American Jesus — Bad Religion
#365Songs: January 14
It’s hard for punk rockers to grow up and grow old.
At some point along you way, you’re faced with a nearly irreconcilable conflict. How can you challenge the establishment, when you’ve become the establishment?
An additional challenge—and perhaps the more important one—is how to make the transition from rebelling against to rebelling for.
In other words, it’s one thing to challenge. It’s another thing altogether to lead.
This may be blasphemy, but Punks and Trumps are often not so different. Their defensive stands are similarly reactionary, and similarly devoid of actual vision. In place of genuine intelligence, there is instead a kind of lizard-brain radar for survival.
Mildred : Hey Johnny, what are you rebelling against?
Johnny : Whadda you got?
That’s Peggy Maley and Marlon Brando from The Wild One, and in Brando’s immortal phrase we can hear Sid Vicious just as clearly as we can hear Donald Trump.
America is an accelerator for this line of behavior, because our version of corporate capitalism is wholly amoral—it’s only good if it produces profit for its owner. And in our culture of manufactured need, “anti” is the only way to sell, once basic needs have been met. First you convince the populace that the status quo is poisonous, then you sell them an antidote that doesn’t actually work. In America, the right answer rarely wins. There’s no profit in actually solving something.
Which brings us to Bad Religion.
By 1993, Bad Religion had been around for 13 years. That’s several lifetimes for a punk band. That Bad Religion is still going strong in the 2020’s truly defies the odds.
But back to 1993.
At the point, Bad Religion was between two eras. Behind them was their “melodic hardcore” legacy. Ahead was their biggest success yet, followed by survival and elder statespersonship. They’d left their home at independent Epitaph to sign with Atlantic Records, and were exploring what to do with their sound—never an easy task when you’re a punk band. Stay the same, and you’re stuck. Evolve, and you’re a sell-out.
The US was entering a similar state of in-between. The Clinton era was beginning, bookended by the two Bushes.
What Bad Religion produced was Recipe for Hate, an extraordinary album highlighted by two extraordinary singles: “Struck a Nerve” and “American Jesus.”
The latter track in particular is a standout example of just how devastatingly smart Bad Religion really is. Kicked off by some killer cowpunk-on-overdrive guitar, and driven by Greg Gaffin’s urgent vocal, the lyric is satire on fire:
We’ve got the American Jesus
See him on the interstate
We’ve got the American Jesus
He helped build the president’s estate
I feel sorry for the Earth’s population
’Cause so few live in the USA
At least the foreigners can copy our morality
They can visit, but they cannot stay
Only precious few can garner the prosperity
It makes us walk with renewed confidence
We’ve got a place to go when we die
And the architect resides right here
After two verses and two choruses, there follows one of the most incredible feats of lyric and songwriting prowess I’ve ever encountered. Using an archetypical call-and-response format, the song essentially establishes two different sets of lyrics, and then—by juxtoposing them—essentially creates a whole new lyric whose whole is significantly greater than the sum of its parts.
It goes like this. First, the main “call” lyric:
He’s the farmers’ barren fields
The force the army wields
The expression on the faces of the starving millions
The power of the man
The fuel that drives the Klan
He’s the motive and the conscience of the murderer
He’s the preacher on TV
The false sincerity
The form letter that’s written by the big computers
The nuclear bombs
The kids with no moms
And I’m fearful that he’s inside me
That alone is staggeringly powerful. But here comes the “response” lyric:
in God
we trust
because he’s one of us
break down
cave in
we can redeem your sin
strong heart
clear mind
and infinitely kind
you lose
we win
he is our champion
Again, just so powerful. But now, watch what happens when you combine them:
He’s the farmers’ barren fields
(in God)
The force the army wields
(we trust)
The expression on the faces of the starving millions
(because he’s one of us)
The power of the man
(break down)
The fuel that drives the Klan
(cave in)
He’s the motive and the conscience of the murderer
(we can redeem your sin)
He’s the preacher on TV
(strong heart)
The false sincerity
(clear mind)
The form letter that’s written by the big computers
(and infinitely kind)
The nuclear bombs
(you lose)
The kids with no moms
(we win)
And I’m fearful that he’s inside me
(he is our champion)
That’s as good as it gets, people. Bad Religion is one of the greats, and this is one of their greatest.
~
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