Not to fall into hyperbole, but this is one of the most important albums I have ever heard.

People REALLY like Suffer and I don’t blame them, but this album came at just the right time in my life. I was depressed from work, politically frustrated, disenfranchised with the trappings of capitalism, and had an overwhelming loneliness in the world.

I wasn’t in a good place.

And it’s not like this album put me in a better place per se, but it sure as hell made me feel less alone.

I love it. There’s no other way to describe it. Greg Graffin’s lyrics are sharp, sarcastic, and angry but, unlike SO many punk bands, it doesn’t stop there. There’s a sense of hope to Bad Religion that I don’t see enough people harp on.

There’s way I look at it, the core of punk (not just music) is a dissatisfaction with where we are as a society and a desire to make it better. That’s why you always hear people harping on community when it comes to punk.

To me, it’s about making the world a better place and this often DOESN’T include burning it down. It’s all about kindness and helping the people around you stay alive, stay hopeful, and stay in the game.

There’s a lot of anger in punk for sure, but the stages seem to go: dick and fart jokes as a dumb kid, anger at the world for being unjust, and then anger at the world for being unjust and actually trying to make it better. To recognize nuance.

A lot of bands get stuck in the first stage but I feel like most of them get caught in the second and oh-so-very few make it to the final evolution.

But Bad Religion did and we’re all better for it.

Diogenes would be proud.

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When NOFX’s Coaster came out, I was blogging about guitar and music. I emailed and requested an interview with El Hefe and didn’t expect much. Not a lot of people granted interviews, especially by email volleys, but I had some success here and there so I figured I would try.

And he said yes.

We bounced emails back and forth and I got a pretty decent interview out of it for an amateur blogger operating out of his bedroom in a desperate attempt to distract himself from dissatisfaction with work and a growing clinical depression.

But the reason I didn’t expect a reply wasn’t because I was bad at blogging or small. I’m not awful at writing and consistently ranked in the top 5-10 guitar blogs in a time when blogs were pretty big.

No. It was because NOFX didn’t do a lot of press. They hadn’t done a lot of press since making that decision a while after Green Day’s Dookie was released so I was blown away when anyone responded - let alone said yes and endured my multiple emails asking questions.

El Hefe was nice enough to talk to a young guitar player running a blog out of his bedroom.

I don’t think you can get much more punk than that - than supporting and nurturing someone’s aspirations when you can. I was beyond grateful and will constantly talk up NOFX for this reason.

Sure, they wrote great songs and you could absolutely see why even with short songs they were able to fill up two records with their strongest material, but more than that - to me - I love them because they’re the real deal. They are the best kinds of punks and I’ll always love them.

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Remember how I was saying that Alkaline Trio, Bad Religion, Tiger Army, and Tool all get a pass for albums that don’t hit hard for me and I’ll buy them regardless because my love for the band is greater than one miss?

This is that Alkaline Trio album.

I think I’m the weird one here because I kept seeing my friends say this was their “return to form,” but I just didn’t see that.

I’m certainly glad it came out, though. They had never gone five years between major releases before (and then followed up that stretch with SIX years between this and Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs) and I always kinda worry that a band that has so many side projects have a ticking countdown where they have to get back together by X or just settle into some other project with other people.

And when I heard this the first time I had no idea that Dan Andriano had his own side project or that it was so fuckin’ good. But I definitely knew that Matt Skiba was prolific with other projects including one that sounded an awful lot like Alkaline Trio but without Dan’s magic.

It’s not like this album is BAD, either. It just struck me as nothing really to write home about. The hooks weren’t super strong, there wasn’t a lot of experimentation, and the songwriting felt more… standard.

Out of all Alkaline Trio’s albums - hell, even their EPs and collections like Damnesia or Remains - this is the one I listen to the least.

And, again, I’m pretty sure I’m the weird one here.

It doesn’t matter, though. These guys could release anything and I’d buy it. They’ve just been my favorite band for so long, seen me through so much, that there’s no way a couple bad releases would throw me off.

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When I started collecting records, I was solidly thinking that I was only going to collect gold. I would vet the albums online and then buy the truly good stuff.

There were exceptions. A couple bands get a pass for albums that don’t hit so hard (with me) in the name of collection completion.

Namely, Alkaline Trio, Bad Religion, Tiger Army, and Tool. All of these bands have had albums that just didn’t connect with me but I love the band to such a high level that I still want their stuff on my shelf.

This is one of those albums.

Again, this is just my opinion. If you like this album (or any album I don’t particularly enjoy), I’m not going to say anything. Like what you like.

I even keep my mouth shut when people say they like Mike Patton and his various bands/projects and he’s probably my least favorite musician/creator I have ever come across in my entire LIFE.

Enjoy what you enjoy.

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There’s a tweet going around… hold on… let me find it….

Found it:

John Leavitt says

“Me at 15: The Dead Kennedys are right about everything.
Me at 20: Actually, these issues are way more complex
Me at 28: But really it comes down to larger, systemic issues
Me at 35: The Dead Kennedys were right about everything.”

And, honestly, I can’t think of a better way to sum up both the significance of the Dead Kennedys and the lifecycle of a maturing punk.

They were right about an AWFUL lot of things. They had the right ideas the whole time. They called out punk for being stagnant before it even really caught on. They called out the punk scene as just a place for skinheads to throw bows. They even called out fucking GAS.

GAS! Like, this shit should be cheap because it’s a tool for us and somehow we’re letting GAS run our lives.

Astounding.

And, hey, how about the time they were brought to court on obscenity charges (thanks, Tipper Gore) and were so convincing that the prosecution OPENLY TOLD THE PRESS that 1) they, the prosecution, were wrong and 2) the Dead Kennedys’ music, statements, arguments, and stands actually made a lot of sense. It’s pretty rare for a side of a legal battle to tell the press that they were wrong the whole time. You just don’t say that. You don’t ADMIT that you were wrong to the PRESS.

When idealistic punks - the ones like me who get way too wrapped up in philosophy and never stop taking things seriously - talk about what punk rock SHOULD be, it’s the Dead Kennedys. It’s DK, Bad Brains, Bad Religion, etc but it would be tough for any band to come close to making a statement like Dead Kennedys did.

What a great band.

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This album is legendary. First and foremost, it’s got great songs that did a good job of setting the tone of what Alkaline Trio was going for right from the start. It’s tough to find a debut as strong as this when it comes to songwriting.

But beyond that, the production is pretty fantastic, too. This doesn’t sound like a first record - this sounds well into some punks’ careers.

But to do all this AND do it all for only $900?

Phenomenal.

I always thought debut punk albums are pretty much guaranteed to be rough-sounding. Immature songwriting, a lack of hooks, and real rushed vibe to the whole thing that comes from trying to maximize recording time with the minimum amount of money.

But Alkaline Trio showed it didn’t have to be that way and it’s got pros and cons:

The pro is that up-and-comers had a good role model now.

The con is that they’d almost certainly miss such a high benchmark.

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