In this issue:

        * What It Is: "The New America"

        * New Merchandise Catalog

        * March "Mini-Tour"

        * The Incident in Santos, Brazil

        * A Punk Manifesto

        * Bad Religion Research Fund recipient 1999

        * "Slaves" Lyrics

        * "Out of Hand" Lyrics

        * From The Mailroom

        * Contact BR

 

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    WHAT IT IS

    "Where in the hell have you been dudes"? This has been the most common reaction to seeing the lapse in Bad Times since early 1999. The fact that the "occasional newsletter wasn't published in '99 is due to one simple fact: we have been busy!

    The entire year of 1999 was spent writing and touring. In addition to some shows closer to home, we also traveled to Brazil twice, Chile, Japan, Alaska, and Canada for shows.

    In the hiatus between tours, writing ensued, and consumed my energy. Focus on a new album, and a new millennium, took away the desire to maintain the newsletter. Apologies to those who depend on Bad Times for their stimulation.

    But no apology needed when you get an earful of the new album! It will be released May 9th, 2000 and it is called "The New America".

 

    At this time, the buzz is beginning about the new record and it's fast-approaching release date. We recorded it in September in Kauai, Hawaii. We would like to thank everyone on that island who made our six week stay enjoyable.

    We took a little break from recording and went over to Oahu to play a festival with the Offspring and the Vandals. We had a great time with all the Oahu folks and the promoters there, our long-time friends at Goldenvoice.

    The record was mixed and mastered in L.A. and finally was finished in late February, 2000. It had come a long way since the first song was written in November of 1998. We are really proud of the final work:

 

 

    Preliminary Cover Layout

 

    Here is a list of the songs that will appear on the new album:

 

 

          1. You've Got A Chance

          2. It's a Long Way to the Promise Land

          3. A World Without Melody

          4. New America

          5. 1000 Memories

          6. A Streetkid Named Desire

          7. Whisper in Time

          8. Believe It

          9. I Love My Computer

          10. The Hopeless Housewife

          11. There Will Be a Way

          12. Let it Burn

          13. Don't Sell Me Short 

 

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    NEW MERCHANDISE CATALOG

    Shopping for merchandise was relatively easy in 1999. There were a few glitches in shipping, but in general the overall pace of online ordering increased substantially and all indications point to a continuation of that trend for the coming year.

    At the time of this writing, the online "bazaar" is being re- constructed to accommodate the new merchandise for 2000 and the new album designs. But it will be open again in time for the release of the new album and 2000 world tour. Keep checking badreligion.com for the latest news and merchandise.

 

    The March "Mini-Tour".

    To most of you, the 7 shows that were planned for March, 2000 didn't even register, because they were planned for California, Nevada, and Arizona. But at the time the shows were booked, in December of 1999, the band was not planning on playing an entire world tour, that is why we scheduled a short "mini- tour".

    When the album was finished, we received a lot of enthusiastic support from promoters and fellow bands, and we decided to commit to a much larger tour in 2000. The first leg of which was to be as "special guests" to Blink 182 on their North American shows.

    We knew that the Bad Religion fans would want to see us on our own shows as well, so we have planned two North American legs, one with Blink 182, and one on our own later in the summer.

    With all of these touring plans, we had to re-think our short mini-tour, because it was a little redundant, and a lot fatiguing, to play in the same areas too many times.

    So we decided to move the 7 shows to later in the summer when we will be back in those areas on our headlining tour.Here is the explanation we gave on the Tour Dates section of badreligion.com :

 

    We are very sorry to report that we have postponed the February/March mini-tour until later in the year. This is due to some last minute changes in our plans for the year 2000. It is ultimately a good thing because our new plans allow us to play more shows and reach more places this year than previously anticipated.

 

    We are going out on two major tours in the USA this year. The first one, beginning in May, is a large-scale, festival type tour with Blink 182 as headliners and Fenixtx as openers. This will correspond to the release of our new album "Bad Religion: The New America" on May 9th, 2000.

 

    After the May/June tour, we will do our own headlining shows for the remainder of the year. First, we are playing shows this summer in Europe. Then, we will return to the USA late in the summer and play most major cities again, as headliners of our own shows.

 

    All tickets purchased for the February/March minitour will be honored during this late summer tour. If there are any problems, please contact webmaster@badreligion.com and we will do our best to accommodate any drastic inconveniences.

 

    For more information about Bad Religion tours, check the TOUR DATES link on badreligion.com

 

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  The Incident in Santos, Brazil.

    It was March, 1999. It was a remote Jungle redoubt in the hills overlooking Santos, Brazil. It was doing what it's supposed to do in the rainforest, pouring buckets.

    Bad Religion was scheduled to play at 10pm. We arrived at the place early, for soundcheck. It was still light outside and we could see that the venue was probably the most interesting one we have ever been to. It was an outdoor nightclub with a tent-roofed stage, a tent-roofed mixing platform, and a large open-air dance area.

 

    All of this was carved out of a remnant patch of Atlantic Rainforest, that could only be reached by a twisty two-lane road that quickly became jammed with Brazilian Punks who were both eager and frustrated from the traffic.

 

    There was an interesting parallel fabric formed by the wild Punks and the wild forest that sheltered us that evening. But at this early hour, inside the venue, there was just the quiet hum of the amps, and the drooping forest surrounding us. No clouds, no rain.

 

    Soundcheck came off without a hitch, and we took a few minutes to survey the outskirts of the venue. On one end of the dance/forest floor there was a bar without cover. Behind it was a panoramic view of the city below us.

 

    This precipice dropped straight down about 1000 feet until it broke into a slope of tree-canopy that led down to the city itself. I remember thinking that If it weren't for the fence there, it might become a crowd-surfers point-of-no- return.

 

    The rain began without warning. Not one instrument had been played, the first band didn't even take the stage yet. We were in our backstage mini-hut enjoying our caiparina when a thunderous flamming ping pong sound descended from the heavens and collided with our roof. It continued without pause.

 

    First it seemed like a normal storm to the locals. Then, after about an hour, they started to look a bit nervous. We have played shows all over the world, and some of them have been very sketchy. If there is one thing we have learned it is this: If the locals start to look worried, things might quickly turn sour.

 

    The show soon lapsed to two hours behind schedule, and the audience knew some bad shit might come of this. Things turned from bad to worse when the power went out. Now in some places when the power goes out it comes back on within a few minutes. But Brazil is famous for power outages that can last a few days.

 

    We weren't sure how extensive the power outage was when we lost our lights backstage and onstage. We knew the audience lost power because the recorded music we were playing went off too.

 

    When we ventured over behind the bar to view our panorama, we arrived just in time to see one city block after another blinking and then shutting down completely. After about five minutes, the entire city was black, and the audience was now officially pissed off.

 

    At this time the promoter came to us and said "we better get out of here, the fans are pissed, they will surely kill you". Why us? We thought about playing an acoustic set, but realized the audience would just hear the thunderous boom of Bobby's drums because the guitars had no power.

 

    The 4000 fans were all whistling and chanting by this time, as we drove off down the mountainside into the dark abyss of black-out Santos. We got back to our hotel and the promoter told us he would go back and try to sort out the situation at the venue.

 

    We assumed this meant giving refunds to all the people who were there. But later we found out that refunds are not generally given for weather-related problems. Instead, he went back to think of something to save the show. We got ready for bed. By this time it was Midnight and the storm had passed. The power was still out, so it was by candlelight and cellular phone that we got the call around 1am: "you must return to the venue at once, we have power".

 

    The ride back up the hill was chaos. No street lights, no traffic lights, people scrambling everywhere, looters in the streets, Punks coming down off the mountain, disgruntled, only to turn around when they heard by word of mouth that the show would go on. The traffic jam was a cacophony of third world motors and bad exhaust. We were gridlocked, so we hiked about a mile on our own to get back to the venue where we were greeted by rapt disbelief as we entered the venue through the turnstiles.

 

    It was now 2am and the venue was still packed. We played an entire set and we had the time of our lives. The chaos, enthusiasm, emotion swings, and rainforest all conspired that night to offer us an incredible experience.

 

    Thanks to all the people who stuck around for that show. We won't soon forget it.

 

    Epilogue: It turned out to be one of the most wide-spread blackouts in recent times. The entire state of Sao Paulo was blacked out as well. This left some 68 million people without power for 24 hours.

 

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A PUNK MANIFESTO

    By Greg Graffin

 

    I have never owned a record label, nor directed a successful merchandise company, so I don't pretend to be an expert on marketing. I have evolved through my craft as a songwriter, but others have labeled it and marketed it and made it neat for consumption.

 

    Although I have made money from Punk, it is a modest amount when one considers the bounty that has been bestowed on the companies that promote Punk as some sort of a product to be ingested. It has always been my way to de-value the fashionable, light-hearted, impulsive traits that people associate with Punk, because Punk is more than that, so much more that those elements become trivial in the light of human experience that all punkers share.

 

    Since it has been a part of me for over half of my life, I think the time has come to attempt a definition, and in the process defend, this persistent social phenomenon known as Punk. It is astounding that something with so much emotional and trans- cultural depth has gone without definition for so long, for the roots of Punk run deeper, and go back in history farther than imagined.

 

    Even in the last two decades, it is difficult to find any analysis of the influential effect that Punk Rock had on Pop Music and youth culture. And rarer still are essays detailing the emotional and intellectual undercurrents that drive the more overt fashion statements that most people attribute to Punk.

 

    These are some of the wants that compelled me to write this. If my attempt offends the purists, collapses the secrecy of a closed society, promotes confidence in skeptical inquiry, provokes deeper thought, and decodes irony, then I have done my job and those who feel slighted might recognize the triviality of their position. For I have nothing to promote but my observations on a sub-culture that has grown to global proportions, and through visiting much of it, I have found threads of common thought everywhere.

 

    Common thought processes are what determine the ideology that binds people together into a community. There is desire among Punks to be a community, but there needs to be some shape imparted on the foundations of the punk ideology, and where it comes from. The current Punk stereotype is scarred by mass-marketing and an unfortunate emphasis on style over substance.

 

    But these ills don't destroy the Punk sentiment, they merely confound the education of the new generations of people who know they are punk, but don't know what it means. It is a long road to understand what it means. This essay is part of the process.

 

    PUNKS ARE NOT BEASTS

 

    Punk is a reflection of what it means to be human. What separates us from other animals? Our ability to recognize ourselves and express our own genetic uniqueness. Ironically, the commonly held view, among the marketeers and publicity engines, stresses the "animalistic", "primitive" nature of punks and their music.

 

    They assume that violence is a key ingredient in punk music, and this assumption is easily perpetuated because it is easy to market violence and news items about violence always get column space. This focus on violence misses a key element of what Punk is all about:

 

    PUNK IS: the personal expression of uniqueness that comes from the experiences of growing up in touch with our human ability to reason and ask questions.

 

    Violence is neither common in, nor unique to punk. When it does manifest itself it is due to things unrelated to the punk ideal. Consider for example the common story of a fight at a high school between a punk and a jock football player. The football player and his cohort do not accept or value the punk as a real person. Rather, they use him as a vitriol receptacle, daily taunting, provoking, and embarrassing him, which of course is no more than a reflection of their own insecurities.

 

    One day, the punk has had enough and he clobbers the football captain in the hallway. The teachers of course expell the punk and cite his poor hairstyle and shabby clothing as evidence that he is a violent, uncontrollable no-good. The community newspaper reads "Hallway Beating Re-affirms that Violence is a Way of Life Among Punk Rockers".

 

    Spontaneous anger at not being accepted as a real person is not unique to punkers. This reaction is due to being human, and anybody would react in anger regardless of their sub- cultural, or social affiliation if they felt de- valued and useless. Sadly, there are plenty of examples of violence among punks. There are glaring examples of misguided people who call themselves punks too. But anger and violence are not punk traits, in fact, they have no place in the punk ideal. Anger and violence are not the glue that holds the punk community together.

 

    IN UNIQUENESS IS THE PRESERVATION OF MANKIND

 

    Nature bestowed on us the genetic backbone of what punk is all about. There are roughly 80,000 genes in the human genome, and there are roughly 6 billion people carrying that genetic compliment. The chances of two people carrying the same genome are so small as to be almost beyond comprehension (the odds are essentially ½ 80,000 times the number of possible people you can meet and mate with in a lifetime! A practical impossibility)

 

    The genes we carry play a major role in determining our behavior and outlook on life. That is why we have the gift of uniqueness, because no one else has the same set of genes controlling their view of the world. Of course cultural factors play the other major role, and these can have a more homogenizing effect on behavior and world-view.

 

    For example, an entire working-class town might have 15,000 residents who are raised with the same ideals, work at the same factories, go to the same schools, shop at the same stores, and like the same sports teams. As their children develop, there is a constant interaction of opposite forces between the social imprinting their culture imparts and the genetic expression of uniqueness.

 

    Those who lose touch with their nature become society's robots, whereas those who denounce their social development become vagrant animals. Punk stands for a desire to walk the line in between these two extremes with masterful precision. Punks want to express their own unique nature, while at the same time want to embrace the communal aspects of their cookie-cutter upbringing.

 

    The social connection they have is based on a desire to understand each other's unique view of the world. Punk "scenes" are social places where those views are accepted, sometimes adopted, sometimes discarded, but always tolerated and respected.

 

    PUNK IS: a movement that serves to refute social attitudes that have been perpetuated through willful ignorance of human nature.

 

    Because it depends on tolerance and shuns denial, Punk is open to all humans. There is an elegant parallel between Punk's dependence on unique views and behaviors and our own natural genetic predisposition toward uniqueness.

 

    THE BATTLE OF FEAR AND RATIONALITY

 

    The compulsion to conform is a powerful side-effect of civilized life. We are all taught to respect the views of our elders, and later when we realize that they are just dogmatic opinions, we are taught not to make a commotion by asking difficult questions. Many just go along with the prevailing notions and never express their own views, which is analogous to a premature death of the individual.

 

    Our species is unique in the ability to recognize and express the self, and not exercising this biological function goes against the natural selection gradient that created it in the first place. This complacency combats a fear of failure.

 

    It is easy to assume that if everyone else is doing something, then there is no way to fail if you just go along with it. Cattle and flocks of geese can probably recognize this advantage. But the entire human race could fail because of this mentality.

 

    Thinking and acting in a direction against the current of popular opinion is critical to human advancement, and a potent manifestation of Punk. If an issue or phenomenon is found to be true only because other people say it is so, then it is a Punk's job to look for a better solution, or at least find an independent variable that confirms the held view (sometimes the popular view is just a reflection of human nature, Punks don't live in denial of this).

 

    This ability to go against the grain was a major part of the greatest advances in human thinking throughout history. The entire Enlightenment period was characterized by ideas that shunned the dogma of the time, only to reveal truths in nature and human existence that all people can observe, and that are still with us today.

 

    Galileo fought the church, the church won the battle, by putting him in jail for life, but ultimately lost the war; few people today believe that the sun orbits around the earth, and thus God didn't create the earth as the center of the universe. Francis Bacon insisted that human destiny is equal to understanding. If we deny this fundamental principle of what it means to be human, he reasoned, then we descend into the depths of mere barbarism.

 

    Charles Darwin, wrote after the heyday of the Enlightenment, he nonetheless was directly influenced by its tradition, was trained as a theologian and yet still was driven to understand the underlying order that connected biological species he observed in his travels. His views threw into question many of the Bible's tenets, yet his reasoning was sound, and through a process of self-improvement (the struggle in his own mind to understand) he improved mankind by establishing a new benchmark of human knowledge.

 

    The dogma of the church was further marginalized. The fear of repercussion from the church was overshadowed by the wave of understanding that his views created in people, and by the truth to his observations.

 

    The modern-day Punk thought process, driven by this desire to understand, is a carbon-copy of the Enlightenment tradition. The fact that so many historical examples exist that reveal a will to destroy dogma leads to a powerful tenet: It is a natural trait of civilized humans to be original. The fact that uniqueness is so rare reveals that our nature is stifled by an equally potent opposing force: fear.

 

    PUNK IS: a process of questioning and commitment to understanding that results in self-progress, and by extrapolation, could lead to social progress.

 

    If enough people feel free, and are encouraged to use their skills of observation and reason, grand truths will emerge. These truths are acknowledged and accepted not because they were force-fed by some totalitarian entity, but because everyone has a similar experience when observing them.

 

    The fact that Punks can relate to one another on issues of prejudice comes from a shared experience of being treated poorly by people who don't want them around. Each has his/her own experience of being shunned, and each can relate to another's story of alienation without some kind of adherence to a code of behavior.

 

    The truth of prejudice is derived from the experience they all share, not from a written formula or constitution they have to abide by. Punks learn from this experience that prejudice is wrong, it is a principle they live by; they didn't learn it from a textbook. Without striving to understand, and provoking the held beliefs, the truth remains shrouded behind custom, inactivity, and prescriptive ideology.

 

    WHAT IS TRUTH?

 

    Philosophers distinguish between capital "T" truth and truth with a small "t". Punks deny the former.

 

    Truth with a capital "T" assumes that there is an order prescribed by some transcendental being. That is to say that truth comes ultimately from God, who had a plan for everything when he created the universe.

 

    Little "t" truth is that which we figure out for ourselves, and which we all can agree upon due to similar experience and observations of the world. It is also known as objective truth, from within ourselves, revealed here on this earth; as opposed to big T truth, which comes from outside and is projected down to us, specifically for us to follow.

 

    Morality need not be thought of as a product only of big "T" truth. Objective truth lends itself just as readily to a moralistic, spiritual culture.

 

    PUNK IS: a belief that this world is what we make of it, truth comes from our understanding of the way things are, not from the blind adherence to prescriptions about the way things should be.

 

    Punk's dependence on objective truth comes from the shared experience of going against the grain. Anyone who has stood out in a crowd feels the truth of the experience. No one had to write a doctrine in order for the outcast to understand what it meant to be different. The truth was plain enough, and that truth could be understood and agreed upon by all those who shared a common experience.

 

    WHAT IS FEAR?

 

    The fears that drive people to conform have caused dismal periods in human history. The so-called Dark Ages, were tranquil and without upheaval, but also dismally quiet and pestilent, nary a contrasting view to be found. The pseudo-comfort and tranquility that the people of the Dark Ages experienced, by conforming to a rigidly enforced bureaucracy enforced by the king and church, was masked entirely by the misery they had to endure in their day to day life.

 

    Life is easy as a peasant, no direction, no purpose, just produce more goods and offspring for the benefit of the king. But using fear to control peasants (or modern-day blue-collar workers for that matter) is just a short-term foul exercise, because peasants have the same mental equipment as the royalty.

 

    The deeply ingrained biological traits of self-recognition and the desire to express the self cannot be quashed for long. Eventually peasants realize that life without the practice of reason is as good as being a farm animal. Being controlled by fear is the same as being biologically inert, unable to take part in the human drama, merely wasting away.

 

    The fear that controls human behavior is learned. It is different from the immediate, reflexive, run-away-from-the- nasty-stimulus response that other creatures employ to stay alive. We have motor reflexes like these as well, but fear of failure, and fear of speaking out come from the limbic system.

 

    The limbic system is a network of neurons in our brain that control our most deep-seated emotions. It connects two parts of the brain together: the midbrain, where sensory information is sent (i.e. sight and hearing stimuli) and the forebrain, where that information is processed. Although the forebrain has been around for at least 480 million years (it was present in the earliest vertebrates), it evolved special functions with the advent of humankind.

 

    A specialized portion of the forebrain, called the cerebral cortex, is highly developed in humans. 95% of our cerebral cortex is responsible for associative mental activities like contemplation and planning. The other 5% is responsible for processing motor and sensory information.

 

    By comparison, a mouse (also considered a higher vertebrate), has a cerebral cortex with only 5% of its neurons devoted to associative functions, while 95% are devoted to motor and sensory fuctions.

 

    The highly developed limbic system is at the core of what it means to be human. We differ from other animals in the amount of time we spend planning, contemplating, and expressing ourselves. Our limbic system is very powerful. It can over-ride primitive emotions, and suppress deep desires.

 

    Anyone who has ever seen a sad movie with friends, and willfully held back tears because they didn't want their friends to see them crying, employed the power of their limbic system. They contemplated the repercussions of their friends reaction to crying, and shut off the emotional cascade that would have brought the tears.

 

    In the same way that rationality is the product of the limbic system, fear is also centered in the same neurons of the limbic system. Fear is usually rational behavior, based on irrational thoughts, and it can freeze the processing power of the cerebral cortex. Denial and fear go hand in hand, and both are examples of how our limbic system can suppress obvious stimuli and promote behavior that is safe and conforming.

 

    The limbic system is like any other organ in the sense that it can operate unchecked to produce detrimental results. Being in touch with our bodies leads to overall general health, and the limbic system needs constant attention in order to master it. To overcome fear, one needs to be in touch with their limbic system, and recognize when it is suppressing the obvious.

 

    Etiquette and "being nice" are forms of limbic-system repression, necessary at times, but ultimately demeaning of human originality. Lying is the ultimate form of limbic-system repression. It is a denial of the obvious. Truth-tellers, those who are authentic and trustworthy, have learned to master their limbic system. They recognize the desire to lie, but rationalize the futility of advocating something that is not true.

 

    Liars, on the other hand, are slaves to their limbic system, out of touch with their most basic mental capacities. Their behavior is guarded and shifty because they let their flawed reasoning, to cover up the obvious, control their entire makeup. They eventually have to give in to the truth and concede defeat, but only after every possible avenue of deception and twisted logic has been advocated in the interest of hiding their fear.

 

    Politicians, Clergymen, Business leaders, and Judges are masters of twisted logic and promotion of fear. They make good intellectual targets for Punkers because they don't respect people who have learned to master their limbic systems. And Punkers are not afraid to point out that which is obvious, even if it means their social status might be jeopardized.

 

    PUNK IS: the constant struggle against fear of social repercussions.

 

    THE PUNK MOVEMENT

 

    I have tried to enumerate some of the factors that make Punk a movement, in the cultural sense. The typical stereotype of a feeble-minded ruffian vandalizing, destroying, stealing, fighting, or arguing in the name of some empty, short-lived cause is no more punk than the pretty-face-empty-head image of today's pop stars.

 

    Because it is so easy for record companies to sell images of violence, sex, and self-importance, many bands have taken the bait and portrayed themselves as Punks, without realizing that they were actually perpetuating a stereotype of conformity that is wholly un-punk.

 

    The "come join us" attitude that seeks to attract followers, usually results in a rabble of weak people who think that their power lies in the large numbers of like-minded clones they have compiled. There is no strength in numbers however, if the people are glued together by a short-sighted, self-serving, fear-induced mantra that promotes factions and exclusionary principles.

 

    Strong ideologies don't require a mob, they persist through time, and never go away, because they are intimately connected to our biology. They are part of what it means to exist as Homo sapiens. Punk typifies that tradition.

 

    It is a movement of epic proportions, that transcends the immediacy of the here-and- now, because it is, was, and always will be there-and-forever, as long as humans walk the earth.

 

    As we enter a new era in the voracious march of culture, Punks will have their day. The internet has allowed people to communicate directly once again. On the web, human behavior is interactive, like it was before the advent of mass-media.

 

    People now focus on ideological discussions and lifestyle issues, as opposed to the classic 20th century behavior of closing oneself off from cohorts, and adhering to a network's, or commercial's prescriptive code of acceptable behavior. The lies, and mysteries of elitism will erode quickly as the global conversation that transpires daily on the web invades more people's lives.

 

    The world population will be more receptive to alternative ideologies because they will be creating them. People will be less receptive to ideologies of out- dated institutions because the holes and flaws in their logic will be ever more amplified when they are broadcast instantly around the world as they become revealed.

 

    The "Strength-In-Understanding", and "Knowledge-Is-Power" ethics that Punks maintain will become the norm. The rigidity, brutishness, and futility of secret agendas will be made obvious, paving the way to an appreciation of human uniqueness, and a new era of originality.

 

    WHO IS PUNK?

 

    Everyone has the potential to be punk. It is much harder for someone who comes from a placid, un-challenging, ignorant upbringing, because they don't see the value in questioning or provoking the institutions that gave them such tranquility. But such examples of carefree existence are rare in today's shrinking world.

 

    Eternal questions still burn in the minds of most people. What it means to be human is becoming more clear every decade. Sometimes, people are trained to follow the safe path to an early grave by consuming and repeating the dogma of a fearful aristocracy.

 

    On the other hand, the human spirit is hard to kill. Punk is a microcosm of the human spirit. Punks succeed with their minds, not their brute force. They advance society by their diversity, not their conformity. They motivate others by inclusion, not domination.

 

    They are at the front lines of self-betterment and by extrapolation can improve the complexion of the human race. They adhere to unwritten universal principles of human emotion, obvious to anyone, and shun elitist codes of behavior, or secret agendas. They embody the hope of the future, and reveal the flaws of the past. Don't tell them what to do, they are already leading you.

 

    PUNK IS: the personal expression of uniqueness that comes from the experiences of growing up in touch with our human ability to reason and ask questions.

 

    PUNK IS: a movement that serves to refute social attitudes that have been perpetuated through willful ignorance of human nature.

 

    PUNK IS: a process of questioning and commitment to understanding that results in self-progress, and through repetition, flowers into social evolution.

 

    PUNK IS: a belief that this world is what we make of it, truth comes from our understanding of the way things are, not from the blind adherence to prescriptions about the way things should be.

 

    PUNK IS: the constant struggle against fear of social repercussions.

 

    BAD RELIGION RESEARCH FUND

 

    The recipient of the 1999 Bad Religion Research Fund was Will Reeves from Clemson University. His research topic is "Exploration and Identification of the Invertebrate Cave Fauna of the Great Smoky Mountains". Congratulations to Will and we look forward to his results which will be summarized in a future edition of Bad Times. The 2000 Research Award will be announced in June. See the BAD RELIGION RESEARCH FUND link on badreligion.com for more details.

 

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    OLD LYRICS

    Here is another song off of our debut E.P. released in 1980, self-titled "Bad Religion" (keep in mind, we were 15 years old when we wrote it):

 

    Congress runs your daily life but they brainwash you so you think it's freedom We've had a war every twenty years they make you think we really need 'em And we're all just slaves under stricter masters You're brought up thinking it's bad to live in any country except this one And when you grow into a man you realize it ain't so much fun We're in a country of democracy, it's supposed to be the best on the globe Living's expensive, it ain't too fun unless you fit in the high-class mode And we're all just slaves under stricter masters

 

    Well, this song isn't exactly old, but it is kind of rare. It can be found on a compilation for Fat WreckChords called Short Music for Short People (1999). Bad Religion's song on it is called..

 

 

    Don't wanna have to take your shit anymore (I finally decided that) Life is way too short The dripping of the hourglass, the tiny grains of sand, it beckons me like gravity, like signposts on the land, and you got what you wanted without force or reprimand, The seconds are all running out, this burden's out of hand!

 

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    FROM THE MAILROOM

    The amount of mail we have been getting is tremendous. Thanks to all of you who write to share your ideas and thoughts. The complexion of the mail has changed in recent years.

 

    Whereas in 1991 we received about 50 letters a week through traditional USPS "snail mail", today we are getting fewer letters, about 75 per week, but more mail, about 1000 email messages per week.

 

    Because of this, it is hard for us to answer all of it, but we do try our best to read it all and we really appreciate it. Sometimes, if we can't answer, but it seems particularly entertaining or relevant we will publish them here and respond in the newsletter.

 

    Greg,

    I have a few questions on your beliefs and theorys. From your songs it sounds like you are very against God. The only conclusion that i could draw up was, that you were upset with the amount of people that think praying will fix our inhumane society. I am a person who does believe in God, but i also realize that sitting on my ass and praying to a statue isnt going to fix poverty or other world issues. The other i was curious about was your theorys on equality and racism. It is obvious you are a man with a sense of morality, so by that and your lyrics, i have concluded that you are against racism. My last question is what are your thoughts on death?. Thank you for your time.

    Tim, viaemail

 

    Dear Tim,

    It is still possible to be spiritual, have a

    sense of belonging to a larger fabric, and

    realize that there isn't some grand controller

    in the sky waving his hand over the earth. I

    found a lot of solace in studying Natural

    History, and understanding our world by

    looking at nature. You live in a great place

    for that because there is a lot of desert,

    mountain, and coastal places nearby that

    still retain a lot of their original flora and

    fauna. I devoted my life to studying nature,

    the way a theologian would study religion I

    guess. And I realized that humanity is just a

    part of a large drama that began a billion

    years ago. There is no suffering that is

    totally unique. All the bad stuff that happens

    has happened countless times in the past. 98

    percent of all animals that ever walked the

    planet are now extinct. We are headed for

    the same fate. But this isn't depressing, it is

    amazing to me. I feel priviledged to be able

    to take part in this drama of life, while still

    realizing that there is no life without death.

    Humans are unique in having the ability to

    live beyond death in a sense, because we can

    create things that last long beyond our day-

    of-dying. Ideas, shared through culture,

    persist. So my life is one of understanding,

    and sharing ideas. Even if they aren't

    popular ones all the time, it gives me a

    reason to take part in the human drama. 

    Sincerely, 

    Greg Graffin 

 

    Dear Greg.

    I have been into B.R. for a year or so now, and even though it's a short time compared to how long you have been going, I have a managed to collect a fair number of your albums. Unlike my friend, I prefer listening to your later material (Recipe for Hate remains my favourite) rather than your old stuff. Imagine my suprise when I saw 'The Gray Race' in a record shop for £6! I had never heard of this album, and bought it there and then. About a week ago, I was in a computer shop and over in the corner I heard the Offspring playing and readily dissmissed it due to their huge ammount of air play over hear in England. However, a few moments later I heard 'Them and Us', and couldn't beleive my ears. I walked over to the Crazy Taxi game and listened in awe. After hearing another of your songs (I think it was 'Hear It',) I walked out in disgust. I'm not stupid enough to go out and burn all my B.R. CDs and records, but I must admitt, I felt let down that you could allow your songs (songs that mean so much to me) to be used on a computer game... Don't get me wrong, I love my Nintendo as much as the next kid, and I hate it when the 'punker than thou' punks refuse to listen to a band ... I just wanted to ask why you did it. Hope you are able to reply,

    Steve, via email

 

    Dear Steve, 

    We never even considered that it

    would be offensive to use a song for a video

    game, we just figured that maybe someone

    playing the game would get turned on if they

    liked the song, and then maybe spend more

    time listening at home if they felt strongly

    enough to learn more about BR. We don't

    actively solicit game companies, but

    sometimes (as in this case when Sega put

    our song on the game "Crazy Taxi") they

    come to us, as do surfing and

    snowboarding video companies, and ask if

    they can use a song. We usually say sure, as

    long as it is benign.  Our music is fun as

    well as thought provoking!     

    Sincerely,  

    Greg Graffin 

 

    At 12:42 PM 2/16/00 -0500, you wrote:

    Exponential population growth will ensure a grim future, yes. So, if, in the name of preserving individual freedoms and being sensitive to cultural diversity, people (here or elsewhere) can not be "told" to have fewer kids, and it is, as the Sierra Club found out, not possible to even mention trying to slow immigration, then what can be done?

    Anonymous email message

 

    Dear Anonymous, 

    Education is the key.  It is the direct

    counter-attack to passive social action. 

    That is to say that educated people have

    fewer children.  Free societies with good

    education are not the places we find famine. 

    Totalitarian states and closed economies are

    places where overpopulation begins and it is

    where people are told what to do the most.  

    I think educated, "free societies", spend

    more time pursuing worldly goals, and since

    time is finite, this leaves less time to produce

    and look after large families.  This creates

    other problems, of course, like poor family

    relations, but it does relieve the ecological

    burden of overpopulation.    

    Sincerely, 

    Greg Graffin

 

    This is something I have been thinking about awhile so please bear with me. Do you think that animals, plants, etc., are becoming extinct due to the fact of man killing them off, or could it be because as the world evolves nature finds that it doesn't need these animals, etc., in its hmmm tool kit (for lack of a better term) to keep nature balanced. Example we no longer need this kind of snake in nature because we no longer have a possible infestation of this particular vermin. Anyway if u could get back to me that would be real cool.

    Thanks, Jon, via email

 

    Dear Jon, 

       The answer to your question requires some

    understanding of how ecosystems work.  

    Until humans developed culture, all animals

    played a vital role in their ecosystem.   They

    still do, except that man has destroyed and

    altered the ecosystems in ways that we still

    don't know what the consequence will be.  

    Snakes are important predators, for example. 

       If the desert had no snakes, there would be

    overpopulation of rodents.  In undisturbed

    ecosystems there is a balance of predators

    and prey, and they all function to recycle

    necessary molecules for the ecosystem's

    health.  Those molecules end up affecting us,

    becuase they are what keep the air clean and

    the water pure. I would urge you to read some

    elementary biology textbooks, particularly

    the chapters on the "food pyramid", and

    "ecosystem biology".  

       This will give you deeper insight on something I could barely

    touch on here.  Keep thinking!

    Sincerely,  

    Greg Graffin

 

    Dear Bad Religion,

    A few weeks ago I ordered the "crossbuster" shirt from the merchandise section of BR online. I finally recieved it yesterday and decided I'd where it to school the next day. After first period phys. ed. I put it on and walked out into the gym waiting for the bell to ring to switch classes. At first no one seemed to notice. Then some kid made a few comments and my gym teacher saw it. I was surprised he didn't care. ... After getting books out of my locker, I walked to my next class. Along the way another teacher noticed and said "I don't think that's appropriate". I said something about freedom of religion or lack of. . . whatever. The teacher said, "We'll see about that." and she took me to the office. As I waited in the office my gym teacher walked by and asked if I was in trouble for my shirt. He got an angry look on his face when I said yes. I finally talked to my assistant principal and she said she didn't really care and that it didn't offend her. But she did want me to take it off so I wasn't being sent to the office every period. I mentioned something about first amendment rights, and she said schools have the ability to twist it a little bit. To make a long story short, do the really have the right to bend the constitution? Well, I'm looking forward to the next album. Good luck with it!

    Mike K., via email

 

    Dear Mike, 

    this is a typical example of  scared

    americans over-reacting to someones

    intentions to provoke thought.   I don't want

    you to get in trouble, but also understand

    that the people who punish you for wearing

    that shirt are afraid, they are little scared

    people who like to pretend they are enforcers

    (when in reality they are powerless to enforce

    anything but the most petty rules).   Thanks

    for buying the shirt.   Do what you feel is

    best.   If you want any of your teachers to get

    in touch with me, I would be happy to explain

    to them that wearing and promoting that

    symbol won't be the downfall of america.

    Sincerely, 

    Greg Graffin

 

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Greg Graffin

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Ithaca NY 14852.

 

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