The Dissent of Man is the fifteenth album by the Californian punk rock bandBad Religion, which was released on September 28, 2010. It was their first album in three years, following the release of New Maps of Hell in 2007. The band commenced writing new material in 2008, but would not begin studio work until May 2010. The writing and recording process spanned two years and was slowed down considerably by touring schedules. The album was finally finished in June 2010. Some of the material was originally performed live by Bad Religion on its 30th anniversary tour in early 2010. "The Devil in Stitches" was released as a single to accompany the release of this album, while "Cyanide" and "Wrong Way Kids" also received radio airplay.
Background
Work for The Dissent of Man dates back to June 2008, when bassist Jay Bentley revealed in an interview at the Pinkpop Festival in Landgraaf, Netherlands that guitarist Brett Gurewitz had already started writing new material for the next Bad Religion album. He also revealed that Bad Religion was planning to return to the studio after frontman Greg Graffin teaches UCLA to start work on the album planned for a June 2009 release. However, in December 2008, Bentley revealed that, due to Bad Religion's upcoming touring commitments for 2009, the band would not have a chance to record their new album until around the end of the year, for an expected 2010 release date.
Recording
In December 2009, Bentley revealed to the fan site The Bad Religion Page that the band was expected to go into the studio on April 26, 2010 to start recording their new album. He stated that a few songs for the album had been written and "it feels like the songwriting is picking up momentum. Baker said he was going to drive up to Graffin's, Brooks and I are going to do some demos with Brett, so we have a pretty good jump." In the following month, Bentley revealed that Bad Religion would record their new album at a studio in Pasadena, California with Joe Barresi, who produced New Maps of Hell and engineered its 2004 predecessor The Empire Strikes First. Despite the statement made by Bentley about entering the studio in April, he noted that the recording date was now May 1. On April 6, 2010, Bentley revealed in an interview with KROQ's Kevin and Bean that the date on which the band would record their new album was now May 6. On May 12, 2010, Bentley posted an update on their Facebook page regarding the recording process of the album:
Release
In an interview at the Azkena Rock Festival in Spain on June 26, 2010, Wackerman and Bentley revealed that the album would be called The Dissent of Man and would be released on September 28. On July 27, 2010, anyone who was a member of the Bad Religion mailing list received a link showing the album art and song list. Additionally, some members of the mailing list received a set of links. One allowed them to listen to the first single from the album, "The Devil in Stitches". The others were to get "first dibs" on pre-sale for the album and merchandise. "The Devil in Stitches" was released to radio on August 24, 2010. On September 21, 2010 the full album was made available for streaming on Bad Religion's MySpace page. In mid-November 2010, KROQ began playing the second single "Cyanide". A month earlier, Bad Religion announced plans to make a video for "Wrong Way Kids", to which the band was looking for "old punk rock photos to use in the video." Fans were required to submit their photos at the website or by e-mail. After months of speculation, the video for "Wrong Way Kids" was premiered on April 19, 2011. "Wrong Way Kids" was released to radio on April 5, 2011.
