• 1979-

  Greg GraffinVocals1979-

  Brett GurewitzGuitar, vocals1979-

  Jay BentleyBass1986-

  Brian BakerGuitar, percussion1994-

  Greg HetsonGuitar1984-

  Brooks WackermanDrums2001-
• Bad Religion was formed in the Woodland Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles in 1980 by high school students Greg Graffin (vocals) and Brett Gurewitz (guitar). The band considers their first show to be a gig in 1980 when they opened for Social Distortion in an empty warehouse.
• Bad Religion chose their band name because it's provocative and fit their punk rock ethos. "The motivation for the name was pretty juvenile," Greg Graffin explained in the book Rock Names. "However, it was a time when there was a lot of televangelism, if you remember. So it was sort of timely that we would poke fun at some aspect of American culture. And it turns out that the name, although it started out on a juvenile foundation, became actually a pretty good name over the years because we use religion as a metaphor for organized, dogmatic thought - really the opposite of what punk rock is all about, which stresses independence and individuality more than anything else."
• In 1981, Bad Religion released their eponymous debut EP on Epitaph Records, managed and owned by Brett Gurewitz. He set it up just to release the band's own material but ended up releasing albums for other acts, including NOFX, L7 and Pennywise. During the punk boom of the mid-'90s, Epitaph was a major player, releasing The Offspring's Smash album and Rancid's ...And Out Come the Wolves.
• Bad Religion released their first full-length album, Into the Unknown, in 1983. The record was a departure from the punk rock the band became known for, driven by keyboards and influenced by the progressive rock bands that were popular at the time. The album is now out of print and is hard to find - only 10,000 copies were ever pressed.
• In 1984, guitarist Greg Hetson left his band Circle Jerks to play in Bad Religion. He had previously played the guitar solo on the song "Part III," which appeared on Bad Religion's album How Could Hell Be Any Worse?
• The band took a break from touring in the beginning months of 1989 to record a new album. The disc was eventually called No Control and it cemented their legacy as one of the most influential punk acts of the '80s, selling more than 60,000 copies upon its initial release.
• Released in 1990, Against the Grain became one of Bad Religion's best selling albums. The record was their first to sell more than 100,000 copies and spawned a hit single called "21st Century (Digital Boy)." The band has played the song at almost every live show since 1990.
• Bad Religion left Epitaph to sign with Atlantic Records in 1993, creating a rift between Gurewitz, who ran Epitaph, and Graffin, who thought Atlantic would give them more attention. Their first Atlantic release was the 1994 album Stranger Than Fiction. With Atlantic's promotional muscle behind it, the album became their first to chart in America (#87) and their only one certified Gold.
• They contributed the song "Leaders and Followers" to the Clerks soundtrack in 1994.
• Soon after Stranger Than Fiction was released in 1994, Brett Gurewitz left Bad Religion to focus on his Epitaph Records label, which was busy trying to meet demand for The Offspring's Smash album. Around this time, he started doing drugs again - he'd been sober since 1987. It came to a head in 1997 when he overdosed and was arrested for possession. He was sentenced to a residential treatment center where he regained his sobriety.
• In 2001, Bad Religion parted ways with Atlantic Records. The band returned to Epitaph and guitarist Brett Gurewitz rejoined the band. Shortly after, the band got to work on their twelfth studio album. The disc was called The Process of Belief and was released by Epitaph on January 22, 2002.

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