In this new issue of Minor League news: Suffer makes L.A. Weekly's Top 20 Punk Albums in History list (but not Rolllins'); Baker interview at Groezrock; an interesting quote by Mark Hoppus; Bad Religion prominently featured in the first chapter of AV Club's new retrospective series; latest new covers of BR finally unveiled; what has Bobby been up to; and more!

Suffer #6 on LA Weekly's Top 20 Punk Albums in History

Last week, LA Weekly's West Coast Sound column came up with their list of Top 20 Punk Albums in History and Bad Religion's genre-defining classic album was their #6 pick. Find below what they had to say about it:

And here's the rest of the list in case you're curious...

01. The Ramones - Self-Titled (1976)
02. Black Flag - Damaged (1981
03. Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables (1980)
04. Minor Threat - Complete Discography (1989)
05. The Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks (1977)
06. Bad Religion - Suffer (1988)
07. Iggy & The Stooges - Raw Power (1973)
08. The Clash - Self-Titled (1977)
09. The Misfits - Walk Among Us (1982)
10. Descendents - Milo Goes To College (1982)
11. MC5 - Kick Out The Jams (1969)
12. Refused - The Shape of Punk To Come (1998)
13. Green Day - Dookie (1994)
14. Discharge - Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing (1982)
15. Hüsker Dü - New Day Rising (1985)
16. Fugazi - Repeater (1990)
17. X - Los Angeles (1980)
18. Richard Hell & The Voidoids - Blank Generation (1977)
19. Rancid - .. And Out Came the Wolves (1995)
20. Bad Brains - Self-Titled (1982)

The paper also allowed columnist Henry Rollins to make his own list which blatantly ignores Bad Religion!

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Against the Grain featured in A.V. Club's new retrospective series

A.V. Club has launched a new retrospective series called "Fear of a Punk Decade" chronicling punk music throughout the nineties. Jason Heller, the man behind this project, explains the concept: "In each monthly installment over the next nine months, I’ll cover a single year of the ’90s—starting here, with 1990—until we end up at 1999 sometime in the spring of 2014. In the interest of conciseness, Fear Of A Punk Decade will skim the surface of the major punk releases of every given year of the ’90s, small and large, hopefully providing some context and insight (illustrated with the occasional anecdote drawn from my own experiences as a concertgoer, show promoter, touring musician, music writer, zine maker, record store clerk, and all-around punk nerd throughout that decade)."

Of course, it should come as no surprise that the third installment in what Bad Religion fans have called the "Holy Trilogy" gets mentioned in the first chapter (1990) of the series along the likes of  Social Distortion, Fugazi, Dwarves, Jawbraker or Green Day, amongst others:

"Besides Social Distortion, two of the most important punk albums of 1990 came from veterans of the ’80s punk scene: Bad Religion’s Against The Grain and Fugazi’s Repeater. Interestingly, the first was part of a return to hardcore’s traditions while the latter strained to be as musically progressive as it possibly could. Both, though, were stridently outspoken. Okay, so Bad Religion’s Greg Graffin and Fugazi’s Ian MacKaye more or less barked, but Graffin’s harshness was softened by deeply layered backup harmonies, and MacKaye’s was offset by the more sultry vocals of his fellow singer-guitarist, Guy Picciotto. 

That said, the two bands didn’t sound anything alike. Bad Religion, one of the leading lights in California hardcore in the ’80s, had returned from a long hiatus by hardening and strengthening the vitriolic attack of its early political hardcore. By Against The Grain, Bad Religion was at the top of its game. Melodic and eloquent, its anti-authoritarian anthems would echo in the sounds of hundreds of other groups, long after Bad Religion would venture into radio-friendly, major-label punk during the mid-’90s."

I am sure we can expect to see more Bad Religion albums featured in the coming months: Generator, Recipe for Hate? Stranger than Fiction? Maybe The Gray Race?

^{Original ATG painting currently hanging on the wall at Epitaph}

Trivia: After Against the Grain was released, Roy Bittain (keyboard player for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band) walked into Epitaph headquarters and told Jay and Brett that they should re-release the album and he would produce it and re-write the songs.

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Brian interview at Groezrock

Last time I forgot to post this short video interview that Brian gave to Big Cheese Magazine at Groezrock. He is asked to choose two albums, two DVDs and two meals to take with him to a bunker underground for 10 years. Thanks Guns and Viktor for the heads up!

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"A full 80% of my vocabulary and scientific theory education was learned by listening to Bad Religion"

That is a quote by Mark Hoppus. In case you missed it, he tweeted that earlier this month, and it was retweeted by Brooks, amongst 1,300+ other people. If you read carefully, you might find my reply urging Hoppus to prove his gratitude to his "teachers" by recording a cover of a Bad Religion song with his little band. What would be the right BR song for Blink-182 to cover? I was also wondering what is Bad Religion's most Blink-182-esque song. I Love My Computer? Follow The Leader?

Not that this quote should surprise us that much. A few years ago the pop-punk bassist and vocalist had revelead a list of his favourite albums and Suffer was one of the fifteen records he mentioned.

Speaking about Mr. Wackerman, Brooks fanbois and fangirls alert! Check out his adolescent door, which his "dad refuses to replace at his house". Something tells me the Bad Religion sticker was added post 2001 though...

   
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Submission Complete live!

In our previous issue we shared this Jay interview with TORO Magazine in which when asked about setlists he confessed to having a hard time playing Submission Complete live because it's in 5/4 time:

"After so many albums, how does the band go about creating set lists? Are there songs you wish hadn’t gotten buried by time, so to speak? 

I would say my biggest regret about our live show is our tendency to quickly bury songs that are difficult to play [laughs]. “Fuck, I can’t play that. That one’s easier, let’s play that.” 

What are some examples?

A recent example would be “Submission Complete” (from New Maps of Hell, 2007) because it’s in 5/4 time. For some reason that drove me crazy."

Well, if you have been checking out our Tours&Shows section for setlists or have attended any of the recent shows chances are you were pleasantly surprised to see that Submission Complete has finally been added to their setlist! Check out this live version at Rock am Ring 2013:

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Sloan and Senses Fail covering Bad Religion

Last time we told you Sloan (power-pop band from Canada) was set to release a new 7-inch that would come with a downloadable 12-song covers album featuring We're Only Gonna Die. Here it is! What do you think? Album cover sure rings a bell, huh?

Also, we were finally able to trace Senses Fail's cover of Suffer we had mentioned in passing when publishing the news story about the forthcoming Tony Sly tribute album.

Speaking about that Tony Sly tribute album, from this Fat Mike tweet it looks like Bad Religion's song is ready (still no confirmation on which song though)

Fat Mike: "I just got Bad Religions song for the Tony Sly comp. it rules! It's really amazing how many great bands are showing their respect for Tony!" 

Jay shared some more details in our forums: "Brian, Mike Dimkich and I worked on it for a while, trying to come up with the right vibe, and when Brooks got there we ran through a few different ideas until one really sounded the way we wanted it to. Then we recorded it live... Mike sent a few choices, but really wanted us to do the one we did."

Speaking about Fat Mike and Bad Religion, check out this pic:

^{Fat Mike - "Just hangin out at the local church making my favorite band logo"}

Extra tidbit: While on the topic of bands covering Bad Religion, look what one of our fellow BRpagers brdanne found on YouTube the other day! Live clip of a young Millencolin back in 1993 playing We're Only Gonna Die at ~7:00. There is also a cover of Sanity at ~16:00 (thanks to Recard86 as well!)

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Bobby these days

In case you have been wondering what Bobby Schayer has been up to these days, he's now giving drum lessons in the Portland area. If interested, you can contact Revolver Studios.

He also seems to be pretty active on Facebook, at least until recently when most of the content on his wall was public...

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Dimkich focusing on Bad Religion

Some sites like VVN | Music and Noise11 are reporting that Mike Dimkich is leaving his position of touring guitarist with The Cult to move on and tour with Bad Religion while Hetson is dealing with personal issues.

Based on sheer speculation alone, one might think it will be a while before Hetson returns to the band. Otherwise, why would Dimkich quit his "safe" job to be the new guy in a 30-year-old band. If anything, as a fan it does make me feel proud that Dimkich is choosing Bad Religion over a more mainstream band like The Cult. As Brian once put it when asked why he chose to join the band instead of touring with REM: "That's me in the corner, choosing Bad Religion"