The same year Descendents released
Milo Goes to College, Bad Religion released their first album,
How Could Hell Be Any Worse?. It's one of the true classics of the early hardcore era, and it hinted at a melodic side, but it was still a much darker record than most of what you'd call "pop punk." It was followed by lineup changes and a surprising turn towards synth-prog-punk (1983's
Into the Unknown), then a return to form (1985's
Back to the Known EP), and then the
How Could Hell Be Any Worse? lineup reunited and wrote
Suffer, which took the sound of Bad Religion's debut album in a decidedly more melodic direction.
Milo Goes to College was pop punk's big bang, but as Fat Mike
put it,
Suffer was "the record that changed everything." It "really changed the course of NOFX from being a hardcore band to a melodic hardcore band," he
said, and I'm sure NOFX aren't the only band who would say that.
Suffer reinvented Bad Religion, put them at the forefront of melodic punk, and influenced basically every punk band who's ever utilized melodic singing, harmonies, and "whoahs." It also turned Bad Religion into the prolific, extremely consistent band that they still are today. They (and guitarist Brett Gurewitz's label Epitaph Records) have basically been constants in every era of the last 30+ years of punk. When pop punk boomed in the mid '90s, Bad Religion were there with a couple major label albums and a few modest hits. (Around this time they also welcomed new guitarist Brian Baker of Dag Nasty, who was naturally a perfect fit.) When it boomed again in the early 2000s, Bad Religion were reinvigorated with great new albums that sounded as fresh as the younger bands Bad Religion helped pave the way for. Even this year, as they celebrate their 40th anniversary (with an
autobiography and a cancelled tour), they're as relevant in the punk scene as the even younger bands who currently populate it. They have a lot of great records, but it all goes back to
Suffer, the album that changed everything for both Bad Religion and the entire pop punk genre.