Bad Religion shares its secret of staying relevant in 2021

More than a quarter of a century ago during the alt rock zeitgeist, Bad Religion released song titles "Stranger Than Fiction" and "Infected" that would prove relevant in 2020. However, staying relevant is nothing new to the legendary punk act, which is detailed in its recently released autobiography, "Do What You Want: The Story of Bad Religion." "There are certainly other influential punk bands who have affected modern music, but Bad Religion is unique among the fact that it's still rolling and it's still relevant," said guitarist Brian Baker, calling from Neptune, New Jersey. "We're bigger now than we've ever been. It's a really interesting story and also an illustration if basically your motivation is to share ideas rather than to sell shirts, that's certainly a better path to longevity. What's also helpful to having a long career is we can still play songs from the early days that aren't stupid or embarrassing." What's missing from the book is any hint of bitterness regarding lost opportunities for platinum albums and mainstream acceptance during the aforementioned '90s era where so many underground bands flirted with commercial success. Instead, Baker offers a different opinion that speaks to Bad Religion's longevity. "The most exciting part of all of that — other bands of our ilk who had much greater commercial success — is they were making the entire genre legitimate," said Baker, a founding member of hardcore punk band Minor Threat. "In the '90s, punk went from being a scandalous article in a U.K. magazine to an actual section in a record store. "Take a left at R&B, go past jazz and, all right, there's the punk section. That was huge because it really kind of cemented the idea that this is valuable protest music and it's its own thing. That's when you know you've at least made some mark, some societal impact in what you're doing. It's still part of the conversation today." Bad Religion was supposed to spend 2020 celebrating its 40th anniversary with the book release and a major tour. Instead, the band — as Baker said — is using the digital tools it's been given during a pandemic to venture into the livestream world. Beginning last month Bad Religion unveiled its four-show "Decades" series finding the band perform material from different eras. The fourth — and final — virtual concert is set for Saturday. Bad Religion will be delving into '10s material from newer releases "The Dissent of Man," "True North" and "Age Of Unreason." The latter is the group's most recent album, which it had to cut short touring support due to COVID-19. When noted that all "Decades" shows will remain up for sale and viewing through Jan. 5, Baker isn't buying it. "Yep you can watch them through Jan. 5 but my guess and familiarity with the internet says by Jan. 6 you'll be able to see it for free on every single possible outlet," Baker said with a laugh. "We're not the punk police, so if there are 50 people out there who want to wait and get it from, like, some YouTube channel, I'm fine with it." Baker noted Bad Religion won't be reliving Metallica vs. Napster in an effort to keep people from sharing the livestream concerts. "No, that's not a good look and it's also dumb," Baker said. "You want people to see it. That's the point." WHAT: Bad Religion's "Decades" livestream WHEN: 5 p.m. Jan. 2 TICKETS: $15 INFO: Badreligion.nocapshows.com.