By 1987, Gurewitz had cleaned up his drug issues and struggled to find some kind of employment. After taking some vocational courses and a raft of odd jobs, he became a studio engineer and owner of a recording studio. Gurewitz noted, "I really enjoyed, still enjoy, being a recording engineer, but I had a terrible time trying to make any money. And my hours were horrible. I just knew I wanted to be in music. Then, in 1987, Bad Religion said, 'Hey man, why don't we get the group back together?". After Bad Religion finally reunited, they began writing new material and entered Westbeach Recorders in April 1988 to record their next album. According to Gurewitz, the album took eight days for the band to record and mix.