10 Punk Rock Bands That Never Sold Out
3. Bad Religion
No other band has really epitomized the mentality of 'do it yourself' better than Bad Religion. You have to remember that these guys were just kids when they were getting the ball rolling, and Brett Gurewitz's little upstart label to promote his band turned into the monumental Epitaph Records just a few years later. These guys did have the one thing that no one else in the punk scene could really grasp: melody.
Throughout every decade of their evolution, Bad Religion were the progenitors of the melodic hardcore scene, with punk rock songs that still managed to sneak in some harmony work in the vocals every now and again. Just because you can sing along to it doesn't mean it lost its edge though, with the later period with Brooks Wackerman behind the drumkit getting even more ferocious as the years played out.
Aside from their little experiment Into the Unknown all the way back in the early '80s, every one of Bad Religion's albums is a great way to get the average joe into the realm of real punk rock, where the lyrics were concerned about how you treated your fellow man and guitars that hit like sledgehammers whenever you turned it on. If anything, it's a miracle that the major labels never got too involved with them. Considering what happens on the poppier side of the spectrum, Atlantic Records probably don't deserve something this ferocious.