Bad Religion - Suffer

Like a breath of fresh Californian Pacific seaboard coastal air, Suffer revitalised the otherwise generic and stale West Coast hardcore scene of the late 80s. Despite the overwhelmingly pessimistic theme of the album title, song titles and the vast majority of its lyrical content, Suffer still sounds incredibly upbeat, bright, and full of promise, even more so back in 1988 when it was set against the exhausting misanthropic nihilism of D-beat hardcore and anarcho-punk revivalism.

Punk rock had finally grown up. 

As Fat Mike of NOFX correctly surmised, this was "the record that changed everything." Despite initial distribution snagging, Suffer was a slow-release timebomb that continued to smolder throughout the US and Europe well into late 1989, even beyond the release of its follow-up No Control, released just over a year later. From the opening throttle of You Are (The Government) to its closer, the curiously uplifting Pessimistic Lines, it’s punk rock perfection. “You never know what’s going to work until you try it,” Greg Graffin told writer Ian Winwood in Smash!: Green Day, The Offspring, Bad Religion, NOFX, and the '90s Punk Explosion. “And I do think there’s a real freedom of expression that comes through on Suffer.”

Obviously ripped to MP3

1 - You Are (The Government) 1:19
2 - 1000 More Fools 1:34
3 - How Much Is Enough? 1:22
4 - When? 1:38
5 - Give You Nothing 1:57
6 - Land of Competition 2:00
7 - Forbidden Beat 1:53
8 - Best for You 1:57
9 - Suffer 1:45
10 - Delirium of Disorder 1:37
11 - Part II (The Numbers Game) 1:38
12 - What Can You Do? 2:44
13 - Do What You Want 1:05
14 - Part IV (The Index Fossil) 2:05
15 - Pessimistic Lines 1:07