How To Get Into: BAD RELIGION (Part 2) || Crash Thompson 

Greg Graffin singing won't you be my neighbor was unexpectedly wholesome.

Wait! Think about this: A punk band making and releasing a goddamn prog record in the middle of punk and hardcore's heyday, to a bunch of snobby music fans who would throw a fit at the mere mention of prog. HOW IS THAT NOT THE BALLSIEST, MOST PUNK THING YOU COULD DO AT THAT TIME?? I still think they should reissue it on its own. It's not like the songs themselves are that bad. Sure, they're a little derivative, but so was their debut. As a fan of both punk and prog, I really don't think technical proficiency should be the end-all be-all in prog rock. Plus, there were new elements introduced on Into the Unknown that BR would carry over into their later albums (i.e. their new approach to melodies and harmonies). If anything, I think albums like Suffer and No Control are so great because they combined most of the best elements of those first two albums.

The most highly awaited sequel since honey, we shrunk ourselves.

Skyscraper is one of the best BR tunes ever.

That album cover for “The New America.” I can see how the conversation went with the art director. “Guys, attack helicopters are cool! You can never have enough attack helicopters!!!” (Sounds of a mouse clicking to duplicate the same helicopter 17,000 fucking times!)

Noooooo Billy Gnosis is a jam and I will not change my mind

Okay Babies in the Dark is ehh but The Answer should be mandatory reading in every school in America.

Bobby Schayer being called "clunky" proves this man has never touched a drumstick.

Agree that “Shades of Truth” slaps…but honestly one of my favorite BR songs ever is “In So Many Ways.” That wacky intro solo into the half-time pre-verse with their signature oozin-ahhs is such a highlight for me.

How to get into Bad Religion - buy a bad religion album, listen to it. If you like it, get another one. If you don’t, try something else, and maybe come back to it in a few years and try again. That’s how it worked for me - bought and listened to Suffer, and while it had good songs, it didn’t really “do it” for me. I came back to it after a few years and loved it, then went and got the rest of their catalogue and on into the future. And Christmas Songs is played every year in my house.

Fun Fact: The name of their label Epitaph came from a King Crimson song.

Atomic Garden was actually my intro to Bad Religion…because it was on the NCAA Football 06 soundtrack. That game also introduced me to Debaser by Pixies, Train in Vain by The Clash, and Me Myself and I by De La Soul. Also Jawbreaker, Mother Love Bone, NOFX, Superchunk…that soundtrack was great omg.

I’ll stan their Christmas album any day. Their version of O Come, O Come Emmanuel SLAPS.

If Crash ever does a Christmas album, the perfect title would be, "Merry Christmas, Fuckers!".

Not mentioning Skyscraper as a highlight on Recipe For Hate is a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge snub and I'm surprised you didn't mention the noticeably worse production on it.

I remember in 1998 Shades of Truth got played on 94.1 WYSP Philadelphia. I was shocked to hear it because I never heard BR on that station. I played the crap out of no substance that summer. My intro to BR was seeing the Infected video played on Superrock on MTV. Early 1995 I think.

I got into Bad Religion because Age of Unreason was on your best of 2019 list, as well as a couple of others bands I've picked up on because of your recommendations so you've got just as much influence on my musical tastes as the video games of my formative years

I think Generator and Recipe For Hate would be loved for anyone coming from the alternative/grunge scene. Probably because happened to me: when i discovered BR and digged in the rest of their discography i was into Pearl Jam and Soundgarden too, so songs like The Answer and Struck A Nerve inmediately become favorites of mine. Plus the singles of both records are classics and Eddie Vedder guest vocals in "Recipe..." were enough reasons to enjoy. Despite Greg's struggles in personal life and the recording sessions, i still regard positively on New America. "You've Got a Chance" is an amazing opener and i like the positivity (despite the personal issues) of Greg in "There Will Be a Way". Although "I Love My Computer" is the weirdest song ever made from BR that is not coming from Into Unknown, but like Greg, i also love my computer too (lol). Great video Crash, as always!

Comon The Answer is a classic.

They played "The Dichotomy" live when I saw them in 2019. It actually went down quite well - lots of moshing when it sped up. I was just amazed to hear an into the unknown song

The New America wasn’t technically written solely by Greg. Brett co-wrote “Believe It” and even plays the lead guitar on it.

Generator was the first album I ever heard from BR. For me, it's one of their best. No substance was the first BR album I bought at the time of it's release. Definitely not their best, but still it has songs that most bands would kill to have. In so many ways, for example. My favourite band of all time.

You forgot to mention Skyscraper and Man with a Mission! Also, I agree with you on No Substance. Most guilty pleasure Bad Religion album. The production is FANTASTIC on it and its definitely more of a rock and roll album.

I love both Generator and Recipe For Hate

Greg Graffin probably has my favorite voice in all of punk rock, it's so perfect for what he does

Bad Religion has been my favourite band for over 20 years, and apart from Tested, Generator is the album I most often listen to. Solid from start to finish. Fertile Crescent is my favourite song on Generator.

I listen to BR's "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" year around.

Absolutely fantastic retrospective. About THE NEW AMERICA: Brett and Greg became friends again during the production of this album, and Brett co-wrote a track on it; Believe It. This song was in some ways the seed that led to the reunion on The Process of Belief. I agree that it's not a fantastic record, and it is very poppy, but there ARE some fantastic songs on it. Don't Sell Me Short is in my honest opinion one of their most epic and soaring songs. The backing vocals/harmonies on that song are bone-chillingly good. If I could give anyone hating this record some advice, it would be to at least play that song with the volume turned way up, and try not to get swept away. I also think songs like 1000 Memories and There Will Be a Way are very underrated. They are folksy and country-inspired, but the melodies are insanely catchy and the production is very good. The backing vocals on 1000 Memories are - just like Don't Sell Me Short - quite fantastic.

I’m not even in to Bad Religion as a band, personally, but I have heard a couple of songs from them, but I do appreciate your opinions and why you like them. I am looking forward to seeing your ‘How To Get Into: Iron Maiden’ videos and hopefully you can put on a review of ‘Senjutsu’ at the same time, as doing them too.

It's funny, 'cause Recipe For Hate was one of the first BR albums I enjoyed in full 😜

Love atomic garden

Man, I love into the unknown! It’s great! Songs Time and disregard, it’s only over when and you give up are so conceptual and unusual It’s so melodic and with Greg’s voice I LOVE THAT SHIT!!!!!!!!

Pete and brooks are my favorite drummers for bad religion

I LOVE New America. It’s my 2nd favorite album next to Stranger than fiction. Greg voice really shines on it for me, especially on You’ve Got a Chance, it’s a motivator in some way.

Don't sell me short and lyrics like "you're talking to the stratosphere you're curled up on the floor. With such a wealth of information why are you so poor?" Shows that even New America has some darn good stuff on it. Thanks for doing this series it's quite entertaining

"Hippy killers" sounds better when you know that it is not about killing hippies but about the punk movement "replacing/succeeding to" the hippy movement. It's not a silly song at all, I see it more as a bitter-nostalgic song. During the No Substance and New America eras, it seemed like one of Greg's ambitions was to define and promote his vision of the punk movement, in a very "intellectual" approach as Greg can do. He wrote more about this in a band's "newsletter" titled "Bad Times" where he also wrote a "punk manifesto". I remember finding it a rather good and positive text back then... but I don't remember the details now. The text is probably available somewhere on the Internet. Other songs relating to punk "philosophy" I think were A Streetkid Named Desire and Believe It. (And further in time also You Don't Belong, but I think this was a different era, pure nostalgic approach. Edit: Indeed I just checked, it's Brett song, not Greg's. Same for Wrong Way Kids.)

As a fan of Prog, those snippets of Into The Unknown... HUUUURT! Other than that, good vids! I’m definitely gonna have to check some of these out!

I pretty much agree with everything here... If you are a new listener of BR this is a great guide... Only songs missed: Submission Complete, Dept. Of false hope, Lost Pilgrim, All there is, Sinister Rouge and in so many ways. I love these tracks!

Just watched both videos. You did a great job. Absolutely nailed it man. I’ve been a Bad Religion fan since 1996. First song I ever heard was ‘Punk Rock Song’ whilst listening to Love Line with Adam Corolla and Dr. Drew who had Bad Religion in as guests. I was 16 years old and completely blown away by what I heard from BR. I then went out and bought The Grey Race. Loved it so much I got Recipe For Hate because it was the only different BR record Sam Goody had for sale. I loved that one too. Next, I got Suffer and I knew after that I would love everything they did and bought all the rest of em, Generator, No Control, How Could Hell Be Any Worse…how disappointed I was when the first new release I was actually anticipating from my favorite band was No Substance. I knew even then it was an aberration. But then The New America happened and I was like “Really? WTF happened guys? I completely bought in and now you’re churning out this shit?” Thank God for Process of Belief and the return of Brett Gurewitz because I was starting to become embarrassed by my favorite band….ah, good times😆

As someone who was there when it came out. You can not overstate how good and ground breaking Suffer was. It changes things for an entire decade. Easily on the Mount Rushmore of punk rock records.

American Jesus was the first song I heard from Bad Religion and it was a damn good introduction imo. Thank you for making this to help me get into this band that I've wanted to for literal years now lol

It's disappointing to hear how badly Rundgren behaved towards the band, as I love his music, but setting aside the pat "don't meet your idols" conclusion (and his having twenty-odd years to turn into a grumpy old man), it seems like *everything* about recording that album was a miserable slog. Like, at least when Martin Hannett was being an absolute madman when recording Joy Division-the way he got Stephen Morris' drumming to sound like that is honestly pretty twisted-everyone involved was really invested in the process and putting out something incredible.

No Substance slaps!!! I love: Shades of Truth Hear it In so many ways The same person Victims of the revolution Strange denial Sowing the seeds of utopia. All bangers.

Would love one of these on the Descendents

Definitely agree with you on No Substance. It's flawed album, undercooked and some lyrics sound like "reddit atheism" pre reddit, but it has lots and lots of bops and I appreciate it. Also I know that Generator and Recipe for Hate are fan favourites, but I'm not one of those fans, I think these albums are good, but that's about it, just good, not their best (with some great songs)

Into The Unknown: I am the worst Bad Religion album in th... The New America: SOME...

I’m seeing them back to back this tour I’m stoked

What a fun journey these videos have been, great job Crash!

Bobby Schayer was my BR fav drummer. Just wanted to state that.

Recipe got me into BR. If it wasn't for American Jesus I wouldn't even know who they are.

Oh good! I thought we'd have to wait another month for part two.

I'm a weirdo that actually likes The New America. I freely admit that this is probably largely due to nostalgia as it was my first album of theirs. It isn't my favorite, which would be The Process of Belief which also kicked my interest in the band definitely up several notches. However, TNA has a bunch of good songs on it, like A Streetkid named Desire, It's a Long Way to the Promised Land and Don't sell me short that do hold up. I was however until this video unfamiliar with the history of that album in the greater context of the band.

Listen to your brother's stranger than fiction cassette when you're 9, discover 'Slumber' and realize you have just been introduced to the greatest band of all time and still feel that way going on 30 years later. Worked for me. Funnily enough that is now one of the only songs I ever skip.

"Bret and Greg had been listening to a lot of the oldschool classic punk..." No Substance was the 2nd album Bad Religion wrote after Bret left the band. As far as I know, Bret had nothing to do with it.

Phenomenal retrospective, Crash!

Hey crash! Thank you so much for getting me into this band. I’m massively into to the Bay Area punk scene and I’d heard Do what you want and You but I never really got round to spinning their records so thank you for giving me a guide on what to get listening to. Cheers dude! (Btw your opinion on Process of Belief being your favourite BR album is the right one what a fucking album holy shit it blew my fucking head off)

When you were talking about Into The Unknown, one of my favorite sayings came to mind: "Interesting" is the word you say when you can't say "good". LOL

One of the first songs i remember from bad religion is "new dark ages", i just remember me playing videogames listening to that song... ofc others too, but i have a special love for that song, in those times i didnt even know what album was it from. Now i realize i dont even like or remember a lot of new maps from hell, but still probably a lot of bangers haha

Bad Religion’s “The New America” album is their “get us off of this label” album. Green Day’s “Father Of All” is also that.

Hot take: Into the unknown is actually a hidden gem.

Thank you for making this incredible deep dive.

I respect your opinion crash

I have forgotten that "No Substance" exists MULTIPLE times, and in spite of BR being my favorite band (and I have listened to it multiple times), I still can't say I have any feelings one way or the other for that album

Did anyone actually call the phone number on the No Substance cover?

What the hell is the context of that intro? I’m British so I never knew about Mr Rogers, but it seems like it was something to do with that. Also, Recipe for Hate was my jumping-on point. I actually would recommend that, but not over Suffer or No Control.

How you gonna talk about RFH and forget Skyscraper😤😤😤

You did listen to "in so many ways" on no substance, right? Cause that song being banged out on the fly is fucking amazing. I really wish you would have given it an honorable mention cause that song is amazing.

"Only Entertainment" is one of my favorite BR songs lol

Hey, I'm the Jonny T from Twitter! Didn't have making it into one of your videos on my 2021 Bingo card, but I'll take it. Nice work!

For what it's worth, I love the cover of Age of Unreason. I thought it was goofy as hell until the visual metaphor clicked for me.

No Substance was actually the first album from BR I ever had a physical copy of, maybe not their best but I’ll still defend it as it got me into them. Like I love it too but I can see why it would be an ugly duckling, it’s my duckling though

I agree with most of your placements, although I would swap The New America and No Substance. I actually kind of love TNA; Whisper in Time, Let It Burn and Don't Sell Me Short are all personal favourites. No Substance, on the other hand, is easily the worst Bad Religion album, in my opinion. Outside of Shades of Truth and Hear It, it's either awful or completely forgettable. Anyway, I really enjoyed both parts of this. Always great to see my favourite band get some love.

Awesome

One of my favorite details that indirectly reference Bad Religion is that Ichigo Kurosaki's (yes, THAT Ichigo Kurosaki) canonical favorite/theme song is "News From the Front"

Fertile Crescent off generator is a banger and what about skyscraper from recipe

Gonna start saying "NONE OF YOU HAVE THE GUTS TO KILL ME" whenever people get mad at me for having hot takes now lmao

Hear it, God tier. Shades of Truth, God tier. Biggest Killer, God tier. Raise Your Voice, God tier. Sowing the Seeds, God tier. Voracious March, God tier. Mediocre Minds, God tier. Mercy of Imbeciles, God tier. That's a strange kind of "rough around the edges" my friend.

Ah c'mon Crash, "All Good Soldiers" is one of the best tracks on Recipie for Hate! If you're gonna diss one of my favorite BR albums, at least do it properly! I kid, I kid. But yeah, despite my love for the album, a part of me has to admit it's an acquired taste. That record in particular seems to be going for a slightly more grunge-leaning approach than their other albums, so it does sound just a bit different from their later fare.

My jumping-on point as How Could Hell Be Any Worse - I love old-school hardcore punk a la Minor Threat and this is actually a pretty innovative album in many ways. Like, the fact they got their label name - a label expressly formed for the release of that album and the self-titled EP - from a King Crimson song heavily foreshadows the diversity of Internet music culture. And this was in 1982, back when prog was considered one of those really dweeby things punks wouldn't be caught dead listening to (hell, John Lydon coming out about his love of Pink Floyd and Van der Graaf Generator didn't become common knowledge until around the time of the Sex Pistols reunion concerts, so as far as Americans pre-Internet were aware, he hated prog). Only New Wavers and New Wave converts like Talking Heads and Split Enz even acknowledged prog - and in the Heads' case, their prog influences were pretty minimal since they were taking cues from a thousand other genres and scenes. Into the Unknown is just a slog to listen to. There are many, many, many better "dork age" albums than this one. I felt like I was listening to a really bad Styx/REO Speedwagon/Midwestern arena rock tribute act, but with Bad Religion lyrics. I know it laid the groundwork for Greg's gift of gab and the more technical side of Brett's guitar playing, but still...not good. No Control is great. Against the Grain is a masterpiece. Suffer is okay. Recipe for Hate is a good crossover album, though I haven't regularly listened to it since freshman year of college.

1. Christmas Songs is an amazing album, it sounds great with Brooks' drums... I know it was a little bit of a joke album, but still a good one... and the money were donated to some charity institution.... Besides, this is by no means the first time they play Christmas carols 2. I totally agre on The Process of Belief being their all-time best album, is just perfect. 3. I love The New America... I even bought a CD copy of it in 2023 (well into the Spotify era). I did´t do it just to complete my BR collection (I only have 7 albums in CD format), I did it because I genuinly enjoy this album.

I always found The New America more meh than bad.

Generator is like the Deep Space Nine of Bad Religion albums. It's like, one of the top 3 for every fan but I could understand a newcomer being completely lost. I always recommend Empire to metalheads and it's been a mostly successful way of getting them into the band. Helps if they're into Avenged Sevenfold.

Was The Dissent of Man never even mentioned in this whole series? I might be kind of an odd duck, but I really love that one. It’s got some unusual tracks that do grow on you, but their sound is so full and developed on it, and when it’s on, they knock it out of the park on that album.

I love these How to get intos

Age of Unreason to me smacked of The Empire Strikes First. In 2019 I KNEW Bad Religion was gonna create a record attacking Totalitarian Trump just like in 2004 I knew they were gonna come up with a record attacking Neocon Dubya. I don't mind, but both records were predictable. And I enjoyed The New America BECAUSE it was unpredictable. Sucks that Rundgren didn't get along with the band during its production.

Never forget... DA HIPPY KILLERS! *guitar slapping*

whats hilarious is all the professional music critics thought into the unknown was actually good

ya know, i thought i was weird for not really being that into generator in high school, it just felt a bit off to me with every listen

Recipe for Hate is my favorite though 😩

No Substance is a pretty accurate title for the album

Funny that you recommend your video on "Into the Unknown" for those who want to know your thoughts on the album, because you seem to feel a lot more negatively about it than you did in that video.

I'm shocked that Crash listed Generator as the weakest of the 1988-1992 Big Four. To me its my second favorite behind Against The Grain. Production value was much better.

While I don't necessarily disagree with your placement of Recipe for Hate in the hierarchy, pretending Stealth is anything more than a silly 30 second "hidden track" or at all representative of that album is a bit disingenuous. Also Skyscraper is a top 10 song across their entire catalog. Still really enjoyed your commentary. Process of Belief was a very formative album for me and cemented me as a diehard fan. I think the biggest change I'd make to your tiers would be flipping Dissent of Man with Recipe for Hate.

I love these videos, but I’m just wondering what your take is on jam bands like The Grateful Dead and Phish?

You got me into Bad Religion. Not you, Crash, You as heard on THPS2 during my adolescence. I imagine a lot of people got into them through Sublime's BR cover on 40 oz to Freedom -- it certainly introduced a lot of people to Descendents anyway. Also Jawbreaker's Chasing the Wild Goose cover (live bootlegs are out there) totally justifies Into The Unknown's existence. Strip those cheesy keyboards away and those songs have some solid foundation.

Brooks took them to another level for sure, chops & energy to spare. Generator is a great record imo, only entertainment slaps.

Hey Crash, what do you think about the only live version of Into the Unknown? From what I've seen there is a bootleg of "It's only over when..." and "The Dichotomy". They become such different songs without the synths.

12:50 I agree lol

Damn, my own HTGI list would be waaay different (Generator stan here though yeah, Two Babies are a slog). I'd actually start with How Could Hell..., No Control, Generator and Empire (maybe Against the Grain as well) for newcomers just to show variation the band can exhibit - despite, let's be honest, being AC/DC of 80/90s punk bands. Then I'd go with Suffer and Gray Race, Process of Belief, Stranger Than Fiction and True North for next steps, with everything but No Substance and The New America in digging section. Those two albums are just unnecessary while Into The Unknown is waaaay too much of a leftfield album in their discog so I can't hate it, really. Great video as usual, Crash

Bad Religion - one of the few bands in the world that can get away with having "the problem".