Bad Religion discography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bad Religion discography
Bad Religion in concert in 2005.
Bad Religion in concert in 2005.
Releases
↙Studio albums 14
↙Live albums 1
↙Compilation albums 3
↙Extended plays 3
↙Singles 20
↙Video albums 3

This is a comprehensive discography of Bad Religion, a Southern California-based punk rock band. The band has released fourteen studio albums, three extended plays (EP), one live recording, three compilation albums, and twenty singles. This list is not intended to include material performed by current or former members of Bad Religion that was recorded with American Lesion, Black President, Circle Jerks, Dag Nasty or Minor Threat.

Bad Religion were formed in 1980 by Greg Graffin (vocals), Brett Gurewitz (guitar), Jay Bentley (bass) and Jay Ziskrout (drums). The line-up, at the time, recorded and released a six-song self-titled EP in 1981 on Epitaph Records (a label founded by Gurewitz). The EP was originally released in a 7" format, and soon afterward re-issued as a 12". Compact cassettes were also produced, but they are rare. Bad Religion's first full-length album, How Could Hell Be Any Worse?, was released in 1982. When recording sessions commenced, Ziskrout soon left the band and was replaced by Pete Finestone. Cited as one of Bad Religion's most important works, How Could Hell Be Any Worse? was financed by a $1,000 loan from Gurewitz's father. Its success surprised the band when it sold 10,000 copies in under a year. The sound of the record was vastly improved from the self-titled EP. Although not yet credited as a member of the band, Greg Hetson (of Circle Jerks fame) did a guitar solo on "Part III".

Bad Religion released their second full-length, Into the Unknown, in 1983, but were less successful, due to the album's poor production and a major change from their previous style, delving into progressive rock heavy in keyboards. While recording one song, Bentley and Finestone left the band and were replaced by Paul Dedona on bass and Davy Goldman on drums. To date, Into the Unknown remains out of print, after almost all of the 10,000 copies were surreptitiously sold out of the warehouse they were being stored in by Suzy Shaw, an ex-girlfriend of Gurewitz.[1] After the release of Into the Unknown, Bad Religion broke up, but reformed (without Gurewitz) to produce the 1984 EP Back to the Known. The EP features the return of the band's punk rock roots, although also reflecting influences of then current acts such as Hüsker Dü and The Descendents. Soon after, Bad Religion went on hiatus again.

Bad Religion underwent several line-up changes before the 1986 reunion of the How Could Hell Be Any Worse? line-up (including Hetson). Two years later, the now-classic reunion line-up recorded their highly acclaimed album Suffer. album was a comeback for Bad Religion as well as a watershed for the Southern California punk sound popularized by their label Epitaph. This album also became the Epitaph's best seller and was the label's best-selling album for a number of years, until the 1994 release of The Offspring's Smash. Bad Religion recorded and released two more albums, No Control (1989) and Against the Grain (1990), before Finestone quit the group once again in early 1991.

With Bobby Schayer as Finestone's replacement, Bad Religion's music would take a different direction on their next album, Generator (1992). For the album, Bad Religion also filmed their first music video "Atomic Garden", which was also their first song to be released as a single. Around 1993, Bad Religion parted ways with Epitaph and signed to Atlantic Records, who released their next album, Recipe for Hate, in the same year. While moderately successful, this was the first Bad Religion album to reach any Billboard charts and two videos for the album, "American Jesus" and "Struck a Nerve", were made.

Bad Religion rose to fame with their next album, 1994's Stranger Than Fiction, including their well-known hits "Infected" and "21st Century (Digital Boy)" (which was originally recorded on Against the Grain), which are also often considered concert staples. To date, Stranger Than Fiction remains another one of Bad Religion's best known albums, with sales continuing thirteen years after its release. After the album was completed, Gurewitz soon left Bad Religion to concentrate on the future of Epitaph, citing the increasing amount of time he was spending at Epitaph's offices as The Offspring became one of the biggest bands of the mid-1990s, but it was well known that his departure was not on good terms.

Gurewitz was replaced by Brian Baker during the Stranger Than Fiction tour. During Gurewitz's departure, Bad Religion declined in popularity and released The Gray Race (1996) and No Substance (1998) to poor reviews. In 1999, after a five year hiatus from the band, Gurewitz reunited with Graffin and co-wrote the song "Believe It", which appeared on Bad Religion's 11th album The New America, which was released in 2000.

In 2001, while parting ways with Atlantic, Gurewitz was officially back in the band and Bad Religion resigned to Epitaph. As soon as Gurewitz returned, Schayer also left the band and was replaced by current drummer Brooks Wackerman. Now as a six piece, Bad Religion recorded and released the albums The Process of Belief (2002) and The Empire Strikes First (2004). Their most recent release is New Maps of Hell (2007).

Contents

[edit] Albums

[edit] Studio albums

Year Title Label Format Other information
1982 How Could Hell Be Any Worse? Epitaph LP
  • Debut album.
  • Re-released in 1991 on the now out of print 80-85 compilation, along with their EPs Bad Religion, Back to the Known and Public Service. It was re-released again in 2004 as How Could Hell Be Any Worse? with the same track listing as 80-85.
  • The original version of the album is currently out of print.
  • Guitarist Greg Hetson did a guitar solo on "Part III". He was actually not yet a member of the band at this time.
1983 Into the Unknown Epitaph LP
  • Long out of print and has never been released on CD.
  • For this album, the band changed their style to keyboard-driven progressive rock.
1988 Suffer Epitaph CD/LP
  • The band's first reunion album, featuring the return of How Could Hell Be Any Worse? line-up with an addition of their second guitarist Greg Hetson.
  • This album is considered one of the band's best known works in the history of punk music.
1989 No Control Epitaph CD/LP This is another album that is considered one of the band's best known works.
1990 Against the Grain Epitaph CD/LP Final recording with the "classic" line-up.
1992 Generator Epitaph CD/LP First recording with drummer Pete Finestone's replacement Bobby Schayer.
1993 Recipe for Hate Epitaph/Atlantic CD/LP The original release of this album was on Epitaph and it was later re-released on Atlantic.
1994 Stranger Than Fiction Atlantic CD/LP
  • Last recording with original guitarist Brett Gurewitz
  • This is the only Bad Religion album that was certified gold by the RIAA.
1996 The Gray Race Atlantic CD/LP First recording with Gurewitz's replacement Brian Baker.
1998 No Substance Atlantic CD/LP
2000 The New America Atlantic CD/LP Final recording with drummer Bobby Schayer.
2002 The Process of Belief Epitaph CD/LP This album marked the return of original guitarist Brett Gurewitz and it is also the band's first recording with Schayer's replacement Brooks Wackerman.
2004 The Empire Strikes First Epitaph CD/LP
2007 New Maps of Hell Epitaph CD/LP

[edit] EPs

Year Title Label Format Other information
1981 Bad Religion Epitaph 7"
  • Out of print.
  • First Bad Religion release.
  • Re-released in 1991 on the now out of print 80-85 compilation, along with How Could Hell Be Any Worse?, Back to the Known and Public Service.
  • Can be found on the remastered version of "How Could Hell Be Any Worse?" which includes all the tracks from the 80-85 compilation.
1981 Public Service Puke & Vomit LP Contains alternate versions of the "Bad Religion", "Slaves" and "Drastic Actions" from their first EP. The songs would appear on their now out of print compilation album 80-85.
1984 Back to the Known Epitaph 7"
  • Out of print.
  • First recording with guitarist Greg Hetson. On this EP, the band returns to their regular style.
  • Re-released in 1991 on the now out of print 80-85 compilation, along with How Could Hell Be Any Worse?, Bad Religion and Public Service.
2008 Untitled Acoustic EP Epitaph CD
  • According to an interview with KROQ this will be released on June 3rd, 2008 as part of the Deluxe New Maps Of Hell.
  • It will include acoustic versions of upcoming new songs and an acoustic version of "Dearly Beloved", along with other extra content.

[edit] Compilations and live albums

Year Title Label Format Other information
1991 80-85 Epitaph CD
  • Out of print.
  • Re-release of their debut album, How Could Hell Be Any Worse?, the two EPs, Bad Religion and Back to the Known, and the band's three track contributions to the Public Service compilation EP, in CD format.
  • Their second album, Into the Unknown, is not part of this compilation.
1995 All Ages Epitaph CD
  • Compilation album.
  • Contains material from their albums — on Epitaph — up to Generator, as well as two live songs from these albums.
1997 Tested Epic CD
  • Live album.
  • Recorded live in 1996 during The Gray Race tour.
2002 Punk Rock Songs Epic CD
  • Compilation album.
  • Released only in Europe and Brazil.
  • Contains material from the albums Stranger Than Fiction, The Gray Race, No Substance, and The New America, as well as material from singles derived from these albums.

[edit] VHS/DVDs

Year Title Label Format Other information
1990 Along the Way Epitaph VHS/DVD
  • Originally released on VHS in 1990; re-released on DVD in 2004.
  • Recorded live in Europe in 1989 during the Suffer tour.
1991 Big Bang Epitaph VHS
  • Long out of print. It is unknown whether or not this is an official release from the band or a bootleg, whatever it is it is hard to find.
  • Recorded live in 1991 during the Against the Grain tour.
2006 Live at the Palladium Epitaph DVD Recorded live two nights at the Palladium in Hollywood, California.

[edit] Singles

Year Title Chart positions Album
US Hot 100 US Modern Rock US Mainstream Rock UK
1992 "Atomic Garden" - - - - Generator
1993 "American Jesus" - - - - Recipe for Hate
1993 "Struck a Nerve" - - - - Recipe for Hate
1994 "Stranger Than Fiction" - 28 - - Stranger Than Fiction
1994 "21st Century (Digital Boy)" - 11 - 41 Stranger Than Fiction
1994 "Infected" - 27 33 - Stranger Than Fiction
1995 "Incomplete" - - - - Stranger Than Fiction
1996 "A Walk" - 34 38 - The Gray Race
1996 "Punk Rock Song" - - - - The Gray Race
1997 "Dream of Unity" - - - - Tested
1998 "Raise Your Voice" - - - - No Substance
1998 "Shades of Truth" - - - - No Substance
2000 "New America" - - - - The New America
2001 "Sorrow" - 35 - - The Process of Belief
2002 "Broken" - - - 125 The Process of Belief
2002 "The Defense" - - - - The Process of Belief
2004 "Los Angeles Is Burning" - 40 - 67 The Empire Strikes First
2004 "The Empire Strikes First" - - - - The Empire Strikes First
2007 "Honest Goodbye" - - - - New Maps of Hell
2007 "New Dark Ages" - - - - New Maps of Hell

[edit] References

  1. ^ Jo-Anne Greene. "Addicted to the Opiate of the Masses", May 23, 1997. 
v • d • e
Bad Religion
Greg Graffin • Brett Gurewitz • Greg Hetson • Brian Baker • Jay Bentley • Brooks Wackerman
Paul Dedona • Tim Gallegos • Jay Ziskrout • Davy Goldman • John Albert • Lucky Lehrer • Pete Finestone • Bobby Schayer
Studio albums
EPs
Other releases
Videos and DVDs
Singles
"Atomic Garden" • "American Jesus" • "Struck a Nerve" • "21st Century (Digital Boy)" • "Infected" • "Stranger Than Fiction" • "Incomplete" • "A Walk" • "Punk Rock Song" • "Dream of Unity" • "Raise Your Voice" • "Shades of Truth" • "The New America" • "Broken" • "Sorrow" • "The Defense" • "Los Angeles Is Burning" • "The Empire Strikes First" • "Honest Goodbye" • "New Dark Ages"
Related articles
Side projects
Languages