Bad Religion turn 40 this year and will celebrate with the release of an autobiography entitled Do What You Want: The Story Of Bad Religion.
The book is a collaborative effort written by founding members Greg Graffin, guitarist Brett Gurewitz and bassist Jay Bentley together with the former Minor Threat guitarist Brian Baker who joined the band in 1996 for the album The Gray Race and punk-inspired music journo Jim Ruland.
Fans first heard about the book via Twitter, with a post saying “Do What You Want – An autobiographical account of us!”. It’s available for preorder now but will not be released until August 18, 2020.
Do What You Want – An autobiographical account of us! Available for pre-order in all the usual places. Written with our friend @JimVermin , thanks Jim, we did it! #RIF #dowhatyouwant @HachetteBooks pic.twitter.com/OucPvpJAzh
— Bad Religion (@badreligion) January 8, 2020
Bad Religion formed in 1980 in Los Angeles and quickly became the catalyst for the soon-to-come punk scene of Southern California. Their first album How Could Hell Be Any Worse? was released in 1982 and was fast-paced and lo-fi, but just ever-so-slightly more melodic than the other punk around at the time. By the 90s they had carved out a niche for themselves with commercially successful singles 21st Century Digital Boy and The Gray Race.
Fans who can’t wait until August to read about Bad Religion should grab themselves a copy of Greg Graffin’s 2010 book Anarchy Evolution or his 2007 book Is Belief In God Good, Bad, or Irrelevant? which was written in collaboration with the Christian historian Preston Jones.
Graffin has a Ph.D. in zoology and has lectured at UCLA. He has an ancient bird whose fossil was found in modern day China named after him – Qiliania graffini.
Watch Bad Religion’s American Jesus here:
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