Against the Grain (Bad Religion album) Information & Against the Grain (Bad Religion album) Links at HealthHaven.com

Against the Grain
Studio album by Bad Religion
Released	November 23, 1990
Recorded	May 1990 at Westbeach Recorders, Hollywood, California
Genre	Punk rock
Length	34:27
Label	Epitaph
Producer	Bad Religion
Professional reviews
	Allmusic link; Robert Christgau link;
Bad Religion chronology

Against the Grain is the fifth album (and seventh release overall) by punk rock band Bad Religion released on November 23, 1990.^[1] This is the last album recorded with drummer Pete Finestone who left in 1991 to concentrate with his new project The Fishermen. Following his departure, the band's music would take a different direction on their next album, 1992's Generator.

Like Bad Religion's albums up to Generator, Against the Grain was remastered on April 6, 2004. As of 2008, the album's original pressing has been out of print. Against the Grain also marked the 10th anniversary of Bad Religion playing together after their formation.

[edit] Release and reception

Against the Grain was released shortly after the conclusion of the No Control Tour which had lasted until the middle of 1990. The album was highly anticipated by both music critics and fans as a result of the band's success with their 1988 post-reunion album Suffer and its 1989 follow-up No Control. While Against the Grain still failed to break Bad Religion into mainstream audiences, it was the first 100,000 seller, and showed how quickly they were growing.

Like the last two Bad Religion albums, Against the Grain is considered by many to be the band's greatest album, and it contains many songs that are constantly cited as the band's best, including "Faith Alone", "21st Century (Digital Boy)", "Anesthesia," "Walk Away," and "Modern Man."^{[citation needed]} More than just an influential album, Against The Grain gave many punk fans and many punk bands hope for the survival of punk in the 90s.^{[citation needed]}

The album's 13th track, "21st Century (Digital Boy)", was re-recorded and appeared on their eighth full-length studio album Stranger Than Fiction, released in 1994; four years after the release of Against the Grain, and became a single.

[edit] Album cover

The album cover of Against the Grain symbolizes anti-violence. It depicts rows of corn that, with the exception of one, bear right-facing, missile-tipped stalks. The lone ear of corn faces left, hence the album title.

[edit] Track listing

Side one
#	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Modern Man"	Graffin	1:58
2.	"Turn on the Light"	Gurewitz	1:24
3.	"Get Off"	Graffin	1:43
4.	"Blenderhead"	Gurewitz	1:12
5.	"The Positive Aspect of Negative Thinking"	Bentley	0:57
6.	"Anesthesia"	Gurewitz	3:04
7.	"Flat Earth Society"	Gurewitz	2:23
8.	"Faith Alone"	Graffin	3:40

Side two
#	Title	Writer(s)	Length
9.	"Entropy"	Graffin	2:24
10.	"Against the Grain"	Graffin	2:09
11.	"Operation Rescue"	Graffin	2:08
12.	"God Song"	Graffin	1:38
13.	"21st Century (Digital Boy)"	Gurewitz	2:50
14.	"Misery and Famine"	Graffin	2:35
15.	"Unacceptable"	Hetson, Bentley	1:44
16.	"Quality or Quantity"	Graffin	1:34
17.	"Walk Away"	Gurewitz	1:52

[edit] Release history

Label	Release date	Notes
Epitaph Records	November 23, 1990	The tray card features an image of an arrow behind a corn in purple background. The back cover has the same image, but the background is white and the corn is yellow. The lyrics and the credits can be seen in the booklet as well as images of the band members.
Epitaph Records	April 6, 2004	Remastered, along with How Could Hell Be Any Worse?, Suffer, No Control and Generator. Same as above, except this version feaures a different front cover and the track listing, which can be seen inside the tray card.

[edit] References

^ Although the album was released in November 1990, the re-released version in 2004 erroneously notes 1991 as the original release date, causing some confusion. Some sources also list 1991 as the release date (including some fan sites, lyrics sites, Tower.com, etc).

[edit] Personnel

Greg Graffin – vocals
Brett Gurewitz – guitar, backing vocals
Greg Hetson – guitar
Jay Bentley – bass guitar, backing vocals
Pete Finestone – drums
The Legendary Starbolt – mixing
Eddie Schreyer – mastering
Joy Aoki – art direction

[date-0] Although the album was released in November 1990, the re-released version in 2004 erroneously notes 1991 as the original release date, causing some confusion. Some sources also list 1991 as the release date (including some fan sites, lyrics sites, Tower.com, etc).

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