Bad Religion - Against the Grain

Oh damn, tough call. Gotta listen now to remember, its been a while. one of the first punk albums I ever bought.

Love the opener, not sure anything will top it.

<3 all the weird drums at the end of Anesthesia

I like No Control a bit more but this one's almost as good...

Choosing between Modern Man, Get Off, Anesthesia, Faith Alone (maybe their best slow song), and Walk Away. Probably Walk Away, which is a perfect little bitter BR track. I don't know what they're complaining about but it doesn't really matter - Graffin gets the point across just with his vocal tone. I also love the balance between the different vocal and instrumental elements, all of which are in-your-face and precise and yet blend anyway.

xxp: yeah, Modern Man is a total beast and it really throws you to the ground right out of the gate.

amazing spacing in "all of my neurons are functioning smoothly" and "got this one problem where I live forever" - would love to hear what the vocal tracks sound like.

Against the Grain is great too obv, great riffage, great key shift.

probably tied with no control as my fav BR album

really great album, one of my faves from being a kid.
recently did a lot of listenign to the "all ages" comp which has a bunch of these... going for "walk away."
i actually find "faith alone" to be kinda goofy at this point.

All Ages is a great comp

Agree re Faith Alone

This is one of my favorite albums ever.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

s/o to this album for teaching me what a 'lea' was

get such a sense of quiet melancholy / teenage angst inner martyrdom from this album

like walk away, turn on the light, anesthesia.. it's almost feels goth-y???

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Only 10 voters, huh...

I had expected Anesthesia to be the overwhelming favorite here. I ended up voting for Modern Man, but Walk Away was my favorite when I was first.getting acquainted withtje album. Bummed that there were only 10 votes.

i remember 21st Century Digital Boy being kind of preachy.

Kind of??

Love the song and love the band but they are nothing if not preachy.

Turn on the Light has some amazing hooks.

Positive Aspect of Negative Thinking has this really sweet tempo switch at the end.

is your dn BR inspired?

this album is so effing great. I think God Song is oft unfairly overlooked. it's really the epitome of their "folksy campfire song set to punk rock energy" tune, but I really like the lyrics too:

And did those feet in ancient times
Trod on America's pastures of green?
And did that anthropocentric God
Wane with their thoughts and beliefs all unseen?

I don't think so
He's up there with the others laying low
Vying with those
Who you've traded your life to
To bless your soul

also "Get Off" is the rare mosh-pit inducer. BR wasn't really often into aggressive riffing, but the verse riff on this one is pretty rough stuff until it smooths out in the pre-chorus.

Modern Man is of course all time....but stuff like "Flat Earth Society" and "Operation Rescue" are so anthemic. I go back and forth as to whether No Control or Against the Grain is my favorite, but most times I feel like ATG is their punk-masterwork, as it blended a lot of the fervent energy of their prior works, with an even more refined sense of melody and songwriting.

it's almost as if they took Suffer and added No Control's punch to it. i dunno. Suffer through ATG is pretty much teh Holy Trinity for pop-punk albums IMO.

agreed on "God Song" - one of the better melodies on the album.

ATG definitely has a more epic/statement feel to it, maybe just because there are more songs and it is relatively longer (34 min vs 28 and 26). In retrospect it also points toward the alt-punk band they became from Generator onward.

The weak finish puts it below No Control for me. Cutting Misery and Famine, Unacceptable and Quality or Quantity and putting Walk Away after, say, The Positive Aspect of Negative Thinking would leave 14 really solid tracks.

I take it back about Quality or Quantity, that one's OK.

Walk Away is amazing. does a lot of cool simple time signature shifts too

the best ending

*bass solo*
and i'll buuuuuuuurn lika a roman fucking candle,
buuuuuuuuurn like a chasm in the night,
buuuuuuuuurn for a miniscule duration,
ecstatic immolation, incorrigible delight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwvTs5yBgFI

I didn’t go to see em last night with Dropkick Murphys in Baltimore.