Next Album Anticipation Thread....Chapter 2

[DookieLukie]

27 minutes ago, Matt. said:

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

From a theatrical perspective it does. It's the "set the stage" song to introduce the environment and conflict of the record (chaotic 21st century US). Many plays and musicals use an opening song to set the tone.

[MillenniumFan]

25 minutes ago, DookieLukie said:

From a theatrical perspective it does. It's the "set the stage" song to introduce the environment and conflict of the record (chaotic 21st century US). Many plays and musicals use an opening song to set the tone.

Yeah, the record switches anyway (depending on how you view it) between fictional characters and Billie's own views. American Idiot (the song) mostly reflects the latter. It kinda throws out the political "f*** you" in a sharp and punk like fashion, to (as you say) set the stage/mood, so that the actual rock opera can begin. 

People say this missing story-line thing about WMUWSE too, but though that is also a more personal song, I think it could easily be interpreted to also reflect St. Jimmy's overall mental state and feelings of reflective sorrow and helplessness, right after Whatsername leaving in Letterbomb and right before he decides to embark home. American Idiot (the song) could also equally well be interpreted to be, in a more abstract sense, what a more politically conscious and generally "caring" (i.e. giving a shit, kinda) JOS might be thinking as an inner monolog.

I mean, I know I am a massive fan boy when it comes to AI, but as I see it, for good reason. It just somehow works 

[Little Boy Named Booze]

1 hour ago, Matt. said:

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

Favorite Son wasn't about Bush ? I was so sure. 

[GDFan2019]

So, do you guys think we’ll finally get an announcement this week, especially since August 1st is Thursday?

[Billie Joes Eyelids]

1 hour ago, DookieLukie said:

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.

I’m not saying they’re not a punk band. They’re just not a part of the punk world anymore because they became mainstream. Therefore, it takes a lot more balls for them to make a political statement than it does for an underground punk band playing in a bar in Austin Texas or somewhere.

I guess what I hear some of you saying is that he didn’t make a sharp political point in Rev Rad, and if that’s the approach he should stay away from political lyrics. I get that, but I don’t agree with completely dismissing him as a political songwriter like some comments have indicated by their tone. 

[DyP]

1 minute ago, GDFan2019 said:

So, do you guys think we’ll finally get an announcement this week, especially since August 1st is Thursday?

if we get an announcement this week I will kill my pet lizard that I love more than myself

 

that's how sure I am we aren't getting anything for a while

[Billie Joes Eyelids]

2 minutes ago, GDFan2019 said:

So, do you guys think we’ll finally get an announcement this week, especially since August 1st is Thursday?

No

[WhiteTim]

4 hours 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.

Eddie Veddar And Pearl Jam are much more upfront about politics and were even bigger anti Bush with their Riot Act album than AI ever was (since a lot of non GD fans accuse AI of being an anti bush album) 

 

[localinsomniac]

4 minutes ago, DyP said:

if we get an announcement this week I will kill my pet lizard that I love more than myself

 

that's how sure I am we aren't getting anything for a while

But will you put it in a blender and drink it?

[DyP]

Just now, localinsomniac said:

But will you put it in a blender and drink it?

you heard it here first. If we get an announcement this week I will blend Chameleo Jones into a smoothie and drink him bones and all

[MillenniumFan]

14 minutes ago, WhiteTim said:

Eddie Veddar And Pearl Jam are much more upfront about politics and were even bigger anti Bush with their Riot Act album than AI ever was (since a lot of non GD fans accuse AI of being an anti bush album) 

Yeah, because AI wasn't just Anti-Bush. Sure, it paints a very dark image of Bush's America. But if you look at some of the societal/political criticism in AI, JOS, Holiday etc. you will see that they can also be applied to America's political and societal culture more generally or broadly speaking, not just at the time. That is one of the reasons why a lot of AI still holds so true today (or did so under Obama as well, though I hate to bring that up) and I wouldn't have wanted that to be any other way to be honest. 

[Billie Joes Eyelids]

10 minutes ago, WhiteTim said:

Eddie Veddar And Pearl Jam are much more upfront about politics and were even bigger anti Bush with their Riot Act album than AI ever was (since a lot of non GD fans accuse AI of being an anti bush album) 

 

My last comment on this topic. We can do all kinds of comparisons about how bands present their political views and to what degree. But the truth of the matter is that political protest is simply not done anymore unless you’re in the Indie world, and even then you have to be an Indie who isn’t well known. So we need to respect any well-known artist who chooses to make a political statement these days, no matter what their style is in doing it.

[BraedonHorbacio]

4 hours 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.

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.

To me it's almost more impressive that they can write songs that work as a platform for people to express their own different political opinions instead of the band throwing their own opinions  in peoples faces (which we all know they're capable of doing). Their "political" lyrics paint a vivid picture but they don't necessarily tell you what to see in that picture - listeners see what they want to see. That's what made John Lennon's political music so universal while perceived to be so lyrically vivid, and that's what separates Green Day from the thousands of political punk bands in the world.  

[WhiteTim]

25 minutes ago, MillenniumFan said:

Yeah, because AI wasn't just Anti-Bush. Sure, it paints a very dark image of Bush's America. But if you look at some of the societal/political criticism in AI, JOS, Holiday etc. you will see that they can also be applied to America's political and societal culture more generally or broadly speaking, not just at the time. That is one of the reasons why a lot of AI still holds so true today (or did so under Obama as well, though I hate to bring that up) and I wouldn't have wanted that to be any other way to be honest. 

Always bug me when I’m on FB and I see people crapping on GD for saying AI was anti Bush or anti America etc like other than mainly the title track and Holiday (I know JOS has sections but I don’t put it on front like AI or Holiday is) politics don’t really play a huge role on the album  

[Billie Joes Eyelids]

9 minutes ago, WhiteTim said:

Always bug me when I’m on FB and I see people crapping on GD for saying AI was anti Bush or anti America etc like other than mainly the title track and Holiday (I know JOS has sections but I don’t put it on front like AI or Holiday is) politics don’t really play a huge role on the album  

And that’s the point. Only 2 of the songs were political but they were then labeled as a political band because it was unheard of to see a song like Holiday in the top 20. An artist can make a very strong point with lyrics that can be interpreted differently. The point was still made, and in a way that more people heard it. It was kind of revolutionary in a way. But yes it is unfair to call AI a strictly political album. 

Oops 🤐 now. 

[MillenniumFan]

7 hours ago, WhiteTim said:

Always bug me when I’m on FB and I see people crapping on GD for saying AI was anti Bush or anti America etc like other than mainly the title track and Holiday (I know JOS has sections but I don’t put it on front like AI or Holiday is) politics don’t really play a huge role on the album  

Well, certainly not the kind of "f*** this specific government/politician with his/her specific policy x" politics, as may be more typical of old school punk bands shall we say. That being said, there are I think some more deeply woven societal/cultural criticisms of America throughout the album, but nothing particularly radical, at least not from a European point of view. That kind of way of treating politics doesn't make Green Day main-stream or "pussies" though, not in the slightest. There really is a lot of false and unrighteous mysticism and contempt coming from the more "traditional punk" camp towards the band. As I see it, this is without reason, especially if they're referring to AI. 

So, no, Green Day doesn't need to fulfil some weird artificial role of what a punk band ought to be. There are other bands who do more "hardcore" politics, some well, some not so well, let them do it. Green Day has shown they can shine with or without politics, but the latter was never what made them stand-out in the first place, so if they've run out of ideas to integrate politics into an otherwise already interesting context, as they pulled off so well in AI, they can easily set the whole thing aside for the time being. 

[Q-Man]

To be honest I'm glad that they keep their political statements in their songs vague for the most part. It prevents the songs from becoming dated and irrelevant over time. Mentioning specific political figures or specific policies or talking points of the time is essentially the same thing as an artist from the mid-2000s saying something about Myspace in a song. It doesn't hold up over time and keep relevance. That's why American Idiot continues to draw in new younger fans. For the most part the politics gets the point across while being vague enough to fit outside of the time frame it was written in. Same with 21st Century Breakdown. Someone listening even decades down the road will be able to relate to it. However, if they specifically mention Trump for example the song loses its impact and meaning as time moves further away from Trump's presidency. 

[HAPPY ZOMBIE UNICORN]

Honestly I don’t get some of the criticism I read on here. They always approached politics trough figures of speech, and when they approached politics in their songs they essentially always did it from a social commentary perspective. I don’t see how this is less political, or not political.

There’s probably different ideas toward what is political in here, but to me you do not have to talk about a specific party, policy or political area to be political. You can just criticize how society or part of it works, you can even not criticize and just describe what you see around you and still be political, highlighting certain aspects, or approaching an issue in a certain way, it’s what music and poetry always did.

Sure, they are not Bad Religion and they do not include complex philosophical statements in their records, but to say that AI has only one or two political songs is a bit weird to me. Almost every song in there has a political reference to the time that record was written, not a direct criticism towards Bush or its republican administration, but comments about American society. And if that’s not political...

I also think it’s laughable to say that since they consider themselves independent (aka not affiliated to either the Republican or Democratic party) they are centrist or have no clear ideas about what happen around them. Or to use this to criticize the fact that they “criticize” only one political area. Only because you are not members of a party this does not mean that you can’t have left or right wing ideas.They come from a very specific political and social context, with a very left wing political background. This clearly influenced them since the beginning of their career, and they clearly always belonged to that political spectrum. Again this does not mean that every song in their record is or has to be a criticism towards the right wing, it is just the (political) perspective from which they describe the world.

And yes, I hope they will continue to do that.

 

[Jinxs]

I think its time to steer this thread on correct course. 

[HAPPY ZOMBIE UNICORN]

22 minutes ago, Jinxs said:

I think its time to steer this thread on correct course. 

You mean it’s time to kill and bury it?   

[steve46]

32 minutes ago, Jinxs said:

I think its time to steer this thread on correct course. 

I also think it's time to bury this thread till we get real info.

[Outofmind]

49 minutes ago, Jinxs said:

I think its time to steer this thread on correct course. 

It is not a bull, it is a water buffalo..... don’t believe me? Look at some pictures.

[Alan86]

1 hour ago, Jinxs said:

I think its time to steer this thread on correct course. 

And what would that be? 😂

[Ross_19]

Billie should write a song about Brexit, for the lols

[nobodylikeswarning]

1 hour ago, Ross_19 said:

Billie should write a song about Brexit, for the lols

He'd get a better deal than Baffoon Jelly