Father of all Motherfuckers - What are your thoughts on the new album?

[Robbie1039]

     I’ve just revisited this album a couple of weeks ago, listening to all of it during my drive home from work, and I have to say I appreciate the more experimental parts of it, like the extra effects they added to the sound of the instruments.  A couple examples of this being the drum fill in “Meet Me On the Roof” before the instrumental break and the big bass slide in “Junkies on a high”.  There’s also a nice instrumental swell going on before one of the choruses in “I was a Teenage Teenager”, a song that most people here seem to loathe.  This reaction actually took me by surprise because this was an instant favorite for me after my first listens of the album.  It’s the first song that gave strong hints of older Green Day (it reminded me of “Ha Ha You’re Dead!” in particular, probably because of the vocals having the “crowd sing-along” effect going on).  The harmonies during the last chorus make it one of the best parts of the album.  

     I’ve also come to really appreciate the songs where the band, and especially Billie Joe, don’t sound like they’re easily recognizable.  Hearing them talk about this in interviews has given me a better perspective on what they were going for and why.  Songs like “Father of All” benefited from this.  The drums are also punchier than ever on this track, making it truly unique.  

     One track I hated when it came out was “Fire, Ready, Aim!” because it sounded like it was unfinished.  I wanted the BIG GREEN DAY SOUND.  But they were trying to make songs that were independent of that idea, trudging into the unknown.  They were truly embracing that “new band” mindset, opening themselves to new ways of making songs.  This song sounded so stripped down because that’s exactly what they wanted to go for, and I appreciate that a bit more now.  

     Overall, this album has grown on me.  It might have taken a “return to form” album like ‘Saviors’ to make me more appreciative of their experimental side, but I’m glad I have this new perspective on the album now.  Songs like “Oh Yeah!” and “Junkies on a High” are truly unique entries into their catalogue and mix things up in the same way that outliers like “Kill the Dj” and “Nightlife” did on the trilogy.  I even understand the album cover now, even though I still consider it a terrible cover overall lol.  Albums like this are what keep Green Day fresh and vital and I would be completely fine with them continuing the trend of toggling back and forth between “experimental” and “return to form” albums.  The “experimental” ones make me appreciate the “return to form” ones even more and vice versa.  Here’s my current favorites from this album: 

1. Junkies on a High

2. Stab You in the Heart

3. Oh Yeah!  

4. Take the Money and Crawl

5. I Was a Teenage Teenager

Edited February 7, 2024 by Robbie1039

[jengd]

So agree with you @Robbie1039.  Not sure I would say I love FOAM but I really like it, I consider it Green Day’s dance album 😂.  I totally respect what they were going for and their need to try different stuff and hats off to them for doing it, and doing it so well.  My favourite tracks are probably TTMAC, Junkies, SYINH and Sugar Youth, FOA and yes, Fire, Ready, Aim (a great one for the gym playlist) I like Graffitia but don’t see why so many seem to rank it so much higher than the rest of the album. 

[Karl Karlson]

There's an actual meaning behind the cover art?

[Montclare]

I liked it then and still like it.  Would I put it in the top half of their discography?  No, but it's still enjoyable.  Top tracks for me are TTMAC (which I will always want one of Billie's bands to play live), IWATT, Graffitia, and Oh Yeah.

[Robbie1039]

13 minutes ago, Karl Karlson said:

There's an actual meaning behind the cover art?

I think it’s symbolic of them shitting on the idea that they have to make something as grandiose as American Idiot every time they put out new music.  They went into this album without trying to live up to it.  I think that’s why they chose the American Idiot album cover to graffiti over and piss on (with ketchup).  And throwing a fucking hand drawn unicorn over it was the cherry on top. 

Edited February 7, 2024 by Robbie1039

[Miko]

1 hour ago, Robbie1039 said:

Songs like “Oh Yeah!” and “Junkies on a High” are truly unique entries into their catalogue and mix things up in the same way that outliers like “Kill the Dj” and “Nightlife” did on the trilogy.

I'm just gonna pick this sentence out from the rest because I find it hilarious how you picked 2 songs where Green Day either samples other artist or steals Boulevard chords. Kill the DJ and Nightlife were truly unique atleast, but Oh Yeah! and Junkies on a High are definitely not unique even a slighest.

[Robbie1039]

28 minutes ago, Miko said:

I'm just gonna pick this sentence out from the rest because I find it hilarious how you picked 2 songs where Green Day either samples other artist or steals Boulevard chords. Kill the DJ and Nightlife were truly unique atleast, but Oh Yeah! and Junkies on a High are definitely not unique even a slighest.

I actually think sampling makes the song more unique rather than less unique.  It’s something they’ve never done before, but decided to try.  Also, I think Junkies on a High is unique for the atmosphere it creates.  It doesn’t sound like any Green Day song I’ve heard before it.  It may share similar chord structures with other songs, but that’s the case with a lot of songs.  It’s really about how they chose to use the chords to make something completely new.  

[Christian's Inferno!]

1 hour ago, Robbie1039 said:

I think it’s symbolic of them shitting on the idea that they have to make something as grandiose as American Idiot every time they put out new music.  They went into this album without trying to live up to it.  I think that’s why they chose the American Idiot album cover to graffiti over and piss on (with ketchup).  And throwing a fucking hand drawn unicorn over it was the cherry on top. 

That idea might have worked if this album was anything more than a 4/10.

The idea of defacing your most iconic album artwork as a fuck you to the people who don't like when you to do anything new or different is actually kind of based when you think about it. I hate that album cover but in theory, that could work. But when that new album in question is the biggest "whatever" album of your career, it's kind of just you shitting all over your iconic album for no reason. Like, it's actually really hard to find people who will rank the album near the top of their discography. And also when you spend the following tour playing all the hits from that iconic album, and the next tour playing that album in full while FOAMF gets completely ignored, then what was the point of defacing the American Idiot artwork.

[Robbie1039]

4 hours ago, Christian's Inferno! said:

     I definitely agree that defacing the American Idiot artwork was not a good move at all and rubbed fans the wrong way, including myself, but it’s possible the artwork wasn’t meant as a “fuck you” to people who don’t like it when they venture off musically.  It might’ve been just a representation of what they felt the album was.  It was a record that was less complex in structure and arguably felt more carefree than their previous works.  Maybe the band wrestles with the expectations they feel to live up to their past and the cover just represented them saying screw it, we can do whatever we want.  

     As for the FOAM snubbing during the tour, it’s possible they could’ve been too hesitant to play them due to the overall reaction that fans had to the album.  Covid also changed the world and maybe they felt the album wasn’t fresh anymore, having come out a couple of years prior.  And, throughout the last 10 years or so, they usually only play songs off of their new albums if they’re currently promoting them, and at that point, the FOAM promotion was over.  It’s also possible they felt the vibe of the record didn’t feel appropriate in a post Covid world.  I might just be grasping at straws though.  

Edited February 8, 2024 by Robbie1039

[Saviour]

Name a more iconic duo: Green Day enjoyers, and trying to find deeper meaning where there is none. 

Let's not pretend it isn't one of the worst album artworks ever created. Everything about it just exudes edgy and - dare I say it - boomer energy. THAT poster just summed it all up, really.

And with G**y G*****r being in the news this week, I'm reminded that the band thought it was a good idea to sample one of his songs on this album.

The publishing details of which I'm almost certain their team didn't know about until it was too late to pull the song from the record. Hence the charity pledge once it was made public. 

The album was just a series of awful decisions.

[Hermione]

For me I can never see this as a complete album, with the combination of so few songs and them being so short it always just feels like a long EP. I like it but I can't compare it to other albums because it doesn't feel like an album, it's just a few cool songs.

[The Grohl]

I revisited FOAM last night and it's definitely a weak album. Don't get me wrong, I still like it, but after hearing the Saviors singles it's so apparent how weak the singles are for FOAM. They're just not the same quality. The album is fun, but there's little staying power. Even as a FOAM defender, it's an album I easily forget about until one of the song randomly pops up on shuffle. There are still some bangers on there, but a lot of the songs feel incomplete, which is a shame. Graffitia seems like the most realized song, while the others are ideas that they couldn't fully get off the ground.

But I still have fond memories of the FOAM era. I'll never forget being at work when Father Of All single dropped and seeing the mass reaction come in on GDC. It was a lot of "OH NO! IT"S BAD!!" Promotion was definitely weird (I still blame Crush) but we got some fun performances. I really liked their performance at the video game awards, as random as it was. I was watching it in a gamer's livestream and there were like two of us in chat that were psyched for Green Day. Everyone else was confused as to why they were there. And if it wasn't for FOAM who knows if we ever would've heard from The Network again. Clearly they saw Green Day floundering and felt it was their chance put the band in their place.

FOAM is definitely weird. Everything surrounding it is bizarre, but I still had fun and I like that I can still enjoy the album while recognizing its faults more clearly. 

[That Dude]

My biggest gripe about Father of All?  The credits.   There's clearly other instruments being played on the album, but nothing is listed.   I guess "percussion" could include keyboards, pianos, synthesizers, kazoos, banana blowers and hockey wad dodods.....but I don't think so, tim.  

 

[The Grohl]

24 minutes ago, That Dude said:

My biggest gripe about Father of All?  The credits.   There's clearly other instruments being played on the album, but nothing is listed.   I guess "percussion" could include keyboards, pianos, synthesizers, kazoos, banana blowers and hockey wad dodods.....but I don't think so, tim.  

 

Oh you know it's Tre on the hockey wad dodods

[solongfromthestars]

I absolutely hated this album when it came out, but I'm not even sure why now. Maybe it was the cringey promo? Took a while to grow on me? The state of mind I was in at the time? I don't know. Anyway, I actually like it now. I might even say I... love it!

Whilst it did subject me to the only Green Day song I actually hate (What Else Would Junkies Be On?) and I don't care for Teenage Teenager or that part in Oh Yeah, the rest is good. Maybe I'm even being unfair to Junkies On a High, because I actually love the lyrics. I just don't like the sound of it.

The title track grew on me as soon as I heard them soundchecking it in Seville. It was a lot of fun live and when I actually paid attention to the lyrics, I realised it's as deep as any other serious Green Day song. I'm a sucker for anything about The Dark Side of Fame™, so why wouldn't I love it? Lying in a bed of blood and money!  

Meet Me On the Roof is good enough to be one of my top 10 Green Day songs. It's a bop and in the typical Green Day style, addresses a dark subject (the side effects of fame on the narrator and his relationship) with a tune so cheerful you wouldn't even know it's a dark song.

Stab You in the Heart and Sugar Youth are also bops and the latter is another one that's deeper than it seems at first. "I don't wanna be a Romeo" could be mocking being a heartthrob, but it could also mean "I don't want to die."

Take the Money and Crawl sounds brash, but it's actually quite vulnerable from the title to lines like "I'm a nervous wreck, enough to make you sick" and "do I dare say please when I'm on my knees?" It's the most direct portrayal of fame on the album. And it's a banger.

Graffitia is a great song that seems like it belongs on another album, but maybe it doesn't. They've spent nine songs lamenting the problems of the rich and famous, and now they're looking outwards.

The cover is bloody awful and I'm not saying it has some deep meaning, but considering the theme of the record, I do think it has a meaning – a cheap piss-take of the band's fame. They could have found themselves a beautiful, fitting piece of art that was actually deep and might have helped people view the album differently, but... we got the unicorn.

Anyway, yeah, I like the album now. It surprises me to see so much hate for it on here because it got a lot of love when it first came out. There were people proclaiming it was their favourite Green Day album and that it saved their lives. You couldn't voice disappointment without someone getting defensive. I guess people decided it was actually shit as it grew on me.

[Lenny]

On 2/8/2024 at 4:56 AM, Saviour said:

Name a more iconic duo: Green Day enjoyers, and trying to find deeper meaning where there is none. 

Let's not pretend it isn't one of the worst album artworks ever created. Everything about it just exudes edgy and - dare I say it - boomer energy. THAT poster just summed it all up, really.

And with G**y G*****r being in the news this week, I'm reminded that the band thought it was a good idea to sample one of his songs on this album.

The publishing details of which I'm almost certain their team didn't know about until it was too late to pull the song from the record. Hence the charity pledge once it was made public. 

The album was just a series of awful decisions.

Drake’s dog drawing one isn’t worse?

 

On 2/8/2024 at 4:56 AM, Saviour said:

Name a more iconic duo: Green Day enjoyers, and trying to find deeper meaning where there is none. 

Let's not pretend it isn't one of the worst album artworks ever created. Everything about it just exudes edgy and - dare I say it - boomer energy. THAT poster just summed it all up, really.

And with G**y G*****r being in the news this week, I'm reminded that the band thought it was a good idea to sample one of his songs on this album.

The publishing details of which I'm almost certain their team didn't know about until it was too late to pull the song from the record. Hence the charity pledge once it was made public. 

The album was just a series of awful decisions.

Keep in mind while Gary Glitter is credited as the writer, the actual person sampled sonically is Joan Jett. 

[Saviour]

50 minutes ago, Lenny said:

Drake’s dog drawing one isn’t worse?

 

Keep in mind while Gary Glitter is credited as the writer, the actual person sampled sonically is Joan Jett. 

I don’t know about you but I’d categorise it under “ethically questionable” regardless 

Someone in their circle was not up to scratch on their due diligence because I’d really find it hard to believe they looked at the publishing details of that song, saw his name and thought “yeah, I’m sure that’ll be fine”

Bear in mind that whilst Glitter no longer earns royalties from his masters, there’s every chance he still gets paid for songwriting credits.

It’s absurd the song made it onto the album IMO.

[Gonzalo17]

On 2/7/2024 at 5:43 PM, Robbie1039 said:

     I’ve just revisited this album a couple of weeks ago, listening to all of it during my drive home from work, and I have to say I appreciate the more experimental parts of it, like the extra effects they added to the sound of the instruments.  A couple examples of this being the drum fill in “Meet Me On the Roof” before the instrumental break and the big bass slide in “Junkies on a high”.  There’s also a nice instrumental swell going on before one of the choruses in “I was a Teenage Teenager”, a song that most people here seem to loathe.  This reaction actually took me by surprise because this was an instant favorite for me after my first listens of the album.  It’s the first song that gave strong hints of older Green Day (it reminded me of “Ha Ha You’re Dead!” in particular, probably because of the vocals having the “crowd sing-along” effect going on).  The harmonies during the last chorus make it one of the best parts of the album.  

     I’ve also come to really appreciate the songs where the band, and especially Billie Joe, don’t sound like they’re easily recognizable.  Hearing them talk about this in interviews has given me a better perspective on what they were going for and why.  Songs like “Father of All” benefited from this.  The drums are also punchier than ever on this track, making it truly unique.  

     One track I hated when it came out was “Fire, Ready, Aim!” because it sounded like it was unfinished.  I wanted the BIG GREEN DAY SOUND.  But they were trying to make songs that were independent of that idea, trudging into the unknown.  They were truly embracing that “new band” mindset, opening themselves to new ways of making songs.  This song sounded so stripped down because that’s exactly what they wanted to go for, and I appreciate that a bit more now.  

     Overall, this album has grown on me.  It might have taken a “return to form” album like ‘Saviors’ to make me more appreciative of their experimental side, but I’m glad I have this new perspective on the album now.  Songs like “Oh Yeah!” and “Junkies on a High” are truly unique entries into their catalogue and mix things up in the same way that outliers like “Kill the Dj” and “Nightlife” did on the trilogy.  I even understand the album cover now, even though I still consider it a terrible cover overall lol.  Albums like this are what keep Green Day fresh and vital and I would be completely fine with them continuing the trend of toggling back and forth between “experimental” and “return to form” albums.  The “experimental” ones make me appreciate the “return to form” ones even more and vice versa.  Here’s my current favorites from this album: 

1. Junkies on a High

2. Stab You in the Heart

3. Oh Yeah!  

4. Take the Money and Crawl

5. I Was a Teenage Teenager

Agree with i was a teenage teenager. Don't understad gree day fans wth so much hate for a greendayish song, and then lot of respect for songs like junkies on a high, that are not Green day style

 

2 minutes ago, Gonzalo17 said:

Agree with i was a teenage teenager. Don't understad green day fans with so much hate for a greendayish song, and then lot of respect for songs like junkies on a high, that are not Green day style

 

 

[Christian's Inferno!]

2 hours ago, Gonzalo17 said:

Agree with i was a teenage teenager. Don't understad gree day fans wth so much hate for a greendayish song, and then lot of respect for songs like junkies on a high, that are not Green day style

For one thing, something being "green day-ish" or "not Green Day style" doesn't constitute it being good or bad. Experimentation should always be welcome

Secondly, I wouldn't call I Was A Teenage Teenager a green day-ish song

Thirdly, I'm not a huge fan of either song but Junkies is way better than IWATT imo

[Robbie1039]

Hey Green Day, do a club tour before the Saviors tour where you guys play FOAM and Saviors in full.  No balls😃

[Eric]

1 minute ago, Robbie1039 said:

Hey Green Day, do a club tour before the Saviors tour where you guys play FOAM and Saviors in full.  No balls😃

lol thinking green day sees this message

[Robbie1039]

16 minutes ago, Eric said:

lol thinking green day sees this message

As God’s favorite band, they see everything.  God granted them access 😅 (jk)

Edited February 10, 2024 by Robbie1039

[Eric]

8 minutes ago, Robbie1039 said:

As God’s favorite band, they see everything.  God granted them access 😅 (jk)

🤦‍♂️

[Robbie1039]

Just now, Eric said:

🤦‍♂️

I’m in a silly mood what can I say 

[Christian's Inferno!]

1 hour ago, Eric said:

lol thinking green day sees this message

56 minutes ago, Eric said:

🤦‍♂️

lol thinking he's being serious 🤦‍♂️