Product Description

Bad Religion is punk-rock's Bonnie Raitt, a cult band that persisted and persisted until the world finally came around to them. Around the time Robert Johnson's old Delta blues records started selling in the hundreds of thousands, Raitt started collecting platinum records and Grammys; likewise, in the era of Nirvana's and Green Day's run up the charts, Bad Religion began seeing big returns for the same kind of records they used to make for peanuts.
STRANGER THAN FICTION is where Bad Religion cashes in--at the alternative register,anyway. Far from a sell-out, it's a confident reaffirmationof all the band's strengths: anthemic rhythm-guitar hooks that are equal parts 70's punk, 80's hardcore and classic heavy metal; a fast but super-tight rhythm section; unswervingly political lyrics; and, in defiant contrast to all of the above, pop harmonies. Songs like "Incomplete", "Stranger ThanFiction" and "Handshake" (which equates record-company business deals with class and race warfare) enter your head as hurricanes of information about the world's ills. They remainthere because they're built upon blistering punk-rock guitar hooks.

Track Listing

1. Incomplete
2. Leave Mine To Me
3. Stranger Than Fiction
4. Tiny Voices
5. Handshake
6. Better Off Dead
7. Infected
8. Television
9. Individual
10. Hooray For Me
11. Slumber
12. Marked
13. Inner Logic
14. What Is It
15. 21st Century (Digital Boy)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #47686 in Music
• Released on: 1999-01-25
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

SLUMBER WILL COME SOON
stranger than fiction has got everything you expect from a bad religion album...and more.packed with classic tracks to sing along to HOT TRACKS . tiny voices .stranger than fiction . individuals .

Arguably the finest
This album was the first Bad Religion CD I bought, and it remains perhaps my favourite to this day. It certainly contains several excellent songs, most notably 'Tiny Voices', 'Better Off Dead', 'Marked', 'Inner Logic' and the best version of 'Digital Boy', not to mention the deftly written title track.

I find 'Stranger Than Fiction' represents a middle ground between the saw-edged and caustic approach of 'Recipe For Hate' and 'Generator' on one hand, and the less angry but more mature musicianship of 'The Grey Race' and 'No Substance' on the other. This album is the point of balance between the two, and is all the better for it, incorporating the strengths of both of the aforementioned varieties of BR.

Accessible to newcomers and an enduring bastion of quality for established fans, 'Stranger Than Fiction' is one of the high points of Bad Religion's career, in this reviewer's opinion.

BR proves that they didn't sell out
Bad Religion may have signed to a major label, but they certainly didn't sell out. This album proves it, with some of the catchiest tunes and most intelligent lyrics they ever wrote. The European CD also has 17 tracks while the US CD has 15, so that's an added bonus.

1. Incomplete 8/10 - Cool lyrics but the chorus irritates me a bit ("Incomplete, incomplete, incomplete, incomplete...")
2. Leave Mine to Me 8/10 - Again, great lyrics but not very good musically.
3. Stranger Than Ficition 10/10 - One of the best on the CD, very catchy and with great lyrics containing literary references!
4. Tiny Voices 6/10 - My least favourite on the CD although lots of fans seem to love it. Pretty good lyrics.
5. The Handshake 10/10 - Best track on the CD, cool lyrics and a surprisingly uplifting bit at the end ("Fend for yourself...")
6. Better Off Dead 10/10 - One of the most moving songs BR ever wrote. Can be viewed as a love song, or a song about God. I prefer the latter.
7. Infected 9/10 - This is the BR song that everyone seems to know, the chorus is catchy but the bad grammar in the chorus bothers me :P
8. Television 10/10 - Most underrated song ever! This song rocks especially with Tim Armstrong doing the vocals.
9. Individual 9/10 - Some more great lyrics and a semi-catchy chorus thing. I totally agree with the message of this song.
10. Hooray For Me... 10/10 - I heard the band hate this song! I don't know why, it's catchy, and it's one of BR's rare autobiographical songs. Hooray for me...!
11. Slumber 10/10 - Another very underrated song, the lyrics fascinate me and it's got a cool solo.
12. Marked 10/10 - I love Pennywise so it's cool to have Jim on the track, even though you can't really hear him. Catchy chorus.
13. Inner Logic 10/10 - Best lyrics BR ever wrote (better than "1000 More Fools". This is a great song and is slightly different musically from the rest.
14. What It Is 8/10 - Like the earlier tracks, this song has great lyrics but it's nothing special musically.
15. 21st Century (Digital Boy) 7/10 - Doesn't hold a candle to the Against the Grain version. Sounds like a crappy demo version compared to that.
16. News From the Front 8/10 - European bonus track about AIDS. Nice lyrics but the chorus irratates me (reminds me of "Incomplete")
17. Markovian Process 10/10 - Why didn't this get onto the US CD instead of "Tiny Voices" or the butchering of "21st Century..."?

Overall, some weaker tracks but the good tracks make up for it. A kind of return to form after "Recipe For Hate" (although I do love that album). Peace :)