Bad Religion - No Substance (with Bonus CD) [1998] RESTORED

When Green Day and The Offspring re-introduced the American public to punk in the early '90s, it was only natural that a few old-timers would try to capitalize (witness the Sex Pistols). Bad Religion was one of those who made the jump to the majors with 1993's RECIPE FOR HATE, but it is unfair to accuse them of trying to ride the coattails of their more successful brethren. On their fourth Atlantic release, NO SUBSTANCE, they continue making punk rock music in the same uncompromising style that served them so well for the first 16 years.

The actress on the album cover is Kristen Johnston, most famous for her two-time Emmy Award-winning role as Sally Solomon in the television series 3rd Rock from the Sun.

The album was anticipated by both music critics and fans as a result of the band's previous worldwide successes with their 1994 major label debut Stranger Than Fiction and its 1996 follow up The Gray Race. Opinions on No Substance vary greatly, with some fans considering it to be Bad Religion's best album, and others considering it to be the band's worst. The album has been met with mediocre reviews and was less successful than the band's past releases.



Granted, the title No Substance is clearly intended as a put-on, yet there's more than a kernel of truth to it as well — with each successive release, Bad Religion seems more and more to be simply going through the motions, bludgeoning listeners with a streamlined punk attack that carries increasingly little weight. Tracks like "The Biggest Killer in American History", "Sowing the Seeds of Utopia", and "The State of the End of the Millennium Address" are the same kind of populist polemics that dominate every Bad Religion record, and that's the problem — the group recycles the same ideas (political and musical) over and over again, to the point of their songs lacking any kind of real impact; there's no doubting Bad Religion's passion, but at this point in the game that's about all that's keeping them going.

~ Jason Ankeny, all media guide

Tracklist:

01. Hear It
02. Shades Of Truth
03. All Fantastic Images
04. The Biggest Killer In American History
05. No Substance
06. Raise Your Voice!
07. Sowing The Seeds Of Utopia
08. The Hippy Killers
09. The State Of The End Of The Millennium Address
10. The Voracious March Of Godliness
11. Mediocre Minds
12. Victims Of The Revolution
13. Strange Denial
14. At The Mercy Of Imbeciles
15. The Same Person
16. In So Many Ways

all songs principally written by Greg Graffin except "3,9,11,12,14,15" co-written with other bandmembers


Produced & Engineered by Bad Religion, Alex Perialas & Ronnie Kimball
Recorded in Ithaca, NY at Pyramid Sound and Polypterus Studio
Mixed by Chris Lord-Alge in Los Angelis at Image Recording.

Guest vocals on track "6" featuring Campino from Die Toten Hosen.

• Greg Graffin – lead vocals
• Greg Hetson – guitars
• Brian Baker - guitars, backing vocals
• Jay Bentley – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Bobby Schayer – drums, percussion



No Substance - Limited Edition CD:

01. Universal Cynic
02. Markovian Process
03. New From The Front
04. Leaders And Followers
05. Dream Of Unity
06. Tested
07. The Answer [Live]
08. The Dodo
09. Follow The Leader



This Limited Edition CD (marked as PROMO - no other versions available)
features "rare" tracks from European CDS (B-Sides) released between 1993-1998.

Release Date: April 6, 1998
Label: Atlantic Records
Catalog No.: 83094-2 / PRCD-8531