Our journey begins in 1983, when Bad Religion(BR) released Into the Unknown, an album that is distinctly credited with killing off the then Southern California punk scene. After coaxing original member Brett Gurewitz back into the mix, BR released Suffer in 1988. Suffer is the album that is single-handedly credited with breathing life back into the SoCal punk scene. The album concentrated on delivering lyrics that defined the band's sound as well as conveyed their ideas. On top of that, a number of publications voted Suffer as their album of the year.

Songs like "You Are (The Government)," "Delirium and Disorder," "Suffer," and "Do What You Want" make the album worth the listen. It is very bold in its songwriting, yet it shows the band's willingness to expand from traditional three-chord punk to more musically inclined harmonies and rhythms.

The very next year BR released No Control. This is one of the best albums I own. Lyrically and musically, it still has the ability to beat me senseless, drag me through the mud, then throw me down the stairs with its hard guitars and drums in songs like "I Want to Conquer the World" and "Automatic Man." The sound is a little rawer than Suffer, but evidence of perfecting the album in its production is present. No Control is the first in the series of Bad Religion albums to spotlight the band's ability to add two and three part vocal harmonies into their recordings. Songs like "You" and "Billy" are perfect examples of Greg Graffin singing dynamically while Gurewitz and bassist Jay Bentley back him up.

So there you have it, never mind the Sex Pistols, Bad Religion is the band that had, and still does have, a major influence on the world of punk rock. 20 years old and still going strong, Bad Religion used the 1980's to build their reputation in the world of punk rock, the 90's to dominate it, and in 2000 and the years to come it's evident that their job is "to keep punk rock elite."