BR Podcast v2
On February 1, 2006 Mike (aka ikillkenny) published his first podcast devoted to Bad Religion. However, because of his busy schedule no more than 27 episodes were made. The final one appeared on October 6, 2008. Needless to say many BR fans were saddened by this news.
Yesterday a Bad Religion fan by the name of "rai32" anounced in our forums that he wants to continue the BR Podcasts. As a matter of fact, the first episode is already done!
Click on the logo to stream the podcast or click here to download the MP3. Or, of course, you can visit his blog dedicated to his podcasts.
Crossbustergate part II
A couple of months ago we reported about a lady who was offended by the crossbuster. I first want to thank everyone who left a comment in her blogs for not being offensive. I do wonder if her crusade against Hot Topic and the BR shirts had any success...
Anyway, guess what? We found another one! Click here to visit his blog and read the whole story.
Similar to the lady in the other blog, this guy came across a T-shirt with the crossbuster and band name on it...
"(...)Yesterday I was at work and this kid who was probably 20-22 years old comes in wearing this shirt that had the words “bad religion” on it. Underneath it was a picture of the cross with a circle around it and a line through it. How has it come to that?
Should I have said something to the kid about his shirt? Should I have asked him what it meant to him? What has Christ ever done to you? Do you even know what the cross stands for?
Let me give some reason why I didn’t….
I could lose my job. The kid could punch me in the face. If he started causing a scene it could be embarrassing.
There are probably a million more reasons. But the main one that it comes down too, is that I was weak in that moment. I failed. I didn’t allow God’s strength to guide me.
I should have taken the opportunity to talk to the kid. Not bash him and scream at him about wearing a shirt like that, but gone and at least attempted to have a conversation about, in a loving and respectful way. (...) I might have somehow been able to develop a relationship with him, and maybe opened his eyes to what a picture of the cross should really imply."
At this point, I just encourage each of you to wake up everyday and ask for God’s strength because we are weak, but in Him, we are strong! In Him we can stand for things that matter eternally. We need to realize that we are mighty in God and we are mighty in numbers. In Him, we can look evil in the eye and deal with it!"
Album & song rankings
For some time now users on this site are able to create their own lists of favorite Bad Religion albums. So far 120 users have done so, with the following result:
- Against the Grain
- No Control
- Suffer
- The Process of Belief
- Recipe for Hate
- Generator
- The Empire Strikes First
- New Maps Of Hell
- Stranger than Fiction
- The Gray Race
Next to this album ranking, we've recently also introduced a way for users to create their own lists of favorite Bad Religion songs. The introduction of this feature has only been announced in the forums, so here's a call to those who haven't created a list yet to do so right away.
Today, the top 10 looks like this:
- American Jesus
- I Want To Conquer The World
- Struck A Nerve
- The Answer
- Faith Alone
- The Defense
- You
- All There Is
- Cease
- Do What You Want
Remember that you need to be a registered user in order to be able to contribute to both the album and the song ranking. So what are you waiting for? Sing up and make your voice heard!
Jay on the new album
It's still very early to give you guys any solid news on the next Bad Religion album. However, earlier this week Jay had this to say about it in our forums:
"as of now, the earliest we could see the studio would be late october, and that would be dependent on material.
IF we get the recording done before the end of jan, it's entirely possible to have it out by may / june... but that's a big IF. we will have a lot of road time this year to talk about recording. we will probably all have a better idea after the warped tour..."
There you have it. Don't put anything in your agendas yet... it's all a big IF.
Band member profiles
It's been a while, but today the next fully updated band member profile was published. This time it's Brian's.
Think about it... How punk were you when you were this kid's age?
On a side note, this is what Brian had to say in an interview when he was asked about Brett being on stage as a third guitarist:
"I just stay were I am normally. I can’t hear him and I’m blind and I play without my glasses on, so basically after a couple of shows I have to remind myself that he [Brett Gurewitz] is not a security guard or somebody trying to tackle Graffin.
For me he is sort of a smoky figure of authority on the other side of the stage, but factually, when he plays, it is just that much better, it doesn’t just qualify as being louder or whatever, it’s his unique vocal sound ‘cause he likes to sing. I just think it makes it a nicer, bigger piece of meat.”
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03/13/2009 at 20:20
I think my obvious bias towards religion as the lesser of two evils and hatred of athiests answers your question. I wish I could give you a better answer since you asked in a nice way, and I appreciate that, but I think the teachings of Christ(not necessarily the God stuff) are more beneficial than rejecting them alogether. I certainly see your point and I don't know your circumstaces but it seems illogical to me to be offended by a crucifix of all things. |
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03/13/2009 at 20:07
Also, my point is that anything can be offensive, but if no matter what religion or non-religion you are, in a free society its disingenous to put your beliefs out there (no matter what the size) and then be offended when someone else puts their's out there! Here's a question for you, lets pretend (and these do exist) that a person wears a tee-shirt with a big crucifix on it... is this offensive or wrong? what do you think? |
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03/13/2009 at 16:55
Hmm, do I not get it or do I, must be a philosphical question. Anyways I'll make my next comment simpler. Crossbuster = big and noticable Crucifix = small and inconspicuous. |
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03/13/2009 at 13:52
You're missing the point... or rather you get and you don't realize it... how is it any less selfish to say don't wear a crossbuster than it is to say don't wear a crucifix... the point is neither is should not be worn because it might offend someone, people have diffent beliefs and Coexisting means you come to accept diffences not pretend they don't exist. |
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03/13/2009 at 13:43
Just showing the absurdity of being offended by a cross around someone's neck and trying to figure out what's next for them. Maybe I should have said take Jesus completely out of Christmas. Anyways to continue from my earlier comment I rather like Jesus and think his teachings can do a lot of good for society as a whole and Christmas is a good example of that so please don't hate on it because of your circumstances. It is rather selfish to want to do away with something just because you happen to dislike it. Think of the big picture not just of yourself. |
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03/13/2009 at 13:03
And yet, you just complained about taking Jesus out of Christmas. I don't understand you. |
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03/13/2009 at 10:53
Maybe you should consider the non-christian aspects of Christmas such as getting together with family and giving with no other motive than to make others happy. It has benefits that I believe all society could benefit from. For the most part it doesn't have anything to do with Christianity today. |
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03/13/2009 at 10:12
No, we should take Christmas out of secular society and leave it for the Christians to celebrate in private. I hate December. |
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03/13/2009 at 04:40
Yeah, the pastor at Sallies is a friend and is the sort of person who would look at it and try to figure out what it meant, rather than slamming it straight away. |
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03/13/2009 at 04:24
I have a couple of Christian friends who think the crossbuster looks kinda cool. It doesn't bother them at all.
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03/13/2009 at 04:22
I walked into Salvation Army once with my BR F**k Amageddon... (the black and white one with crossbuster on front in cloud of smoke from bomb blast) t-shirt on and they didn't say anything. Most of that lot are friends of mine, and they never said anything, just accepted that that was the t-shirt I was wearing - probably had other thoughts, but certainly didn't make an issue of it. I play guitar for them Sunday mornings and often wear my BR hoody (Bad Religion on sleeve and boy on fire at front) to church. No one ever makes an issue of it. I think it would be wrong of me to wear the crossbuster t, because I'm employed to play guitar and that would be inappropriate.
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03/13/2009 at 00:17
Seriously, that seems just a bit petty and petulant to me. Want to take the word God off all our currency too or take Jesus out of Christmas? Come on that's just an excuse to act superior and arrogant. Maybe you should blog about it and be as bad as the person who was offended by the crossbuster, or better yet complain on myspace about it. Good god I'm a hypocrite. I went against my own advice to not be antogonistic. Oh well, I just really hate athiests, agnostics, believers, evangelicals, and all the like. |
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03/12/2009 at 22:00
As an atheist, people that walk around with crosses around their necks hurt me. Really though, bad religion and music in general is a big part of who I am, so enough with the double standards imo. |
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03/12/2009 at 08:01
Yeah - I noticed that too. I have been checking to see if more people are going to post comments there. Maybe we should all post something - or maybe it wouldn't help anything or anybody... Don't you wish people could all just have rational discussions, instead of just dismissing ideas that differ from their dogma. That would be so great... |
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03/11/2009 at 15:04
I can't believe the christian took all the other post off. I think its amazing how people who clam to know the "one and only path to god" are so uptight about having their beliefs questioned especially when that guy is taking a major dump on everyone else Religion, he will tell the Bad Religion he's wrong but not let Bad Religion fans comment calmly and rationally to him... also note at the begining of the post he claims to love 24 which I have been told (at the risk of being unpopular) is just an hour of a federal agent or "douch bag" capturing terrorist or "taking a shit on the head of all of the Muslim steroetypes" the show's writers or "ass fucks" can come up with. God I hate that show, any ways as fat mike says "I'm rambling again, aren't I"
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03/11/2009 at 10:12
Hey, the comments are gone on that guy's blog post!
Yes, Marty, it's a lock, I'm guessing in the spirit of Sid Vicious. |
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03/11/2009 at 04:35
Is that a lock around Brian's neck?
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03/08/2009 at 12:58
I'm not trying to to be antagonistic, I was just saying that I can wear the cross buster with out being an asshole, just like I don't complain when religious people I know where crucifix around their necks I understand it as an expression of their faith, not something done to be a jerk to me... why should a crossbuster be any different? All it says is keep your distance our faiths are not the same. I don't want to be offensive to religious believers, I may believe that organized religion is bad, but listen to the song "do what you want" "Hey, do what you want but don't do it 'round me: believe whatever you want, but that also means that I'm free to believe whatever I want. Maybe I'm weird, but I wouldn't think that a shirt that said no atheism would offend me... as soon as you take your religion (or lack of) that seriously you've crossed (no pun intended) a line. You have a resonable expectation to be able to legal practice your beliefs, even to not have me wear a crossbuster into a church, but beyond that we run up against the idea that your rights end where my rights begin and visa versa, in other words, if your can wear a crucifix out into public, a sign that says believe this or your damned, and not worry about offending not just non-believers but all other religions, but yet if a non-believer wore a crossbuster (saying wear your crucifix, but keep your beliefs away from me) it would be offensive. Its just something I don't understand.
Maybe this is just me but I don't believe that the crossbuster symbol applies to this case... first of all you're talking about muslims, who are not going to be offended by this shirt, but most importantly all religious people are indoctrinated (Richard Dawkins called teaching religion to you kids child abuse, if you want to find something truely offensive to believers we may have a winner) not to the level of muslim countries, no but yet some manage to break away it is a choice even if people in certain places don't feel that way. P.S. I'm sorry if my ideas offend you or you got the impression that I was picking a fight, I'm not and it was not my intent, I enjoy talking about belief, but sometimes get carried away when I come across ideas that I disagree with. |
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03/08/2009 at 11:18
can anyone upload the bootleg from Gothenburg 98 please?
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03/08/2009 at 10:03
That is a very good sentiment and should be adopted my more people. Also, I like what you said about not walking around in a t-shirt that might offend someone. I don't wear the crossbuster because of just that. It doesn't mater what it means to me, the fact is that it might offend someone and we should always be conscious of other's feelings at all times even if we don't like thier beliefs. It's a matter of just being a good human. I know that doesn't sound too punk but oh well. @Tested I wish you would have not been so antagonistic thomson is not trying to start a conflict and if you read his first comment he is just trying to explain his point of view and show us a different perspective, not attack anyone's beliefs or convert anyone. |
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03/08/2009 at 05:05
I WISH religion was a choice. It should be. But if you look at the middle east for example. 99% of the people are islamic. They are indoctrinated with those ideas when they're a child. Religion is even more important as their skin color. I am really not trying to fight with anyone here and I can understand what you are saying. I just wanted to say I don't like people wrubbing their beliefs in peoples faces in public in hope to offend people. |
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03/07/2009 at 17:41
I hate to sound like a jerk, but too bad. First of all religion is a choice... no one can change which race they belong to but you can change your religion, therefore, don't complain if your beliefs are questioned, if you want just view as a way to strengthen your faith, you survived this "test" of a tee-shirt (get real dude). Second, your rights end where my rights begin, and visa versa. In other words, your rights not to be offended do not superseed my rights to wear a non violent symbol that happens to offend you... and it has to be this way in a free society. Take this example... I am a fan of the Chicago White Sox (that's a baseball, for all you non-North-Americans) and in the same city we have another team the Chicago Cubs (who haven't won a world series in 100 years ha ha ha!)... If that didn't show you, many hardcore Whitesox fans hate the Cubs and visa versa. When the cubs lost the NLCS (the playoff series that determines which team will go to the championship) in 2003 I bought a shirt that took the cubs logo and replaced it with the letters choke. This was quite offensive to some cubs fans, but I wore it any way I wouldn't wear it to Wrigleyville (the are surrounding the Cubs' home park of Wrigley Field, and analogous to wearing a cross buster to church) but still I wore it around my cubs fan friends and yeah the called me an ass for rubbing it in, but eventually they got over it. So should you, thomson, sure sports is not religion, but no one would say (other than a cubs fan if they were joking) that I shouldn't wear an anti cubs shirt, I would no less hesitate to wear a Cubs Choked shirt than I would a Cross Buster. P.S. Thomson: your dad IS an asshole (just kidding!) |
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03/07/2009 at 14:49
wasnt the whole reason the buster was made ... was to offend? yeaa
now we all as fans give it higher meaning, along with the bands morale and mental progression. If a crossbuster disturbs you.. dont look at it.. same with smokers.. if they bother you .. dont hang out around em. its not anyones place to tell anyone else they cant wear X or smoke Y due to you and your perfect bubble world. its like my mom and swearing. she thinks only unintelligent people do it. Think that will stop me from screaming F&*# as I hit my toe on the end table? noper with that said.. i dont see many br fans wading into churches with these shirts on.. though I cant say it never has happened, but you can see someones skin color.. not their religion. so the black guy on the shirt thing.. moot point. "close your eyes if you dont wanna see" The Living End |
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03/07/2009 at 14:39
I tought the guy was pretty reasonable. I am not a big fan of walking around with a t shirt that really offends people. What if I had a t shirt like the BR logo but instead the cross, is a black person. And I could try and talk to black people who were offended all I want. With arguments like: " I have nothing against black people,but you can't find black people in my group" It's still offending.
I know it isn't the same thing but for christians, faith in jesus and everything is a really big part of who they are. I was a christian and when I saw something like a BR t shirt it really hurt me. Even more than someone calling my dad an asshole. |
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03/07/2009 at 12:53
At least the guy was willing to talk to the kid. Question is, does he mean talk to or talk at?
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