No Substance

No Substance
Studio album by Bad Religion
Released	May 5, 1998
Recorded	June 1997 – February 1998
Studio	Pyramid Sound, Polypterus Studio, Ithaca, New York
Genre	Punk rock [1]
Length	41:53
Label	Atlantic
Producer	Bad Religion, Alex Perialas, Ronnie Kimball
Bad Religion chronology
Tested (1997) No Substance (1998) The New America (2000)
Singles from No Substance
"Shades of Truth" Released: April 20, 1998 [2] "Raise Your Voice" Released: 1998 "The Biggest Killer in American History" Released: 1998

No Substance is the tenth full-length album by the punk rock band Bad Religion. It was the band's third (or fourth, if the reissue of Recipe for Hate is counted) release on Atlantic Records, and their second studio album since guitarist Brett Gurewitz's departure.

No Substance was anticipated by both music critics and fans as a result of the band's previous worldwide successes with their 1994 major label debut Stranger Than Fiction and its 1996 follow up The Gray Race . The album has been met with mixed reviews and was not as successful as band's past releases. The album was re-released by Epitaph Records on September 15, 2008. No songs of the album would turn into live staples; "Raise Your Voice" is occasionally played live in Germany due to Die Toten Hosen singer Campino's guest vocals.

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
Alternative Rock	8/10 [4]
Robert Christgau	[5]
CMJ New Music Monthly	(positive) [6]
The Indianapolis Star	[7]
NME	[8]
Rolling Stone	[1]
San Antonio Express-News	(positive) [9]
Spin	[10]
Wall of Sound	70/100 [11]

Author Dave Thompson, in his book Alternative Rock (2000), wrote that the shared songwriting credits make this the band's "most eclectic album ever, eagerly exploring new sounds and styles... ah, Into the Unknown II! Only better." ^[4]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Hear It"	Greg Graffin	1:49
2.	"Shades of Truth"	Graffin	4:01
3.	"All Fantastic Images"	Graffin, Brian Baker	2:08
4.	"The Biggest Killer in American History"	Graffin	2:14
5.	"No Substance"	Graffin	3:04
6.	"Raise Your Voice!" (featuring Campino)	Graffin	2:55
7.	"Sowing the Seeds of Utopia"	Graffin	2:01
8.	"The Hippy Killers"	Graffin	3:01
9.	"The State of the End of the Millennium Address"	Graffin, Baker	2:22
10.	"The Voracious March of Godliness"	Graffin	2:27
11.	"Mediocre Minds"	Graffin, Greg Hetson	1:56
12.	"Victims of the Revolution"	Graffin, Baker	3:17
13.	"Strange Denial"	Graffin	3:02
14.	"At the Mercy of Imbeciles"	Graffin, Baker, Hetson	1:34
15.	"The Same Person"	Graffin, Baker, Jay Bentley	2:49
16.	"In So Many Ways"	Graffin	3:04

Japanese bonus track

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
17.	"Dream of Unity"	Graffin	2:50

US limited edition bonus promo disc

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"The Universal Cynic" (B-side, 1996)	Graffin	2:18
2.	"Markovian Process" (B-side, 1994)	Graffin	1:30
3.	"News from the Front" (B-side, 1994)	Brett Gurewitz, Bentley, Bobby Schayer	2:23
4.	"Leaders and Followers" (B-side, 1994)	Graffin	2:42
5.	"Dream of Unity" (from Tested , 1997)	Graffin	2:52
6.	"Tested" (from Tested, 1997)	Graffin	3:04
7.	"The Answer" (live) (B-side, 1998)	Graffin	3:11
8.	"The Dodo" (B-side, 1996)	Graffin, Baker	2:10
9.	"Follow the Leader" (previously unreleased)	Graffin, Bentley, Baker, Schayer	4:28

^[12]

Personnel

Adapted from the album liner notes. ^[13]

Bad Religion

• Greg Graffin – lead vocals, backing vocals
• Greg Hetson – guitar
• Brian Baker – guitar, backing vocals
• Jay Bentley – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Bobby Schayer – drums

Additional musicians

• Campino from Die Toten Hosen – guest vocals on "Raise Your Voice!"

Technical

• Bad Religion – producer, engineer
• Alex Perialas – producer, engineer
• Ronnie Kimball – producer, engineer
• Jason Arnold – additional engineer
• Mike Dy – additional engineer
• Fred Kevorkian – additional engineer
• Chris Lord-Alge – mixing
• Gavin Lurssen – mastering
• Danielle Gibson – art coordination
• Steve Raskin – art direction, design
• Valerie Wagner – art direction, design
• Terry Richardson – photography
• Chris Toliver – photography

Charts

Chart (1998)	Peak position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) [14]	18
Canada Top Albums/CDs ( RPM ) [15]	68
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista) [16]	17
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [17]	28
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [18]	54
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC) [19]	23
US Billboard 200 [20]	78

Notes

• "The State of The End of The Millennium Address" is written like a speech, very similar to the beginning of "Voice of God is Government" from How Could Hell Be Any Worse? .
• If you dial the 800 number, it will link through to ConAgra Foods customer service (No longer in service - April 16, 2017).
• On the European release, Campino sings alternating lines on "Raise Your Voice". On the US version, he only provides backing vocals. All album releases on music streaming platforms feature the European version.
• The cover art model has been widely reported ^{[21] [22] [23]} as being actress Kristen Johnston, but she refuted this claim in 2019 via a Twitter post. ^[24]

References

Citations

1. archive
2. Adored, Ivana B. (April 17, 1998). "Post Modern" (PDF). Hits . 12 (589): 40. OCLC   15994494.
3. No Substance at AllMusic
4. Thompson 2000, p. 170
5. "CG: bad religion". Robert Christgau. Retrieved March 3, 2012.
6. Jacks, Kelso (June 1998). "Reviews". CMJ New Music Monthly (58): 36.
7. Bacon, Scott (May 31, 1998). "Corgan is one sensitive Pumpkin on 'Adore'". Indianapolis Star. p. I4.
8. Beaumont, Mark (April 4, 1998). "Bad Religion - No Substance". NME . Archived from the original on October 9, 2000.
9. Johnson, Robert (August 12, 1998). "Quick Spins". San Antonio Express-News.
10. Milner, Greg (June 1998). "Reviews". Spin. 14 (6): 138.
11. Graff, Gary. "Review: No Substance". Wall of Sound. Archived from the original on April 15, 2001. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
12. "No Substance - CD - 1998". The Bad Religion Page. Retrieved February 11, 2024.
13. No Substance (Media notes). Bad Religion. Atlantic. 1998.
14. "Austriancharts.at – Bad Religion – No Substance" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
15. "Top RPM Albums: Issue 3565". RPM . Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
16. "Bad Religion: No Substance" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
17. "Offiziellecharts.de – Bad Religion – No Substance" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
18. "Swedishcharts.com – Bad Religion – No Substance". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
19. "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
20. "Bad Religion Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
21. "Kristen Johnston". TVGuide.com.
22. "Johnston, Kristen 1967– Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com.
23. "Kristen Johnston". Film Beat.
24. "thekjohnston". Twitter.

Sources

• Thompson, Dave (2000). Alternative Rock. Third Ear: The Essential Listening Companion. San Francisco, California: Miller Freeman Books. ISBN   0-87930-607-6.

External links

• No Substance at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)