Recipe for Hate

Recipe for Hate
Studio album by Bad Religion
Released	September 21, 1993
Recorded	1993 at Westbeach Recorders, Hollywood, California
Genre	Punk rock
Length	37:12
Label	Epitaph (Original, re-re-release) Atlantic (Re-release)
Producer	Bad Religion
Bad Religion chronology
Generator (1992) Recipe for Hate (1993) Stranger Than Fiction (1994)
Singles from Recipe for Hate
"American Jesus" Released: 1993 "Struck a Nerve" Released: 1993

Recipe for Hate is Bad Religion's seventh full-length album, released on September 21, 1993. This was their last album on Epitaph Records and the band switched to Atlantic Records before its release.

While the album was released on a major label, Recipe for Hate initially received mixed reviews from music critics, who generally found it to be less impressive than Bad Religion's past releases, though it has gained a cult following in recent times.^{[citation needed]} The album got the band's highest U.S. chart position to date, debuting at #14 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart, with "American Jesus" and "Struck a Nerve" in particular becoming major rock radio hits at their time.

Unlike Bad Religion's previous albums, Recipe for Hate was not digitally-remastered. Because of the fact that it was reissued on Atlantic, problems with the rights ownership made a remastered issue unlikely.

Album cover

The album cover features an image of two dog-faced humans (suggested to be two of the band members' bodies) dressed in black uniform. The artwork was designed by Fred Hidalgo (known for drawing the cover for The Offspring's highly acclaimed 1994 album Smash, which was also released on Epitaph).

Musical style

The album finds Bad Religion continuing the experimentation of its predecessor, Generator, introducing elements of country and folk on songs like "Man With a Mission", and "Struck a Nerve", the latter of which includes a guest vocal by Johnette Napolitano (of Concrete Blonde). "Man With a Mission" featured a slide guitar part over a standard punk guitar "gallop". The song "American Jesus" features some grunge influence.

Production and marketing

Like Bad Religion's albums up to Generator, Recipe for Hate was recorded at Westbeach Recorders in Hollywood, California in 1993. This was the last time they would record an album there, until 2002's The Process of Belief.

During the recording of the album, Johnette Napolitano (of Concrete Blonde) and Eddie Vedder (of Pearl Jam) were invited to the studio to provide backing vocals on some of the songs. Napolitano's backing vocals can be heard on "Struck a Nerve", where she shouts "It struck a nerve!". Vedder also provided backing vocals on "American Jesus" and sings the second verse of "Watch It Die".

Final overdubs and mixing was done at Brooklyn Recording Studios in Los Angeles, CA. The car used in "Stealth" was a band member's car, and recorded just outside the studio in the parking lot. One or two songs were remixed at a different studio after the Brooklyn Recording sessions.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Robert Christgau	[2]

Recipe for Hate was released on September 21, 1993 and became the last Bad Religion album distributed via Epitaph Records before their return to the label in 2001. The album peaked at number 14 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart,^[1] marking the band's highest-ranking album so far. Although no singles for this album were charted, it scored two radio hits, "American Jesus" and "Struck a Nerve", which also earned airplay on MTV.

Track listing

1. "Recipe for Hate" (Graffin) - 2:02
2. "Kerosene" (Gurewitz) - 2:41
3. "American Jesus" (Gurewitz/Graffin) - 3:17
4. "Portrait of Authority" (Graffin) - 2:44
5. "Man With a Mission" (Gurewitz) - 3:11
6. "All Good Soldiers" (Gurewitz) - 3:07
7. "Watch It Die" (Graffin) - 2:34
8. "Struck a Nerve" (Graffin) - 3:47
9. "My Poor Friend Me" (Graffin) - 2:42
10. "Lookin' In" (Graffin) - 2:03
11. "Don't Pray on Me" (Gurewitz) - 2:42
12. "Modern Day Catastrophists" (Graffin) - 2:46
13. "Skyscraper" (Gurewitz) - 3:15
14. "Stealth" (Bentley/Gurewitz/Schayer) - 0:42 (Hidden track)

• "Skyscraper" is misspelled as "Sky Skraper" on the CD, but spelled correctly on the back cover and in the booklet.

Personnel

• Greg Graffin – vocals
• Brett Gurewitz – guitar, backing vocals
• Greg Hetson – guitar
• Jay Bentley – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Bobby Schayer – drums
• Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam – guest vocals on "American Jesus" and "Watch It Die"
• Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde – guest vocals on "Struck A Nerve"
• John Wahl – guitar on "Kerosene"
• Chris Bagarozzi – guitar on "Kerosene"
• Greg Leisz - Slide guitar on "Man With a Mission"
• Joe Peccerillo - Lead guitar on "All Good Soldiers", assistant engineering
• Paul Dugre - engineering
• Donnell Cameron - engineering
• Scott Stillman - assistant engineering
• Alison Dyer - photography
• Doug Sax – mastering
• Frederico Carlo mel Hidalgo – art direction

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Recipe for Hate". Allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r188449. 
2. ^ http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=bad+religion