Perhaps it's a bit ironic that a band called Bad Religion would make a Christmas album. But they did, and it came out on Oct. 29. The punk rockers put out Christmas Songs, which includes "O Come All Ye Faithful," God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," and Irving Berlin's "White Christmas."
Christmas Songs follows the release of True North in January, which was the band's 16th album. Rolling Stone spoke with Greg Graffin about how Bad Religion ended up making a Christmas album. Graffin said that making a record like this was actually quite natural for them because in their truest nature, with layered harmonies and backup vocals, they kind of sound like a choir, despite what people would assume from a punk or metal group.
When asked if he really celebrates Christmas, Graffin answered with an enthusiastic, "Oh hell yeah." Then the conversation in the direction most would assume it had to. Considering the band's name and the assumptions about punk music, was this album an attempt to be ironic or was it sincere?
"Well, that's tough," he said. "Of course there's irony. The irony, some would argue, is the best part of this album - the fact that a Bad Religion, with a crossbuster as their logo, is making a record of some of the most festive songs of the Christian holiday. But I don't only want the responsibility of the irony, because the truth of the matter is Christmas is not made ironic by Bad Religion. It's made ironic by the secularism of modern society."
He went on to add: "You don't need to be a Bad Religion fan to make Christmas ironic. If you really talk about our intellectual heritage, Bad Religion is not ironic - modern society is ironic. These are things Bad Religion has always sung about, the secularization of Christianity. That's as deep as we've ever gotten into our criticism of religion."
It's nice to know that people can listen to Christmas music and get into the holiday spirit if they want to, and it doesn't have to be Mariah Carey or Michael Bublé.
Listen to "O Come All Ye Faithful" below.
