Bad Religion - Recipe For Hate (1993) RESTORED

Although longtime Bad Religion fans may disagree, the band's 1993 release, Recire For Hate, is arguably one of their finest releases. Although they'd been around for years, age had not dulled the band's attack in the slightest. Included are guest spots by such alt-rock notables as Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder and Concrete Blonde's Johnette Napolitano, as the band thrash their way through such standouts as "Lookin' In", "My Poor Friend Me", and "American Jesus".

While the album was released on a major label, Recipe for Hate initially received mixed reviews from music critics, who generally found it to be less impressive than Bad Religion's past releases, though it has gained a cult following in recent times. The album got the band's highest U.S. chart position to date, debuting at #14 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart, with "American Jesus" and "Struck a Nerve" in particular becoming major rock radio hits at their time. Like many Bad Religion albums, Recipe for Hate is now considered one of the band's most important records both musically and technologically.




Punk veterans Bad Religion don't rely on bankrupt laurels, nostalgia, or a facade of long-expired cool. LP after LP, they just set vicious hooks, a blitzkrieg attack, and potent lyrics to soaring singer Greg Graffin's piledriving passion. It's easy to take them for granted, to view Recipe as just another red-hot LP (ho hum) by the last and best band to survive the '80s L.A. punk explosion. And on first listen, it's tarnished by their previous mild malaise: everything sounds alike, and some exit the boat here too quickly. But then the beautiful sonic smack starts to sink in, and the luxurious melodies introduce erudite parables. Their hometown's riots inspired the gut responses of "Recipe for Hate" and "Don't Pray On Me" ("everybody's equal, just don't measure it"), but they think too clearly to grandstand. Rather, from the epic, anti-military sneer of "All Good Soldiers" to the introspective nausea of "Struck a Nerve" and "Looking In" ("our evolution is our demise"), Bad Religion issue more warnings about our unquestioned ways than Rachel Carson or Michael Crichton could shake a stick at. Warning who? Die-hard punks remain their core audience, but with the co-optation of that carcass into mainstream nirvana, this band is ambushing the slackers. Accordingly, they ripened out of the rapid-fire detonations of 1988's Suffer, 1989's No Control, and 1990's Against the Grain into 1992's more methodical Generator. Recipe's saner speeds and better variety should further inveigle any upstanding gormandizer of killer tunes and dive-bomb chord changes. And in any real taste test, Bad Religion is the alternative to alternative. Smug, silly, ironic '70s retro bands feign danger and detachment, but this band's urgency, lyrical contentiousness, and wicked crunch crush that au courant crap flat.

~ Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover

Tracklist:

01. Recipe For Hate
02. Kerosene
03. American Jesus
04. Portrait Of Authority
05. Man With A Mission
06. All Good Soldiers
07. Watch It Die
08. Struck A Nerve
09. My Poor Friend Me
10. Lookin' In
11. Don't Pray On Me
12. Modern Day Catastrophists
13. Skyscraper
14. Stealth


all songs written by Graffin / Gurewitz except "14" by Mr. Brett, Jay Bentley & Bobby Schayer
Produced by Bad Religion. Engineered & Mixed by Paul Dudge. Additional engineering by Donnell Cameron
Recorded at Westbeach Recorders, Hollywood, CA. Mixed at Brooklyn Studios, Hollywood, California.

• Greg Graffin – vocals & harmonies
• Mr. Brett – lead & rhythm guitar, backing vocals
• Greg Hetson – lead & rhythm guitar
• Jay Bentley – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Bobby Schayer – drums, percussion

Release Date: September 21, 1993
Format: Original Recording Reissued
Label: Epitaph / Atlantic Records
Catalog No.: 82546-2