Bad Religion

Bad Religion is an American punk rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California in 1979. The band makes extensive use of soaring 3-part vocal harmonies (which they refer to in their album liner notes as the "oozin' aahs"), guitar solos and lyrics that often contain religious and political commentary. Their lyrics often relate to matters of social responsibility. The band's lineup has changed several times over its lifespan, with lead vocalist Greg Graffin being the only consistent member; the current lineup, however, features three of the band's four original members (Graffin, Brett Gurewitz and Jay Bentley). To date, Bad Religion has released sixteen studio albums, two live albums, three compilation albums, three EPs (one of which is composed of covers of Christmas songs) and two DVDs (which were both recorded live). They are considered to be one of the best-selling punk rock acts of all time, having sold over 5 million albums worldwide.

Bad Religion had built an underground following in the United States with their early albums before signing to Atlantic Records in 1993. They rose to fame that same year with their seventh studio album Recipe for Hate, which peaked at number 14 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart.Recipe for Hate was followed a year later by Stranger than Fiction, which spawned their biggest hits "Infected" and a re-recorded version of "21st Century (Digital Boy)", and was certified gold in both the United States and Canada. Shortly before the release of Stranger than Fiction, Gurewitz left Bad Religion to focus on his label Epitaph, and was replaced by Brian Baker. Since the return of Gurewitz in 2001, the band has undergone a resurgence in popularity, with their sixteenth studio album True North (2013) becoming Bad Religion's first album to crack the top 20 on the Billboard 200 chart, where it peaked at number 19. The band is expected to release their seventeenth studio album around 2017.

Religion

Religion is a cultural system of behaviors and practices, world views, ethics, and social organisation that relate humanity to an order of existence. About 84% of the world's population is affiliated with one of the five largest religions, namely Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism or forms of folk religion.

With the onset of the modernisation of and the scientific revolution in the western world, some aspects of religion have cumulatively been criticized. Though the religiously unaffliated, including atheism and agnosticism, have grown globally, many of the unaffiliated still have various religious beliefs. About 16% of the world's population is religiously unaffiliated.

The study of religion encompasses a wide variety of academic disciplines, including comparative religion and social scientific studies. Theories of religion offer explanations for the origins and workings of religion.

Etymology

Religion

Religion (from O.Fr. religion "religious community", from L. religionem (nom. religio) "respect for what is sacred, reverence for the gods", "obligation, the bond between man and the gods") is derived from the Latin religiō, the ultimate origins of which are obscure. One possibility is an interpretation traced to Cicero, connecting lego "read", i.e. re (again) + lego in the sense of "choose", "go over again" or "consider carefully". Modern scholars such as Tom Harpur and Joseph Campbell favor the derivation from ligare "bind, connect", probably from a prefixed re-ligare, i.e. re (again) + ligare or "to reconnect", which was made prominent by St. Augustine, following the interpretation of Lactantius. The medieval usage alternates with order in designating bonded communities like those of monastic orders: "we hear of the 'religion' of the Golden Fleece, of a knight 'of the religion of Avys'".

No Substance

No Substance is the tenth full-length album by the punk rock band Bad Religion. It was the band's third (or fourth, if the reissue of Recipe for Hate is counted) release on Atlantic Records, and their second studio album since guitarist Brett Gurewitz's departure.

No Substance was anticipated by both music critics and fans as a result of the band's previous worldwide successes with their 1994 major label debut Stranger Than Fiction and its 1996 follow up The Gray Race. The album has been met with mixed reviews and was not as successful as band's past releases. The album was re-released by Epitaph Records on September 15, 2008.

Album cover

The actress on the album cover is Kristen Johnston, most famous for her two-time Emmy Award-winning role as Sally Solomon in the television series 3rd Rock from the Sun.

Track listing

Personnel

Greatest hits album

A greatest hits album, sometimes called a "best of" album or a catalog album, is a compilation of songs by a particular artist or band. Most often the track list contains previously released recordings with a high degree of notability. However, to increase the appeal, especially to people who already own the original release, it is common to include remixes and/or alternate takes of popular songs; even new material (previously unreleased). At times a greatest hits compilation is the original release for songs that have themselves been released as a single and charted successfully.

Notable compilations

Madonna's The Immaculate Collection is the best selling greatest hits compilation by a solo artist; all of the songs on it are presented in different versions than the original hit versions. The Eagles' Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) is the best selling greatest hits compilation by a group and also one of the ten best selling albums in history. Greatest hits albums are typically produced after an artist has had enough successful songs to fill out an album release. Some artists, such as Mariah Carey, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Britney Spears, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, The Beatles, Kenny Rogers, Aerosmith, Kiss, U2, Dolly Parton, Journey, Los Tigres del Norte, Queen, Kylie Minogue and Billy Joel, have released multiple greatest hits albums through their long careers. Some greatest hits albums are released only at the end of the artist or group's career. For example, My Chemical Romance released a greatest hits album after they disbanded. Other artists, like Eminem have released hits albums in the center of their success. He released Curtain Call: The Hits in 2005 and then Shady XV as a compilation album in 2014.

We're Only Gonna Die

"We're Only Gonna Die" is a song penned by frontman Greg Graffin for Bad Religion's debut album How Could Hell Be Any Worse?, which was released in 1982. It is the album's opening track, as well as the now-out of print 80-85 compilation, which was released in 1991.

The song is often referred to only by the name "Gonna Die". The liner notes to the How Could Hell Be Any Worse album lists the title as "We're Only Gonna Die from Our Own Arrogance". Graffin occasionally introduces the song with this complete title. The band also called the song "Modern Man" before the release of their 1990 fifth album Against the Grain, which contained a track by that name.

The song can also be heard in the movie Glory Daze. It also appears on the soundtrack of the videogame, Tony Hawk's American Wasteland.

More than 30 years after its release, "We're Only Gonna Die" is still a fan favorite and remains one of the band's concert staples.

Cover versions

The song was covered by the band Biohazard who called it "We're Only Gonna Die from Our Own Arrogance". Bad Religion and Biohazard played this song live together during a show in the late '90s.