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I think Billie was having problems before the Trilogy, I think his time in New York from the Musical probably contributed, this might have been said before, I maybe totally wrong but it seemed to me he was letting out so many demons back then, he seemed to be partying pretty hard with the Cast, people around, I remember he said he finally found friends but with this also comes lots of destruction and hangers on because of who he is, It must be hard for him to not trust people and let them into his life, for any famous person it can be very isolating. I do wonder if he has an addictive personality so whatever it is he gets hooked on it eventually drags him down. I think the Trilogy (and I also have mixed feelings about it) got him through from whatever it was to now, I am glad it happened, he's lucky he has his talent and has this avenue to explore every single part of who he is and he can get things out of him, I am glad he is not afraid to share it with us, one of his most endearing qualities is his obvious vulnerability. he's human he shares it with us warts and all and for that I will always be thankful he went through the Trilogy. Probably just put this in the wrong thread haha x

Feeling like a cello: in my opinion it literally means "experience a wide range of feelings". You know, the cello has a great extension in term of notes. It goes to C2 to G5 if I remember well. So it is like "you can experience everything, from bad feelings (low notes) to orgasms (high notes), but all this at the same time". It's incredible. I hope it's crazy enough to be a "feeling like a cello" explanation.

I run a (semi-)popular Green Day blog on tumblr and after the AMAs someone sent me a (hysteric) message saying how awesome they thought their chant was, that they cried watching it. Because it made them, as a non-white non-straight non-male person, feel safe, and how good it makes them feel that Green Day will always speak up with no fear (I mentioned this in the AMAs thread). I basically just validated their feeling and listed a few things they have done or said... and thousands of people shared it, saying things like "I had no idea" or "I'm going to start listening to Green Day again" and "thanks 14-year old me" and "time to look for my old cds". I don't know, as someone who loves Green Day very very much it makes me so happy that people are finally realizing again how awesome they are.

From Jimmy Kimmel show

I have only seen them twice before! Mildly hyperventilating whenever I think about seeing them five times in 10 days (or something mad like that) I think it helps a lot that the people I'm touring with are GDCers themselves and this is going to be the first time any of us meet each other haha. I gathered us up mainly to keep down accommodation costs, and it has snowballed from there and I'm almost as excited about my time with them as I am about my time with the band. Maybe you should PM a few people who are going to the same shows as you? Tends to get the ball rolling much quicker than trying to organise in a thread

Hyde Park will be my 7th Green Day show which is insane to me! I'm only doing one show with two friends (who aren't superfans but we're friends from another fandom and they've let me drag them to the musical already so they knew it was coming ) but hoping to maybe see some GDCers at the other shows

I cannot beliiiiieve I'm seeing them five times. Still too tired to muster actual excitement physically. But omg, I feel you about needing to have everything organised! I'm traveling with two other fans and I just made us all figure out our transportation to the airport in Perth because there are two terminals which are a pain in the ass to travel between. Made us figure out something that isn't happening until May 2 😂😂

I only joined in 2010 so I don't have quite the same scale. To keep this on topic: I've booked two of my five flights for Green Day's tour around the country and I am too exhausted to be excited 😂 I could not bloody fall asleep last night because I got too psyched about tennis in January and the tour in April/May, so now I'm a corpse

I cannot believe you were seven when that was released! I remember posting on this thread around that time...insane

I always thought the red light thing is a very personal metaphor and some kind of central theme of the trilogy. It could be about Billie's condition at that time, like he already realized that his situation got more and more out of control and he knew that he should stop (he saw the red lights flash), but he couldn't stop, he wasn't able to change anything yet. But maybe I'm reading way too much into this and it's really only about sex Thinking about the song Stop When the Red Lights Flash, I just remembered that it is GREAT live! I don't like it too much on the album, but it rocks like hell on stage. I hope they'll play it again some day in the future.

Where women glow and men plunder?

omg the first photo killed me. i love that so much. i don't know why i am attracted to it so much.

i was thinking before that i find it weird seeing green day on tv shows (like james cordern). i feel like i know them, and it's strange to see them on tv. is that weird? i feel like it doesn't really make sense. hahaha.

For reference:

I mean he may mean it however he wants, but as a phrase I promise you that is the only place it comes from and the only thing it's used for. Because, literally, when the bus' red lights flash, that means stop. He interpreted it however, but that has got to be the origin there.

I thought it was about prostitutes 😋 But I will go with your version.

The Youtube Lyric video for Bang Bang has reached 10 million views at last! Quite an achievement

I've come back to my roots during this past week, feeling all nostalgic, doing the same thing I did three years ago: listening to the trilogy nonstop the week prior to my birthday, and I was reminded how much I really did love those albums, especially Uno Dos I played a few times and moved on from, though I think if I had been a little older when I listened to it, the mature themes of that record might not have scarred me haha. I do like the album more now, and while the trilogy may not be their best work, it was fairly solid with having some good songs.

Here's my take on that trajectory from 21CB to the Trilogy to now: With 21CB, they clearly wanted to beat AI (and pretty much said so themselves), so they went heavier, darker, and more political. Personally I adore 21CB, but a lot of folks saw it as riding on the coattails of AI. Which is perhaps a fair assessment. After 21CB, things felt so serious all the time, and I don't think the band liked who they were becoming. They started to become known as the elder statesman of their genre, and didn't want to be taken so seriously all the time. In many ways, they don't care what people think. They'll write about what they want whether it's popular or not, will make a Broadway musical whether it's the "cool" thing to do or not. But people's perceptions of them was always something that I think really got to them. In the shadow of AI, I think they became extremely self-conscious. So in the wake of all that seriousness, they let loose, and went way in the opposite direction. After AI, it seemed like they'd matured a lot personally, but in an effort to hang on to what they used to be known for, it's like they did a complete 180 for the worse. Whatever your feelings are on the trilogy itself, it's clear that the band was totally falling apart at that point. Post AI, they very quietly spiraled out of control, and it's not a hard downward spiral to map out. But after everything they went through—not just Billie, but Britt and Jason's battles with cancer, too—it's like they finally gained some perspective and refocused on what they slowly but surely lost sight of. They refocused on their friendship and on making music that matters to them. Not overly forced in one direction or the other like 21CB or the Trilogy, but creating music about a mix of everything they care about: Personal struggles/accomplishments, and sociopolitical concerns. They found that sweet spot, and in the process, seem like they're themselves again, totally settled and happy with the image they're projecting. I don't think making a more political album again was a response to the Trilogy's commercial failures. I think it was a lot more about simply zeroing in on a select few things they wanted to write about, rather than writing a whole lot about nothing. Now, I see a band not feeling pressured to be anything but themselves. They don't need to outdo themselves or change themselves, but just go with what feels right. And it feels authentic. Clearly, they care about politics—the punk scene is by nature political, and the people who decided to make American Idiot are clearly not apathetic to the world around them. By getting involved in politics again now, they're just continuing the way they've felt for a long time, just like many regular people are. I've been generally happy with the state of politics the past eight years, barring some major social issues that bother me (and that they also reference in RevRad, like police brutality and BLM). But now the world has been flipped upside down, and it feels like the entire Obama legacy is about to go down the drain. That scares and upsets me, and it has prompted me to stand up and help fight for what I believe in. Seems like they feel the same way. It seems like the same thing as the AI era because it is the same thing—Trump stirs the same fears that Bush did, but he's even worse. I guess what I'm saying is that the concerns they're voicing now are very human, and come from a very emotional place. For someone invested in politics, someone who is left-leaning, it's very hard to keep quiet right now. I'd be shocked if they didn't want to talk about it. I will say that their management very obviously doesn't want them to talk about it as much as they have—in a recent interview, the journalist said Green Day's management instructed him not to bring up the election, because Billie wouldn't want to discuss it. That was total bullshit—Billie was relieved to be able to talk about it with someone. So clearly, it's a much more personal issue than it is a business decision. I think their management and PR's lives would be a hell of a lot easier if they just shut up about it.

I agree with everything you said other than the LNOE part, I love that song. I think for me, sometimes Billie writes songs that come off, to me, as he is just throwing out cliques to try and impress someone, not necessarily to mean them. There seems to be real passion in songs like Worry Rock or Scattered or Church on Sunday, as opposed to WIT that to me just comes across as a whiney boy.

I agree that there are many people who aren't taking Green Day's politics seriously, but support for them speaking out does, in fact, extend beyond this site. I've see so many people online applaud them who say they aren't even fans of their music. I personally know people who respect what they did and don't normally listen to them. Haters are loud, no matter what you're discussing. But Green Day also got a huge outpouring of support and respect for what they did. I'm not saying this wearing rose-colored glasses–I'm very aware of how they come off to outsiders, and not just in this instance. Art is innately political. I think expecting artists to stop talking politics and just focus on the music is an oxymoron, particularly when songs like Holiday, Warning, and Say Goodbye sit in their catalog. As for them milking the election for better album sales...I can't speak to why they're focusing on Trump so much, because I have no way of knowing their true intentions. But I will say that liberal-leaning people who care about political and social issues to begin with have been shaken to the core by this election. It's a very genuine reaction to be angry and confused and afraid for many of us. For many, it really does feel that grim and scary right now. Knowing the band's political views, I truly believe they've been hit just as hard by this as regular people like me who also want to continue the conversation about what's going on in the country. If I believed this band took hollow political stances for more fame and money, they sure as hell wouldn't be my favorite band.

No because they think the song is called Time of your life.

Love the song but when it's dragged out so long you could include 3 more short tunes in the set instead, or play it normally, mess around during it and move on. More people would like it more if that were the case. I saw them in '98 on the first tour with it and I don't remember it being extended too much. Billie did have his leopard print underwear or thong, they stole the entire festival with their performance.

I love his cheeky smile

I think I did it. And I prefer this to my original list despite the cuts. 1. Bang Bang 2. East Jesus Nowhere 3. Somewhere Now 4. When I Come Around 5. Scattered 6. One Of My Lies 7. One For the Razorbacks 8. She 9. Say Goodbye 10. Are We the Waiting 11. Viva La Gloria (Little Girl) 12. Hitchin' A Ride 13. Youngblood 14. Peacemaker 15. Basket Case 16. Jesus of Suburbia 17. Letterbomb 18. Too Dumb To Die 19. Sassafras Roots 20. Longview 21. Bouncing Off the Wall 22. Pulling Teeth 23. Give Me Novacaine 24. Brutal Love 25. Macy's Day Parade 26. Homecoming 27. Minority 28. Forever Now ENCORE 1 29. Before the Lobotomy 30. Church On Sunday 31. Worry Rock ENCORE 2 (acoustic) 32. Still Breathing 33. Good Riddance By the way, what has been their longest set they've ever played? If anyone knows off the top of their head.

Oh, great question. Bass isn't simple. It's not like "you have to play just one note". It's more difficult than that. Strings are thicker and the distance between frets is higher, so you need a good left hand trained to move up and down the neck. The main difficulty that I found was in using the pick, because you have to develop a fluid movement of your wrist in order to maintain the same intensity in the sound. I play the bass and I can tell you that, between all the instruments I learned to play (violin and drums), this is my favorite because you can feel the music inside your body. So, go with the vibrations.

I found my new favorite photo of Billie! <3

I don't normally like to see pictures of Billie with a beard- but this is one of the better pictures

It really is an ultra fab pic from that era! I love this one from the Sweet Children show