Longshot album Love is for Losers

[pacejunkie punk]

I’m guessing that’s it for the music but I sure would love another music video. 

[Hermione]

5 hours ago, DookieLukie said:

Billie's personal beliefs about the direction of the record's criticism is really irrelevant. A few songs directly target Bush and conservative America, but most of the lyrics are rather ambiguous. In a vacuum, much of the album displays displeasure with general corruption on either side. Billie is calling out extremists and the mis-informed, and both political sides have such people. To say only conservatives are bad is just ignorant. You also can't dismiss personal interpretation of lyrics. I love the line, "Where will all the martyrs go when the virus cures itself?" from Letterbomb. I don't know the exact intent of this line, but I've always found it to be a poignant criticism of extremists or people who get adamantly fixated on certain sociological topics. On Insomniac, "Can't control the chaos behind the gun" can be seen as a stance on gun control and how it's not the weapon, it's the person using it. 

Overall, I'll repeat me original argument which I've stated hundreds of times that American Idiot is a personal album laced with political commentary when applicable.

OK I don't think I even disagree with you on American Idiot. It does criticise things that are neutral or apply to both sides of the political spectrum. My point is it also goes after aspects of the right specifically while not also going after aspects of the left specifically. I don't see anything wrong with that though, not everything has to be neutral. They do call out things that might apply to both sides or even themselves but they still write from a liberal/left perspective.

[jengd]

4 hours ago, Hermione said:

They do call out things that might apply to both sides or even themselves but they still write from a liberal/left perspective.

Totally agree but I keep coming back to thinking that Billie often writes with a social conscience or reflecting/ranting about societies issues rather than just political issues.  I know it's difficult to split the two a lot of the time but I think if he just wrote about straight up politics, that would be limiting and marginalise the band and their appear and I don't think he does that. 

[Hermione]

1 hour ago, jengd said:

Totally agree but I keep coming back to thinking that Billie often writes with a social conscience or reflecting/ranting about societies issues rather than just political issues.  I know it's difficult to split the two a lot of the time but I think if he just wrote about straight up politics, that would be limiting and marginalise the band and their appear and I don't think he does that. 

Yeah he writes about both (separately and intertwined) but I agree it's more often from a social/societal perspective than strictly political. He writes about those things from a liberal perspective too though . It's not so much that they write from a strictly politically liberal perspective or from a democrat/liberal political party perspective, but just that they write from a liberal perspective on life in general, ie they're progressive and socially liberal and against conservative oppression etc. I don't mean to say they're just pro democrat and anti republican and that's it, it's a broader thing than that and goes further than political parties.

[deleteduser7593]

God, I even changed my mind about ''Love is for Losers'' (the song). This album is my medicine, haha, listening to it makes me so happy. Or quieter, at least, Lol I'm listening to it every morning, 5 AM, when I wake up... And then I'm like, when finished, ''WHAT? I NEED MORE SONGS OUT OF IT'', haha! Thank you BJ :-)

[Maddie86]

I hope this thing gets released on vinyl soon, and I hope it's more accessible than the 7" (although I was able to get a copy of the 7", yay!)

[Guest]

Still madly in love with this album, especially as summer has finally come to Sweden! As I've mentioned earlier I think it gives a great summer vibe. The Last Time is still my favourite despite it being somewhat repetitive. It makes me so excited every time I hear it 'cause it's different from what we've heard from Billie before. Happiness is definitely  the second best song on the album, I can't get enough of it and it's just pure perfection to me. Taxi Driver is so damn catchy and makes me want to dance. Chasing A Ghost is beautiful in every single way but especially lyric wise. Soul Surrender has really grown on me and I find myself singing it often. Kill Your Friends is so much fun and I dream of hearing it live more than any of the other songs, don't know why. Love Is For Losers has REALLY grown on me since its release. I LOVE the way he sings "I am the longest shot in town" in Cult Hero and overall I really enjoy the song despite finding it pretty 'meh' at first. Devils Kind is, of course, just awesome and so so so damn catchy. 

Okay sorry for long rambling post without any real value. I just fucking love this album and it makes me so excited! 

[Hermione]

25 minutes ago, Nightlife said:

 

I agree with everything! The Last Time is still my favourite too.

I've been listening to the album every day. The lyrics of Kill Your Friends are so great, especially "party in the morgue tonight". And Cult Hero is so cool, I love Billie's voice in it going "I'm a hyena" and "oh-ohh" and of course the " I am the longest shot in town" line (finally a GD related band name is mentioned in a song) . Happiness with the awesome guitar bit in the chorus (after "how alone is your restlessness") too. And Soul Surrender is beautiful

I love so many things about every song, it's just wonderful. I could list highlights endlessly. And then there's the extra songs and the Beatles style ones and the covers, it's all such a treat!

[Otis Big]

I want there to be a physical release so hopefully there are official lyrics provided along side to and also I hope hat there would be more attention paid to them when compared to revolution radio.

[Josh100_3]

What do I need to do to get a Vinyl copy of this? Hahaha

[LaughingClock]

On 5/14/2018 at 6:21 AM, Hermione said:

Yeah he writes about both (separately and intertwined) but I agree it's more often from a social/societal perspective than strictly political. He writes about those things from a liberal perspective too though . It's not so much that they write from a strictly politically liberal perspective or from a democrat/liberal political party perspective, but just that they write from a liberal perspective on life in general, ie they're progressive and socially liberal and against conservative oppression etc. I don't mean to say they're just pro democrat and anti republican and that's it, it's a broader thing than that and goes further than political parties.

They are as far left as it gets. Billie for sure. Can’t even understand how anything is taken differently. I was interested in the pretty astute and well spoken conversation/debate on it but Billie writes from a far left perspective and always has.  

And to whoever wrote on the phrase “where will all the martyrs go when the virus cures itself” IMO is saying “what will be the point of war and all the dead soldiers and civilians when the powers that be figure things out and what will have been the point” because killing doesn’t solve anything other than who is more powerful when in reality, peace comes from the absence of war; not from the winning of it (check the Koreas, or Iraq, or Vietnam). In contemporary war, the only just one I can think of was WWII because diplomacy was never stopping Hitler and the weapons wee primitive and it was a time of discovery and advancement. It had to happen.  

Look at even the Revolutionary War. You could say that it was necessary if you’re American but it was a primitive time and King George was a terrible dictator but at the end of the day, what did it get? America? Big deal. It’s not like we’re better than Britian now. So is the last couple generations worth the loss of life on both sides to get where we are now. 

The chaos is behind the gun is definitely a commentary about people handling the guns but I don’t think it’s necessarily pro-gun. Quite the opposite 

@DookieLukie

 

 

[Beerjeezus]

52 minutes ago, LaughingClock said:

They are as far left as it gets. Billie for sure. Can’t even understand how anything is taken differently. I was interested in the pretty astute and well spoken conversation/debate on it but Billie writes from a far left perspective and always has.  

I agree he's writing from a leftist perspective, but it's by no means a far left point of view. He is pretty far left for a rich guy but it's Obama/Clinton type of left, that's actually closer to centrism than far left. 

[Hermione]

28 minutes ago, Jane Lannister said:

I agree he's writing from a leftist perspective, but it's by no means a far left point of view. He is pretty far left for a rich guy but it's Obama/Clinton type of left, that's actually closer to centrism than far left. 

Yeah I think far/very liberal is more like it, he's on the left of the political spectrum (like, left of centre by US standards) but "far left" is something else  

[DookieLukie]

6 hours ago, LaughingClock said:

They are as far left as it gets. Billie for sure. Can’t even understand how anything is taken differently. I was interested in the pretty astute and well spoken conversation/debate on it but Billie writes from a far left perspective and always has.  

And to whoever wrote on the phrase “where will all the martyrs go when the virus cures itself” IMO is saying “what will be the point of war and all the dead soldiers and civilians when the powers that be figure things out and what will have been the point” because killing doesn’t solve anything other than who is more powerful when in reality, peace comes from the absence of war; not from the winning of it (check the Koreas, or Iraq, or Vietnam). In contemporary war, the only just one I can think of was WWII because diplomacy was never stopping Hitler and the weapons wee primitive and it was a time of discovery and advancement. It had to happen.  

Look at even the Revolutionary War. You could say that it was necessary if you’re American but it was a primitive time and King George was a terrible dictator but at the end of the day, what did it get? America? Big deal. It’s not like we’re better than Britian now. So is the last couple generations worth the loss of life on both sides to get where we are now. 

The chaos is behind the gun is definitely a commentary about people handling the guns but I don’t think it’s necessarily pro-gun. Quite the opposite 

@DookieLukie

 

 

The Revolutionary War era was far from a "primitive time." It was barely over 200 years ago. And the results of that war dynamically altered human history and politics, so I'd say it was kind of a big deal.

I never said that statement was anti-gun. Rather, it asks people to look a little deeper into the issue instead of going with a black and white option ("guns are bad" or "guns are good").

If GD's next album was truly from a "far left" perspective, I might not enjoy it because A) the anti-Trump stuff has been done to death by every form of media and B) I'm not a fan of extremists who think in black-and-white about how the world should work.

[Hermione]

1 hour ago, DookieLukie said:

The Revolutionary War era was far from a "primitive time." It was barely over 200 years ago. And the results of that war dynamically altered human history and politics, so I'd say it was kind of a big deal.

I never said that statement was anti-gun. Rather, it asks people to look a little deeper into the issue instead of going with a black and white option ("guns are bad" or "guns are good").

If GD's next album was truly from a "far left" perspective, I might not enjoy it because A) the anti-Trump stuff has been done to death by every form of media and B) I'm not a fan of extremists who think in black-and-white about how the world should work.

How is being liberal and slightly left of centre extremist though? Simply being anti Trump isn't "extremist". It won't be far left because they're not that. 

By European standards both the US Republican party and the US Democratic party are on the right. Many of our "conservative" parties are further left than both of them. The idea that being perfectly between them is the correct place to be and anything else is extreme is very arbitrary. Speaking from a particular point of view or speaking with a strong opinion on something instead of just being neutral doesn't have to mean being black and white about things.

You even say yourself that they were balanced on American Idiot, addressing things that don't only apply to one political side etc and not just being black and white. So I don't really see the problem.

[Beerjeezus]

If Green Day ever becomes far left I might as well wake up conservative one day 

[Christian's Inferno!]

I don't want the next album to be about Trump. I completely agree that the anti-Trump stuff is entirely overdone by everyone. We get it, Trump sucks. Almost everyone agrees.

What I'm more concerned about is making sure there's an actual GOOD candidate for the next election cause Hillary couldn't beat my cat, let alone anyone else.

[Beerjeezus]

I want the next album to be entirely about Trump just to see you all whine about it tbh 

[DookieLukie]

8 hours ago, Hermione said:

How is being liberal and slightly left of centre extremist though? Simply being anti Trump isn't "extremist". It won't be far left because they're not that. 

By European standards both the US Republican party and the US Democratic party are on the right. Many of our "conservative" parties are further left than both of them. The idea that being perfectly between them is the correct place to be and anything else is extreme is very arbitrary. Speaking from a particular point of view or speaking with a strong opinion on something instead of just being neutral doesn't have to mean being black and white about things.

You even say yourself that they were balanced on American Idiot, addressing things that don't only apply to one political side etc and not just being black and white. So I don't really see the problem.

I didn't say they're currently extremist or far left. I say IF that were to happen, their music would be less enjoyable.

I never said being liberal or slightly left was extremist.

 

[Hermione]

7 hours ago, DookieLukie said:

I didn't say they're currently extremist or far left. I say IF that were to happen, their music would be less enjoyable.

I never said being liberal or slightly left was extremist.

 

Fair enough. I think they could speak from their liberal/left of centre standpoint more firmly in a song without that meaning they're any further left or more extreme though. Like when I say I'd prefer direct/ballsy political songs over more general call to arms ones I mean more the tone of the song and how boldly the opinion/idea is being expressed than how extreme the opinion/idea being expressed is.

Edit: I've just realised how off topic this is getting lol. Maybe we should get back to discussion of the album.

[Sanity Loan]

I just posted my acoustic cover of "Turn Me Loose" -- check it out!

 

[MillenniumFan]

I hope you take this as a compliment (I certainly would), but this sounds kinda like if Tom Delonge did an acoustic cover of that song. And I honestly mean that in a good way lol (knowing all the hostility that exists between the fans of both bands). Really cool dude! 

[Jrem]

6 hours ago, Matt. said:

I just posted my acoustic cover of "Turn Me Loose" -- check it out!

 

Goodstuff

[That Dude]

On 5/19/2018 at 12:42 PM, Hermione said:

How is being liberal and slightly left of centre extremist though? Simply being anti Trump isn't "extremist". It won't be far left because they're not that. 

By European standards both the US Republican party and the US Democratic party are on the right. Many of our "conservative" parties are further left than both of them. The idea that being perfectly between them is the correct place to be and anything else is extreme is very arbitrary. Speaking from a particular point of view or speaking with a strong opinion on something instead of just being neutral doesn't have to mean being black and white about things.

You even say yourself that they were balanced on American Idiot, addressing things that don't only apply to one political side etc and not just being black and white. So I don't really see the problem.

I've never really thought about whether Green Day were "far left" or anything like that.   But they aren't one of those punk bands that talk about Anarchy and overthrowing the government, so they do seem more centered than "far left".     

Now that I think about it, Against Me! and the Sex Pistols are the only bands I can think of offhand that use the word, and Sex Pistols just had that one song.  Against Me!  gets into some deeper territory with the whole political aspect of it and I kind of find myself wanting MORE politics in their material, because they do it well and I agree with a lot of what they say.   Like American Idiot, it's written in such an excellent way that it allows you to make your own decisions.  

 

[Otis Big]

Soul Surrender is the best song of the album in my opinion.