Oh my gosh, you won’t believe it! Background Punk Rock Songs is this awesome Bad Religion compilation that was released by Sony/Epic/Dragnet in Europe, Germany, and Japan. It’s filled with all these amazing songs from 1994 to 2000, including some b-sides and live tracks. And guess what? There’s even a DVD that has all their music videos from that same time period. How cool is that?
Okay, so here’s the thing. The compilation was actually released without the band’s consent, but legally the label had the right to do it. Jay, one of the band members, considers it to be “official” releases. So even though the band didn’t have anything to do with it, it’s still considered legit.
The compilation came out on April 22, 2002 in Europe, Germany, and Japan, through Sony/Epic/Dragnet. But here’s the funny part, even though it came out after their album The Process of Belief, none of the songs from that album are included. Why? Well, Bad Religion had already moved back to Epitaph by then. Two years later, in 2004, the DVD was released, but only in Germany and Mexico. It’s pretty famous for having this awesome video of their song “Do What You Want.”
Oh, and let’s not forget about the artwork! The CD cover and the DVD cover are both super cool.
Now, Jay has something to say about all this. He thinks that even though the compilation is “official” because it’s just a collection of songs they recorded and released on a label they were signed to, he doesn’t think it’s very good. And he’s not entirely sure, but he’s pretty certain that the band had nothing to do with it. You see, the band had two recording contracts, one with Atlantic/Warner for North America, and one with Sony/Dragnet for the rest of the world. Punk Rock Songs was released by Sony outside of North America, but it was never approved by the band. But hey, that doesn’t really matter, right?
References:
[1] The BR Page – Forum
[2] https://www.thebrpage.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=5267&KW=Punk%20Rock%20songs&PID=98713&title=ask-jay-part-3&fbclid=IwAR0HF9
This content was originally written by the badass contributors of thebrpage.net, the best superfan resource and website that exists for any band, let alone the best band in the whole entire world. I’ve been lurking on that site for over 20 years and if you’re into Bad Religion as much as I am, I’m sure you’re familiar. If you are not, go there right now and never come back to this site again. You should, and I totally understand.
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