Organized confusion. I live in Los Angeles and work for a major record label. That being said, I don't claim to know anything about anything. This is a one-stop for my thoughts and opinions on whatever I want, that's all. I don't need a disclaimer, do I?
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
RANDOM START: BAD RELIGION ‘WHITE TRASH (2nd GENERATION)’
Definitely one of the most influential bands I listened to growing up, not only because of the influence they had on me, but because they also influenced every other band I listened to during the 2nd half of my formative years. Extremely excited to see them with Descendents in Long Beach in a few months.
RANDOM START: Bad Religion - 21st Century Digital Boy
There’s not enough time or space to write about the influence Bad Religion has had on me over the years. I can’t remember when I first heard them, but it was definitely sometime during my Freshman or Sophomore year of high school. Some people I’ve talked to are turned off by Greg Graffin’s “unnecessary” injection of obscure vocab in their lyrics, but that’s always been one of my favorite things about them. Name me another band that has actually made you smarter. Even if you thought of one, I highly doubt it was a punk rock band!
This particular song was actually on Against The Grain previously but was re-recorded for Stranger Than Fiction, at the label’s request. I’m always reminded of the dialog at the beginning of ‘Disconnected’ on Face to Face’s Big Choice album, where the “suit” is telling the band that they need to put their big hit on the new record because it’s a great song and there’s a ton of people that haven’t heard it yet. Definitely the case here as well.
Turns out I’ll be seeing these guys on Sunday night. Looking forward to it, as always.
Side note: I can’t believe I’ve never seen this video before. Weird.
There are some duds in there (by BR standards) and no 80-85, but still. Plus it comes in a box, inside a custom-made box, inside another box. It’s like a Russian doll of Bad Religion vinyl.
RANDOM START: BAD RELIGION ‘MARKED’
FREE - Sign up for their mailing list here and you’ll receive a download code for their new live album.
My actual RS for today was a song called ‘Crack’ by a Canadian punk band named Brand New Unit. However, rather than spend a paragraph on a free CD I got in college, I figured I’d give some free ‘press’ to Bad Religion instead.
I caught one of the 30 shows they played in SoCal last month and they were as good as ever. It blows my mind to think that they’ve been doing this just about as long as I’ve been alive. I’m usually not a huge fan of live albums, but this one sounds great. It’s a little heavy on newer songs with not as much Suffer/No Control/Against The Grain/Generator stuff as I’d like, but it’s still awesome. And for the low, low price of nothing, I’m not going to complain.
Photo I took from the balcony at HOB-Sunset
badreligion.com
Wow, now that’s how you build a website for your band. See you in 3 hours…..
