Bad Religion Suffer

After disintegrating in 1985 and nearly succumbing to personal turmoil, Bad Religion tentatively reunited in 1987 and rediscovered itself with 1989’s Suffer, a wholly focused, sober, and scholarly piece of punk rock. Songs like "1000 More Fools," "Suffer," and "When?" put Bad Religion at the vanguard of a new wave of punk principles. Brett Gurewitz and Greg Hetson created a guitar-based assault that's as thick as it is quick, but the band's brain and soul came from singer Greg Graffin. Even when he was singing Gurewitz’s words—the pair split the lyrics on Suffer—Graffin was perhaps the first punk vocalist who showed it was possible to be hyper-articulate and direct at the same time. His lyrics spoke to the suburban teenager shown aflame in the album art. But rather than indoctrinate that teen with nihilism, “Delirium of Disorder” spouted philosophy and science: “Yeah, I am just an atom in an ectoplasmic sea/Without direction or a reason to exist/The anechoic nebula rotating in my brain/Is persuading me contritely to persist.”