Bad Religion's debut album quickly set the band apart from their early '80s hardcore peers with its erudite themes and lyrical content. Musically, the album follows the era’s hardcore punk template - a low-fi, rudimentary, furious up-tempo interpretation of garage punk; but Bad Religion’s USP was to always insert light amongst the shade. Though ahead of their time, there was no mistaking Bad Religion’s outlook: the album sleeve features downtown Los Angeles, with the title questioning rampant post-modern capitalism and its attendant requirement for corporate greed, war, class inequality, plus the moral turpitude of fundamental Christianity, themes the band would revisit time and time again throughout their ensuing career.
The premise behind Bad Religion's debut album is pretty straightforward and can hardly be termed original: rather than Hell being something to avoid in the afterlife, Hell is actually the world we live in today. It's the kind of angsty doom-laden concept which resonates with teenagers of a certain disposition and I should know because, once upon a time, I would have been one of them. Listening to How Could Hell Be Any Worse? this morning I'm slightly regretting not working through Bad Religion's discography in chronological order. Whereas the band's later work is more lyrically adept and musically diverse, the laying down of a dense blanket guitar attack has the unfortunate effect of diluting the individuality of the tracks, rendering them too similar. Personally I prefer the band's more recent albums but admit they can become tedious.
How Can Hell Be Any Worse? is different. There are distinct, recognisable riffs and the lyrics are less verbose, more direct. Yes, the results are almost amateurish with ham-fisted musicianship and lyrical callowness the order of the day, but it's hard to dislike the youthful exuberance and heartfelt belief. This is a band who fervently believes the world is already beyond saving but is determined to go down kicking and screaming. As with the How Can Hell Be Any Worse? title, the themes and targets raised by lyricists Greg Graffin and Brett Gurewitz are overly familiar. The pitfalls of blind faith: The subjugation of the weak by the powerful: The exploitation of the devout by corrupt TV evangelists: The moral decay of the American Dream: Over-population, pollution and the destruction of the planet: Repeating the mistakes of the past: The fomenting of political unrest: Anarchy, Armageddon and Apocalypse: It's typical punk fare but still packs a punch.
The standout tracks obviously are "We're Only Gonna Die", "Fuck Armageddon...This Is Hell", "Latch Key Kids", "White Trash" (Second Generation)" and "In The Night" but the whole album is one headlong, savage rush. For this reissue the original album has been supplemented by a further fourteen tracks drawn from a number of EPs (Bad Religion, Back To The Known). It makes for an incessant, riotous listen but just about manages to justify its length. "Yesterday", "Along The Way" and the various versions of "Bad Religion" are the best of the add-ons. As I mentioned at the beginning I wish How Could Hell Be Any Worse had been my first encounter with Bad Religion. After hearing what came later some of the ferocious shine has been taken off the album. Still, there are a lot worse old school punk albums out there and very few performed with such earnest sincerity.
How Could Hell Be Any Worse? (1982)
1 We're Only Gonna Die 2:17
2 Latch Key Kids 1:44
3 Part III 1:54
4 Faith In God 1:54
5 Fuck Armageddon... This Is Hell 2:54
6 Pity 2:05
7 Into The Night 3:28
8 Damned To Be Free 2:03
9 White Trash (Second Generation) 2:25
10 American Dream 1:40
11 Eat Your Dog 1:06
12 Voice Of God Is Government 2:55
13 Oligarchy 1:05
14 Doing Time 3:04
1st EP (1981)
15 Bad Religion 1:49
16 Politics 1:21
17 Sensory Overload 1:34
18 Slaves 1:20
19 Drastic Actions 2:39
20 World War Iii 0:58
Back To The Known (1984)
21 Yesterday 2:40
22 Frogger 1:20
23 Bad Religion 1:48
24 Along The Way 1:36
25 New Leaf 2:57
Public Service Comp (1981)
26 Bad Religion 1:48
27 Slaves 1:07
Hell was just the name of the local land fill and the philosopher was right about other people.
ReplyDeleteBR is kind of overlooked for me being a big TSOL, Agent Orange, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, person.
Time to get caught up.
Negative poopheads? Fart in their general direction, you are exceptional with impeccable taste in music!
once you're all caught up...there's always gonna be more
DeleteAs always, love what you're doing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this.
But that's not downtown L.A. That's Hollywood,