No Control (Bad Religion album)

No Control
Studio album by Bad Religion
Released	November 2, 1989
Recorded	June 1989 at Westbeach Recorders, Hollywood, California
Genre	Punk rock, hardcore punk
Length	26:25
Label	Epitaph
Producer	Bad Religion
Bad Religion chronology
Suffer (1988) No Control (1989) Against the Grain (1990)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Robert Christgau	(B+)[2]

No Control is the fourth album by American punk rock band Bad Religion, released on November 2, 1989 through Epitaph Records. Bad Religion began work on the album while touring in support of its previous album, Suffer (1988). No Control is stylistically faster than its predecessor, owing more to hardcore punk.

No Control brought Bad Religion a small amount of success in Southern California as the band started to gather a following. The album has sold over 60,000 copies^[3] and is often considered to be a landmark in hardcore punk. Some also consider No Control to be their finest effort,^[4] containing "Change of Ideas", "Big Bang", "No Control", "I Want to Conquer the World" and "You", all of which are staples of their live show to this day.

Background and recording

After a long-term hiatus, Bad Religion reformed in 1987 with a new lineup, releasing the studio album Suffer in 1988. Although Suffer was not a commercial success, the band earned a growing fan base in the underground music community and critical acclaim with that album and it managed to sell 4,000 copies.^[5] While Bad Religion continued touring in support of Suffer, Greg Graffin and Brett Gurewitz began writing songs in late 1988/early 1989 for the band's next record. Bassist Jay Bentley commented on the making of No Control, "songs were being written all the time. I wouldn't go so far as to say an 'album's worth', but during the U.S. and subsequent European tour into '89, lots of ideas were coming to fruition. I would think that more songs were written during the down time between tours and 'perfected' on the road."^[3] Recording for No Control took place in June 1989 at Westbeach Recorders (where Suffer and the band's later albums were recorded) and it was the first Bad Religion album done on a half-inch two track, which was a big step up for them. Gurewitz noted that he put every track through a compellor by using Aphex Systems, but eventually hated the "weird sound". In the mix, he therefore tried to undo all the compression, and as a result, he has stated that he now likes its "aggressive and distinctive" sound.^[3][6] Contrary to rumor, "21st Century (Digital Boy)" (which appears on Against the Grain and again on Stranger than Fiction) was not written and recorded for this album.^[7]

Release and reception

No Control was released through Epitaph Records on November 2, 1989. By the time it was released, Bad Religion had become one of the most critically praised hardcore punk bands of the time, in spite of lack of mainstream success. 12,000 copies of No Control were originally shipped, and later ended up selling 60,000,^[3] making a grand total of 72,000 copies. Imported copies of No Control to West Germany were repackaged with a limited edition bootleg 7" of the Bad Religion EP.

The album has received generally favorable reviews in the years since its initial release, with several reviewers having deemed No Control one of Bad Religion's best^[8][9] albums. Allmusic's Johnny Loftus said that it "simply and forcefully continued the shift, delivering a pummel of melodic songwriting made sharp by Greg Graffin's populist cynicism and the stinging barbs of a twin-guitar strike...", and addressed it to be "welcome, as it makes the band sound that much more direct on principal cuts."^[10]

Track listing

Side one
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Change of Ideas"	Graffin	0:55
2.	"Big Bang"	Gurewitz	1:42
3.	"No Control"	Graffin	1:46
4.	"Sometimes I Feel Like"	Gurewitz	1:34
5.	"Automatic Man"	Gurewitz	1:40
6.	"I Want to Conquer the World"	Gurewitz	2:19
7.	"Sanity"	Gurewitz	2:44

Side two
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
8.	"Henchman"	Graffin	1:07
9.	"It Must Look Pretty Appealing"	Graffin	1:23
10.	"You"	Gurewitz	2:05
11.	"Progress"	Graffin	2:14
12.	"I Want Something More"	Gurewitz	0:47
13.	"Anxiety"	Graffin	2:08
14.	"Billy"	Gurewitz	1:54
15.	"The World Won't Stop"	Graffin	1:57

Release history

Label	Release Date	Notes
Epitaph Records	November 2, 1989	The tray card and back cover feature an image of a collage with the band members' faces. The lyrics and the credits can be seen in the booklet.
Epitaph Records	April 6, 2004	Remastered, along with How Could Hell Be Any Worse?, Suffer, Against the Grain and Generator. Same as above, except there is an image of a groupshot of the band, which can be seen inside the tray card.

Notes/Trivia

• Track 2, "Big Bang" was featured on video game Tony Hawk's Underground.
• Track 3, "No Control" quotes Scottish natural historian James Hutton,^[11] "no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end."^[12]
• Track 3, "No Control" is featured on Rock Band as a downloadable song for the game's series, along with "New Dark Ages" (from the band's 2007 album New Maps of Hell).^[13] It is also playable in Lego Rock Band.
• Track 4, "Sometimes It Feels Like..." was labeled as "Sometimes I Feel Like... *?!%+!*" on the disc to the original CD version.
• Track 10, "You" was featured on video game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 as in-game song and as song in the video of Rodney Mullen when you completed the game.
• Track 10, "You" contains the famous lyrics "there's no time for fussing and fighting, my friend," a direct quotation of the famous Beatles song, "We Can Work It Out."
• Track 14, "Billy" was erroneously labeled as "Bizzy" on the cassette version.
• Track 15, "The World Won't Stop" was also labeled as "The World Won't Stop Without You" on the disc to the original CD version. Also, in some software-based audio players and CD rippers that use CD lookup databases such as CDDB, "The World Won't Stop" is tagged as "The World Won't Stop Without You".
• No Control (along with Suffer) is also referenced in the song "21st Century (Digital Boy)" (from 1990's Against the Grain and 1994's Stranger Than Fiction), when band's guitarist Brett Gurewitz sings "tried to tell you about no control, but now I really don't know, and then you told me how bad you had to suffer, is that really all you have to offer".

Credits

• Greg Graffin – lead vocals
• Greg Hetson – guitar
• Brett Gurewitz – guitar, backing vocals
• Jay Bentley – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Pete Finestone – drums, percussion

• Eddie Schreyer – mastering
• Norman Moore – art direction
• Pierre Deauville – art direction

References

1. ^ Allmusic review
2. ^ Robert Christgau review
3. ^ ^{a b c d} No Control (album) - The Bad Religion Page
4. ^ "Epitaph.com". http://www.epitaph.com/artists/album/357. 
5. ^ Suffer (album) - The Bad Religion Page
6. ^ Brett's commentary on the making of No Control (listen to it here)
7. ^ "21st Century (Digital Boy)". The Bad Religion Page. http://www.thebrpage.net/theanswer/?article=21st_century_(digital_boy). Retrieved 2011-05-10. 
8. ^ juanse. "Review for No Control". Punknews.org. http://www.punknews.org/review/386. Retrieved 2010-12-01. 
9. ^ Dwayne_Pearce. "Review for No Control". Sputnikmusic.com. http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/4365/Bad-Religion-No-Control/. Retrieved 2010-12-01. 
10. ^ Johnny Loftus. "Review for No Control". Allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/album/no-control-r1157/review. Retrieved 2010-12-01. 
11. ^ Greg Graffin (1989). "Lyrics, No Control". http://www.altmusic.ru/bands/BadReligion/NoControl.html. "there's no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end (Hutton, 1795)" 
12. ^ Keith Stewart Thomson (May/June 2001). "Vestiges of James Hutton". American Scientist V. 89 #3 p. 212. http://www.americanscientist.org/template/AssetDetail/assetid/14681. 
13. ^ http://www.punknews.org/article/39100