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We need to have a thread dedicated to educating the good people of GDC about the incredible lyrics on Insomniac

One thing I find awesome about Green Day is that even though the basic Green Day trademark sound is always recognisable, their sounds has never been absolutely the same on two albums, they have always added something new. No two Green Day albums sound absolutely the same. Every new album has introduced something new. That really makes them stand out since it would have been very easy just to repeat that same pop punk sound of Basket Case eternally. That is in my opinion very big big asset. Most of the bands I deem great - I mean, really great - have done so. With the Trilogy they, in some ways, ignored that principle and went backwards instead. The sign of this is that the best songs on the Trilogy (like Brutal Love or Kill the DJ) are also those ones that sound most dissimilar to the general sound of the Trilogy. Those songs were bold moves, fresh moves, and not just regression.

There's no virus in the air, But there's fluid in the street, A sanitary facemask sale Won't go out to bankruptcy, It's not something that you catch From a handshake or a cough, But it's transmitted by blood and jizz, So you better be careful who you boff...

Holy shit I was not expecting to read that today. Guess you can return that International Superfan banner, o defender of everything Billie has ever shat out in his sleep.

Oh my. Half of the greatness of Insomniac is based on the lyrics on it. One could argue they are his best ever. Each one of them work as an entity, as well as provides a fountain of incredible one-liners, as proved above. As far as that kind of lyricism goes, they are unbeatable. On Nimrod and AI the lyrics are at least as good, maybe, but on the other hand they are so different from the lyrics on Insomniac that there is no reason to compare them. I can give you a piece of advice . With Insomniac came a sheet on which the lyrics were printed. It has been a great aid to me when I've been in doubt. Of course one can never be sure if that's what he really is singing, but I'm fairly certain that's at least what he tried to sing

Billie's been horny his whole life. He just wrote about it more eloquently in the past.

Quite ironic when you think about it. "Am I just paranoid? Am I just stoned?" Jeez idk, can I ask the audience?

Billie only had the meltdown because he realised how shit it was and knew they'd have to go on an impromptu 19th Anniversary Dookie Tour.

Or decent songwriting. After all everything comes down to the quality of the songs. And since lyrics have always been important when it comes to Green Day, let's do a comparison: Hey, you got yourself a pretty little mouth I think I wanna rub it the wrong way Do you wanna spin a bottle, play a game of chicken? Well, it's a tongue twister till your lips are bleeding Oh, anyhow, anywhere Kiss me there, oh kiss me there Oh, scream and shout, truth or dare Kiss me there, oh kiss me there Oh, you're so precious, you're a fucking delinquent Well I got myself jonesin' and I need some fixin' It's a makeout party on another dimension And it's gonna get crowded with some bad intensions Oh, anyhow, anywhere Kiss me there, oh kiss me there Oh, scream and shout, truth or dare Kiss me there, oh kiss me there VS I'm just a mutt And nowhere is my home Where dignity's a land mine In the school of lost hope I've panhandled for a life because I'm not afraid to beg Hand me down your lost and founds Of second hand regret You better swallow your pride Or you're gonna choke on it You better digest your values Because they turn to shit Honor's gonna knock you down Before your chance to stand up and fight I know I'm not the one I got no pride Sects of disconnection And traditions of lost faith No culture's worth a stream of piss Or a bullet in my face To heck with unity Separation's gonna kill us all Torn to shreds and disjointed Before the final fall

Well, just Billie, yer a smackhead.

Not sure how anyone thinks Billie was absolutely content while making the Trilogy.....remember the whole meltdown and rehab thing that happened before it even came out?! Well I still don't dislike it so it isn't that dramatic . It's just one of the least interesting songs and also is the least "Trilogyesque" song so that leaves it at the bottom of the pile. A song containing the pun "Baby baby eyes, baby baby eye I was born to kill" can't be a piece of shit

Jesus Christ No, we're not parodying the Trilogy. Yet.

And Ha Ha You're Dead! And vocal harmonies actually sung by Mike.

Just a random thought. I really can't help but think the transition between the EPs /39/Smooth / Kerplunk and Dookie is kinda abrupt. As is general knowledge, about 90% of their pre-Dookie material consists of sappy girl songs - then comes Dookie which by comparison barely has a song that would fit that trope (though I guess stuff like When I Come Around could be loosely classified as such, albeit no longer without the 'sappy' part). Come to think of it, Dookie wasn't like anything Green Day has released before, and AI wasn't like anything Green Day has released before - in fact, that holds true with nearly just about every album they've released. I see a pattern of sudden (dare I say abrupt) transitions here.

Not all men!!!

No, he's just Billie. (Smart-aleck-y) Dammit, I've wasted my Just William joke.

Hence its happening during Basket Case.

Really, though, it's not even that he has to be miserable. They were already on top of the world after making AI, but they were seethingly angry at the state of American political affairs. Maybe if Billie had kept watching the news after 21CB we still could have gotten something awesome; as is 99 Revs is the only attempt at something like that, and it's far too little far too late.

Redundant is both lyrically and musically one of their best songs. It deserves more attention.

While Shenanigans isn't really all that great, "Suffocate", "Sick of Me", and "Desensitized" are some of the best Green Day songs I've ever heard.

I actually think the transitions are fairly smooth between some albums, but there's a definite leap between some of them. You can put the EPs, 39/Smooth, Kerplunk, Dookie and Insomniac in my opinion and it feels like a natural transition. The only difference I see between Kerplunk and Dookie is the production, plus a bit more anger in the lyrics. In terms of sappy girl songs there's still When I Come Around and Sassafras Roots, and while there are differences in lyrical tone I think overall the actual sound of the music makes it seem smooth enough a transition. But then you go from Insomniac to Nimrod and it's like "what the fuck happened here?" I think Nimrod and Warning can go together in terms of how versatile they are sound-wise, and American Idiot/21CB can to together for obvious reasons. Oddly, I think the Trilogy albums tend to fit well into different parts of their career - Uno goes somewhere in between Insomniac and Nimrod, Tre fits in quite well with American Idiot and Breakdown, and Dos is kind of on its own. It seems like they progressed greatly and relatively naturally all through their career until they hit the Trilogy, then some serious shit went down. tl;dr I lump them into four categories: EPs, 39/Smooth, Kerplunk, Dookie, Insomniac, Uno Nimrod, Warning, American Idiot, 21st Century Breakdown, Tre Dos

Man, the trilogy is awesome. I'd take Makeout Party over No Pride any day. Just a lot more fun imo.

The meltdown was the result. The trilogy was the cause... ?

Not horny, dirty-minded.

Yeah, I know, but I wasn't referencing the Trilogy, only Tom's comment. You can rarely make a masterpiece if you are absolutely content but you can be discontent as hell and still make shite art I still love Tre (the album) though.

Nah, not necessarily miserable, but it is no secret that good art needs some kind of conflict. Some kind of drive to do it. It is sad but you rarely can come up with a masterpiece when you are being absolutely content.

As am I. Compared to a piece of shit like Baby Eyes?! HOW?!?!?!?!?!?!

Not until we've finished the last one, anyway.

It's 99 Ebola cases tonight...

Like most songwriters Billie is far better when he's being a miserable git. So we've only got ourselves to blame for making AI and 21CB so popular.

I think it is very interesting the way you categorized their records. I agree for the most part, with slight variations: Category 1 - 39/Smooth, Kerplunk - I would categorize these separately merely for the production value. I think it makes a huge difference. Category 2 - Dookie, Insomnic, Uno - Agree with this 100%. Didn't Billie say that Uno was supposed to be a throw back to their earlier sound? I think he succeeded. Category 3 - Nimrod, Tre - I lumped these together because I think they are different enough to stand on their own. It's almost like they are transition records getting ready for a change to a new sound. Hopefully, anyway on Tre's part. Category 4 - Warning, AI 21st CB - I agree that sound wise Warning is closer to Insomniac, but lyrically it is much different. I think it is a preamble to the more political nature of AI and 21st CB. Category 5 - Dos - Proof that there should only be 4 categories.

I think Kerplunk provides the transition. Going from the earlier stuff to Dookie would've been a big jump, but Kerplunk is a lot less sappy and has lots of songs on subjects other than girls, with a more cynical edge coming into the lyrics, and it sounds pretty close to Dookie musically as well.

Yeah honestly I've always assumed that all mainstream country is written by the same guy. It seems like it. I'm going with "Magic man, egocentric plastic man" or "Cold turkey's getting stale. Tonight I'm eating crow" or "Sects of disconnection and traditions of lost faith" or "What's the latest way that a man can die? Screaming Hallelujah" or "Seasons change as well as minds" or- fuck. I can't do this. I'm just going to quit GDC at 2,999 posts so I don't have to deal with the pressure

Regarding gum: "It's good for your vocal chords. Keeps ya luuubed up." - Billie Joe

Well when you put it like that! But seriously, disagree with what? There's no point in just shouting out things like that then not at least defending them Absolutely love the part where the bass drops in after "...shitty old man" Also the line "Wasted youth and a fistful of ideals, I had a young and optimistic point of view." is a personal favorite

The Grouch is brilliant.

Replace Walk Away with Lazy Bones and I COMPLETELY agree! I actually enjoyed Fuck Time, and despite being a raging feminist, I don't really find it sexist or disgusting. It's meant to be completely over-the-top, and in my opinion it's almost like a parody of songs that are vaguely about sex. Rather than trying to disguise it as something romantic or clever, he's basically just like "hey, I'm here, I'm horny, let's fuck." And honestly, who hasn't felt that way before?

Yeah he has. I believe one of the times was right before he crowd surfed closer to his wife and added an "Adrienne..." before singing the chorus, pretty sure if he's willing to serenade her with it it's not to be taken that seriously lol. The song is a parody of old rock and roll songs with lyrics that were really about sex but never said anything explicitly, the purpose of including an extreme line like that is to add to the contrast. Just some dark humour. I don't see it that way. To me it comes across as a mutual thing, with the male and female characters both looking for the same thing from each other. Both the man and the woman are up for some partying and sex in those songs and neither comes across as more of an object or more of a human than the other. Does the Lady Cobra character come across as weaker or less in control than the guy she meets? I'd say the opposite if anything, and she doesn't speak about him in any less an objectifying way either. Meanwhile there's other songs where both the male and female come across as less one dimensional (eg Lazy Bones and Amanda). I don't see sexism in it, it's even handed.

"I don't have sex 'cause I can't get it up."

Orgies are fun

Spoiler alert: NimJim is DookieLukie.

Seriously if you take a look at the topic titles on the News forum, how many of those news are actually about Green Day as a band? Bilie acting in a film, Tre becoming a viking-convert, and so on. Besides, I would have no intention of leaving, since someone must keep on belabouring that painful song collection generally known as Dos. And also, more importantly, I'd like to think I have made too many great acquaintances here to be able to just leave. That said, there is not a single real proof that they actually are breaking up and these false rumours Nim Jim constantly spreads are getting very tiresome.

The place would probably just revert back to Nickelback Community like it was before the Rapture.

We'd just spam all the time.

Just saw an old interview from when UNO came out. Billie says this line: "And then there's songs like Nuclear Family where I'm just like, I just write this shit and I don't even know what it means sometimes." Sounds about right, Billie.

Do you even Oxford?

I think most people agree, but pretty much everyone has different ideas of what songs would/should be on the one album.

What video is this from?

1st gif in this thread: