"Stranger than Fiction" is a song by American

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

band

Bad Religion Bad Religion is an American punk rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1980. The band's lyrics cover topics related to religion, politics, society, the media and science. Musically, they are noted for their melodic sensibilities and ...

, featured on their 1994 album with the same title. More than a decade after its release, "Stranger Than Fiction" remains one of the band's concert staples. The live version also appears on their 2006 live

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

'' Live at the Palladium''. At a Bad Religion concert in 1996, frontman

Greg Graffin Gregory Walter Graffin (born November 6, 1964) is an American singer who is the lead vocalist and only constant member of the punk band Bad Religion, which he co-founded in 1980. He has also released three solo albums. Graffin obtained his PhD ...

sang "I wanna know why Gurewitz cracked, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction", referring to then-former and now-current guitarist

Brett Gurewitz Brett W. Gurewitz (born May 12, 1962), nicknamed Mr. Brett, is an American musician and record producer, best known as the co-founder and guitarist of the Punk rock, punk band Bad Religion. He is also the owner of the music label Epitaph Records ...

, as opposed to "I want to know why Hemingway cracked, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction". In other shows Graffin substitutes the line "Life is the crummiest book I ever read" with "Life is the shittiest book I ever read"

Single release

There is a 10" one-sided picture disc promo with the crossbuster symbol of which Dragnet only released 1,000 copies (also has Individual). There's a promo CD single which explains that "the talents of BR have been acknowledged by several critically noted scribes, including British music watchdogs ''NME'' and ''Melody Maker'', as well as ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'', ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

'', the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' and ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'', ''Playboy'' and ''Village Voice'' among many others. (...) truly, nothing compares to the sheer power of BR live". It also has a sticker with a quotation from Charles M. Young: "true believer punks from L.A., Bad Religion have mastered its art form, creating defiant, burning music...". The German single has " Leaders and Followers" (which appears as a bonus track on the Japanese version of the '' Stranger Than Fiction'' album; it is also included on the ''Clerks Original Soundtrack'') and "Mediocrity", and all the European dates for the STF Tour.

Charts

References

Bad Religion songs 1994 singles Songs written by Brett Gurewitz Atlantic Records singles 1994 songs Songs about drugs {{punk-song-stub