Unreleased Nimrod Session Tracks

[Maddie86]

just decided to do you a youtube search for "Green Day Interview 1997" and I found this:

at about 2:45 in they start talking about the recording and Billie says that Allison and 19th Nervous Breakdown weren't finished

later on in that video they started taking calls and the first caller actually asked about the songs that didn't make it on the album, he wanted to know if they'd be released for future singles and they said yes but then mike says "there's some songs you're never going to hear". damn! Also, I'm starting to think that a lot of those songs on the check list in the first post were never finished. Billie said the album was a lyrical nightmare because he was writing so many lyrics in the studio, I'm gunna have to assume that he just ended up giving up on some

[Maddie86]

I found another video where they talk about the session, they said there were 18 songs plus 4, so this again leads me to think that a lot of those other songs never got finished.

 

[Todd]

Nice finds. I wish I had a month to just listen to as many Green Day interviews as possible. I'm working on a list called "Green Day Facts". It's never ending! I could probably end up turning it into a book, but it's hard to find the time to work on it between college and work. 

I don't understand why they weren't able to finish Alison and 19th Nervous Breakdown. They're cover songs, all they have to do is record their instruments. It's not like they have to re-write the songs. 

[Maddie86]

1 hour ago, Todd said:

Nice finds. I wish I had a month to just listen to as many Green Day interviews as possible. I'm working on a list called "Green Day Facts". It's never ending! I could probably end up turning it into a book, but it's hard to find the time to work on it between college and work. 

I don't understand why they weren't able to finish Alison and 19th Nervous Breakdown. They're cover songs, all they have to do is record their instruments. It's not like they have to re-write the songs. 

Billie didn't like the way his vocals were coming out on them

[GreenDayTheory]

maybe Idiot is early American Idiot like "dont wanna be another idiot"

 

Edited June 4, 2017 by GreenDayTheory

[IHateYou]

They once disputed I think all of those “rumored” song titles. It was me who asked them. I emailed the question when they were on I think BBC 1 with Steve Lamacq in 2001 I want to say? It was either 2000 or 2001. Pretty sure it was while they were promoting Superhits in 2001.

The DJ read off a list of the songs and Billie said they don’t exist, while the whole band laughed. But you know what? Just because they said that doesn’t mean they truly don’t exist. Green Day has kept their privacy over the years, and I figure there’s a chance they would lie about these songs existing, if perhaps they were written/recorded but were not good enough to make the album. I wouldn’t hold it past them to lie of their existence to keep fans from poking around. We do know they do get pissed off at our shit as fans sometimes, as seen on Cuatro and the making of American Idiot in a couple parts. They do read our obnoxious posts sometimes.

Somebody try to find this audio! I’ve been trying for years!!!

[Todd]

4 hours ago, IHateYou said:

They once disputed I think all of those “rumored” song titles. It was me who asked them. I emailed the question when they were on I think BBC 1 with Steve Lamacq in 2001 I want to say? It was either 2000 or 2001. Pretty sure it was while they were promoting Superhits in 2001.

The DJ read off a list of the songs and Billie said they don’t exist, while the whole band laughed. But you know what? Just because they said that doesn’t mean they truly don’t exist. Green Day has kept their privacy over the years, and I figure there’s a chance they would lie about these songs existing, if perhaps they were written/recorded but were not good enough to make the album. I wouldn’t hold it past them to lie of their existence to keep fans from poking around. We do know they do get pissed off at our shit as fans sometimes, as seen on Cuatro and the making of American Idiot in a couple parts. They do read our obnoxious posts sometimes.

Somebody try to find this audio! I’ve been trying for years!!!

Great info, thanks for letting me know!

I'm facebook friends with Ken Allardyce, Nimrod's engineer. I sent him a message asking if he'd be willing to do a short interview with me. So I'm waiting to hear back from him, then hopefully he can give us more information about the songs. 

[Maddie86]

On 11/17/2017 at 9:06 AM, Todd said:

Great info, thanks for letting me know!

I'm facebook friends with Ken Allardyce, Nimrod's engineer. I sent him a message asking if he'd be willing to do a short interview with me. So I'm waiting to hear back from him, then hopefully he can give us more information about the songs. 

I'd have so many questions, let me know if you want more stuff to ask him!

[Todd]

4 minutes ago, Kyle Serlington said:

I'd have so many questions, let me know if you want more stuff to ask him!

Sure, send me a PM  

[god61]

I just happened into this thread and I'm wondering why Green Day hasn't done an anniversary box set of Nimrod with at least some of this extra material? It seems like they have enough to put together a few good cds worth of stuff and I'm sure they have at least one unreleased show from the era they could put on DVD and/or CD (ie. like some of the recent Jam box sets).

[Todd]

1 minute ago, god61 said:

I just happened into this thread and I'm wondering why Green Day hasn't done an anniversary box set of Nimrod with at least some of this extra material? It seems like they have enough to put together a few good cds worth of stuff and I'm sure they have at least one unreleased show from the era they could put on DVD and/or CD (ie. like some of the recent Jam box sets).

I agree! We haven't gotten anything new from the Nimrod era since 2009 when they gave us "Nice Guys Finish Last" live from the Electric Factory 97 as part of the 7" box set. We'll have to wait another 5 or 10 years for Nimrod's 25th or 30th anniversaries

[god61]

Just now, Todd said:

I agree! We haven't gotten anything new from the Nimrod era since 2009 when they gave us "Nice Guys Finish Last" live from the Electric Factory 97 as part of the 7" box set. We'll have to wait another 5 or 10 years for Nimrod's 25th or 30th anniversaries

Probably. Personally I would rather have spent 3x as much on a Nimrod anniversary set then another greatest hits. I must admit though, my candles do look good on my mantle piece. Lol! 

If we're lucky, Green Day will go back and do some special releases for their albums starting with Dookie in a few years kinda like Nirvana did for the Nevermind and In Utero box sets. I would love an insomniac box set with a live concert DVD! 

[throwaway9802]

Just from a quick skim-through, it is more than likely that Jump=Chump. I remember seeing a few bootlegs and things like that which list "Chump" as "Jump". They do sound almost the same said out loud  

The unreleased ska-pop song is probably DUI, because it has similar instrumentation to King For a Day.

[Todd]

1 minute ago, throwaway9802 said:

Just from a quick skim-through, it is more than likely that Jump=Chump. I remember seeing a few bootlegs and things like that which list "Chump" as "Jump". They do sound almost the same said out loud  

The unreleased ska-pop song is probably DUI, because it has similar instrumentation to King For a Day.

I think the ska song is King for a Day, I've seen it described as such since I did the research, but I've never really considered King for a Day to be ska. 

[god61]

11 minutes ago, Todd said:

I think the ska song is King for a Day, I've seen it described as such since I did the research, but I've never really considered King for a Day to be ska. 

I would say KFAD is more ska tha DUI. DUI is more mariachi. 

[Todd]

8 minutes ago, god61 said:

I would say KFAD is more ska tha DUI. DUI is more mariachi. 

I'd say it's more polka

[Libertine Angel]

I have never, ever considered KFAD to be remotely ska.

[deleteduser7593]

1 hour ago, Libertine Angel said:

I have never, ever considered KFAD to be remotely ska.

Me too...

[maseuz]

I was thinking about the title Hairy Guy and the NGFL lyrics "I never knew you're such a funny guy." Maybe the original title for NGFL was Hairy Guy and the lyrics were "I never knew you're such a hairy guy", but now actually typing this it sounds pretty ridiculous.

[maseuz]

On a more serious note, I have an odd feeling that All Around isn't actually All the Time, and I agree that Idiot could be an early version of American Idiot but that's stretching it.

[Maddie86]

I just reread this thread, lots of great stuff in here! @Todd, I totally forgot about the mystery around which session You Lied was recorded in. I still think it's insomniac but maybe you can tack that onto the list of questions I sent you for Ken, ask if it was recorded with Nimrod, and ask if he knows why Sick was mixed by Neil King instead of Chris Lord-Alge like the rest of the album and B-sides.

Also, I know the Insomniac recording list is in this thread too, it has a song called "Insomniac" on it and I was listening to an interview the other day where Billie confirmed that "Insomniac" is the original title for "Brain Stew"

Also, I assume that "You Irritate Me" is the original title for "Sick", and since Green Day didn't use it I actually stole the title for a new song I'm doing with my band where the chorus repeats the line "Everyone's so sick of you!"

[IHateYou]

They are definitely sitting on some b-sides from throughout the years, and certainly hours of camcorder footage in the studio. Here’s my rationale as to why they’ve skimped on us for album anniversaries so far: they’re still making new music and remaining relevant. They probably hold their collective nose at the idea of a lot of this retrospective work. Give it another 5-10 years, and perhaps some of the goodies will start to permeate. Superhits was definitely Warner’s idea. I remember Billie on Modern Rock Live in 2001 saying, “when we’re done with this greatest hits ‘thing...,” and then refusing to play Poprocks and Coke when a fan requested it WHILE they were promoting it.

 

When I bumped into the Big Three and Greg before a show last year, I asked Jason White, “I bet Billie has tons of recordings shoved away of all genres. I bet he’s done a ton more Warning type rootsy stuff, but there’s just too much pressure to release representative stuff under the Green Day name.” Jason replied in the affirmative with a yup.

[WhiteTim]

53 minutes ago, IHateYou said:

They are definitely sitting on some b-sides from throughout the years, and certainly hours of camcorder footage in the studio. Here’s my rationale as to why they’ve skimped on us for album anniversaries so far: they’re still making new music and remaining relevant. They probably hold their collective nose at the idea of a lot of this retrospective work. Give it another 5-10 years, and perhaps some of the goodies will start to permeate. Superhits was definitely Warner’s idea. I remember Billie on Modern Rock Live in 2001 saying, “when we’re done with this greatest hits ‘thing...,” and then refusing to play Poprocks and Coke when a fan requested it WHILE they were promoting it.

 

When I bumped into the Big Three and Greg before a show last year, I asked Jason White, “I bet Billie has tons of recordings shoved away of all genres. I bet he’s done a ton more Warning type rootsy stuff, but there’s just too much pressure to release representative stuff under the Green Day name.” Jason replied in the affirmative with a yup.

U2 and Metallica have released anniversary albums and they're both bigger bands and have as much relevance as GD it really just depends on the bands GD doesn't seem to care much about doing them or acknowledging the anniversaries much 

[Todd]

2 hours ago, IHateYou said:

They are definitely sitting on some b-sides from throughout the years, and certainly hours of camcorder footage in the studio. Here’s my rationale as to why they’ve skimped on us for album anniversaries so far: they’re still making new music and remaining relevant. They probably hold their collective nose at the idea of a lot of this retrospective work. Give it another 5-10 years, and perhaps some of the goodies will start to permeate. Superhits was definitely Warner’s idea. I remember Billie on Modern Rock Live in 2001 saying, “when we’re done with this greatest hits ‘thing...,” and then refusing to play Poprocks and Coke when a fan requested it WHILE they were promoting it.

 

When I bumped into the Big Three and Greg before a show last year, I asked Jason White, “I bet Billie has tons of recordings shoved away of all genres. I bet he’s done a ton more Warning type rootsy stuff, but there’s just too much pressure to release representative stuff under the Green Day name.” Jason replied in the affirmative with a yup.

In one of the phone messages, Billie said they were going to play Poprocks & Coke on Leno or one of the late shows they were on in 2001, but they changed their mind last minute. 

[LaughingClock]

On 12/4/2016 at 12:43 PM, Todd said:

Recently, the third page of the Nimrod session song list was revealed in the Green Day: The Ride documentary on MTV. This has sparked a lot of interest in the scrapped tracks of the Nimrod sessions. I've done a bit of investigating, and want to compile what I've found for everyone.

With all these new songs revealed, it raises the question: How many songs were there for Nimrod? Looking back at internet pages from 1997, I've found a few answers. Allstarmag.com reported on March 29th, 1997: "A Reprise spokesperson says they have more than 35 songs already penned". I found another source where Tre Cool is quoted as saying "In fact, we have about 30 songs ready to record. By the time we get into a studio, we'll probably have 50". The book Green Day: Rebels With a Cause reports that there were 40 songs. So let's take a look at how many Nimrod songs we have currently, and what we've yet to hear:

The Album:
01 - Nice Guys Finish Last
02 - Hitchin' a Ride
03 - The Grouch
04 - Redundant
05 - Scattered
06 - All the Time
07 - Worry Rock
08 - Platypus (I Hate You)
09 - Uptight
10 - Last Ride In
11 - Jinx
12 - Haushinka
13 - Walking Alone
14 - Reject
15 - Take Back
16 - King for a Day
17 - Good Riddance
18 - Prosthetic Head

The B-Sides:
19 - Sick of Me (Hitchin' a Ride Single)
20 - Espionage (Hitchin' a Ride Single)
21 - Suffocate (Australian Nimrod/Good Riddance Single)
22 - Desensitized (Australian Nimrod/Good Riddance Single)
23 - You Lied (Australian Nimrod/Good Riddance Single)
24 - Rotting (Good Riddance Single)                                        [Further research shows that these are both leftovers from the Insomniac sessions]
23 - DUI (Cut from Shenanigans)

The Unreleased:
24 - Alfred E. Normal
25 - 19th Nervous Breakdown (Rolling Stones Cover)
26 - You Irritate Me
27 - Idiot
28 - Tony the Tiger
29- Alison (Elvis Costello Cover)
30 - Ugly Day
31 - Slow

Wow! 31/40 songs of the session are now known! Pretty good, right? Well those are just confirmed songs from that list! If we want to get into rumored songs, we can go further! These songs I found from this site: http://www.oocities.org/sunsetstrip/club/4259/nimrod.html
32 - Hairy Guy
33 - World Vs. World
34 - Jump
35 - Laughing Stock
36 - (Ska-core song)

So what do we know about all of these unreleased songs? What about the rumored songs, is there any truth to those? Here's what I've gathered so far
- This site lists that 19th Nervous Breakdown and Alison, both cover songs, were going to be released as b-sides. It's rumored that 19th Nervous Breakdown was never released because Billie wasn't happy with his vocals on it
- Tony the Tiger was reported by Microsoft Music Central to be a cover of "The Frosted Flakes 'Tony The Tiger' theme". It was actually played live on July 19th, 1997 during a secret warm-up show that Green Day performed at the Viper Room in Los Angeles under the name "The Nimrods". A review of the concert mentions the song "after playing a few songs from commercials, such as the "Tony the Tiger" theme". If the song is just a cover of the commercial theme, then it's most likely this song: 

Quite catchy, huh?  

Rumored songs:
- World vs. World is most commonly known as the title for an unreleased Green Day song that was performed from 1988-1990, but it's not the official title of that older song, it was fan assigned. It's very possible that this was the title of a Nimrod session song, and someone assigned the title to the older song. It's unclear when this title first emerged or when people started using it for the older song. 
- Jump is another song that was reportedly played at the Viper Room during that secret show. The same review from above also mentions it. "[Green Day] scarcely tested out their new material, including "Jump" and "Hitching a Ride," from their forthcoming album Nimrod". Maybe it was supposed to be Chump? but if so, it wouldn't be listed as new material, would it? 
- (Ska-core song) Gabrial McNair and Stephen Bradley played horns on King for a Day. However, back before the album dropped, they said that they played on not just one, but two songs for the album, "one of them is sorta skacore and the other one is punk with some polka horn lines". We know the second one refers to King for a Day, so that leaves us with an unreleased ska-core Green Day song. 

So that's what I've found so far, and I wanted to share this with everyone. There's still nothing known about Alfred E. Normal, You Irritate Me, Idiot, Ugly Day, Slow, Hairy Guy, or Laughing Stock. However, Sick of Me and Espionage aren't seen on the list of 29 songs. Perhaps one of the mystery songs could just be an early title for those? 

Totally awesome bro!