Bad Religion
All Ages

THE REVIEW

There are many reasons to be struck by Bad Religion, and they are all valid.

The logo, the image wants its share, and that prohibition sign imprinted on the cross is iconic like few others; off the top of my head, I throw in Radio Birdman and Black Flag.

The philosophy, constructive hardcore as opposed to the blind destructive violence characteristic of the first wave of post-punk, somehow close to that of the Minor Threat with attached distinctions because Los Angeles is not Washington, also close in the choice to remain free and independent, when no one yet imagined the indie label, and while Minor Threat created Dischord, Bad Religion created Epitaph, and together they made the history of hardcore and much of the most visceral and exciting rock of the '80s.

The music, of course, because if melodic hardcore had another name, that name would be Bad Religion, even if Bad Religion’s melody is very different from that of Pennywise and lacking at least in the origins of history, otherwise find me the melody in «How Could Hell Be Any Worse»; just to say that Bad Religion’s melody is above all Greg Graffin’s voice, indeed Professor Greg Graffin, a tenured professor of life sciences at the University of California at Los Angeles, a paleontologist, and also a biologist, a singer in a hardcore band in his spare time, one of those – how many? less than few – for whom it is not a cliché to say he would enchant you even if he just read the proverbial phone book or a grocery list.

The music, right.

There’s a period – from 1982 to 1994 – where having everything from Bad Religion is a good rule, actually almost everything, except for «Into the Unknown», a mysterious object known by few, and those few can’t explain it, something like Dylan’s «Self Portrait» or Clash’s «Cut the Crap», for which it is almost impossible to grasp the meaning, and indeed Bad Religion spent five years trying to make sense of it and come to their senses, before bringing out «Suffer» and then, especially, that unattainable masterpiece that is «No Control», the one that opens with «Change of Ideas», «Big Bang», and «No Control», which if they are not the three most beautiful minutes of hardcore at all, they come close.

From this period, you must have it all, or almost all, from «How Could Hell Be Any Worse» up to that «Stranger Than Fiction» which legitimizes hardcore among multinationals, and even if it doesn’t mark an era like R.E.M., Hüsker Dü, and Nirvana did when they moved with their cardboard suitcases to Atlantic or the like, having it in your collection doesn’t hurt at all.

There are seven albums that Bad Religion released in those important years, just to stay on topic, all of good quality, at least two are authentic milestones, «How Could Hell Be Any Worse» and «No Control», you can start from here.

Or from «All Ages», a compilation released in November 1995, as if to say a cycle has closed and these are the results: music for all ages, because this hardcore is good for both health and mood and has no contraindications; music that rushes, travels at stellar speeds, on the brink of derailment, condensing 22 songs into 50 minutes; sharp songs, wonderful lyrics lost between ideology and utopia, Greg Graffin’s voice leads the charge, supported by the overwhelming guitars of Brett Gurewitz and Greg Hetson, those two guitars claiming their dominant space in every second, the imperious and compact rhythm section; and those choruses, just that «Lie lie lie / Lie lie lie / Lie lie lie / Lie lie lie / Lie lie lie / Lie lie lie» in «Flat Earth Society» is enough to stun you and never recover.

It starts with «I Want to Conquer the World», ends with «Fuck Armageddon This Is Hell»: «All Ages» is one of the many ways to get closer to Bad Religion, and it doesn’t matter if you already have everything from Bad Religion, you must also have this compilation, just as those who have everything from the Ramones also have «Weird Tales», and those who have everything from the Clash have «The Singles Box».

That’s enough.

If they weren’t anti-establishment, Bad Religion would be an institution; if they didn’t break themselves down with their own hands, monuments should be raised to Bad Religion everywhere.