Customer Reviews

No Substance

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I'm getting sick of seeing negative reviews from so called "true Bad Religion fans" on Bad Religion's recent albums. I think albums like "The Gray Race" and "No Sustance" were excellent and just because their sound has changed over the years, that doesn't mean it's going down the tubes. You can't compare the intensity of "Suffer" or "No Control" to these recent albums and then say they are worse. Their sound has become slower over the years, but the lyrics are what makes a band stand out in the largely similar sound of rock music and Bad Religion's lyrics are as powerful as they were in the late eighties. Change isn't necessarily a bad thing, and in Bad Religion's case, it hasn't hurt them. "No Substance" and the other recent albums ("The Gray Race" in particular) are great rock albums and don't be discouraged because of a few bad reviews from "true Bad Religion fans". Also, be on the lookout for Bad Religion's new album coming May 9, 2000.

Pay NO attention to the reviews dissing No Substance. I am a *huge* Bad Religion fan. Boots, singles, CDs, hell, I even have the early hard-to-find vinyl. AND I am a huge music fan in general with 3500+ CDs. This isn't my most favorite Bad Religion CD, not sure what that would be. BUT, this is the most listened to CD in my entire collection, by FAR.

No Substance is an amazing, just amazing recording (uh, except for "Hear It" which is commercial schlock). I have listened to this album literally hundreds of times. I cannot recommend it highly enough, especially "Mediocre Minds". This is one of the best BR CDs, and that's coming from a hardcore fan. Buy it. You won't regret it. I absolutely love this album.

Did I say this is THE most listened to CD in my *entire* collection, which ranges from punk to new age to folk to techno to metal to hippie jambands? Yes. I cannot recommend this highly enough, 5 stars isn't enough. Thoughtful, interesting, ferocious in places, just freakin' great.

Ignore the folks whining that it isn't Suffer or No Control or Generator. No Substance has rewards a-plenty for the listener who pays attention. Highly recommended.

I dont understand it. It's not like No Substance is incredibly different than any other BR album. Maybe a little more melodic and poppy but not so different that it's not not good. At first I didnt listen to this album much... not because I didnt like it, I just didnt give it a good listen. Now I absolutely love it. While it's not the best BR album, it is, in my opinion the most underrated. But that's just me.

So it's Saturday night, I'm psyched coming down from Bad Religion's last show on the "30 Years" tour, and I'm hitting up YouTube for clips of the previous shows, when I stumble across a live version of "Sowing the Seeds of Utopia". It's brilliant, I'm scratching my head wondering why I've never heard of it, and then it clicks:

Oh yeah, it's because it's from "No Substance", and I HATED that album when it first came out. I used to live in a place with music stores that let you preview any album you wanted (new or used), as long as you wanted. I had listened to half of the album, was instantly repulsed by the pop, and consigned it and "The New America" to a dustbin labeled "let's pretend that didn't happen". (In fact, those 2 and "Into the Unknown" were the only BR albums I didn't own.)

Fast forward 12 years: I'm going through Bad Religion's Web site, clicking through previews of every song on "No Substance" that it'll let me stream, and wondering if I've made a serious error in judgment. Having bought and listened to the entire thing repeatedly over the past few days, I think the answer depends on the context.

If you judge the album on the basis of being a pop/rock record, it's ABSOLUTELY brilliant. Hooks on top of hooks, polished 3-part harmonies, infectious (albeit mid-tempo) energy, and razor sharp lyrics.

If you judge it on the basis of being a *Bad Religion* record ... well, imagine a world where "The Process of Belief" and "The Empire Strikes First" never happened. Because that's EXACTLY what you would've gotten, had "No Substance" been wildly successful.

You can argue about whether Brett would've rejoined if BR hadn't been on the skids, but I would argue it doesn't matter, because their sound would've been radically different. Imagine entire BR albums built around the sonic premise of "Raise Your Voice": no more hard/fast/loud punk stylings, every song built around simultaneously catchy and irritating pop hooks that you loathe, but can't stop listening to.

Now imagine that "No Substance" had been released as a Greg Graffin solo album ... say, "Greg and the Drunken Barbershop Penguins". I don't know that it would've sold any more copies -- but it would've been a LOT easier to like, because it wouldn't have carried the implicit threat of "if you like this, then the sound of Bad Religion that you grew up with, will go away forever."

Well good news: it's 12 years later, Bad Religion's out of the major-label thicket, "The Process of Belief" DOES exist, and you are now free to enjoy "No Substance" on its own merits. Which granted, you may still not want to -- but it would be your loss. "No Substance" may not be underrated as a BR album, but it is most DEFINITELY underrated as an example of ultra-sharp pop/hard-rock songwriting. Freed of genre constraints, Greg gets to pair his densely solid lyric stylings with a flood of pop hooks, surging melodies, and more 3-part harmonies per minute than any previous BR album (yes, even "Stranger Than Fiction"). The themes of "concensus" over truth, surface over substance, rich over everyone else, fantasy over reality, resound as an indictment not just of 1998, but of the current times.

I cannot rate any album from Bad Religion less than 5 stars.
They are all simply amazin and unique. Few bands have lots of songs in your head as your personal best hits. Every CD of them I put on to hear has a quality that makes every other punk rock wannabe sound like a baby in the dark.

No Substance is not a punk rock album. It has its own heart and soul in a rock'n roll environment. Yes, this album is rock'n roll and it does its job well. There are a few minors but... nothing compromising.

Strong points no to be missed:
- Hear It (!)
- All Fantastic Images
- No Substance (!)
- Sowing The Seeds of Utopia
- The State of The End... (!)
- The Voracious March of Godliness
- Strange Denial (!)
- The Same Person (!)

Not memorable among the other BR releases, but a killer record.

There is not a single thing wrong with this CD. I think people are getting upset at the fact that it doesn't sound like the older stuff, but why not go by the way it sounds instead of the way you want it to sound? This happens to be among my favorite of all the BR CDs. It has kind of a variety of songs on it, causing you to not get bored fast. Songs like "Hear it" and "The Biggest Killer in American History" absolutly rock. Then of course there is "Raise Your Voice," a song that can be an inspiration for anyone. I can name a number of other songs on the CD that are just as good as any song I've heard, and I would really recomend buying this CD whether you are a true BR fan or not.

So many people give this album bad reviews. I think that most of it is just the "no Brett" prejudice, but the rest is probably just going along with everyone else's closed-mindedness. I just got this album, and it is AMAZING! It starts off with a great song, and it just keeps on delivering. The fact that Brett Gurewitz didn't write any songs on this album didn't make Greg's songs any less good. This album has tons of energy, catchy melodies, and amazing lyrics. It doesn't really sound like the typical Bad Religion album, but believe you me--it is DEFINITELY worth buying.

(Find and read the lyrics for The State Of The End Of Millenium Address and tell me that they don't make you scratch your head.)

First off, let me tell you that I love this album. It's by no means the best BR album, but I think Greg, Jay, Brian and Hetson did a great job writing it and it's hugely underapprieciated by both BR fans and the band itself (they refuse to play any songs off it live). The best songs on here are Hear It, Shades of Truth, The Hippy Killers, The Voracious March of Godliness, The Same Person and In So Many Ways. Raise Your Voice is cheesy, but I still love it. The only reason I gave this album four stars is because of one song - Mediocre Minds. Yes, one song is bad enough to bring the entire album's score down by one star. This song has an unoriginal and irritating melody, but the worst part of the song is the lyrics. They are probably some of the most arrogant, pretentious lyrics ever written. It's the only BR song that I actually despise. I, for one, don't believe that there is such thing as a "mediocre mind". Nevertheless, this is a great album and In So Many Ways is one of BR's best ever songs.

This album doesn't have the punch of other Bad Religion albums. No Substance followed 1995's "The Gray Race", which I personally feel is the best Bad Religion album. I bought this album hoping for something equal to that, but I was dissappointed. This is the only BR album that I can say bores me. The only song that I really enjoyed was "A Strange Denial". If you don't already have every other Bad Religion CD, you should buy one with more substance.

Bad Religion's cd, No Substance, is exactly what punk is all about. It goes to the depths of fighting the pseudo-benevolent cattle syndrome of a world that we live in with their lyrics, with hard crunchy guitar riffs and a melodic tune. Listening to this cd, you can't do anything but sing along and feel the power of the music in your veins. Bad Religion is a great band....they continue to put out great music and nothing negative should be said about them. Their cd is right in the tradition of their other great music and is a must-have for all true punk fans. Their father band the Ramones would be proud.