''The Gray Race'' is the ninth full-length album of the punk rock band

Bad Religion Bad Religion is an American punk rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1980. The band's lyrics cover topics related to religion, politics, society, the media and science. Musically, they are noted for their melodic sensibilitie ...

, which was released in 1996. It was the follow-up to the band's highly successful 1994 album '' Stranger Than Fiction''. This was the band's first album not recorded with original guitarist

Brett Gurewitz Brett W. Gurewitz (born May 12, 1962), nicknamed Mr. Brett, is an American musician best known as the lead guitarist of Bad Religion. He is also the owner of the music label Epitaph Records and a number of sister labels. He has produced albums f ...

(since the 1985 EP '' Back to the Known'') and is their first release with Brian Baker, who replaced him during the '' Stranger Than Fiction'' tour. Some songs on the album are considered fan favorites, such as, "Them And Us", "A Walk", "Punk Rock Song", "Spirit Shine", "Ten in 2010", "Come Join Us", and "Cease". Although not as successful as ''Stranger Than Fiction'', ''The Gray Race'' achieved modest success when

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

ran a commercial for the album during its release. The album was re-released by

Epitaph Records Epitaph Records is an American independent record label owned by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, most acts signed to the label were punk and pop punk acts, while there are many post-hardcore and emo bands ...

on September 15, 2008.

Production and marketing

After the 10-month ''Stranger Than Fiction'' tour, frontman Graffin soon began writing songs for ''Stranger Than Fictions follow-up. The band recorded it at

Electric Lady Studios Electric Lady Studios is a recording studio in Greenwich Village, New York City. It was commissioned by rock musician Jimi Hendrix in 1968 and designed by architect John Storyk and audio engineer Eddie Kramer by 1970. Hendrix spent only ten ...

, New York City with producer

Ric Ocasek Richard Theodore Otcasek (March 23, 1944 – September 15, 2019), known as Ric Ocasek, was an American singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He was the primary co-lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, songwriter, and frontman for the rock ...

(of

The Cars The Cars were an American rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the new wave scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek ( rhythm guitar), Benjamin Orr (bass guitar), Elliot Easton (lead guitar), Greg Hawkes (keyboards), ...

Bad Brains Bad Brains are an American rock band formed in Washington, D.C. in 1976. Originally a jazz fusion band under the name Mind Power, they are widely regarded as pioneers of hardcore punk, though the band's members have objected to the use of this ...

and

Weezer Weezer is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1992. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Rivers Cuomo (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Patrick Wilson (drums, backing vocals), Scott Shriner (bass guitar, keyboards, backing v ...

fame). The recording lasted throughout much of October and November 1995.

Reception

''The Gray Race'' was released on February 27, 1996 and peaked at #56 on the ''Billboard'' 200 album chart. It spawned the moderately successful single "A Walk" in the United States. In Europe, the album also reached the German charts at #6 as well as earn the group a gold record for sales in Scandinavia. Then-former and now current guitarist

disliked the album, however, and commented that it was "BR's worst-selling record to date" and described it as "uninspired." He has since taken that back.

Track listing

Personnel

Greg Graffin Gregory Walter Graffin (born November 6, 1964) is an American singer and evolutionary biologist. He is most recognized as the lead vocalist and only constant member of punk rock band Bad Religion, which he co-founded in 1980. He embarked on a s ...

– lead vocals *

Greg Hetson Greg Hetson (born June 29, 1961) is an American guitarist. He was born in Brooklyn, New York and has lived in the Los Angeles area since he was 2 years old. Active since 1979, Hetson is best known as the guitarist for the influential hardcore pu ...

– guitar * Brian Baker – guitar, backing vocals *

Jay Bentley Jay Dee Bentley (born June 6, 1964) is the bassist and co-founding member of the punk rock group Bad Religion. He has played with the band through its whole existence with a small break between 1983 and 1985. Along with vocalist Greg Graffin, Bent ...

– bass, backing vocals *

Bobby Schayer Bobby Schayer (born December 23, 1966 in Los Angeles, California) was the drummer for Bad Religion from 1991 to 2001. He was a resident of Encino, a suburb in the San Fernando Valley. He started drumming in 1976 at the age of 10, but it was not ...

– drums, percussion *

– production * George Marino – mastering * Bruce Calder – engineer * Frank Gargiulo – art direction, design

Notes/Trivia

* Due to Gurewitz's departure a year before the album was recorded, all tracks for this album were written by Greg Graffin, though guitarist Brian Baker co-wrote 4 out of 15 of the songs. * The track "Cease" was later re-recorded for Greg Graffin's 1997 solo album, '' American Lesion'', this time as a piano and vocal arrangement. This version was played by Graffin on their 2006 DVD '' Live at the Palladium''. * The album liner contains ten portraits of faces in black and white. Different versions exist, with different pictures as the front cover. * The album would earn Bad Religion a gold record for sales in Scandinavia and reach # 6 on the German charts for the single "Punk Rock Song". * The songs "Them and Us" and "Ten in 2010" were featured in the game

Crazy Taxi ''Crazy Taxi'' is a series of racing video games that was developed by Hitmaker and published by Sega. The first game appeared in arcades in 1999 and was very successful, prompting Sega to port the arcade version to their Dreamcast console ...

. * The album was re-released by

on September 15, 2008.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Sales and certifications

References

External links

''The Gray Race''
at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gray Race, The Bad Religion albums 1996 albums Atlantic Records albums Albums produced by Ric Ocasek Albums recorded at Electric Lady Studios