The Dissent of Man

The Dissent of Man
Studio album by Bad Religion
Released	September 28, 2010
Recorded	May–June 2010
Genre	Punk rock, alternative rock
Length	40:51
Label	Epitaph
Producer	Joe Barresi
Bad Religion chronology
30 Years Live (2010) The Dissent of Man (2010) True North (2013)
Singles from The Dissent of Man
"The Devil in Stitches" Released: July 27, 2010 "Cyanide" Released: November 2010 "Wrong Way Kids" Released: April 2011

The Dissent of Man is the fifteenth album by the Californian punk rock band Bad Religion, which was released on September 28, 2010. It is their first album in three years, following the release of New Maps of Hell in 2007. The band commenced writing new material in 2008, but would not begin studio work until May 2010. The writing and recording process spanned two years and was slowed down considerably by touring schedules. The album was finally finished in June 2010. Some of the material ("The Resist Stance", which originally appeared on the live album 30 Years Live, and an updated version of "Won't Somebody", which was a bonus track on the deluxe edition of previous album New Maps of Hell) was originally performed live by Bad Religion on its 30th anniversary tour in early 2010. "The Devil in Stitches" was released as a single to accompany the release of this album, while "Cyanide" and "Wrong Way Kids" also received radio airplay.

The Dissent of Man marked the first time since its formation in 1979 that a Bad Religion line-up had not changed in four consecutive studio recordings. The song "The Resist Stance" is featured in the 2010 racing video game Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit.

Background and recording

Work for The Dissent of Man dates back to June 2008, when bassist Jay Bentley revealed in an interview at the Pinkpop Festival in Landgraaf, Netherlands that guitarist Brett Gurewitz had already started writing new material for the next Bad Religion album. He also revealed that Bad Religion was planning to return to the studio after frontman Greg Graffin teaches UCLA to start work on the album planned for a June 2009 release.^[1] However, in December 2008, Bentley revealed that, due to Bad Religion's upcoming touring commitments for 2009, the band would not have a chance to record their new album until around the end of the year, for an expected 2010 release date.^[2]

In December 2009, Bentley revealed to the fan site The Bad Religion Page that the band was expected to go into the studio on April 26, 2010 to start recording their new album. He stated that a few songs for the album had been written and "it feels like the songwriting is picking up momentum. Baker said he was going to drive up to Graffin's, Brooks and I are going to do some demos with Brett, so we have a pretty good jump."^[3] In the following month, Bentley revealed that Bad Religion would record their new album at a studio in Pasadena, California with Joe Barresi, who produced New Maps of Hell and engineered its 2004 predecessor The Empire Strikes First.^[4] Despite the statement made by Bentley about entering the studio in April, he noted that the recording date was now May 1.^[5] On April 6, 2010, Bentley revealed in an interview with KROQ's Kevin and Bean that the date on which the band would record their new album was now May 6.^[6]

On May 12, 2010 (Gurewitz's 48th birthday), Bentley posted an update on their Facebook page regarding the recording process of the album:

First week of recording at Joe [Barresi]'s house of compression and Brooks [Wackerman] gets the medal for "super-ass-kicking". Brian [Baker] has finished 14 basics... a couple more to go. I started getting some good bass sounds late, late last night, the liver wins the shootout again. Brett [Gurewitz] is playing late night tracks on his birthday, some way to celebrate! Happy birthday B.G.! Quote of the day; BG – "What percentage of the sound is coming from the snakeskin?". Ha ha... working of album titles and ideas today. It's all coming together. Joe [Barresi] says the corn flavored Kit Kats are gross, but the wasabi ones are quite delicious... get back to work. Work, work, work. Will send photo's [sic] soon.^[7]

— Jay Bentley

In an interview at the Azkena Rock Festival in Spain on June 26, 2010, Wackerman and Bentley revealed that the album would be called The Dissent of Man and would be released on September 28.^[8]

On July 27, 2010, anyone who was a member of the Bad Religion mailing list received a link showing the album art and song list. Additionally, some members of the mailing list received a set of links. One allowed them to listen to the first single from the album, "The Devil in Stitches".^[9] The others were to get "first dibs" on pre-sale for the album and merchandise.

On September 21, 2010 the full album was made available for streaming on Bad Religion's MySpace page.

Promotion and release

The Dissent of Man debuted at #35 on the Billboard 200 chart and at #6 on the Billboard Independent Albums chart.^[10]

The album's lead single "The Devil in Stitches" enjoyed some success on the charts, reaching #39 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks, while it reached #38 on the Rock Songs chart.^[11] In mid-November 2010, KROQ began playing the second single "Cyanide".^[12] A month earlier, Bad Religion announced plans to make a video for "Wrong Way Kids", to which the band was looking for "old punk rock photos to use in the video." Fans were required to submit their photos at the Wrong Way Kids website or by e-mail.^[13] After months of speculation, the video for "Wrong Way Kids" was premiered on April 19, 2011.

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	75/100 link
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[14]
Kerrang!	(Issue No. 1330)
Rock Sound	link
Spin	link
The Music Cycle	link
Punknews.org	link
The A.V. Club	B- link
BLARE Magazine	link

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"The Day That the Earth Stalled"	Graffin	1:23
2.	"Only Rain"	Gurewitz	2:43
3.	"The Resist Stance"	Graffin	2:32
4.	"Won't Somebody"	Gurewitz	2:42
5.	"The Devil in Stitches"	Gurewitz	3:28
6.	"Pride and the Pallor"	Graffin	2:56
7.	"Wrong Way Kids"	Gurewitz	2:43
8.	"Meeting of the Minds"	Graffin	2:06
9.	"Someone to Believe"	Graffin	2:38
10.	"Avalon"	Graffin	3:28
11.	"Cyanide"	Gurewitz	3:55
12.	"Turn Your Back on Me"	Gurewitz	2:24
13.	"Ad Hominem"	Graffin	3:27
14.	"Where the Fun Is"	Gurewitz	3:04
15.	"I Won't Say Anything"	Gurewitz	3:22
Total length:			40:51

Deluxe Digital Download Tracks
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
16.	"Finite"	Graffin	3:51
17.	"Best for You" (Live)	Graffin	2:09
18.	"Pessimistic Lines" (Live)	Graffin	1:15
19.	"How Much Is Enough?" (Live)	Gurewitz	1:33
20.	"Generator" (Live)	Gurewitz	3:36

Personnel

• Greg Graffin – vocals
• Brett Gurewitz – guitar, backing vocals
• Brian Baker – guitar
• Greg Hetson – guitar
• Jay Bentley – bass, backing vocals
• Brooks Wackerman – drums
• Joe Barresi – producer
• Mike Campbell – guitar on "Cyanide"
• Gavin Caswell - Guitar Tech
• Mike Fasano - Drum Tech

References

1. alex101 (27 June 2010). "Bad Religion looks ahead to 2009 album".
2. alex101 (3 December 2008). "Bad Religion to release next album in 2010?".
3. Marty (12 December 2009). "Bad Religion plans to hit the studio in April for a fall release".
4. Jesse (28 January 2010). "Minor League news #12".
5. Marty (16 February 2010). "2/16/2010–2010 Album diary".
6. Jesse (5 April 2010). "Bad Religion on KROQ – Download available + pics".
7. Jay Bentley (12 May 2010). "Bad Religion: studio update".
8. Jesse (27 June 2010). "New album title revealed!".
9. "Devil In Stitches Preview Page".
10. "Music Albums, Top 200 Albums & Music Album Charts". Billboard.com. Retrieved 2012-02-14.
11. "The Dissent of Man - Bad Religion". AllMusic. 2010-09-28. Retrieved 2012-02-14.
12. "New Music From Bad Religion And Broken Bells; Muse’s ‘Undisclosed Desires’ Ascending On KROQ’s Most-Played List".
13. "Bad Religion to make a video for Wrong Way Kids | News from the front | The Bad Religion Page - Since 1995". Thebrpage.net. Retrieved 2012-02-14.
14. "Allmusic review".

External links

• The Dissent of Man at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)