Suffer (album)
Suffer is the third album by American punk rock band Bad Religion, released on the Californian independent record label Epitaph Records on September 8, 1988. It was the first album that was both released and distributed by the label. Following the release of the EP Back to the Known (1985), Bad Religion went on a temporary hiatus, then reunited with its original members (except drummer Jay Ziskrout) and went to work on their first full-length studio album in five years. Although Suffer did not chart on the Billboard 200, it has been cited by some critics as one of the most important punk rock albums of all time. A plethora of third-wave punk bands cite Suffer as a major inspiration, including NOFX's Fat Mike, who called it "the record that changed everything." NOFX later referenced the album with their 2001 EP, Surfer. The songs, "You Are (The Government)", "1000 More Fools", "How Much Is Enough?", "Land of Competition", "Best For You", "Suffer", "What Can You Do?", and "Do What You Want", are all fan favorites, and a few of those are staples of their live show. Up until 2018, the only song from Suffer that was never performed live was "Part IV (The Index Fossil)" which finally received its live premiere that year at the Troubadour in West Hollywood on May 2nd. Background and recording After experiencing line-up changes and releasing their second album, Into the Unknown (1983), to commercial failure, Bad Religion and their label Epitaph Records called it quits. Vocalist Greg Graffin and drummer Pete Finestone reformed the band with guitarist Greg Hetson of Circle Jerks, who had guested on their debut album How Could Hell Be Any Worse? (1982), and bassist Tim Gallegos of Wasted Youth. They released the Back to the Known (1985) EP, and after a year of constant touring, Gallegos left and was replaced by former Bad Religion member Jay Bentley, who had also played in Wasted Youth. Some months later, former Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz, who was recovering from drug problems, filled in for Hetson during one show and eventually re-joined the band. By 1987, Gurewitz struggled to find some kind of employment. After taking some vocational courses and a raft of odd jobs, he became a studio engineer and owner of a recording studio, Westbeach Recorders. Gurewitz noted, "I really enjoyed, still enjoy, being a recording engineer, but I had a terrible time trying to make any money. And my hours were horrible. I just knew I wanted to be in music. Then, in 1987, Bad Religion said, 'Hey man, why don't we get the group back together?". After Bad Religion finally reunited, they began writing new material and entered Westbeach Recorders in April 1988 to record their next album. According to Gurewitz, the album took eight days for the band to record and mix. During recording sessions, the band even demoed a revamped version of "Fuck Armageddon...This Is Hell", a track previously released on How Could Hell Be Any Worse?.