It’s hard to overstate just how influential Bad Religion was on the punk rock I grew up on during the mid-2000’s. Bands like NOFX, Pennywise, Green Day, The Offspring, Hot Water Music, Alkaline Trio, and Rancid all owe a debt of significant gratitude to the forebears of that distinct sound for a handful of reasons, the first and primary being 1988’s Suffer which, in the words of Fat Mike from NOFX, was “the record that changed everything.” And he’s right.
Coming in at a tidy 25 minutes across 15 songs, Suffer is an open throttle assault down the highway at breakneck speed. Featuring heavily overdriven guitars from Brett Gurewitz and Greg Hetson, supremely hook-filled bass lines from Jay Bentley, and solid in the pocket drumming from Pete Finestone, the album defined the sound of punk rock for 20 years. This album sounds remarkably modern in both production and arrangements in a way you just don’t hear when listening to some old punk rock records. It helps that Bad Religion has stuck to a similar formula over the last 30 years, eschewing modern production techniques like overly processed vocals and synths/effects that widen a mix from a stereo setting. Bad Religion (and Suffer in particular) recognize that sometimes the strongest musical statement you can make is with the classic lineup of vocals, two guitars, a bass, and drums. It gets the job done with a real beauty in its simplicity.
Where things get really interesting is with the vocals of Greg Graffin, the lead singer and lyricist for the band. Gaffin’s voice is an iconic one in the history of punk, immediately recognizable the second the record kicks off, and transformed what punk rock lyricists would offer in years to come. Featuring thought-provoking lines such as “Avarice has led us across the ocean / Toward a land that’s better, much more bountiful and wide” (“How Much Is Enough?”) and a real tongue-twister in “Phantasmal myriads of sane bucolic birth” (“1000 More Fools”), Graffin’s willingness to test the listener to think more deeply about the world they live in and the impact of our collective actions is a noble one.
It’s one of the reasons why Bad Religion has remained a seminal force in punk rock, and an important figure for the socially conscious world citizen. Along with their formation of Epitaph Records (an independent label founded by guitarist Brett Gurewitz in 1980 that, quite literally, is the preeminent independent record label for punk and alternative rock– their artist stable is insane to read through), Suffer almost single-handedly opened the door for punk rock to claw it’s way back during its revival that lasted during the mid-90’s through the late 2000’s.
Long live the kings.
Standout Songs: “What Can You Do?”, “1000 More Fools”, “Forbidden Beat”
