Skip to content
Bad Religion: How Could Hell Be Any Worse 12” (1982)
Sup gang? I’m popping back in the newsletter to tell y’all about something I’m excited about. I crossed a big one off my want list recently. I scooped up Bad Religion’s first LP, How Could Hell Be Any Worse? last week and I haven’t felt this excited about a record score in a while. For me, this is one of the best hardcore records of all time. Or if nothing else, I’m just really nostalgic about it. Songs like “Latch Key Kids” and “Fuck Armageddon This Is Hell” will always make me start fist pumping to the beat. It has a distinctly melodic and driving southern California sound I love. But obviously, what separates Bad Religion from a lot of their contemporaries is their lyrics. Even as teenagers, Greg Graffin and Brett Gurewitz were writing about philosophy, science, and politics in a manner most punks didn’t dive into. As their career progresses over the years, I find their lyrics to be a little pretentious, but this album is the perfect mix of ripping hardcore and snotty intellect. I’m sort of a Bad Religion apologist and love most eras of the band, but it doesn’t get much better than this right here. Hell yes.
Catch ya next time!