Bad Religion

Since happening across Anti-flag last year, my desire for an intelligent band to speak to me has gone unsatisfied. Apparently filling an album with meaningful lyrics and a message is harder than it looks. Still, I think that the search is over for the time being and I can fill my headphones with punk band Bad Religion.

The Californian punkers are you’re typical overnight success story – they had to work 25 years for it. Beginning in 1982, they have churned out a staggering 14 albums, without courting (or really achieving) ‘mainstream’ recognition. Their songs champion many pet causes of the left: free speech, disaffected youth, the environment, the War, Bush and obviously Religion (though Wiki claims that they use it as a metaphor for any situation where individuals are suppressed). Clearly, I like what they’re doing there.

Their two most recent albums, The Empire Strikes First (2004) and New Maps of Hell (2007) are particularly worth a listen. The first, according to guitarist Brett Gurewitz was dedicated to getting Bush out of office: “I'm not a presidential scholar but I don't think you'll find a worse president in the history of the United States. He's probably one of the worst leaders in the history of world leaders. I just hate the guy”. Who could argue with that? It contains some interesting titles: Sinister Rouge (church abuses), Let them Eat War (addressing poverty by spending billions on war), Athiest Peace (speaks for itself) – and the title track, challenging Bush’s pre-emptive strike doctrine.

The new album is just as good, though I’ve probably run out of space to go on about it too much. Below is the clip of one of my preferred songs: New Dark Ages – a sentiment that rings truer every day. In all, it’s great to have found another band that speaks intelligently about the mounting problems that the Bush administration has added to our collective world. At a time when speech is getting more and more constricted, at least someone is pushing back.