‘New World Order’: Bad Religion’s punk rock collaboration with Noam Chomsky

One of the leading bands of the Californian punk rock revival that exploded in the 1990s, Los Angeles’ Bad Religion had paved the way for the likes of NOFX, The Offspring, and future megastars Green Day, rankling purists ever since with the era’s mainstream cosiness and neutered pop appeal. Signing to the major Atlantic label in 1993, Bad Religion would dominate the ‘alternative’ 1990s and see hits like ‘American Jesus’ rotate on MTV alongside ‘Self Esteem’ or ‘Basket Case’ as the soundtrack for scores of high-school kids.

Bad Religion’s roots were deeper and more organic than their Hot Topic peers, however. Formed in 1980 during the West Coast’s hardcore peak, frontman and sole constant member Greg Graffin captained the band and its revolving line-up across the decade with a string of underground albums following 1982’s How Could Hell Be Any Worse? that won fans with their characterful grapple of political, humanist, and even scientific subject matter while dosing their punk attack with a spike of melodic optimism.

Two months before 1990’s Against the Grain, Iraqi forces led by Saddam Hussein invaded neighbouring Kuwait to seize their rich oil reserves. Attacking a state of huge economic interest to the USA and UK, the conflict escalated into the Gulf War, a six-month operation that pulled in 42 countries of varying involvement in the Coalition force’s eventual victory.

Wishing to explore the political machinations at play that lead to war and dig deeper than official narratives, Bad Religion took a long shot and reached out to one of the most acclaimed authorities on American foreign policy and a fierce critic of their interventionist gameplaying.

Sending a letter that year, Bad Religion requested whether the renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Noam Chomsky would be willing to record an eight-minute piece summarising the Gulf War and its shady precedents. Liking their name, he agreed.

Chomsky would send the band back a tape touching on Hussein and USA’s former diplomatic friendly relations, the war’s carnage boosting the Iraqi tyrant’s domestic popularity, and the imperial settlements the Coalition sought to defend. Offering a breakdown at odds with the prevailing party lines of the day, Chomsky had gifted Bad Religion with their most radical cut yet.

Released the following year with an issue of Maximum Rocknroll, the New World Order: War #1 EP would boast one side of the 7″ two Bad Religion cuts—’Heaven Is Falling’ and ‘Fertile Crescent’ later rerecorded for 1992’s Generator—and the flip ‘Political Analysis’ playing Chomsky’s reportage in full, plus packaged with a giant poster including articles on the conflict and a history lesson on the Gulf region.

History repeating itself, Bad Religion would revisit the themes of disastrous American foreign policy in 2004’s The Empire Strikes First in the aftermath of the Iraq War, and Chomsky served as one of the anti-war movement’s most prominent figures. In an interview, Chomsky revealed that the number one item he’d be asked to sign, above his voluminous books and essays, was the New World Order: War #1 punk EP that introduced his thinking to a new and unsuspecting audience.

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