A Short History of Bad Religion

It was 1980 and Bad Religion had recorded their debut record. They released it on their very own Epitaph record label. It was the same time as Posh Boy Records, founded by Robbie Fields, were releasing stuff by the likes of Redd Kross, TSOL, Social Distortion and Agent Orange. Black Flag, also from California, had been successful with their continual touring and their fledgling label SST and the punk-rock radio show of Rodney Bingenheimer was all the rage. All evidence of the emergence of a punk So-Cal scene.

To this burgeoning scene, Bad Religion brought piano and keyboards, better lyrics and song arrangements. They introduced melody to hardcore, which before had been all shouty anger and angst. After them came bands like Green Day, the Offspring and Operation Ivy. All using melody and wit to engage a newer generation of teenage degenerates. On top of this, Epitaph Records is still a going concern, one of the longest lasting independent labels that sprung up during hardcore and post-punk. And then, Bad Religion could be held responsible for the current overground (so-called) punk of nu-metal. The mega unit shifting corporate rock that pervades the airwaves. So, every silver lining has a cloud.

The forementioned punk radio show 'Rodney On The TOQ' was key. He played honest, heartfelt and desperate music. It said something about the pressure to conform when you didn't want to conform. It celebrated the misfits, the marginal people, the powerless. As 1980 ended, Bad Religion were regulars of the show. They were not that good, Greg Graffin was only fifteen. Their EP had been funded by Brett Gurewitz's father, bless him. The music wasn't about musicianship.

For the next two years, Bad Religion, now with Peter Flintstone on drums, toured and practiced, practiced and toured and became rather good. They had concentrated on their brand of melodic hardcore and written considered lyrics that were both clever and socially aware. Their first proper album, 'How Could Hell Be Any Worse', was anti. It was anti a lot. Anti-military, anti-corporate, and anti-everything repressive. They were singing about oligarchy, which for a hardcore band was quite advanced. They put out a mini-album called 'Into The Unknown' about a year later and it introduced the keyboard to augment the band's sound. Many of the hardcore purists didn't like it much, but it's a fine record. It had some influence on Redd Kross across town, and in fact Redd Kross' guitarist, Greg Hetson, sat in for Brett Gurewitz for a time in Bad Religion.

Gurewitz was back in time for the third album. 'Suffer' was Bad Religion at their best. The music was fast, played hard, and was clinical. However, the songs were two and a half minute blasts of complex lyrics, strange and unusual guitar breaks which sat alongside pop(ish) hooks. Bad Religion's fast melodic hardcore was continued on 'No Control' and 'Against The Grain', both of which dealt with political and social issues. Graffin had a Ph.D in biology from Cornell University by this time.

By now there had been big selling records from the likes of L7 and NOFX on the Epitaph label. They had also signed their neighbors the Offspring. Gurewitz left the band and spent his time running the label in 1994, after their album 'Smash' hit pay-dirt. Melodic hardcore has gone on to share a third of the non-mainstream (or mainstream, depending on your musical compass) corporate youth culture pie, alongside metal and hip-hop.