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[Full Album] BAD RELIGION | “The Process Of Belief" (Patreon)

Published:
2024-08-01 15:39:41
Imported:
2026-06
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After recently being introduced to Bad Religion with their track "Epiphany", I suspected it was a complete outlier track relative to the band's overall style. I feel I was wrong, because The Process Of Belief had endless nods to the melodic genius of "Epiphany" with a zillion more surprises woven into the rest of the album. I'm still unsure what to make of this band, but what I do know is that they are deep, complex, nuanced, and have endless layers to peel back. And then some. This is undoubtedly one of the most unique punk bands I've heard so far. What an absolute journey this was!

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Intro
1:47 - “Supersonic”
5:37 - “Prove It”
8:43 - “Can’t Stop It”
11:58 - “Broken”
20:26 - “Destined for Nothing”
28:23 - “Materialist”
33:27 - “Kyoto Now!”
41:29 - “Sorrow”
49:01 - “Epiphany”
56:28 - “Evangeline”
1:02:33 - “The Defense”
1:11:18 - “The Lie”
1:17:28 - “You Don’t Belong”
1:25:47 - “Bored and Extremely Dangerous”
1:30:04 - Final Thoughts

Files

Previews only

Comments

Gary Webb

the 3 albums before this one were their only major label releases. This album took them back to Epitaph records

Gary Webb

Greg Graffins lyrics are amazing. He actually holds a PhD. As does Milo from Descendents and Dexter from Offspring

J Reid

It'd be great if you could upload these to youtube and leave them unlisted! would be easier to watch and come back to at least for me.

Les McLarty

Well, here's my gym motivation for the week. Awesome! I get to see them again a few days after the NOFX shows in LA. That's going to an epic week of shows!

Matt Morris

Love it! You should check out their Christmas album.

Anders Johansson

Awesome, this will be with a nice cup of tea and an evening spliff, thanks a lot! :)

Kashif Shaikh

Kyoto now is about climate change - about how the US didn’t sign into the Kyoto protocol to reduce greenhouse emissions 🤓

Gary Webb

Mark, you have to remember that these bands have been around since the early 80s, and you're listening to their 12th album released in 2002. You'd get a better idea of where all these bands fit with punk music if you listen to late 80s and early 90s stuff. NoFX as well

Low End University
>>145311768

Maybe at some point, but the main reason I do these here is because putting a whole album on YouTube becomes a huge copyright mess, and a good chance it'll be completely blocked. The Patreon player should pick up where you left off, though! It seems to save your progress on it. Cheers!

Javier

Bad Religion is such a hard band to crack if you are not super lyric-eared. I think most people who are die hards for the band, that is what hooked them initially. In terms of musicality, it always felt like an afterthought to me. Good to see them getting some props though! This record has a few fuckin good ones. Now... let's get serious with BR and tear into some "No Control"!

Low End University
>>145319304

Musically, I think it was JUST as sophisticated, truly! I'll be working my way back, don't worry! I plan to do them again fairly soon on YouTube.

Joost Peters

"I'm too stupid for this album" Welcome to any Bad Religion/Propagandhi/Good Riddance album! The bands that raised a generation of punks to be smarter and more articulate!

Socket Meyer

“I’m not baiting you into ‘Let’s do all the Bad Religion albums’”…. … Let’s do all the Bad Religion albums.

Socket Meyer
>>145308830

The previous 4 actually! (And while the latter 2 are seen as “lesser” albums, I don’t wanna scare him off from “Stranger than Fiction” or “The Grey Race”. Despite not having Epitaph or Brett, they’re among the best.)

Steve E

Recipe For Hate next

J Reid

I believe the term for rhymes you were searching for was "slant" rhymes.

Joe

Kyoto Now is about the Kyoto climate accords.

Joe

The vocal harmonies make them the beach boys if punk rock.

Low End University
>>145323007

Had to look this up because I forgot to, sort of fits the "Enclosed Rhyme" definition, which is A-B-B-A but I might've been referring to the general irregularity of whatever that stanza was, almost was like..A-B-C-D-B-B in a way. It sings better than it reads - really neat!

Low End University
>>145323216

DAMN I wish I would've thought of that at the time 😂 - I did make the America reference which still works. Yours is way cooler.

Kashif Shaikh

I might be in the minority but I think you should actually work forward with bad religion. Don’t get my wrong - I LOVE early bad religion but musically it’s relatively simple and fun but they really come into their own into the early 90s. The albums that I think you’d really enjoy that give you a good picture of them are Stranger than Fiction (in my view it was also Jay’s best album in that tons of cool bass lines), Empire Strikes First (Brooks really finds his groove with the band here - tons of intricate drum parts and the writing is SO good), to No Substance (I know I will be in the minority here cause the band and many fans don’t love this album but I think musically it’s a very strong album and the writing is very strong) and finally Recipe for Hate which is probably their most diverse album where they take some really cool risks musically

Alex T

Bad religion’s songs seem to be deceptively simple to someone who isn’t musically minded like me. Thank you for analyzing structure and melodies of some songs, never suspected there’s so much complexity within!

Carrie Perez

From Bad Religion to Descendants many of these bands have band members who have PHD's and Master Degrees. Including Fat Mike

Ceej Luige

Wow. This was likely my favorite episode of the full album reactions even though I was the least enthused about this one going into it. I guess when you listen to a band from the time you're 10 or 11 years old, you start to take them for granted. BR has always been one of my favorites, but I never really considered them a band 'worth breaking down'. They were more like comfort food. But you have absolutely changed my mind about that and I couldn't possibly thank you enough. And thanks to everyone who voted for this album while I was off being cynical about it. Haha

Aukai Ligairi

Bad Religion's Suffer is arguably the beginning of Melodic Punk (skate punk) because it's the album that inspired bands like NOFX to push toward more melody and away from hardcore.

Carlo Alberto Rosso

Great episode.... and this is my favourite BR album. Wow!

Joe

You should listen to suffer, against the grain, generator and/or no control. That's quintessential bad religion and very influential to 90's punk sound. This album is kind of a throw back of that sound but way more refined. I also want you to hear lyrics like "say what you must, do all you can, break all the fucking rules and go to hell with Superman and die like a champion!"

Kaile Hultner

Re: Sorrow sounding like worship music, Graffin grew up in Madison Wisconsin singing in church choirs before he moved out west and started Bad Religion with his friends at 15. His solo albums really reflect this, as does the bad religion Christmas album

Bryan Be Real

Excellent episode, as I expected it would be! All I'll say here is that my recommendation for an album from their earlier years would be No Control. I think other punks (at least old ones like me) would agree. It was pretty epic and it still holds up today. I don't remember the year it came out but it was still pretty fresh when I was listening to it in high school in the early 90s. I would even say "I Want To Conquer The World" is the song you should do for a YouTube vid.

Kris Ferrell

God I love this band. They aren't called "Smart Punk" for no reason lol. On multiple albums you'll find songs like "You Don't Belong". It's because a lot of people who find themselves in the Punk/Metal scene don't feel they "belong" in normal society. This music gives us a safe place, both physically and mentally, to be whom we are. And, with a literature lesson and word play in the process, it makes my brain tingle with giddiness. I love the line "A room an empty shelf, A book on mental health" because I want a room full of books. A library, almost. But, until I was diagnosed and medicated for ADHD, I couldn't read more than a paragraph without giving up. The only books I could even think to put on a shelf were self-help books. Just looking for something to both explain my issues and something I could understand/get into. I couldn't explain it to anyone else because I didn't know my own illnesses, at the time (though, even now I have people who don't believe me and/or think my diagnosis is fake. It's tough having an explanation for things you can't control, yet others refuse to accept it because of their personal biases). Another song by them that really hits home is "Wrong Way Kids". It's like the biography of my teen years. It's honestly hard to get through that song without bawling. I miss those days a lot. No real responsibilities, just learning about life through our friends and social groups in a small town dominated by a religion I tried my absolute best to accept, but could never 100% get there. I don't know of more than 1 person who stayed in that mindset, either. Most have moved on and are living their best life, most also becoming either Atheist or Agnostic along the way (My journey to Atheism started with becoming Agnostic. Then, about 10 years later, I was comfortable enough to claim the title Atheist). I will say my two favorite albums of theirs are "The Grey Race" and "The Empire Strikes First". Both deserve a listen-through, if you want a couple recommendations. Anyway, I shared knowledge of this video with a friend of mine and he's really interested in subbing just to get these full album breakdowns. He's one of the ones who started my journey into this strange, wonderful world of Punk/Metal. I loved your reaction to this. And it gave me some ideas for future projects! Keep 'em coming :-D

Kaile Hultner
>>145331836

Other songs in the same kind of musical vein of Sorrow include Cease (off The Gray Race), Skyscraper (off Recipe For Hate), Fields of Mars (off New Maps of Hell) and My Sanity (off Age of Unreason)

Daniel Baunach

That was a really great trip! The "wait there's another moment where his eyes get big and he's really excited" was such fun 😁

Bryan Be Real
>>145320327

So true. My wife was listening to this episode with me and I was explaining to her about how Bad Religion singlehandedly taught me new words that are still in my lexicon today. Bad Religion was smart punk.

Jose Garza

Saying you didn't need a thesaurus when listening to Materialist totally broke me. Are you telling me you know what "incipient senescence" means without looking it up? lmfao.

Jose Garza
>>145327005

I also think that it's best to listen to the next two albums before exploring their other work. Bad Religion's 3-album run beginning with this one is unmatched.

Hans

Incredible listen as I expected, first thing I did when I woke up today was watch this. As I said before, Jay is the quintessential steady bassist. Dude usually isnt flashy, but guy will never fail the composition. Just want to point out Bored and Extremely Dangerous is a deep song about mental illness in youth, particularly if I understand correctly, its a song about a school shooter. "Yea sure I might do harm, and bear my right to arm...Retribution...if only someone would listen to me". The break is him sleeping prior to the shooting, when the alarm goes off its him waking up to carry out his attack. The backside is the consequence "A room and empty shelf, a book on mental health" basically being locked up and still no one willing to help his mental illness All in all, the one through line for punk rock Is we have something to say. I could write a thesis on it, but basically music in the 60's and 70s became so difficult that the regular every man couldnt play it, and punk was the music of the every man, just play and have a message. It built off of that, to where we are now, you can play around and be as difficult as you want, but in the end the music is for everyone to be able to express yourself. You dont have to be an elite musician, just make music and tell your story.

Joe
>>145336988

the DIY aspect of it is a key dynamic. Brett gurewitz owns epitaph. Fat mike owns fat wreck. Ian Mackaye dischord.

Christopher

This episode is as amazing as I expected! If you want one album to check out their older stuff, there is a compilation album called "All Ages." It was released in 1995 and has the best songs from their first eight albums. It will give you a great overview of their range and evolution.

Ian

Thank you so much for doing this. My favorite BR album by a wide margin. Grabbing the 🍿

Tim Kaiser

Go back to 1988 - "Suffer". That album changed everything in the punk rock landscape and is hugely influential to so many modern punk bands. Follow it up with No Control and you'll hear some quick growth in their understanding of the sonic differences of how to write songs. These are two albums that definitely reflect the need for a thesaurus as well! You'll still hear some of that musically sophisticated rule breaking too. Bottom line...Bad Religion is just a brilliant band (in so many ways).

Low End University
>>145332345

Man, I really appreciate you sharing this. I actually only recently was referred for adult ADHD and started medication for it a few months ago. It's been interesting to see how it sort of changes my focus with these videos. If it isn't already clear, I'm definitely neurodivergent and have always had an interesting path with mental health over the years. This post was relatable in a lot of ways, so thank you! While I'm new to punk, I've always felt those same things about a lot of the music scenes I did grow up in. Cheers to that!

CJ LoBaido

Mark, the crazy thing is that is just 1 album of theirs…nearly every album of theirs is amazing, in my opinion, and musically mind blowing. 🤯

Low End University
>>145336641

Haha, I don't recall seeing that one! I did see a few lyrics go by while editing this that I didn't see while recording, and I didn't know their definition. I think the main one I saw was "torpor", which I looked up afterwards. My top screen kind of "locks" when recording the lyrics so I opted not to open a thesaurus webpage mid-video. Now I've gotta look up 'senescence'...

Matt Morrison

I signed up specifically for this album

Tim Kaiser
>>145341003

Just to jump into the whole thesaurus thing...I don't think it's necessary while listening and reading the lyrics. The phrase was popularized by the NOFX song "I'm A Huge Fan Of Bad Religion" when Fatty sang "I bought Suffer then I bought a thesaurus". Yeah, BR uses some interestingly complex word choices here and there, but it's pretty easy to pick up on what those words mean when put in relation to the context of the rest of the lyrics. If anything, a dictionary would do you better for specific words. The whole thesaurus thing is more about how to write better lyrics, how to make a thought fit into the cadence of syllables, etc.

Doug

Usually Greg does most the backups for the album and stacks his voice but yes Jay sings a lot of backup live.

Christopher Kelly

I’ve never played the bass, I don’t know shit about music theory, but Dude, I love this channel. I mean no offense by this but I don’t really know why. I think I feel vindicated because a real musician is enjoying my music. Plus music theory seems like a crazy math problem that Im getting a free lesson in. First time ever joining patreon and no regrets. I’ve loved the albums you’ve reviewed on here, especially this one. Kyoto Now is top 5 favorite songs ever. Keep up the good work man and thanks for the entertainment!

Low End University
>>145372374

Man, thank you for this. It means a lot. I actually care so little about theory when I’m writing with a band or being creative, but it’s so fun to use it just to reverse engineer some brilliance from music I’m hearing. These guys broke a ton of rules and it was fun hearing it happen. It’s a fun way to throw up some sort of foundation for what I’m hearing. I love getting lost in the sauce, too. Cheers, Chris!!

Matt Morrison

Yes. Let’s do all the Bad Religion albums. I’d be here for it.

Joe Miller
>>145342165

It’s hard to believe how many records they’ve put out and most are objectively very good.

Joe Miller

I’m glad you picked up on the background vocal harmonies. I think it’s the signature of the band.

CJ LoBaido

Mark, just noticed while watching this you commented during Epiphany on the “light/dark” theme…and I looked at the album cover…half light, half dark. I’d say you hit the nail on the head.

CJ LoBaido
>>145328440

Brian “Dexter” Holland from the Offspring has a degree in microbiology too, I believe. It’s funny, I’ve always been a kind of nerd…love gaming and math…turns out, when a nerd learns how to play guitar and rock…you get punk lol. Being a nerd we’d get picked on and it kind of fueled our “screw you” attitude.

Steve Duff

Great vid, thanks for the effort put in to these! The BR song “Anesthesia” has sick bass to check out and play along with

CJ LoBaido

Mark, what you need to do is listen to a song or 2 from How Could Hell Be Any Worse?, and then track down and listen to their real 2nd album (hard to find) Into the Unknown. Greg really starts singing melodically with backing vox and he even plays the keyboards on that album. They only made 500 copies or something like that and it’s not even on Spotify, but I feel it was the beginning of Greg’s great melodies in Bad Religion. Not many people know about that album, but it was actually their first record I ever heard, and I like it.

lostmotel

Thanks for another great full album react! I know I’ve said it before, but thank you for what you do! I’ve been playing music for over 30 years, but have never even learned my scales, let alone any real theory 😂. Your vids have gone a long way in “connecting some dots” for me between what I’ve learned via ear and by finger shape over the decades and how that looks as theory. On the Bad Religion note, I think this was a great starting point as this album is unique as a whole in their catalog, but pulls elements from a lot of their other albums as well. I think you’re really going to enjoy them!

Jake

Now you've heard sorrow, if you get requests to do it on youtube still you should do the acoustic version

Rama

I saw them live in SF with Mr. Brett and 3 total guitarists at Bottom Of The Hill for the record release party for this album. Greatest show ever, it was sold out but they had about 20 extra tickets for the first in line to buy the CD at Amoeba and I got in that way! Death By Stereo opened up, it was absolute mayhem 😆 tiny venue

Low End University
>>145439252

Oh wow, that's some context there! I've played a few amazing shows there, but it's indeed tiny! I recall the vibe being so rad there, too. Good times!

Alejandro Carrillo

Hey Mark, i know it's impossible to react to every album, but what if we all vote for the best / most representative song on each album so you can make an idea of the band's evolution? Maybe even react to the list like an album reaction. Would be cool. You could create a specific chat for it.

Alex Yordanov

Man, doctor Graffin's lyrics are so abstract. All the more reason for me to want to know what he's actually singing about.

CM

Late to comment. Here are my notes: - The Process of Belief is a really amazing album, and I'm glad you started here. I remember buying it and listening to it a lot. Graffin has said that Bad Religion has had a few "rebirths" in the existence of the band (weird interview on the subject: https://youtu.be/iKE0oza0deo?t=58). Prior to the The Process of Belief, Gurewitz had been out of the band for ~6 years. His return was essential to creating such a great album. I remember listening to "Broken" every day for so long. Today, it's perhaps less of a favorite song for me, but back in my teens, it must have hit differently. - You mentioned that Sorrow song sounded almost like a worship song. It's really interesting thing for you to notice. Greg talked about in an interview that the "one good thing about religion is music". Through his family, worship music was passed down to him, and he definitely has a strong influence for him in general. You can really feel it in his solo work. Interview: https://youtu.be/YeGAZZTwBxw?t=117 - On the note of Sorrow, Graffin has an amazing live acoustic performance of the song as well. It shows a) even better that worship song influence mentioned above, and b) that he's an incredible guitarist, even though he just plays the role of vocalist in the band. Live acoustic version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR_P-vpNOuY - You mentioned something to effect of Bad Religion's sound being like "dark happiness". You actually noted something similar on your Epiphany reaction as well. I searched very hard, but I just cannot find the interview where I either read / heard this. However, I'll copy and paste what I provided in my youtube comment on Epiphany: Greg Graffin said in an interview that he tends to write music that has much "darker" tones. However, when he brings a song to the band to build it out, they tend to try and move the song towards a "lighter" tone (more melodic, more major). So this compromise creates a light and dark which exists with a lot of their music as a result. It's a really cool dynamic. - Brett Gurewitz is an incredible song writer and orchestrator of music as well. My assumption is that he has the strongest influence on what a song sounds like. Also: It's not a Bad Religion if it doesn't have an abbreviated Gurewitz guitar solo. I need it. I demand it! Joking aside, I wonder what percentage of BR songs have some short Gurewitz solo in the middle. - I believe you know this, but Greg Graffin has a Ph.D. and he's a professor at UCLA. He has a background in evolutionary biology, and has written several books. I set all of that information up to say that his views have influenced me. Graffin is obviously an atheist, and so am I. I also have a passing interest in evolution as well. However, Graffin prefers to brand himself as a "naturalist", rather than an atheist, because it says more about how you've constructed your world view: a view based on science and natural evidence, rather than atheistic view purely rooted in the lack of belief of the supernatural. Short interview on the subject: https://youtu.be/dNDPXEn-RTQ?t=39 - You mentioned something about what makes a punk song "punk"? A person might say a lot of things in response to that, but I think you could actually reduce it to one thing: drums. When you here a certain type of beat, you just feel it's punk. I can't describe it. It just is. One type of beat is metal, another type of beat is rock, another is punk. For example, this is such an unmistakable sound: https://youtu.be/a4L7fydMlxY?t=128

Mark Campbell

Brian Baker is BR's lead guitarist and recording guitarist with 90% of their post-1996 material, although all 3 guitarists trade off live and in record. He's heavily influenced by Captain Sensible of The Damned and Angus Young from AC/DC, but draws in influence from virtually everything. His guitar work with Dag Nasty back in the '80s basically wrote the blueprint for melodic emo guitar, his solos in BR are frequently in harmonic minor and kept to 8 bars or less by choice, seeing them as a musical break for Greg's vocals (which he sees as the bands main weapon). He can play just about any style of rock guitar out there.

Rama

This was such a terrific full album stream, and I so appreciate your perspective on this great, dear and classic music. ❤️

Grant Richardson

Backing vox in studio is probably mostly greg, with jay and Brett splashed on top. Brett does a lot of high vocals. I’d have to say though again that studio track-wise, 90 percent of backing vox are the singer

charlie grasse

Dude, I loved this. Best full album you've done so far. Just seeing the joy pop on your face when they do something unexpected. I really like hearing you break it down to the music theory level. So quick story. I got into punk in the mid-90s when I was in high school, but I was still really Christian. Thus I refused to listen to a band called Bad Religion, a stupid reason in retrospect. I listened to rancid and NOFX and Lagwagon, and Jawbreaker and even Propagandi, but I wouldn't allow myself to listen to Bad Religion. So I went through my religious falling away in my 20s, but didn't really deconstruct my religious philosophy and figure out my personal philosophy until my 30s where I settled on materialism, and humanism. And then Bad Religion released this album, and the girl I was dating, who was already a Bad Religion fan, bought it. We were on our way to a concert, I forget who, and she put it in and didn't tell me who it was. Needless to say, by the end of "Materialist" I was hooked. I listened to this album 24/7 for a week. Then I spent a year only listening to Bad Religion in my car. So, my favorite songs are "Materialist" obviously, it's my personal philosophy. "Kyoto Now!" which is a protest song. The Kyoto accords was a global green initiative, the US did not sign on. "Sorrow" inspired by the story of Job from the Bible. My first born daughter's middle name is Sorrow. "The Defense" every word of this song tingles my brain with realization. "Ain't it beautiful to be alive? (yeah right*thick sarcasm*)

charlie grasse
>>145643609

An addendum: since I became a fan I've been to every BR show within 4 hours of where I live, in order to make up for lost time. Also BR is going back out on tour right now. If any of you are going to see them in Myrtle Beach in September I'll see ya there.

Cassidy

has anyone brought up that the bass intro for Epiphany is basically the same as the bass intro for NOFX Stickin in my eye?

Juan Manuel Morales

I was thinking which albums I should recommend you listen, but frankly, there are too many. I think that after Suffer, and maybe skipping No Substance and New America, any album you choose is going to be gold.

Matthew Gladys

Bad Religion is the U2 of punk rock (this is not a compliment). Please do a Destruction by Definition full album as a palate cleanser.

Preston Paul
>>145775402

🤣 he seemed to enjoy the album quite alot. Which is proper because it's a great album. Not much of a cleanse needed 🤣

Nicholas Mumbach

I’ve never signed up for a Patreon before but you got me, Mark. You really had to choose Process of Belief and War on Errorism to do full break downs on? It’s like you’re targeting the kids who went to high school in the early 00s. Why don’t you just do Indestructible by Rancid next? Or The Art of Drowning by AFI? Underground Network by Anti-Flag, while you’re at it? Warning, by Green Day? Thank you for your reactions, you beautiful bastard. P.S. Doctor Greg Graffin is a damn genius, thank you so much for choosing this album. P.P.S. I’m not a musician and have no current interest in learning. But you have an overall analysis of entire songs that I feel like I can follow 85% of the time, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. Learning bass seems interesting but I’m mainly here for your general overall perspective and personality and analysis. And just to see you introduced to what I grew up with, your joy brings me joy.

Randy

Thank you for checking out my favorite band of all time. I love hearing you break music down. I first heard some of these songs 15-20 years ago and this felt like I was listening to it for the first time with all of the small nuances you pointed out. Also, comparing melodies in The Lie to the band America is absolutely perfect. I never thought of that and now I will have that comparison stuck with me every time I listen.

David

Brian Baker, the Brian May of punk rock.

Chris Esham

You should read some of Greg Graffin’s books they are excellent

Chris Esham

Brett’s influence when writing Sorrow was the story of Jobe hence the opening lines. Settling a bet etc

Vincent J Ives

Lovely to see someone experience 'Sorrow' for the first time. What a banger. Think it was an old punk-o-rama DVD or something

Deyvid Enriquez

If you do another Bad Religion album I would suggest doing Suffer.

Brad Clarke

This is such a killer album. The return of Mr. Brett to Bad Religion and the return of Bad Religion to their home at Epitaph Records. Bad Religion’s Suffer album kick started the whole 90s so cal skate scene. If you check it out, that context is important, just how many bands that were influenced by and or got their start on epitaph. Also Mr. Brett and Greg Graffin are the Lennon and McCartney of punk rock.

Anders Øfsti

You need a thesaurus to really get BR lyrics - especially if Mr. Brett has anything to do with them. Legends

Griffinxi

I subscribed just to watch you get into this album. It's one of the most musically rich punk albums of all time, from a band that transcends the genre--endless amounts to say, and endless ways to say it. I remember the very day I put this into my CD player, where it remained for months. Your analysis, off-the-cuff as only it could be on a first-time listen, verbalized many things I'd only ever felt (or known) deep in my bones. I had a truly great time watching this. Thank you.

EvertheHumanist

When you were commenting on the song sorrow, and you said it sounded like "worship songs" and choir like I felt I should share. This is how I have thought of Bad Religion since I first heard them in 1989. I grew up in an intensely religious household, rebelled early and fell in love with punk rock. This is MY FAVORITE band period, and as a materialist, a humanist, an atheist, and a scientist who thinks appreciation of the beauty and connectedness of all things (aka spirituality but minus the spirit part) is an important part of who and what we all are, it needs to be nourished in a similar way as faiths do. So these are my hymns and mantras and prayers. Bad Religion are the quintessential "gospel" band of humanism and scientific based skepticism. YAY! Rationalism.

EvertheHumanist

SO... you have listened to a bunch of the SoCal 80's/90's punk revival bands, NoFX, Rancid, DK, Bad Religion... you gotta get some Vandals in there. And Pennywise.

Austin Johnson

This is the album that really got me into music. I was 11 years old at the time and I heard "Sorrow" on a local punk radio station and bought the CD a couple weeks later at the local record store. Those were the days.

Mors Codefood

21:50 I love your breakdown of "all the chords that should be minor, they're making them major", it gave me a new appreciation for a song I've loved for 2 decades. It's always great to see music theory and lyricism combine to capture such a unique mood ("dark happy") that perfectly fits a sardonic satire that says being "Destined for Nothing" is a good thing!

Jonathan Nathan

"Some worship song vibes" That's right. Bad Religion is church music for people who would never go to church. And since the music is the only good thing about church, that makes Bad Religion pretty darn important.

Bee Kay
>>145649082

This was my first thought - I love bad religion but I think this record came out during the prime napster/kazaa days when I was listening to single songs and not albums, so never heard Epiphany before - and yep it’s identical to stickin in my eye… but they go a completely different direction, and what a song

David

Brian Baker is my favorite guitar player. Knows when to hold back, or really punch you with the riff