Into The Unknown - Epitaph 1983

7 / 10

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII've Had Enough of bein' nice! I've Had Enough of right and wrong! I've Had Enough of TRYIN' to love my BRU-THA!!!!

I've had enough of feelin' good and doin' all the things like I'm told I'm should - If you get on the wrong side of Me, you'd bettah RUN FAH CU-VAH!!!!!

LIFE IS FOR THE LIVING!!!! (OOO-YEAH!!) TAKERS NEVER GI-VING!!!!

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII'VE had enough of this UNIVERSE - not gonna get better, it's gonna get worse and we're all gonna sink from the WEIGHT of the Human Ra-hace!!!!

I've had enough of CARRRRYIN' ON! One of these days I'm gonna be LONG GONE -- if you find a new one, Please just save my PLACE!!!!!

ooooooooooooooweeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaah-aaaaaaaaaaaaa oooooweeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah ooooooooooweeeeeeeeeeeahhhhhhhhhhhh-ahhhhhhhhhhh Here comes the end.

HERE COMES THE END!!!!

(of the world).

That's the b-side of The Who's "Who Are You" single, a John Entwistle composition full of bouncy synths and hilarious bombast. Yet compared to Bad Religion's Into The Unknown LP, "Had Enough" is an early Napalm Death song lasting 4 seconds.

For you see, this was their attempt to branch out into more progressive and challenging sounds - inspired by that timeless art rock classic Abacab. The same fuzzy sci-fi keyboard that defined such classics as that solo in "Abacab" and probably some Rush or ELP or some crap is spread like a layer of nerd peanut butter all over this otherwise midperiod-Husker Duey collection of catchy dramatic pop rock. It's so BIZARRE to hear this and realize that it's Bad Religion. There's only one song under three minutes long -- and it begins as a ripoff of "Ziggy Played Guitar"! You know that song "Ziggy Played Guitar"? That's a great fuckin song. Definitely one of Tom Wilson's finest moments.

Not only you, but the album as well is mixed like it was recorded in some guy's basement (by a guy wearing a pair of glasses -- for that classic "Dungeons & Dragons nerd" feel that Bad Religion had for so long been trying to capture with their hardcore punk rock). The drums are reverbed and thump-bassy, the instrumentation is generally layered acoustic and electric guitars combined with pianos and that "Warm Fuzzy" keyboard (BIG! FM! ROCK!) and the vocals have a quite miserable echo/delay effect applied to them for what can only be defined as "no clear reason at all."

Bad Religion have disowned this record, refusing to reissue it on CD (making bootleggers happy fellows in the process), but AS MUSIC, it's not bad! It's just as catchy as any other Bad Religion music - just much slower and faggotier. But to be fair, in 1983, ALL the big hardcore bands were influenced by Asia's "Soul Survivor." I guess it was inevitable that the 'Lidge would fall prey as well.

Note to collectors: "The Dichotomy" = The Middle Part Of Pink Floyd's "Pigs (3 Different Ones)." Don't tell Roger Waters! He's a fuckin asshole!

- Mark Prindle