Do What You Want: The Story of Bad Religion

If you love Bad Religion, this biography is quintessential reading and reviews are irrelevant: You’re definitely going to enjoy it overall. Likewise, Jim Ruland deserves heaps of praise for being the person to take on the herculean task of synthesizing half a century’s worth of information into a coherent biography, and the amount of people from whom he collects direct quotes is spectacular. His efforts are deeply appreciated.

That being said, Ruland’s writing cannot be described as artful, clever, or even impartial. There are a lot of small issues with the text that add up, and the book could have benefited immensely from a heavy extra round of editing. To be clear, I’m not talking about things like typos; I only recall seeing a couple of those (where/were and this/his typos). Rather, there are problems of tone and detail.

The issues with tone are multi-pronged. Right from the opening pages of the book, there is a mild element of cheesiness/hokiness in the writing, with inelegant sentences like, “But they [Bad Religion] had one asset that made them stand out from the start: their intelligence.” Likewise, it feels like a bit too many bands and venues are casually described as “the legendary [group/place],” or any kind of negative event might become “the infamous [event].”

A stronger issue though is Ruland’s extremely apparent partiality for the band. He’s frankly far too eager to remind readers of the band’s insightfulness and far-reaching cultural influence on a semi-regular basis, culminating in a final chapter that is (Forgive the blunt description.) a rambling mess and that reads like a high schooler’s persuasive essay on why everybody should agree Bad Religion is important.

Similarly student-like, awkwardly written analysis accompanies many selections of lyrics in the book. Ruland wants everyone to appreciate the artistry of Bad Religion’s lyrics and the context underlying it, but he lacks the ability to do so succinctly or without an excessive level of passion. The same problems appear when he attempts to discuss heavy subjects like the Iraq War. I winced a bit too often while reading this book.

Issues with detail in the book extend beyond that. For starters, there is some redundancy in the descriptions and storytelling that could have been smoothed out with another round of editing. A related issue, Ruland sometimes chooses to quote people directly for details that are already established or that just don’t require a direct quote, like explicitly quoting Greg Graffin to have him say that “The Dissent of Man is a play on words.”

In general, the text delves a bit too deeply into providing contextual details sometimes. For instance, I don’t think we needed to know the explicit (and somewhat benign) reasons why “Pee Wee” was in jail with Brett Gurewitz, considering Pee Wee only exists in the book for that one short paragraph.

And on a personal note, it’s disappointing that the biography can’t provide more context on Greg Hetson’s removal from the band, beyond that he wasn’t performing well and that the band felt bad about having to expel him. The fact that Hetson refused to be interviewed for the book and that Bad Religion values privacy for its members inevitably has a lot to do with that though, so I can’t fault the author for this.

In any case, for the reasons I have outlined, Do What You Want is not an elegant read. The chief issue is simply that the author was a bit overzealous in all respects and there simply wasn’t enough editing to rein it in. But again–for longtime listeners of the band, it ultimately won’t matter. This is still the in-depth story of Bad Religion you’ve been waiting for.

Great band, was excited to get this. Unfortunately it reads like they got a 12 year old fan club zine editor to write it. It’s overly fawning, lacks depth to the reporting and barely touches on Hetson’s departure. A big disappointment.

I wasnt expecting Patti Smiths Just Kids, but I was hoping for something maybe more along the lines of Greg Graffins Anarchy Evolution or Population Wars with tons more Bad Religion anecdotes. Large chunks of Do What You Want read more like a Wikipedia entry or a LinkedIn bio. I dont know if it suffered from a lack of editing or perhaps too much. I suspect there were too many hands in the pie for Jim Ruland to accomplish what he set out to do.
How did this pass through Brett Gurewitzs and Greg Graffins hands without them voicing concerns?

While it fell short of my expectations, I still enjoyed it. Just hearing about what Jack Grisham did to Jay Bentleys bass, and what Steve Soto (RIP) did to that deli tray were worth the price of the book. And I anxiously await Brian Bakers memoir as well

I really wanted to like it. It reads like a high school book report. It completely lacks any interesting or intriguing antidotes. Do yourself a favor and re read NOFX’s book instead.

It was a fast and fascinating read. Loved the photos and learned some things that have been misrepresented in the media and legend for years. Without a doubt this solidifies what all BR fans know , that they are (arguably) the most important and influential punk band of all time. They have been the most constant band in my life and continue to be as I guide my children in this world they have listened to them on constant rotation. My only criticism is I wanted more from the text in terms of salacious material. Addiction is glossed over and sobriety is taking the same back seat as the narrator repeats himself constantly, and has a feel of an iconic essay and not a biography. Which equates to a perfect soliloquy of a most beloved band. Unlike other band bios this one states the nature of the beast and takes us for a ride that stared with 4 kids from the “valley” making music and writing lyrics that seemed to be far beyond their years making them outcasts in the very scene they helped. Many fans have different starting points with BR but we all agree that regardless of where we are going the words of Brett and Greg will always have resonance in the ever changing world. “Ya-Hey”

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