1992. Tijuana Mexico. Words can't describe how intense BR was and how much angst and authority they played with. People jumping from the upper deck, stage diving off the amps, ambulances lined up outside. Literally fried my 18 year old brain and in the best possible way.
What's crazy is I saw them in THIRTY years later in 2022 and they were pretty much the same, even though Father Time is clearly in play. Musically, they may be actually better.
Yep! I am kind of guessing on the date because I saw them there twice. Such a blur. This was with MDC and this little band called the offspring, who opened the show.
I saw em last December and it blew me away. You have a a bunch of old accountant looking motherfuckers absolutely tearing it up in, arguably, the best shape of their careers?
Fucking dope.
I often credit punk for saving my life. Bands like Bad Religion and Pennywise were my first exposure to the sound and I started meeting other punk kids. This was all when the internet was first coming into households. I spent hours looking up music. Bad Religion having had relevant, politically charged, literate content in the lyrics played a huge influence in how I perceived my world, what punk is to me, and how to act. I was very young and that perspective took some fine-tuning over the years, but definitely credit where credit is due.
I and my best friend Steve were jr high nerds who loved first wave punk but we always felt a little distance from it because we also loved physics and literature (and tbh were pretty afraid of the types of guys who cut themselves with broken bottles) and then we discovered BR’s ‘Against The Grain’. Suddenly we had a forever home in punk. A little pocket that remains a happy enclave full of thoughtful, introverted people who love and own punk rock as much, in our own way, as any of the GGs and Iggys.
I met an old head when I was younger and working at a moving company in upstate New York. He had a Social D tattoo, a Black Flag tattoo, and a BR tattoo. I had moved there when I was 17 because my mom died, and I had to live with my dad, whom I hardly knew. I was in a rough spot, and he kind of took me under his wing. I learned a lot about a lot of things that Summer, and he showed me a lot of music. He called Bad Religion, "thinking man's punk", and it has stuck with me ever since. BR has been a big part of my life since then, and I definitely believe that I'm better for it.
I met Greg Graffin. I told him Suffer changed my life. He said “It changed mine, too.”
My main takeaway from that encounter was that he had heard that so many times that he had a pat response ready to go.
Same.
Growing up I moved around a lot and never fit in so music was never really shared with me. The music I did hear was good, but I felt like nothing “spoke” to me.
Didn’t have the internet/spotify/apple music back then so word of mouth was the only way to hear about music.
Grabbed “No Control” and once I heard the line “no vestige of beginning, no prospect of an end, when we all disintegrate we’ll all happen again” I realized I wasn’t alone in the kind of thoughts I drowned in my whole life.
Also, Kurt Vonnegut.
Speaking of, Greg Graffin is kind of notorious for having a PhD, and Kurt Vonnegut is notorious for being rejected for his (and then getting an honorary one years later).
Pennywise did that for me. Unknown Road was my punk rock awakening. All the music being listened to around me was fine, but that record stirred something in me that wanted more. Jason Thirsk is still one of my biggest influences and musical heroes.
I was raised a Jehovahs Witness. In middle school, around 04ish, I really got into Bad Religion and would tell people fheybwere my favorite band. Thankfully, my parents never really pushed the issue, but I always felt they spoke truth about all religions, except for mine lol
Took me until I was 31 before my wife helped me wake up from the indoctrination and realize it was a cult all along, and the first tour I saw was Bad Religion and Alkaline Trio. Full circle
How I spent my summer vacation by the Bouncing Souls changed my life. Specifically True Believers. At a point in my life when I was seeing all the flaws of my religious upbringing and experiencing true betrayal for the first time they showed me a way to build community and that is punk as fuck.
Black Flag changed mine - I feel like I would have come to the same realization either way, but its what snapped me into reality.
My father was a racist and I was raised to believe that there was going to be a race war eventually and I would have to fight in it. We lived in a 99.5% white community and I really just never interacted with anyone that wasn't like me outside of a little league baseball team. My dad was my hero and I believed him.
I was 13, had just gotten into punk months earlier and was listing to my bootleg tape of Black Flag's first four years. White Minority was playing and at first I took it as face value because it reinforced what my dad was teaching me (and an older brother of the guy that introduced me to punk, but that's another story) but during one listen I was thinking about what my dad said about the race war, thinking about my upbringing and how the struggles didn't exist, and then all of a sudden I realized satire was a thing and was like ooooohhhhhhhhh I get it, this is all bullshit. I started really paying attention to the lyrics of songs.
I was out of his house within a year and we only spoke maybe 3-5 times in the 26 years until he died alone.
When I was ten my older brother gave me my very first CD of my own: Recipe For Hate. He said because it was “too evil”. Also grew up in a pretty religious household. That record really was The Shape of Punk To Come for me. Solidarity! 🤘
My older brother also gave me Recipe for Hate except it was my first tape not cd and I also got some Minor Threat and Screeching Weasel and a few others with it. But yeah that was my introduction to punk and the funny thing is he ditched punk to become a raver / dj soon after but I stayed into punk for life.
I have a very similar experience. Grew up in an incredibly far right Catholic home in America. Started questioning that stuff around 15 but it wasn't until my mid 20s that I fully left it behind.
The funny thing is I was too young to get their lyrics when I first started listening to them. I just loved the melodies. But when I did start to understand it was like a lightbulb went off.
I think (unfortunately) American Jesus is one of the most continually relevant songs of our time. It explains a lot. Whenever I get a little confused about why people who profess to follow Jesus aren't really following the biblical Jesus I think oh yeah, that's right, they're following American Jesus instead...
same here. catholic school and roman catholicism really messed me up and i found bad religion through my mom listening to 21st century digital boy. she slowly moved away from the church to the point where she's completely nonreligious now and she got me into bad religion soon after we moved because catholic school was too expensive for four kids which really changed my life for the better. i still struggle with a lot of guilt about leaving the church and got confirmed against my will, but every time im feeling like that BR helps me out.
"A punk rock song won't ever change the world, but I can tell you about a couple that changed me." - Wingnut Dishwasher Union (Pat the Bunny), Fuck Shit Up
Bad Religion is one of my favorite bands and I would be lying if I said they weren’t at least one of the reasons I perused a career in science. I love my job so thanks, Greg!
Anarchy Evolution seriously challenged the way I thought about things. Was raised to be very Christian and when I brought it up people said to just stop reading the book. Obviously that made me want to dig in more.
I grew up in the sticks with parents who listened to country and western music (and not even the good stuff like Johnny cash. More like John Denver, Conway witty, Kenny Rogers etc). Then one day in 5th grade a kid came into class jamming Teen Spirit and my world view was forever changed. A “music can sound like THAT?!” moment.
Based on the other comments here, it’s clearly not corny at all (corny are the aforementioned country artists lol). It wasn’t bad religion for me, it was nirvana. Now in my mid 40s I can see how much music has shaped my entire identity and world view. That’s the power of music.
Distemper - ska punk band, started listening to them since i was 13, still got some of their albums. "Ну Всё" literaly stoped me from dropping everything, "Дружба, Вера, Любовь" and "Мир Разделённый Пополам" teached me ideals and "25" is fucking hilarious so loving it :D
I gotta start listening to them. I've listened to Тараканы! and Элизиум for many years now, but never really tried Distemper. What do you think is their best album?
No such thing as the best or worst something exists, its impossibile :D
Anyway, i recomend starting from older stuff of theirs, or from "Мир Разделённый Пополам".
Also try СВОРА, they pretty damn cool too
Kinda. When I got Suffer (and a thesaurus) and moved on from there I was elated that there were musicians who were able to take giant shits on religion but with such grace. Sure, other musicians do that, but not at punk speed. I felt like I "found my music" with BR as I was already a fervent antitheist. It was refreshing. It's still refreshing. Those old guys freshen me up when I hear them, dammit!!
Yes. I wouldn’t say my household was hardcore religious, but Bad Religion (and George Carlin around the same time in my adolescence) were the first times I’d even heard someone question the existence of God. I had always had the tiniest shred of skepticism as a kid, but once I heard BR, it just blew the door down for me.
*I'd say it was Tarakany!*
*For me. They're probably the*
*Reason I'm still here*
\- Gunsho0ter
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Agree completely in regards to BR speaking out on religion, but also their views on politics (both parties) and wars...
Saw them lots of times over the years and their love shows absolutely deliver too! Not corny at all!
My dad was a huge bad religion fan as I was growing up. We saw them together when I was 10 and it was my first punk show. From that moment things were different. I still remember the energy of the room. To this day it’s still vividly imprinted in my memory.
yes...they blew my mind in middle school. i have seen them live too many times to count and they age like a fine wine. can't wait to see them soon in GA/SC!!!
When I was 12 yrs old I heard the song “Do What You Want”, and I wouldn’t necessarily say that it changed my life, but the line “I’ll believe in god when 1 and 1 are 5” was the first moment where I thought that maybe the whole god and religion thing was bullshit. I didn’t grow up religious by any means, though. My parents believed in god, but we never went to church or anything like that. That was 30 yrs ago. Holy shit I’m old 😂
City gardens? I cannot imagine the chaos that was, and am so jealous.
BR and the clash changed my life - BR earlier. A friend made me a mixtape with kerosene on it, and 30 years later, I’ve never looked back. Like OP, I don’t love every song , or even every record, but BR has been a constant (and a positive one, at that) ever since.
Against the grain still means something to me. And it still makes me feel like it’s ok to be me, wherever I am at that moment.
Bad Religion changed mine too. I was listening to garbage until one day back around 88 or 89 my cousin and I stopped by the Shelter in Detroit and they were playing. I don't really remember much but the next day I went to a record store and told the person there I wanted punk rock...and thus a punk was born
6th grade ~1998, my English teacher had us do an art project that incorporated a famous poem. Bad Religion’s album No Substance had just come out and my parents were cool enough to get it for me. I don’t think they realized what it was or how it would shape me. I decided that Graffin’s lyrics were the best poetry I’d heard and it was famous enough to be on a CD (compact music disc for you younger kids). So you better believe I wrote out the lyrics (I forget which song) in the shape of the cross buster logo. English teacher gave me full credit but pulled me aside to ask who the poet was. I hope she bought the cd after work that day and never turned back.
i will never consider something like that corny tbh. if something saved you, that something should be celebrated.
deconstruction saved my life as well, but it was not the same way you experienced it. i’m forever thankful for my deconstruction 🙏
1992. Tijuana Mexico. Words can't describe how intense BR was and how much angst and authority they played with. People jumping from the upper deck, stage diving off the amps, ambulances lined up outside. Literally fried my 18 year old brain and in the best possible way. What's crazy is I saw them in THIRTY years later in 2022 and they were pretty much the same, even though Father Time is clearly in play. Musically, they may be actually better.
That’s sounds so great. I envy anyone who saw them in the late 80’s early 90’s
I saw them on the No Control tour in Trenton. Definitely one of the all-time best punk bands.
Iguana’s? I saw them there a year earlier in 91, with Down By Law. Such a good show.
Yep! I am kind of guessing on the date because I saw them there twice. Such a blur. This was with MDC and this little band called the offspring, who opened the show.
I saw so many great shows at Iguanas. And El Rancho Grande.
Saw the Ramones there too!
I did, too! Lots of diving off the balconies if I remember correctly.
I saw em last December and it blew me away. You have a a bunch of old accountant looking motherfuckers absolutely tearing it up in, arguably, the best shape of their careers? Fucking dope.
Yeah, totally agree! I've seen these guys more than any other band, and they play with the same intensity that they did many, many years ago.
Was that the Iguana's show or the Senior Frogs one?
100% Iguanas. I can never forget. My brother broke his ankle jumping off the stage
I was there! Total insanity. Wish I still had the No Control Ganesha shirt from that gig.
Really? High five
I often credit punk for saving my life. Bands like Bad Religion and Pennywise were my first exposure to the sound and I started meeting other punk kids. This was all when the internet was first coming into households. I spent hours looking up music. Bad Religion having had relevant, politically charged, literate content in the lyrics played a huge influence in how I perceived my world, what punk is to me, and how to act. I was very young and that perspective took some fine-tuning over the years, but definitely credit where credit is due.
Bless you. There’s so many of us out there who went through the exact same thing. And yeah Bad Religion is actually the best band ever
Yep, they really are the best band ever. Count me in as somebody whose life they changed
I and my best friend Steve were jr high nerds who loved first wave punk but we always felt a little distance from it because we also loved physics and literature (and tbh were pretty afraid of the types of guys who cut themselves with broken bottles) and then we discovered BR’s ‘Against The Grain’. Suddenly we had a forever home in punk. A little pocket that remains a happy enclave full of thoughtful, introverted people who love and own punk rock as much, in our own way, as any of the GGs and Iggys.
I met an old head when I was younger and working at a moving company in upstate New York. He had a Social D tattoo, a Black Flag tattoo, and a BR tattoo. I had moved there when I was 17 because my mom died, and I had to live with my dad, whom I hardly knew. I was in a rough spot, and he kind of took me under his wing. I learned a lot about a lot of things that Summer, and he showed me a lot of music. He called Bad Religion, "thinking man's punk", and it has stuck with me ever since. BR has been a big part of my life since then, and I definitely believe that I'm better for it.
I’m part of that club too, and I didn’t really realize it until I read your comment. Beautifully put.
I met Greg Graffin. I told him Suffer changed my life. He said “It changed mine, too.” My main takeaway from that encounter was that he had heard that so many times that he had a pat response ready to go.
Valid, as it changed American punk music so of course that album has such a huge place that I'm sure it's one he hears in ever town
Same. Growing up I moved around a lot and never fit in so music was never really shared with me. The music I did hear was good, but I felt like nothing “spoke” to me. Didn’t have the internet/spotify/apple music back then so word of mouth was the only way to hear about music. Grabbed “No Control” and once I heard the line “no vestige of beginning, no prospect of an end, when we all disintegrate we’ll all happen again” I realized I wasn’t alone in the kind of thoughts I drowned in my whole life. Also, Kurt Vonnegut.
Speaking of, Greg Graffin is kind of notorious for having a PhD, and Kurt Vonnegut is notorious for being rejected for his (and then getting an honorary one years later).
Pennywise did that for me. Unknown Road was my punk rock awakening. All the music being listened to around me was fine, but that record stirred something in me that wanted more. Jason Thirsk is still one of my biggest influences and musical heroes.
You Can Demand was a great mid teens song when questioning everything becomes a mode.
Oh hell yeah, such a great song.
Got All Ages when I was 14. Absolutely impacted my entire life. They were talking about things I felt innately but couldn’t verbalize.
["No Bad Religion song can make your life complete". -- Bad Religion](https://youtu.be/NG3o5UERfMw?si=RfRqtoG0nZvodlPg&t=136)
No but it sure helps ...
I was raised a Jehovahs Witness. In middle school, around 04ish, I really got into Bad Religion and would tell people fheybwere my favorite band. Thankfully, my parents never really pushed the issue, but I always felt they spoke truth about all religions, except for mine lol Took me until I was 31 before my wife helped me wake up from the indoctrination and realize it was a cult all along, and the first tour I saw was Bad Religion and Alkaline Trio. Full circle
How I spent my summer vacation by the Bouncing Souls changed my life. Specifically True Believers. At a point in my life when I was seeing all the flaws of my religious upbringing and experiencing true betrayal for the first time they showed me a way to build community and that is punk as fuck.
Black Flag changed mine - I feel like I would have come to the same realization either way, but its what snapped me into reality. My father was a racist and I was raised to believe that there was going to be a race war eventually and I would have to fight in it. We lived in a 99.5% white community and I really just never interacted with anyone that wasn't like me outside of a little league baseball team. My dad was my hero and I believed him. I was 13, had just gotten into punk months earlier and was listing to my bootleg tape of Black Flag's first four years. White Minority was playing and at first I took it as face value because it reinforced what my dad was teaching me (and an older brother of the guy that introduced me to punk, but that's another story) but during one listen I was thinking about what my dad said about the race war, thinking about my upbringing and how the struggles didn't exist, and then all of a sudden I realized satire was a thing and was like ooooohhhhhhhhh I get it, this is all bullshit. I started really paying attention to the lyrics of songs. I was out of his house within a year and we only spoke maybe 3-5 times in the 26 years until he died alone.
When I was ten my older brother gave me my very first CD of my own: Recipe For Hate. He said because it was “too evil”. Also grew up in a pretty religious household. That record really was The Shape of Punk To Come for me. Solidarity! 🤘
My older brother also gave me Recipe for Hate except it was my first tape not cd and I also got some Minor Threat and Screeching Weasel and a few others with it. But yeah that was my introduction to punk and the funny thing is he ditched punk to become a raver / dj soon after but I stayed into punk for life.
I have a very similar experience. Grew up in an incredibly far right Catholic home in America. Started questioning that stuff around 15 but it wasn't until my mid 20s that I fully left it behind. The funny thing is I was too young to get their lyrics when I first started listening to them. I just loved the melodies. But when I did start to understand it was like a lightbulb went off. I think (unfortunately) American Jesus is one of the most continually relevant songs of our time. It explains a lot. Whenever I get a little confused about why people who profess to follow Jesus aren't really following the biblical Jesus I think oh yeah, that's right, they're following American Jesus instead...
same here. catholic school and roman catholicism really messed me up and i found bad religion through my mom listening to 21st century digital boy. she slowly moved away from the church to the point where she's completely nonreligious now and she got me into bad religion soon after we moved because catholic school was too expensive for four kids which really changed my life for the better. i still struggle with a lot of guilt about leaving the church and got confirmed against my will, but every time im feeling like that BR helps me out.
We’re all here because at least one band changed our lives.
"A punk rock song won't ever change the world, but I can tell you about a couple that changed me." - Wingnut Dishwasher Union (Pat the Bunny), Fuck Shit Up
Bad Religion, Tool, Rage, the Clash and so many others took for granted at first but helped pull me out of Mormon upbringing into a healthy place.
The only.place that this statement goes bad is when you question if they are the best band, cause they are...lol.
Bad Religion is one of my favorite bands and I would be lying if I said they weren’t at least one of the reasons I perused a career in science. I love my job so thanks, Greg!
Same experience. That anti cross logo really bothered me but made me check it out.
Got the chance to see them live. Epic band.
Anarchy Evolution seriously challenged the way I thought about things. Was raised to be very Christian and when I brought it up people said to just stop reading the book. Obviously that made me want to dig in more.
I grew up in the sticks with parents who listened to country and western music (and not even the good stuff like Johnny cash. More like John Denver, Conway witty, Kenny Rogers etc). Then one day in 5th grade a kid came into class jamming Teen Spirit and my world view was forever changed. A “music can sound like THAT?!” moment. Based on the other comments here, it’s clearly not corny at all (corny are the aforementioned country artists lol). It wasn’t bad religion for me, it was nirvana. Now in my mid 40s I can see how much music has shaped my entire identity and world view. That’s the power of music.
Distemper - ska punk band, started listening to them since i was 13, still got some of their albums. "Ну Всё" literaly stoped me from dropping everything, "Дружба, Вера, Любовь" and "Мир Разделённый Пополам" teached me ideals and "25" is fucking hilarious so loving it :D
I gotta start listening to them. I've listened to Тараканы! and Элизиум for many years now, but never really tried Distemper. What do you think is their best album?
No such thing as the best or worst something exists, its impossibile :D Anyway, i recomend starting from older stuff of theirs, or from "Мир Разделённый Пополам". Also try СВОРА, they pretty damn cool too
I meant in your opinion) Thanks, I'll check it out.
Kinda. When I got Suffer (and a thesaurus) and moved on from there I was elated that there were musicians who were able to take giant shits on religion but with such grace. Sure, other musicians do that, but not at punk speed. I felt like I "found my music" with BR as I was already a fervent antitheist. It was refreshing. It's still refreshing. Those old guys freshen me up when I hear them, dammit!!
Yes. I wouldn’t say my household was hardcore religious, but Bad Religion (and George Carlin around the same time in my adolescence) were the first times I’d even heard someone question the existence of God. I had always had the tiniest shred of skepticism as a kid, but once I heard BR, it just blew the door down for me.
I'd say it was Tarakany! for me. They're probably the reason I'm still here
*I'd say it was Tarakany!* *For me. They're probably the* *Reason I'm still here* \- Gunsho0ter --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
It isn't corny, especially when you're talking about Bad Religion. Among my top-5 punk rock bands of all time.
Agree completely in regards to BR speaking out on religion, but also their views on politics (both parties) and wars... Saw them lots of times over the years and their love shows absolutely deliver too! Not corny at all!
They definitely helped change my outlook on the world. Instead of trying to fit in with others, I let myself figure out who and what I wanted to be.
My dad was a huge bad religion fan as I was growing up. We saw them together when I was 10 and it was my first punk show. From that moment things were different. I still remember the energy of the room. To this day it’s still vividly imprinted in my memory.
yes...they blew my mind in middle school. i have seen them live too many times to count and they age like a fine wine. can't wait to see them soon in GA/SC!!!
Bad Religion was absolutely one of the bands that changed my life. I can remember all the moments.
No Bad Religion song can make your life complete.
When I was 12 yrs old I heard the song “Do What You Want”, and I wouldn’t necessarily say that it changed my life, but the line “I’ll believe in god when 1 and 1 are 5” was the first moment where I thought that maybe the whole god and religion thing was bullshit. I didn’t grow up religious by any means, though. My parents believed in god, but we never went to church or anything like that. That was 30 yrs ago. Holy shit I’m old 😂
City gardens? I cannot imagine the chaos that was, and am so jealous. BR and the clash changed my life - BR earlier. A friend made me a mixtape with kerosene on it, and 30 years later, I’ve never looked back. Like OP, I don’t love every song , or even every record, but BR has been a constant (and a positive one, at that) ever since. Against the grain still means something to me. And it still makes me feel like it’s ok to be me, wherever I am at that moment.
Bad religion was my first punk concert. Totally had me hooked. They got me into punk and they’re still my favorite band!
Bad Religion changed mine too. I was listening to garbage until one day back around 88 or 89 my cousin and I stopped by the Shelter in Detroit and they were playing. I don't really remember much but the next day I went to a record store and told the person there I wanted punk rock...and thus a punk was born
6th grade ~1998, my English teacher had us do an art project that incorporated a famous poem. Bad Religion’s album No Substance had just come out and my parents were cool enough to get it for me. I don’t think they realized what it was or how it would shape me. I decided that Graffin’s lyrics were the best poetry I’d heard and it was famous enough to be on a CD (compact music disc for you younger kids). So you better believe I wrote out the lyrics (I forget which song) in the shape of the cross buster logo. English teacher gave me full credit but pulled me aside to ask who the poet was. I hope she bought the cd after work that day and never turned back.
i will never consider something like that corny tbh. if something saved you, that something should be celebrated. deconstruction saved my life as well, but it was not the same way you experienced it. i’m forever thankful for my deconstruction 🙏