How Could Hell Be Any Worse? was Bad Religion's first album, recorded back in 1982. When the band was trying to avoid becoming irrelevant in 1985, they rereleased this album. Nowadays, most people probably know it as tracks 1-14 of 80-85. The lineup at that time was Greg Graffin (vocals and harmonies), Jay Bentley (bass guitar), Brett Gurewitz (lead and rhythm guitar), and Pete Finestone (drums). Greg Hetson was still only a pseudo-member. He laid down a guitar solo and helped out with the recording, and soon after he was a full-fledged member, playing live with the band (so even though he didn't play on either recording from their "original line-up" period, he's considered to be part of the original band).
After their first album, as band members slowly drifted away, Greg Graffin gradually changed the direction of their music, eventually playing neo-psychedelic folksy songs that few Bad Religion fans seem to like. After releasing the album Into the Unknown and a few tracks on compilations, the band finally broke up, Greg moved back home, and that appeared to be it for Bad Religion.
Then, in 1984, Greg moved back to LA and he and Greg Hetson restarted the band. Although Greg's two original songwriting partners (Brett, the original guitarist, and Jay, the original bassist) were missing, it was still a reuinion of sorts and a return to straightforward punk rock (although a bit slower than their old music). Toward the end of the year, after playing a few shows, they went into the studio, with Brett engineering and producing, and recorded a new 5-song EP called Back to the Known, which most people nowadays know as tracks 21-25 on 80-85. This EP is also known as "The Slow Record" (although compared to Into the Unknown, and later albums like Recipe For Hate, it doesn't sound so slow...) At this time, the lineup was Greg Graffin (vocals), Greg Hetson (guitars), Tim Gallegos (bass), and Pete Finestone (drums).
Suffer, released in 1988, was Bad Religion's first album since the reunion of the original band and return to their original sound in 1987. The lineup at that time was Greg Graffin (vocals and harmonies), Jay Bentley (bass guitar), Mr. Brett (lead and rhythm guitar), Greg Hetson (lead and rhythm guitar), and Pete Finestone (drums).
Continuing with the same lineup, Bad Religion released No Control in 1989, and Against The Grain in 1990. 80-85 was released in 1991, a compilation of all of Bad Religion's pre-1985 stuff, minus their Into The Unknown album.
By 1992, Pete Finestone had been replaced with Bobby Schayer (drums), for their release of Generator. The band followed with Recipe For Hate in 1993. Although Recipe For Hate was originally released on Epitaph (as were all their previous albums), it was quickly bought by Atlantic, to the disdain of a few fans, as this marked Bad Religion's move to a major record label. Stranger Than Fiction followed in 1994 (also on Atlantic).
By this time, Mr. Brett started dedicating more time to Epitaph and less time to the band, and by 1995, Mr. Brett was out of the picture, replaced by Brian Baker (from Minor Threat and Dag Nasty).
In 1995, Epitaph released All Ages, a compilation of Bad Religion's 'newer-old' stuff, including two live tracks.