17 Songs That Don't Belong
Searching for the outlier on every Bad Religion record
We’re less than one week away from the release of Do What You Want, which is terribly exciting. There were many days when I thought this day would never come (and a few when I secretly hoped it never would), but for the most part writing, researching, and carrying this book around in my head for the last two-and-a-half years has been an incredible experience I wouldn’t trade for anything.
Do What You Want is a biography of a band. It’s as close to the whole story of the band as we could get in under 350 pages, but make no mistake, it’s their story. I’m not a character in this book. I don’t talk about the first time I heard Bad Religion (although it’s a question I get asked a lot). I don’t serve up opinions or rank records or anything like that because it’s a biography.
But one doesn’t put a band under the microscope for a significant period of one’s life without coming to some conclusions.
Bad Religion has a signature sound that makes a Bad Religion song instantly recognizable. This is no accident. After a wildly successful debut album, Bad Religion released Into the Unknown, a record that sounds nothing like its predecessor: a synth-infused journey into prog rock. Fans hated it. Members quit. Many dark nights of the soul ensued.
With subsequent albums, Bad Religion vowed not to make that mistake again. They came back with a record no one saw coming and although no one realized it at the time punk rock would never be the same again. That record is Suffer and it re-established Bad Religion’s sound.
Punk rock bands around the country, especially in California, emulated the sound. Many of those bands made their way to Epitaph Records and on to the Warped Tour and then the mall. In spite of the band’s commitment to this sound (and its fans), Bad Religion continued to experiment.
So I thought it would be fun to go through all 17 studio albums and pick the song that sounds the least like a prototypical Bad Religion song, the song that strays from the format, the song that you could imagine being performed by another band. Some of these songs I love; some I don’t, but I think my list of will surprise and delight you. So without further ado…
17 Bad Religion Songs That Don’t Sound Like Bad Religion Songs
1. “Doing Time” How Could Hell Be Any Worse
One could make a case for “Only Gonna Die” here because of its bold use of piano, which Greg Graffin uses to compose songs, but it’s a little disingenuous to call the opening track an outlier. So I went with last. “Doing Time” is a blues-based number that rounds out the album. It uses the metaphor of prison to describe how each of us is stuck: in our heads, on this planet, with each other. But tell me this song wouldn’t blend in seamlessly on side two of Social Distortion’s Mommy’s Little Monster.
2. “Time and Disregard” Into the Unknown
I was tempted to go with “Dichotomy” because on an entire album of outliers, it’s closest to Bad Religion’s sound. But who am I kidding? The choice here has to be “Time and Disregard.” A long, spacey song right out of the prog rock playbook that betrays Greg’s love of Jethro Tull. Also, did I mention it’s long? “Time and Disregard” has four parts and is over seven minutes long. That’s an entire Minutemen album.
3. “Delirium of Disorder” Suffer
This is the hardest album to pick an outlier from for a couple of reasons. This is the album that not only corrected Bad Religion’s course after Into the Unknown, but is easily the most influential punk rock record of 1988. Suffer set the tone for skate punk, primed the pump for Nirvana’s commercial success, and paved the way for the mainstreaming of punk. Every song is a ripper so picking out a song that doesn’t fit is like trying to find a flaw in a diamond. So I went with “Delirium of Disorder” solely because of its weird intro.
4. “Sanity” No Control
This was another tough choice because with No Control Bad Religion was on a mission to prove that Suffer wasn’t outlier. There’s nothing egregiously strange about “Sanity,” it fits the format, but this song stands out on this record because it’s the slowest and the longest of the lot. That said, I really love this song. I especially like how the sawing guitars sound like springs coming unsprung and the lyrics always make me think of poor old Quentin Compson in William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury.
5. “21st Century (Digital Boy)” Against the Grain
I told myself I wasn’t going to include any of the songs that Bad Religion almost always plays during its live shows. How can one of the band’s most popular songs be an outlier? I’d argue that on this album it qualifies. Remember, when Bad Religion moved to Atlantic in 1993 the label made the unusual request of putting “21st Century (Digital Boy)” on Stranger Than Fiction and they pushed it really hard. But back when Against the Grain was recorded in 1990, there were mixed feelings about the song in the Bad Religion camp. Brett Gurewitz is rightfully proud of the song but Jay Bentley told me that when Against the Grain came out no one had any sense that it would become a fan favorite. Here they are performing the song in front of some weirdly subdued Germans.
6. “Two Babies in the Dark” Generator
Against the Grain marked the end of the Pete Finestone era and the beginning of Bobby Schayer’s tenure on drums. Schayer’s loose, jazz influenced style (he was tutored by the Circle Jerks Lucky Lehrer) allowed the songwriters to flex their songwriting muscles a bit. There’s nothing that radically different about “Two Babies in the Dark,” but it isn’t nearly as tight as the songs on the previous three records and the lyrics are weirdly abstract and oddly menacing for such a jaunty sounding tune. “So don't be scared tonight because Raggedy Ann is in the closet picking posies.” That’s like something out of a Nick Cave ballad, right?
7. “Man with a Mission” Recipe for Hate
I didn’t even have to think about this one. Slide guitar is one of those instruments that doesn’t belong on a punk album. It changes the complexion of a song and drops kicks it into another genre. I remember the first time I heard “Man with a Mission” I thought, Slide guitar? WTF? Still not a fan.
8. “Television” Stranger Than Fiction
From the opening note, “Television” is a weirdly off-putting track. The chorus “Television” is shouted repeatedly and immediately followed by Greg belting out his bit before Tim Armstrong of Rancid make a guest appearance. The godfather of mumble rap sings not one, not two, but three choruses. “Television” has interesting ideas, but they don’t really cohere into a song. But even on an outlier like this, the lyrics are right on the money: “The world outside is buzzing like an angry wasp in summer. The candidates are running and the son of God is coming.” Preach, Lint.
9. “The Streets of America” The Gray Race
The Gray Race is an under-appreciated album with a wealth of great material on it, but “The Streets of America” stands out not because it’s the longest song on the record but because it’s a rock ballad. Nevertheless, Bad Religion dusted off this song for their 2018 tour so I heard them play it a lot and it really grew on me. One night I watched the show from the sound booth and Ronnie, Bad Religion’s longtime soundman, told me it was his favorite song. It’s definitely their weirdest video, which is really saying something.
10. "The State of the End of the Millennium Address" No Substance
This spoken word piece over a bed of distorted guitars wouldn’t be out of place on a Jello Biafra joint, but even with the reprise of lyrics from “Voice of God Is Government” it’s an outlier. It’s not even a song.
11. “I Love My Computer” The New America
Everything about Bad Religion’s experiment with Todd Rundgren feels off to me, but I’ve never been able to wrap my head around “I Love My Computer,” a satirical take on society’s creep toward connectivity. The song is perfectly fine, and I’d probably enjoy hearing it live, but the digital bleeps and bloops make this one of the stranger Bad Religion tracks, and there’s absolutely no excuse for this video.
12. “Epiphany” The Process of Belief
I know what you’re thinking: why not “Sorrow”? There’s no other song like it in the entire catalog. I can go along with that, but despite the super slow reggae intro, the pace ramps up in a hurry and we’re back in familiar territory. “Epiphany” does pretty much the same thing, but takes a little bit longer to shed its disguise. It has a really mellow intro and it feels like you could be sitting around a campfire with Greg and then blam! It’s not really an outlier, but a wolf-in-sheep’s clothing song (like “Generator.”) Does anyone feel that on any other album “Epiphany” would have been a hit? Watch Greg sing his ass off.
13. “Beyond Electric Dreams” The Empire Strikes First
Two things make this album a standout: the War in Iraq, which pissed off a lot of people, including Bad Religion, and Brett making full use of drummer Brooks Wackerman’s skills. There are a lot of wild songs on this record from the goth-metal majesty of “Sinister Rouge” to Sage Francis’ rapping on “Let Them Eat War,” but “Beyond Electric Dreams” is my pick. A little story. After Brett read the first draft of the book he pointed out that I mentioned Fugazi several times, but there were other bands that influenced him. Naturally, I asked, “Who?” and he told me about the Pixies influence on this number, Black Francis in particular. “Beyond Electric Dreams” is a fairly typical Bad Religion song up until the two-minute mark when it slows down for a breakdown and picks up again for an extended jam, which is something that Bad Religion just doesn’t do. A fan recently asked if in the course of writing this book I learned any new words. The answer is two, and they’re both in this song: “ratiocination” and “theophany.” I absolutely love this song and hope I get to hear it live sometime.
14. “Fields of Mars” New Maps of Hell
Here’s a song that would not be out of place on Into the Unknown. I guess when King Crimson latches on to the monkey mind, no amount of punk is going to unseat its hold.
15. “The Devil in Stitches” The Dissent of Man
Ever since Against the Grain, Bad Religion is good for one or two mid-tempo songs an album. “The Devil in Stitches” was released as a single when the record was released so they obviously felt it had promise, but I’ve never been able to connect with it. I love the lyrics but to my ears the chorus is very ’80s radio rock.
16. “Dharma and the Bomb” True North
With True North the band wanted to get back to writing short, punchy punk rock songs and created one of their most popular songs in “Fuck You.” But what slipped under the radar for most people is the fact that Brett sings on “Dharma and the Bomb,” which is extremely cool.
17. “Downfall” Age of Unreason
When I went to Greg’s house in February of 2018 to interview him for the book, he played a handful of tracks that he was tinkering with. “Profane Rights of Man” was one of them and I’m pretty sure “Downfall” was another (or maybe a version of it). I was struck by how different the songs were. “Profane Rights of Man” is a pin your ears back Bad Religion ripper. “Downfall” sounded more like a rock and roll song. One is old school, the other old fashioned, and I still feel that way today.
What do you think? Did I miss any obvious ones? Disagree with any of my selections?And speaking of outliers, what do we think of this new Bad Religion song by blink-182?
Do What You Want Excerpt
Want to read an excerpt from Do What You Want? You’re in luck. Alternative Press just ran a brief section from the middle of the book that deals with how Minor Threat legend Brian Baker became a member of the band.
“I was part of this group of twenty or thirty people in Washington, D.C., and everyone had a band,” Brian said. “That whole experience was really profound. I was in Minor Threat and my friends were in the Faith. These guys were in Void and these guys were in Marginal Man. Everyone was in their own band. Someone would play a show and we’d all go watch. Our band would play and they’d come watch us. It was all the same. Minor Threat would play and it would be the same thing if Government Issue were playing. The same people would go to both shows. The only difference was who was onstage.”
Three Events for Publication Week
Tuesday August 18 at 4pm PST: The Powerhouse Arena is hosting a virtual launch with all six members of the band. Registration required.
Wednesday August 19 at 6pm PST: Book Soup will be hosting a roundtable discussion with Greg Graffin, Brett Gurewitz, Jay Bentley, Brian Baker, and myself as moderator. The event is free but you have to register.
Thursday August 20 at 1pm PST: Premiere Collectibles will be hosting a live signing on with all of the members of the band. Note the early start time.
Obviously this won’t be the last time I’ll be talking about the book in this newsletter, but it is the last time you’ll see this lovely little image encouraging you to pre-order. So why not click the image and see what happens?
