentation didn't really work for them. I've tried to listen to "the album that shall not be named", but I just can't do it. They actually still play The Dichotomy live sometimes, though.

18:22 hey uh crash, you forgot Weezer’s debut album

You already got me into BR and I couldn't be more grateful Crash. With all the shit that's been going on in the world, this band have really helped keep me from going straight down the doomer rabbit hole. I'd have never known they'd even existed being a 21-year old living in New Zealand. EDIT: Ok, I may be just a little sad that you've put Dissent of Man above Recipe For Hate.

Oh wow, surprised to see only Into the Unknown in the must hears Edit: Yeah Wackerman is bar none their best drummer, one of the best in the genre

As a fellow Hoosier I feel the same about corn

You know, it's weird. Despite knowing how important it is to the band and punk rock in general I actually don't like Suffer that much. It just sounded... _off_ to me in a way I lacked the ability to articulate. But the explanation that BR didn't really nail their current audio mixing techniques until No Control probably goes a long way towards explaining why I feel that way. And Against the Grain is one of my absolute favorite rock albums of all time, so no question they had it down to a damned science by then.

I'm a 52 year old punk rock dinosaur and how can he'll be any worse for me really stands alone from the rest of bad religion, it's pure hardcore. I remember when suffer came out, I'm one of the 4000 who bought it, I honestly didn't think it was as good and still don't. Good album but how could hell be any worse...its by far their best record flaws and all it just rules.

Bad Religion is the most underrated punk band of all time. They have SEAS of great songs and yet it seeks like 2/3 of it gets ignored. An American treasure.

During the mid-90s, '94 to be exact, a tape went around my school with recordings from VHS copy of the surfing video 'Momentum'. It wasn't video games for me, it was this tape which included songs from Against the Grain and Generator, as well as Sprung Monkey and Pennywise, that got me into Bad Religion. Such a great time for music. I think a year later I discovered Stranger than Fiction and that became one of my all-time favourite Bad Religion albums along with AtG and The Empire Strikes First. ❤

I saw Volbeat referenced in the clips with "The Problem" I wouldn't put them in that category. Some of their stuff is Rockabilly, some is more punk-driven hard, straight-forward riffs. Some is more melodic, the new stuff I don't even like nearly as much as their earlier albums. But after Rob Caggiano joined, they left the "Social Distortion meets Elvis" genre then went to more of a metal/rock/prog sound. IMO of course

Against The Grain and Process of Belief are my two favorites as well. I can honestly say I've never seen anyone with either of those tattoos.

I feel like the fact that I'm a complete word nerd is a big factor as to why I enjoy this band lmao

This coming right when I heard "Sinister Rouge" on friend's Spotify playlist and I thought "Man, I love what I've heard of this band so far, and I already know how super influential and good they are, but it'd be nice to have a better idea of where to start with this massive friggin' discography!" And then you showed up. Coincidence? Probably but you could be magic, you don't know!

Bad Religion Albums Ranked 1. Suffer 2. No Control 3. Recipe for Hate 4. Age of Unreason 5. Stranger Than Fiction 6. The Empire Strikes First 7. Against the Grain 8. How Could Hell Be Any Worse? 9. True North 10. Generator 11. The Gray Race 12. The Process of Belief 13. The New America 14. Into the Unknown 15. New Maps of Hell 16. The Dissent of Man 17. No Substance

I’ve met Bobby Schayer and he’s an awesome dude.

They have been my favorite band since 1995

As a late 30s punker I must admit alot of punk bands I love have the problem but if this makes any sense in punk rock the music style is so common I feel like it's one of the few genre's where a band can wear the problem like a badge of honor for instance if a friends punk band reminds you of a problem band and you say so instantly your homie will be like "sweet" they kill it hahaha

Great video. I discovered them around the time Suffer came out. I was in my early teens,stuck in a tiny shithole town,and thankfully the clerk at the local Record Bar store told me about them. Since then I have been a huge fan. Been lucky enough to see them live 3 times,and they never play anywhere near me.

Think before you die is one of the best advices you can give.

New Maps of Hell is my favorite punk album

Definitely first heard of them because of Tony Hawk Pro Skater, then bought suffer, and unfortunately never listened to anything else, didn't know where to go, so thank you for this.

...I got into Bad Religion from Bleach. The manga had character notes from the creator Tite Kubo; notes that included what song the creator associated with each character. 'News From The Front' was the song for the protagonist, Ichigo. Strangely enough, it's also how I got into Radiohead.

“…And eternity my friend is a long fucking time,” from You may be my favorite three seconds in punk rock.

Any chance we can maybe get a How to get into Trivium at some point?

Recipe For Hate is the only album I knew of theirs before this video. Am interested to see where it does eventually show up. Also, looking forward to another review of… THAT particular album.

There'd be a good video in surprisingly good late career releases from bands. True North would be on there. As another example I think Deep Purple's 1996 Album Purpendicular stands toe to toe with any of their albums from the 70s. Maybe EWBAITE counts. There'd be a lot of fans of bands out there who only listen to their "golden era" and might miss late gems. Plus it's cool to see bands release something amazing past the point people think they're done.

This video is 2 years old, but Bad Religion is still and always will be the greatest punk band of all time. The soundtrack to many eras of my life, and now my 6 year old's favorite band.

I'd love to see a How To Get Into Rancid episode! Are you into Rancid Crash? :D

I'd take a shot for each "We'll get to it", but I care about my well being.

FAVORITE BAD RELIGION SONG…GO! Anxiety or parallel. FAVORITE RECORD…GO! The grey race.

I recently went through BR’s discography. I like them fine, but I do admit that I don’t find myself too inclined to come back to them too much because of “The Problem” mentioned in this video.

Man what a great band, my wife's boyfriend hates them which gets me so mad

I can not find any flaws in How Could Hell Be Any Worse. It is in heavy rotation at my house right along with Suffer and No Control.

AND I WANT TO CONQUER THE WORLD!!!!

Didn't realize that Greg and Brett didn't write The Positive Aspect Of Negative Thinking. What a banger.

How to get into Bad Religion… press play. No multi part series needed.

Here's a good way to get into Bad Religion: play Crazy Taxi

Love your Moron Police shirt

Been waiting for this one for ages :D Finally and it didnt dissapoint ^^ only thing I find slightly odd that you put Generator with Suffer, No Control, Against The Grain and Recipe for Hate with the Atlantic records. I personally Think Generator and Recipe For Hate Form this nice Transition era, where they start to Experiment with their Sound more, but not Nailing it 100% yet and they started having music Videos with Generator too. Im interested to see why Age Of Unreason is an outlier in the late Bad Religion stuff for you (except of Brooks and Greg not being there)

Great band

24 minutes in and great stuff so far. Just had to stop at this point for a my-two-cents-remark: While I think the Atlantic era's NS and TNA were lyrically inferior to most of their pre-Atlantic releases (obviously making an exception for TGR, which is tied with everything that preceded it, and yes, I mean lyrically), I still think that melodically as well as structurally, BR did keep progressing in an overall positive direction during this time. The arguable clunkers on NS and TNA are more than compensated for by the standout tracks.

This was so great to listen to while cooking dinner and drinking Jameson's Whiskey.

Suffer. Start with Suffer.

Your take on “Boot Stamping…” had me cackling. So glad you did this!

Also, yeah my first time hearing Bad Religion was hearing You in Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1.

So I never played Crazy Taxi. I'm a bit older so my first introduction to BR was Stranger Than Fiction because I was 16 in 1994 which was a fantastic year to be a teenager for both music and movies. I was buying tons of music funded by my first job and 1994 was the year punk broke as they say. Punk-O-Rama Vol 1 was absolutely vital.

6:28 Brb, I'm bringing a shot glass and booze for Crash Thompson Drinking Game

I hope you do Weezer and Green Day in this style. Your retrospectives on those bands are some of my favorites of your videos, so how a How to Get Into on them would rule.

As far as "The Problem" goes. I agree. That's why their best albums are How Could Hell, Into the Unknown, Back to the Know then Suffer. All sound different and are great in their own way. "The Problem" really only applies to everything after Suffer with a couple kinda differences.

Thank you so much for this. Now I don't have to make a significantly worse video nerding out over this band. You said everything I would've but better (except for your low opinion on Recipe which has earned you one demerit for being wrong). Thanks for reminding me to listen to them again. It's been a few months.

Crash just showed us all his punk rock O-face talking about those first three POB tracks. Hearing you talk about your love for this band gives me all of the feels. Man BR is fucking legendary. My first encounter was hearing the All Ages comp in a Tower Records listening station. Not only was I Want to Conquor the World the first BR track I'd ever heard but my first album was a best of the best from what is arguably the most iconic collection of punk rock ever assembled. Fucking legendary.

1 - The Teenage Years 2 - The Holy Trinity 3 - The Bobby Era 4 - The Brooks Era 5 - 40 Years Fan since 1994!

42:09 I discovered this band on "Guitar Hero 1", and "Infected" became one of my favorite songs in the game. One month later I owned "The Gray Race" and "Generator", and I became a man that day xD

Good take. I got in to BR in Jr high so 94. And I bought my first punk CDs off a kid at school for 5 dollars “ no control” and Peboy “strong reaction” loved them both but the bad religion just hit different with my life and what I was going through.

Thank you for including our BR Lexicon at 0:50! 👍🏻

Evil Joe is honestly a super underrated producer IMO

8:51 Lay off the Yes shit - I dunno why, but i find this line absolutely hilarious

"The Yes shit" had me dying. Comedic gold.

Crash, I Love your videos I have no idea what your t-shirt is but I dig it