Next Album Anticipation Thread....Chapter 2

[pacejunkie punk]

1 minute ago, DyP said:

i just hope whatever they do next it isn't some faux political woke album. if they do another rock opera im gonna scream

What if it’s a faux political woke album but all short fast punk songs and not a concept or rock opera?

[DyP]

1 minute ago, pacejunkie punk said:

What if it’s a faux political woke album but all short fast punk songs and not a concept or rock opera?

as long as he isnt singing about the "anti-social media" i'll be fine. just give me smart lyrics not shitty one liners that have been done to death

[Zebahar]

Just now, DyP said:

as long as he isnt singing about the "anti-social media" i'll be fine. just give me smart lyrics not shitty one liners that have been done to death

So if they made a song like American Idiot, you'd be cool with it? Because if so, I agree 100% with you

[DyP]

7 hours ago, Zebahar said:

So if they made a song like American Idiot, you'd be cool with it? Because if so, I agree 100% with you

yeah, as long as the lyrics have actual thought put into them and actually MEAN something and aren't just empty appeals to politics that aren't the basic "fuck the government" and "resist" messages.

One of my favorite artists, Jeff Rosenstock does a great job of criticizing the government with lyrics that are thought provoking and meaningful all while being fucking bangers. These are the lyrics to his song "Planet Luxury" 

Quote

The ones in power built a dream on guarantees of luxury
And sold it like it's magic to the poor
They trick you into thinking all it takes
Is just a little bit of effort once your foot is in the door
They brutalize your confidence and drain you of your energy
Until you're always tired and unsure
They make a lot of promises but keep on taking everything
So you always want more
You want more?
You want more

 

link: 

 

If Billie could write in a way that gets his point across WITHOUT being generic as fuck, i'm all aboard.

[Beerjeezus]

9 minutes ago, DyP said:

yeah, as long as the lyrics have actual thought put into them and actually MEAN something and aren't just empty appeals to politics that aren't the basic "fuck the government" and "resist" messages.

One of my favorite artists, Jeff Rosenstock does a great job of criticizing the government with lyrics that are thought provoking and meaningful all while being fucking bangers. These are the lyrics to his song "Planet Luxury" 

If Billie could write in a way that gets his point across WITHOUT being generic as fuck, i'm all aboard.

You're spot on. However, Billie could only write this way if he had views... a message to get across. His lyrics are super generic, but that makes sense when he's a centrist.

[DyP]

2 minutes ago, Beerjeezus said:

You're spot on. However, Billie could only write this way if he had views... a message to get across. His lyrics are super generic, but that makes sense when he's a centrist.

I think he called himself an Independent if i'm remembering correctly? anyway, all of their hits that have a political message behind them have been criticizing the republican agenda. While he may align himself center - he has never made a point to criticize the democratic party in his music. If he's going to trash republicans, I think he should just go all out and be specific about what he hates.

[maryjanewhatsername]

8 minutes ago, Beerjeezus said:

You're spot on. However, Billie could only write this way if he had views... a message to get across. His lyrics are super generic, but that makes sense when he's a centrist.

Bang on here, Jana. He kind of runs right on the middle of the road with his views. 

[Beerjeezus]

1 minute ago, DyP said:

I think he called himself an Independent if i'm remembering correctly? anyway, all of their hits that have a political message behind them have been criticizing the republican agenda. While he may align himself center - he has never made a point to criticize the democratic party in his music. If he's going to trash republicans, I think he should just go all out and be specific about what he hates.

Yes, it's not an issue with him only criticizing one side, but being unspecific about it. But I guess it's hard to be eloquent when he's this vaguely in the middle like "X is really bad but we need to see past our differences uwu." First he'd need to make up his mind on where he really stands or he can never write anything more concrete than "we live in troubled times".

[DyP]

1 minute ago, Beerjeezus said:

Yes, it's not an issue with him only criticizing one side, but being unspecific about it. But I guess it's hard to be eloquent when he's this vaguely in the middle like "X is really bad but we need to see past our differences uwu." First he'd need to make up his mind on where he really stands or he can never write anything more concrete than "we live in troubled times".

It's like that kid in high school who didn't really read the book so his essay is full of general assumptions and the like. "yeah i thought it was good....i liked it a lot. I liked the ending"

[Beerjeezus]

1 minute ago, DyP said:

It's like that kid in high school who didn't really read the book so his essay is full of general assumptions and the like. "yeah i thought it was good....i liked it a lot. I liked the ending"

Couldn't describe it better.

[Libertine Angel]

For someone who borrowed so much of Stiff Little Fingers' sound you'd have thought he'd borrow their forthright attitude too.

[Billie Joes Eyelids]

I think it’s funny to criticize Green Day for not being specific enough in their political opinions like they’re lightweights in this area when I can’t think of another band or singer who right now has the balls to even approach politics.

[Beerjeezus]

29 minutes ago, neverdone2000 said:

I think it’s funny to criticize Green Day for not being specific enough in their political opinions like they’re lightweights in this area when I can’t think of another band or singer who right now has the balls to even approach politics.

A lot of punk bands are political, that's in no way unique. Green Day have done a good job marketing themselves as a political band but the truth is they're vague and don't really have much to say.

Edit: haha my new favorite catastrophic scenario is that the album is coming out in 2020 so that the promo coincides with the presidential campaign and Billie has something to talk about in interviews, which actually worked for RevRad and kind of made up for or at least covered up the fact that the lyrics were kind of bland.

[Cunt]

3 hours ago, neverdone2000 said:

Even though the new management has done that with other artists?

 

3 hours ago, Christian's Inferno! said:

It kind of does

 

3 hours ago, pacejunkie punk said:

It means exactly that, especially if they switched management for precisely that reason.

Yeah sure they’ve done that with Weezer and Fall Out Boy, but they didn’t do it with Panic! At The Disco or Lorde. So no it doesn’t mean that they are going to release a single 5 months in advance of a record release. Probably what your going to get with the switch over if management is better promotion, more music videos and probably an attempt to fix Green Day’s less than stellar ticket sales from the last tour. 

[Guest]

25 minutes ago, Beerjeezus said:

A lot of punk bands are political, that's in no way unique. Green Day have done a good job marketing themselves as a political band but the truth is they're vague and don't really have much to say.

[Libertine Angel]

46 minutes ago, neverdone2000 said:

I think it’s funny to criticize Green Day for not being specific enough in their political opinions like they’re lightweights in this area when I can’t think of another band or singer who right now has the balls to even approach politics.

Here's SLF playing a new song this year explicitly discussing a particular victim of a murderous cop:

Billie's watered-down slogan barrages will always fall flat to me when there's still bands saying real things.

[MillenniumFan]

I don't think it's fair to call Billie's lyrics vague across the board or through all time. It is true that Green Day never did the "I'm going to tell you exactly what I think politically, using as many specific/direct words, events, people and concepts as humanly possible, so that you reaaally definitely certainly know what I mean" thing  (for better or for worse). However, it still isn't quite fair to say they've always been as politically vague and shallow as on RevRad for example. 21CB and Warning, but of course more importantly AI feature a lot more specific political concepts and criticisms. The difference is though, they are never stated too directly, but rather implied. A certain vagueness if you will, but it is less "vapid and centrist" and rather crafted in a way to be adapted to different frames and situations. I still agree that they are in no way the only political band (haha faaaaar from it), nor the best, not by a long way, but Billie has definitely written some good political lyrics in his lifetime.

All that being said, it's been a while since he wrote anything that isn't total cliché or empty middle-of-the-road slogans...

 

[Billie Joes Eyelids]

53 minutes ago, Beerjeezus said:

A lot of punk bands are political, that's in no way unique. Green Day have done a good job marketing themselves as a political band but the truth is they're vague and don't really have much to say.

First of all, Green Day has not been considered a punk band in the true sense of the word for a long time. They are a mainstream band with songs on the charts and have been since 1994. A big part of the reason AI got so much attention was that there was a mainstream band being overtly political. That was a risk. The last time there were overtly political bands and  artists in the mainstream was in the 80’s. Key word there being mainstream.  It’s very easy to make a political statement when you’re a band in the underground punk world. That doesn’t take a lot of bravery. And the ironic thing is, that doesn’t even happen much anymore. There is hardly an artist out there who will wade into the political world these days.  They all “stay in their lane”. I can’t even imagine a band like Rage Against The Machine today. They were brave because they were radical, but they were also niche. It’s hard to imagine even niche bands taking a stand these days, or even rappers. Everyone is chicken shit about possibly alienating someone and losing Instagram followers.. So I give Green Day a lot of credit for their political stances, because no one else in their position would even consider it.

[Beerjeezus]

1 minute ago, neverdone2000 said:

First of all, Green Day has not been considered a punk band in the true sense of the word for a long time. They are a mainstream band with songs on the charts and have been since 1994. A big part of the reason AI got so much attention was that there was a mainstream band being overtly political. That was a risk. The last time there were overtly political bands and  artists in the mainstream was in the 80’s. Key word there being mainstream.  It’s very easy to make a political statement when you’re a band in the underground punk world. That doesn’t take a lot of bravery. And the ironic thing is, that doesn’t even happen much anymore. There is hardly an artist out there who will wade into the political world these days.  They all “stay in their lane”. I can’t even imagine a band like Rage Against The Machine today. They were brave because they were radical, but they were also niche. It’s hard to imagine even niche bands taking a stand these days, or even rappers. Everyone is chicken shit about possibly alienating someone and losing Instagram followers.. So I give Green Day a lot of credit for their political stances, so no one else in their position would even consider it.

It's true that Green Day should rather be compared with mainstream rock than punk, but is it worth it to praise them for being the one-eyed king in the land of the blind? It works for them as an image and occasionally it's really cool like the performance at AMAs, but it doesn't really show in the music itself. I'd be fine with them talking about politics, but there's not much in songs that go something like "times are hard...we need a...revolution...". It would be cool to express opinions and be vocal but they don't need to force it into the lyrics when it's uninspired. The Longshot was such a breath of fresh air because it was just songs that were fun and didn't feel forced instead of Billie trying to be woke.

[Billie Joes Eyelids]

24 minutes ago, Beerjeezus said:

It's true that Green Day should rather be compared with mainstream rock than punk, but is it worth it to praise them for being the one-eyed king in the land of the blind? It works for them as an image and occasionally it's really cool like the performance at AMAs, but it doesn't really show in the music itself. I'd be fine with them talking about politics, but there's not much in songs that go something like "times are hard...we need a...revolution...". It would be cool to express opinions and be vocal but they don't need to force it into the lyrics when it's uninspired. The Longshot was such a breath of fresh air because it was just songs that were fun and didn't feel forced instead of Billie trying to be woke.

I think its cynical to say Billie is “trying to be woke”. Obviously he feels strongly about political issues, as shown by some of his Instagram rants and breakdowns. I’m 100% sure he is not using politics as a marketing strategy. And I think the lyrics of American Idiot and Holiday are brilliant. There may be metaphors, but honestly they’re almost prophetic about our state of near-fascism today. Bang Bang also has some great lyrics regarding the psychology and entitlement of a male white mass shooter. If your beef is with Troubled Times, you need to remember that he was trying to avoid being too political on Rev Rad and said he refuses to write any songs specifically about Trump. Again, I think this has everything to do with people on the far left, which I am one of, shooting thenselves in the foot by expecting their artists and politicians to embody their idea of what the perfect representative is, and then completely dismissing the attempt of it doesn’t meet their standards. It’s an all or nothing attitude that I think is unrealistic and more harmful than helpful. 

[Squashie]

5 hours ago, neverdone2000 said:

I think its cynical to say Billie is “trying to be woke”. Obviously he feels strongly about political issues, as shown by some of his Instagram rants and breakdowns. I’m 100% sure he is not using politics as a marketing strategy. And I think the lyrics of American Idiot and Holiday are brilliant. There may be metaphors, but honestly they’re almost prophetic about our state of near-fascism today. Bang Bang also has some great lyrics regarding the psychology and entitlement of a male white mass shooter. If your beef is with Troubled Times, you need to remember that he was trying to avoid being too political on Rev Rad and said he refuses to write any songs specifically about Trump. 

Well said. I don’t really find “vagueness” an issue with RevRad. I’m glad he didn’t write anything specifically about Trump on that record - although we have to remember that it was written before the 2016 campaigns really started. 

I’m tried of this “woke” crap. Like, what the fuck does that even mean? He’s a 40+ year old white male (in the 1%) who follows political issues because it matters to him, bases his opinions on his morals and beliefs and chooses to publicly call out and/or support those issues.

[MillenniumFan]

For me vagueness isn't even about naming Trump or not. I mean, that was always heavily implied, where relevant. It's mostly his criticisms of Trump or his administration that are generic and vague in my opinion. He also does this on IG sometimes, where, even if I agree with what he's saying about a certain topic, I could have easily mistaken his criticism for something said by some overpaid news-anchor or tame late-show host on a corporate tv network. 

I really don't have an issue with him writing political songs in general and I wouldn't suppose Billie to be pandering necessarily. However, I think the "calls for revolution" or "destruction of society" etc. are simply tiring if they are given without any meaningful context or purpose. AI was by no means highly specific, but it created a certain context, as well as a personal frame for the politics, so that gives the record a sense of direction, while also not being too specific to only appeal to a fringe part of the population with a highly specific political mindset. In a lot of ways it was the best of both worlds for what Green Day, being who they are (unlike other smaller/underground punk bands), can pull off well. 

I understand, however, that it's gonna be difficult to repeat something like that, so that's where I'd rather want them to set aside the politics, unless it's not going to be the same vague schtick as on RevRad.

[DookieLukie]

While Green Day has certainly veered into a more "classic rock" or "stadium rock" sound, I laugh when people say that they aren't a punk band. Green Day makes music that is far less poppy than the Ramones, yet everyone calls the Ramones a punk band.

[GDFan2019]

9 minutes ago, MillenniumFan said:

For me vagueness isn't even about naming Trump or not. I mean, that was always heavily implied, where relevant. It's mostly his criticisms of Trump or his administration that are generic and vague in my opinion. He also does this on IG sometimes, where, even if I agree with what he's saying about a certain topic, I could have easily mistaken his criticism for something said by some overpaid news-anchor or tame late-show host on a corporate tv network. 

I really don't have an issue with him writing political songs in general and I wouldn't suppose Billie to be pandering necessarily. However, I think the "calls for revolution" or "destruction of society" etc. are simply tiring if they are given without any meaningful context or purpose. AI was by no means highly specific, but it created a certain context, as well as a personal frame for the politics, so that gives the record a sense of direction, while also not being too specific to only appeal to a fringe part of the population with a highly specific political mindset. In a lot of ways it was the best of both worlds for what Green Day, being who they are (unlike other smaller/underground punk bands), can pull off well. 

I understand, however, that it's gonna be difficult to repeat something like that, so that's where I'd rather want them to set aside the politics, unless it's not going to be the same vague schtick as on RevRad.

And on American Idiot, none of the songs directly referred to Bush either. Actually the only song I can think of that was written specifically about a politician was the B Side Governator.

[Sanity Loan]

6 minutes ago, GDFan2019 said:

And on American Idiot, none of the songs directly referred to Bush either. Actually the only song I can think of that was written specifically about a politician was the B Side Governator.

Correct, except for the title track, which doesn’t fit in with the rest of the album from a storyline perspective.