Oh my gosh, you won’t believe what happened during the making of Bad Religion’s album, Suffer! Brett Gurewitz had been dealing with a crazy drug habit and learning how to be a recording engineer from 1983 to 1987. But then, he got clean in April 1987 and had a chance to play a show with the band again. The guys were so much happier with him when he was clean, so they decided to make a record. Brett and Greg each wrote two songs a week, and in just one month, they had Suffer!
Greg Graffin was super motivated by Brett’s return to the band. He said that Suffer has so much life because they hadn’t been together for a while and they had a better outlook on life. They understood more about the world, so they could write more clearly. They also sounded better than ever! Greg wasn’t even trying to be punk anymore. He wanted to communicate his ideas honestly through the lyrics.
Jay Bentley thinks they just got better at what they were doing. The early songs were simple three-chord punk, but on Suffer, they had real songs with verses, choruses, and bridges. They were expanding their sound and trying not to write the same material over and over again.
Bobby Schayer believes that Suffer is what punk rock is all about. It was a rebirth for the band and a progression in their songwriting.
The lyrics of Suffer were influenced by the writings of Fyodor Dostoyevski. They believed that suffering and catharsis go hand in hand. It’s not that suffering is bad, but it purifies and purges you.
They recorded Suffer in just seven or eight days in April 1988. Jay used specific gear for his bass tracks, and they used the same method on all albums from Suffer through No Substance.
The cover artwork was done by Jerry Mahoney. It captured the anger, powerlessness, and defiance of Greg’s teenage years. The boy on the cover is in flames, but he’s not consumed by the fire. The flames symbolize the burning questions and the ability to suffer.
Suffer was released on 9.8.88 and sold 4,000 copies, which was pretty cool considering Epitaph was not well-known at the time. It became Brett’s favorite Bad Religion album. It was voted best album of the year by several magazines and had a
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