Bad Religion - Stranger Than Fiction (1994) RESTORED

Bad Religion is punk-rock's Bonnie Raitt, a cult band that persisted and persisted until the world finally came around to them. Around the time Robert Johnson's old Delta blues records started selling in the hundreds of thousands, Raitt started collecting platinum records and Grammys; likewise, in the era of Nirvana's and Green Day's run up the charts, Bad Religion began seeing big returns for the same kind of records they used to make for peanuts. STRANGER THAN FICTION is where Bad Religion cashes in–at the alternative register, anyway. Far from a sellout, it's a confident reaffirmation of all the band's strengths: anthemic rhythm-guitar hooks that are equal parts 70's punk, 80's hardcore and classic heavy metal; a fast but super-tight rhythm section; unswervingly political lyrics; and, in defiant contrast to all of the above, pop harmonies. Songs like "Incomplete", "Stranger Than Fiction" and "Handshake" (which equates record-company business deals with class and race warfare) enter your head as hurricanes of information about the world's ills. They remain there because they're built upon blistering punk-rock guitar hooks.

With sales continuing fifteen years after its release, Stranger Than Fiction is widely considered Bad Religion's most successful album, due to the success of the two singles, "Infected" and the re-recorded version of "21st Century (Digital Boy)", that eventually earned airplay on radio stations, such as KROQ.



It seems that Bad Religion's eighth LP is a rare case of selling out in reverse. Having signed to the big bad major wolf ("what big teeth you have, Grandma Atlantic"), the bandmembers seem too intent on showing their fans they're not going wimpy, so they turn their back on the advances of Generator and Recipe for Hate in order to bring back the naked aggression. Stranger Than Fiction is back to the go-for-the-jugular stuff, pretending that the wonderful modifications and variety of their recent work never existed – thus the qualms about this LP. It feels too regressive, a sort of pandering. That said, if they are going to go backwards, I for one am going with them – there is still no one better at this stuff. The opening "Incomplete" features some of the most intense verse singing by the ever-soaring Greg Graffin, behind a muscular, punishing sound helped by guest guitar from the MC5's Wayne Kramer. Almost as storming in the same vein are philosophical songs such as "Leave Mine to Me", "Individual", "Tiny Voices", and the powerhouse "Marked", all uptempo barnburners, pulverizing in their rapid passion. The biggest gratification, though, is that a few songs do seem more in line with the maturity of the previous two LPs. "Handshake" is the album's summit, thanks to an oven-hot chorus and an outro-coda that has to rank among their ten best moments. "Slumber" is a slower show-stopper, with a pleading barrage of harmony vocals, while the title track builds on Generator's "Atomic Garden" with an unusual Beatles/Jam singsong melody. On the negative side, "Infected" into "Television" are the two least effective songs of their 15 years, the former a third-rate "Sanity," the latter bereft of hooks. In any case, it is not to be missed and it will haunt you in your sleep.

~ Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover

Tracklist:

01. Incomplete
02. Leave Mine To Me
03. Stranger Than Fiction
04. Tiny Voices
05. The Handshake
06. Better Off Dead
07. Infected
08. Television
09. Individual
10. Hooray For Me…
11. Slumber
12. Marked
13. Inner Logic
14. What It Is
15. 21st Century (Digital Boy) [1994 Version]

all songs written by Graffin / Gurewitz except "8" by Gurewitz/Johnette Napolitano


Produced by Andy Wallace & Bad Religion. Mixed by Andy Wallace.
Recorded at Rumbo Recorders in Canoga Park, California. Mixed at Encore Studios.

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

additional musicians:
- Andy Wallace – Hammond Cheese at "3"
- Wayne Kramer (ex- MC5) - lead guitar on "1"
- Tim Armstrong (of Rancid) - vocals on "8"
- Jim Lindberg (of Pennywise) – backing vocals on "12"

Release Date: August 30, 1994
Format: Original Recording
Label: Atlantic Records
Catalog No.: 82658-2