Stranger Than Fiction [Vinyl]

Bad Religion | Format: Vinyl

Product Details

• Vinyl (July 21, 2009)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rhino Records
• ASIN: B002BAODMI
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (79 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #148,274 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Stranger Than Fiction is the eighth full-length studio album (tenth release overall) by Bad Religion, released in 1994 (see 1994 in music). It was their first album released on the major label Atlantic Records (although that label re-released the previous album, Recipe for Hate) and also last release with guitarist Brett Gurewitz, who left just prior to the 1994-1995 world tour and would return to the band seven years later.With sales continuing fifteen years after its release, Stranger Than Fiction is widely considered Bad Religion's most successful album, due to the success of the two singles, 'Infected' and the re-recorded version of '21st Century (Digital Boy)'Track listingIncomplete - 2:28 Leave Mine To Me - 2:07 Stranger Than Fiction - 2:20 Tiny Voices - 2:36 The Handshake - 2:50 Better Off Dead - 2:39 Infected - 4:08 Television - 2:03 Individual - 1:58 Hooray for Me... - 2:50 Slumber - 2:39 Marked - 1:48 Inner Logic - 2:58 What It Is - 2:08 21st Century (Digital Boy) - 2:47

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Punk with a thesaurus, June 10, 2000

By 

"tomthedog" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stranger Than Fiction (Audio CD)

In a nutshell: Bad Religion rock, and they rock HARD. And Stranger than Fiction, despite being their "sellout" album (their first on a major label), which soured many long-term fans (as such moves inevitably do), is surely their most balanced, most accomplished, all-around best effort.

A friend of mine described Bad Religion as "punk with a thesaurus." And that's accurate, to a certain extent: how many other punk bands have a vocabularly which includes "sallow," "dichotomy," and "sagacious," or lyrical nuggets like "languid wills and torpid minds" or "poignant morose wonder"?

Nonetheless, this is by no means dispassionate intellectualism. Bad Religion may have a penchant for five dollar words, but there is powerful emotion behind them. Anger, yes, of course, is dominant: there aren't many tranquil punks. But, as Bad Religion chronicle and judge the follies of mankind, they convey a wide range of feeling: pity, sympathy, scorn, remorse, and equal parts hope and resignation, all backed with dark and ironic humor.

Sadly, this was Brett Gurewitz's last album with the band as a full-time member. The best songs here are his work: the title track (If I could fly/High above the world/Would I see a bunch of living dots/Spell the word "Stupidity"?), "Incomplete," "Better Off Dead," "Infected," "Hooray for Me...," "21st Century (Digital Boy)" -- all Gurewitz compositions, all insightful, funny, blistering, without drifting into joyless polemic as Greg Graffin has been known to do.

Final advice: crank up the volume, and play frequently.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the best by BR, but not THE best, April 20, 2005

By 

J. Harris "JHarris" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stranger Than Fiction (Audio CD)

This was the very first Bad Religion album I had ever heard, just as I was starting to get into punk in 7th grade. Years later, I am a huge Bad Religion fan, and if it wasnt for this album, that would not be the case. That being said however, let me make it clear that this is not their best album. Its not even in the top 3. Dont get me wrong, it is a great cd, but in comparison to their earlier recordings on Epitaph, well, it just doesnt compare. Lyrically however, Bad Religion remain on top of their game, despite what some other reviewers on this website say. You CANNOT look at this cd, or any other Bad Religion cd for that matter solely on the basis of music, or you will be missing half of the total package. The strong beliefs and sincerity of the lyrics have influenced me far more than the music has, and I can easily say that I have forgotten about other cds that have sounded like this musically, but just dont compare from a lyrical and intellectual standpoint. If you are a avid Bad Religion fan looking for another album to wet your appetite, then I strongly suggest this record. If you are a new fan looking to purchase your first BR album, then I would have to recommend either Suffer, No Control, or Against the Grain. A great cd none the less, and the one that started my affliction with Bad Religion.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Que?, December 5, 2001

By 

Christian Jorgensen (Denmark) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stranger Than Fiction (Audio CD)

Bad Religion leaving Epitaph for Atlantic?!?!? Selling out? New corporate style? Luckily not so! Bad Religion keeps their style and their attitude intact on this album. The fact remain though that the sound DOES change, it seems more "advanced" and produced than earlier, but the messages does not seem to have been flawed by the change of label(though the reasons for doing so elude me). I read a review where a mr. Brian Seiler claimed that punk rock was getting stupid, and Bad Religion represented this. I can agree to some extent in the first claim, although the second claim I find iresponsible. How can anyone find the lyrics to songs like Television, Slumber or The Handshake dumb?!?! "This album is not meant to be enjoyed on a philosophical level" and "If you read the lyrics to the songs, you'll get the standard flow of I-don't-want-to-grow-up anti-establishment rhetoric...". Does this mean that if something, be that a text or an idea is written so people can actualy understand it, that it is "un-philosophical" or unworthy? What exactly I am to put in to that I am not sure of.
Bottomline is that Bad Religion still offer meaningful and intelligent texts, without compromising.