Stranger than Fiction (Bad Religion album)

Stranger than Fiction is the eighth full-length studio album (tenth release overall) by American punk rock band Bad Religion, released in 1994.

Stranger than Fiction
Studio album by Bad Religion
Released	September 6, 1994 (1994-09-06)
Recorded	April–May 1994
Studio	Rumbo Recorders in Canoga Park, Los Angeles
Genre	Punk rock, melodic hardcore, skate punk,[1] alternative rock[2]
Length	38:28 42:19 (European version)
Label	Atlantic
Producer	Andy Wallace, Bad Religion
Bad Religion chronology
Recipe for Hate (1993) Stranger than Fiction (1994) All Ages (1995)
Singles from Stranger Than Fiction
"21st Century (Digital Boy)" Released: 1994 "Infected" Released: 1994 "Stranger Than Fiction" Released: 1994 "Incomplete" Released: 1995

Release

Stranger Than Fiction was their first album released on the major label Atlantic Records (although that label re-released the previous album, Recipe for Hate), and also its last release with guitarist Brett Gurewitz, who left just prior to the album's 1994-1995 world tour, only to return to the band seven years later. On tour, Gurewitz was replaced by Brian Baker, who would stay with the band permanently.

With sales continuing 26 years after its release, Stranger Than Fiction is one of Bad Religion's most successful albums, featuring two of their well-known hit singles, "Infected" (released on January 6, 1995)[3] and the re-recorded version of "21st Century (Digital Boy)", which both earned airplay on MTV and radio stations, such as KROQ. The album included one more hit single, "Stranger Than Fiction", though the last one, "Incomplete", failed to make any national chart. The album also includes fan favorites, "Leave Mine To Me", "Tiny Voices", "The Handshake", and "Better Off Dead." As of today, Stranger Than Fiction remains the only Bad Religion record to obtain gold status in the United States and Canada. The album was re-released by Epitaph Records on September 15, 2008.

In 2009, Rhino Records released a colored vinyl to coincide with this album's 15th anniversary.

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
Chicago Tribune	[5]
Christgau's Consumer Guide	[6]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[7]
Los Angeles Times	[8]
NME	8/10[9]
Q	[10]
Rolling Stone	[11]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[12]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	7/10[13]

Stranger Than Fiction was released on September 6, 1994 and became the first Bad Religion album distributed via Atlantic Records. On September 24 of that year, the album peaked at number 87 on the Billboard 200 album chart,[14] and on March 4, 1998, also became Bad Religion's first (and only) album to be certified gold in the United States.[15]

AllMusic's Jack Rabid (The Big Takeover) praised this album as a "rare case of selling out in reverse" and songs such as "Leave Mine to Me", "Individual", "Tiny Voices" and "Marked", calling them "all uptempo barnburners, pulverizing in their rapid passion". He also criticizes "'Infected' and 'Television'" as "the two least effective songs of their 15 years, the former a third-rate 'Sanity'", referring to the seventh track on 1989's No Control.

In November 2011, Stranger Than Fiction was ranked number one on Guitar World magazine's top ten list of guitar albums of 1994, with The Offspring's Smash in second place and Weezer's Weezer in third place.[16] Loudwire placed Stranger Than Fiction at No. 9 on its "10 Best Hard Rock Albums of 1994" list.[17] In July 2014, Stranger Than Fiction was featured on Guitar World magazine's "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994" list.[18]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Incomplete"	Gurewitz	2:28
2.	"Leave Mine to Me"	Graffin	2:07
3.	"Stranger Than Fiction"	Gurewitz	2:20
4.	"Tiny Voices"	Graffin	2:36
5.	"The Handshake"	Graffin	2:50
6.	"Better Off Dead"	Gurewitz	2:39
7.	"Infected"	Gurewitz	4:08
8.	"Television" (featuring Tim Armstrong)	Gurewitz, Johnette Napolitano	2:03
9.	"Individual"	Graffin	1:58
10.	"Hooray for Me..."	Gurewitz	2:50
11.	"Slumber"	Graffin	2:39
12.	"Marked" (featuring Jim Lindberg)	Gurewitz	1:48
13.	"Inner Logic"	Graffin	2:58
14.	"What It Is"	Graffin	2:08
15.	"21st Century (Digital Boy)"	Gurewitz	2:47
Total length:			38:28

European and Brazilian bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
16.	"News from the Front"	Gurewitz Bentley Schayer	2:22
17.	"Markovian Process"	Graffin	1:29
Total length:			42:19

Japanese bonus tracks[19]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
16.	"News from the Front"	Gurewitz Bentley Schayer	2:22
17.	"Markovian Process"	Graffin	1:29
18.	"Leaders and Followers"	Graffin	2:40
Total length:			44:59

B-sides

• "Mediocrity" (Graffin) – 2:45

Personnel

• Greg Graffin – lead vocals
• Greg Hetson – guitar
• Brett Gurewitz – guitar, backing vocals
• Jay Bentley – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Bobby Schayer – drums, percussion
• Tim Armstrong of Rancid – guest vocals on "Television"
• Jim Lindberg of Pennywise – guest vocals on "Marked"
• Andy Wallace – production, mixing
• Norman Moore – art direction

Collaborations

• Wayne Kramer (of the MC5) plays lead guitar on opening track "Incomplete".
• Tim Armstrong (of Operation Ivy, Rancid and eventually The Transplants) contributed lead vocals on "Television", which Concrete Blonde's Johnette Napolitano co-wrote with Brett Gurewitz.
• Jim Lindberg (of Pennywise) contributing backing vocals on "Marked"

In pop culture

• "21st Century (Digital Boy)" is a downloadable song for the Rock Band video game. "Infected" also appeared on the first Guitar Hero.
• The Japan only bonus track "Leaders and Followers" was featured in the movie Clerks.
• The song "Inner Logic" was included on the soundtrack for the video game Crazy Taxi.
• Tite Kubo chose "News From the Front" as the theme song of Ichigo Kurosaki, main character of his manga Bleach.
• Progressive rock band Anathema covered the song "Better Off Dead" with female vocals. Anathema's version is very slow and involves mostly piano.
• Early versions of the online game "Punk-O-Matic" used "Tiny Voices" as the opening song.
• New York melodic hardcore punk band After the Fall mentioned Stranger Than Fiction in their song "1994",[20] which appears on their 2009 album Fort Orange.[21]

Re-releases

Stranger Than Fiction was re-released several times, with different labels, covers and formats in different countries (see the table below).[22]

Year	Country	Format	Label	Note
1994	Europe	CD	Sony 477343 2	Bonus Tracks
1994	USA	Vinyl LP	Atlantic 82658-1
1994	Germany	CD	Dragnet DRA 477343 6	Alternative Cover; Bonus Tracks; Collector's Edition
1994	USA	Cassette	Atlantic 82658-4
1994	USA	CD	Atlantic 82658-2
1995	Germany	CD	Dragnet DRA 477343 60	Bonus Tracks
2009	USA	Vinyl LP	Rhino R1 82658	Reissue; Colored Vinyl
2018	USA, Europe	Vinyl LP, CD, Cassette	Epitaph 86994-1	Reissue; Remaster

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year	Chart	Position
1994	The Billboard 200	87

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1994	"21st Century (Digital Boy)"	Modern Rock Tracks	11
	"Stranger Than Fiction"	Modern Rock Tracks	28
1995	"Infected"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	33
		Modern Rock Tracks	27

References

Citations

1. "Bad Religion's 'Age of Unreason' fights ignorance with skate punk | Review". Riffmagazine.com. 2019-05-04. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
2. "How Bad Religion transcended the ages of American punk rock". Nashvillescene.com. 2013-03-14. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
3. Alexander 1995, p. 68
4. Rabid, Jack. "Stranger Than Fiction – Bad Religion". AllMusic. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
5. Kot, Greg (September 29, 1994). "Bad Religion: Stranger Than Fiction (Atlantic)". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
6. Christgau, Robert (2000). "Bad Religion: Stranger Than Fiction". Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s. St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 0-312-24560-2. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
7. Frost, Deborah (September 9, 1994). "Stranger Than Fiction". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
8. Masuo, Sandy (September 25, 1994). "Bad Religion, 'Stranger Than Fiction,' Atlantic". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
9. "Bad Religion: Stranger Than Fiction". NME. October 15, 1994. p. 55.
10. "Bad Religion: Stranger Than Fiction". Q. No. 98. November 1994. p. 105.
11. Kot, Greg (November 3, 1994). "Bad Religion: Stranger Than Fiction". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on May 2, 2005. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
12. Kot, Greg (2004). "Bad Religion". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 36–37. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
13. Gold, Jonathan (1995). "Bad Religion". In Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig (eds.). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. pp. 24–25. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
14. "Stranger Than Fiction's entry at Billboard.com". Billboard.com. February 2016. Archived from the original on March 17, 2006. Retrieved 2007-10-26.
15. "RIAA Certification (type in "Bad Religion" in the artist box)". RIAA. Archived from the original on 2007-06-26. Retrieved 2007-10-26.
16. Grassi, Tony. "Photo Gallery: The Top 10 Guitar Albums of 1994". GuitarWorld.com. Retrieved 2011-11-08.
17. "10 Best Hard Rock Albums of 1994". Loudwire. May 20, 2014. Retrieved May 21, 2014.
18. "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994". GuitarWorld.com. July 14, 2014. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
19. The Bad Religion Page Archived 2010-06-16 at the Wayback Machine
20. "AFTER THE FALL LYRICS - 1994". Plyrics.com. Retrieved 2012-03-10.
21. "After The Fall (2) - Fort Orange at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2012-03-10.
22. "Stranger Than Fiction by Bad Religion : Reviews and Ratings - Rate Your Music". rateyourmusic.com. Retrieved 2008-02-07.

Sources

• Alexander, Shawn (January 6, 1995). "Alternative" (PDF). Radio & Records. ISSN 0277-4860.

External links

• Stranger than Fiction at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)