No Control is the fourth album by American punk rock bandBad Religion, released on November 2, 1989 through Epitaph Records. Bad Religion began work on the album while touring in support of its previous album, Suffer. No Control is stylistically faster than its predecessor, owing more to hardcore punk. Additionally, it was the first Bad Religion album not to feature a lineup change from after one consecutive studio album. No Control brought Bad Religion a small amount of success in Southern California as the band started to gather a following. The album has sold over 60,000 copies and is often considered to be a landmark in hardcore punk. It contains many of the band's live staples, such as "Change of Ideas", "Big Bang", "No Control", "Sometimes I Feel Like", "Automatic Man", "I Want to Conquer the World", "Sanity" and "You". Up until 2019, the only songs from No Control that had never been performed live were "Progress" and "The World Won't Stop". The songs were live debut when Bad Religion played the album in its entirety at the Roxy on April 5th, 2019.
Background and recording
After a long-term hiatus, Bad Religion reformed in 1987 with a new lineup, releasing the studio album Suffer in 1988. Although Suffer was not a commercial success, the band earned a growing fan base in the underground music community and critical acclaim with that album and it managed to sell 4,000 copies. While Bad Religion continued touring in support of Suffer, Greg Graffin and Brett Gurewitz began writing songs in late 1988/early 1989 for the band's next record. Bassist Jay Bentley commented on the making of No Control, stating that "songs were being written all the time. I wouldn't go so far as to say an 'album's worth', but during the U.S. and subsequent European tour into '89, lots of ideas were coming to fruition. I would think that more songs were written during the down time between tours and 'perfected' on the road." Recording for No Control took place in June 1989 at Westbeach Recorders and it was the band's first experience recording an album on a half-inch two track. Gurewitz noted that he put every track through a compellor by using Aphex Systems, then, having completed this, he decided he hated the "weird sound" this had produced. As a result, he recalls spending a great deal of effort during the mixing stage to remove the compression. The overall result was an "aggressive and distinctive" sound which he now favors. Contrary to rumor, "21st Century " was not written and recorded for this album.
Release and reception
No Control was released through Epitaph Records on November 2, 1989. By the time it was released, Bad Religion had become one of the most critically praised hardcore punk bands of the time, in spite of lack of mainstream success. 12,000 copies of No Control were originally shipped, and later ended up selling 60,000, making a grand total of 72,000 copies. Imported copies of No Control to West Germany were repackaged with a limited edition bootleg 7" of the Bad Religion EP. By 1992, No Control had sold at least 80,000 copies, becoming the band's fourth best-selling album at the time. The album has received generally favorable reviews in the years since its initial release, with several reviewers having deemed No Control one of Bad Religion's best albums. Allmusic's Johnny Loftus said that it "simply and forcefully continued the shift, delivering a pummel of melodic songwriting made sharp by Greg Graffin's populist cynicism and the stinging barbs of a twin-guitar strike...", and addressed it to be "welcome, as it makes the band sound that much more direct on principal cuts." In a May 2012 interview, Pennywise guitarist Fletcher Dragge stated that his band's tenth studio album All or Nothing had inspired guitarist Brett Gurewitz to write "another No Control". On June 2, 2016, the song "Change of Ideas" was placed at #7 on Loudwire's top ten list, "Greatest Songs Under One Minute Long."
"Sometimes I Feel Like" was labeled as "Sometimes I Feel Like... *?!%+!*" on the disc to the original CD version.
"You" was featured in video gamesTony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD as an in-game song and as a song in Rodney Mullen's video. It also contains the lyrics "there's no time for fussing and fighting, my friend," a direct quotation of The Beatles song, "We Can Work It Out."
"Billy" was erroneously labeled as "Bizzy" on the cassette version.
"The World Won't Stop" was also labeled as "The World Won't Stop Without You" on the disc to the original CD version. Also, in some software-based audio players and CD rippers that use CD lookup databases such as CDDB, "The World Won't Stop" is tagged as "The World Won't Stop Without You".
"No Control" is also mentioned in the song "21st Century ", when band's guitarist Brett Gurewitz sings "tried to tell you about no control, but now I really don't know, and then you told me how bad you had to suffer, is that really all you have to offer".
"Anxiety" is featured in the 2016 video game Forza Horizon 3.
