Rank the One Bad Pig Albums

Jumping on the recent ranking thread train. I hear you say One Bad Pig is not metal or even hard rock but as a matter of fact I say they are more metal than punk rock. They were sold under the "punk" label because there were not many Christian punk bands at the time but to be quite honest, they are not really punk, and you know it. I loved them as a kid but when I got into "real" punk I quickly dismissed them as cringey wannabes. I guess I did not understand the concept. Now almost thirty years later I truly enjoy their work and am curious to find out if you guys have some love for the Pig.

1. Swine Flew: At their best. More refined than Smash but not as polished as I Scream Sunday. The golden middle ground. Classic tunes front to end. As a youth I preferred the faster numbers (Hey Punk, Thrash Against Sin, Bowl Of Wrath (hilarious)) but I have come to love the mid tempo tracks, in particular Red River. Kosher sounds like David Bowie on steroids on this one. Then there's the magnificent Petra cover Judas Kiss and they even have a rap-rock track (Desperation) that is on par with the rap-rock atrocities of the time (think TQT Spineless, Whitecross Holy War or Deliverance A Little Sleep). Great stuff.

2. I Scream Sunday: More Pig goodness. Again, as a youth I liked the fast tracks but I love the mid tempo cuts just as well now. Mind boggling how they got Johnny Cash to feature on Man In Black, and surprisingly the collabo works a treat! Also the worship number Wholly My Lord is truly great. I felt that there were one or two pure joke tracks and one or two fillers, that's why this one takes second spot.

3. Smash: A very good album front to end, but a few tracks were just less memorable than most tracks on Swine Flew and I Scream Sunday. There are enough classics on this one tho, Isaiah 6, Frat Rats, Smash The Guitar, Take A Flying Leap, even the joke track is great (Looney Tunes). I'm Not Getting Any Older has that Bowie  on steroids vibe again. Fantastic stuff.

To be honest all those first three albums are extremely close and depending on my mood I prefer one or the other.

4. Love You To Death: I was stoked when this came out but also afraid they would tarnish a great discography with a mediocre comeback album. This was not the case, as a matter of fact this is really One Bad Pig. They have certainly grown older (as we all have) but you can still feel that energy that made their early stuff so noteworthy. I still place it last as overall it does not have the timeless quality of the earlier work. Most tracks are fun to listen to a few times but grow old quite quickly. There are a few noteworthy exceptions, e.g. The Lust, The Flesh, The Eyes And The Pride Of Life or Red White Or Blue. Funny enough these are real old school punk tracks. If they did another album full of songs in that style I'd be all over it.

Right, have at it.

1. Swine Flew.
2. Smash.
3. I Scream Sunday.
4. Love You to Death.

All are very similar and non is really bad.  I agree they're not pure punk, more of a punk-thrash hybrid.

I Scream Sunday
Love you to Death 
Swine Flew
Smash

What’s their “thrashiest” album?

Hmmm, the youth group acceptable thrash/punk band. Some okay songs like Red River and Bowl of Wrath and doing Man In Black with Cash worked well but mostly they came across as too much of a joke imo.

I never got into 'em but Frosthardr's cover of Thrash Against Sin is fun (though as BR said, difficult to tell if it's a joke or not haha).

They're SUPPOSED to be a joke.  The whole point was to find the right balance of goofy humor and dead serious Biblical topics.  I think they pull it off.

I recommend listening to them again with that mission and message in mind.  If it's not your thing, fine.  But I think you'll recognize that they do what they do well.

I know it was a joke and that seemed to overshadow the real message. I'm not dissing those who like them but it was more novelty then quality imo.

I got into the band partially because Scott Waters' explanation on his No Life Til Metal website. His description of turning Sunday School lessons into songs fits. Thankfully the topics they covered were much more hard hitting and serious than that though. I love the messages as much as the music.

For me:

I Scream Sunday - without the 100% joke tracks I'd without doubt prefer this to the rest. I love You're A Pagan, Cut Your Hair, For A Good Man, and the gritty riff on Spirit of Murder makes it a huge favorite. I also love the closing tracks, Never Forget The Cross and Wholly My Lord. Again, without the joke tracks, this is their best by a margin. As it is, it's my favorite but is clearly flawed as a listening experience.

Swine Flew - More consistent than I Scream Sunday so this almost wins out for me. I play Bowl of Wrath on a fairly regular basis. It's a track I'll play in any mood. One of my favorite songs in general. Thrash Against Sin, When Your Love Died and Red River are all fantastic. I love the cover songs but having two on one album right in the center and then followed by the mediocre Desperation slows this album up for me. If not for that, this is tops.

Smash - Ironically their most solid album and, as such, nearly as good as the two above. I love I'm Not Getting Any Older, Don't Be Fooled, Kingdom Come and People Cry Out. Nothing bad on the album but maybe a few more tracks that don't get my attention. Something about it doesn't get it as much playing time. That is why it's third for me.

Love You To Death - great comeback with some truly excellent songs. My kids love listening to What Does The Fool Say and Sunday Skool Rawk. Their cover of The Lust, The Flesh, The Eyes and the Pride of Life is fantastic. Teenage Royalty is hilarious and painfully true. OMG is great. Red, White or Blue and Heads Will Roll are starkly serious tracks with topics few bands would ever dare cover. All this said, it's an uneven album with many of the rest of the tracks. It's classic One Bad Pig but not quite as great. Still would love to hear more.

Just a general note: the humor is the only thing that allows the band to get away with what they do. They cover far more serious issues and in a more bold manner than most other bands out there.

I used Red River for my new skate video. The mid tempo fits my slow skating.

Raegoul wrote:

I used Red River for my new skate video. The mid tempo fits my slow skating.

Thanks for posting that!

Interestingly that very first clip was why I never skated as a kid despite all of us having boards at one point. I grew up in a neighborhood with "chip and seal roads." If anyone knows what they are, they pour tar all over the road and drop pointy crushed limestone/gravel into it. Until it settles in you can't ride a skateboard on it. Even after, the percentage of times you go forward without your board is 80%. When the road is finally smooth the tar rises to the top, bubbles in the heat and sticks to the wheels. As a result, we all had boards but nowhere nearby to ride them. These days, in my parent's neighborhood, those old roads are long gone, just not in my time.

zelote wrote:I Scream Sunday
Love you to Death 
Swine Flew
Smash

I would have to agree with your ranking 100%!

1. Anything by Whiteheart
2. Anything by Petra
3. Anything by Idle Cure
4. Anything by Rez

- big gap -

5. Anything by One Bad Pig

Now that I finally have three of their albums:

1. Swine Flew

So good.

2. Smash

I really like the consistency here, but I think SF has higher highs. 

3. I Scream Sunday

I really like it, but less so than the others.

I Scream Sundae 
Love you to Death 
Swine Flew
Smash