Billie Joe on audible’s Words + Music series April 22

[Hermione]

1 hour ago, pacejunkie punk said:

Yes, so unlike a typical teenage boy that is just out to get his own pleasure from a girl. He’s seeking to give, “to be good to somebody” and to be friends.  I’ve never heard crushes and love expressed like that before in songs.

Totally! He summed up the appeal of those songs perfectly, earnestly expressed feelings of love and friendship and nothing mean spirited.

 

Edit: Wow interesting version of Good Riddance! Never heard it so upbeat

Another edit: Really enjoyed that. Just cool to hear him talk candidly for a good hour and the songs were great

[Beyza]

22 hours ago, pacejunkie punk said:

There was a common theme through his whole story of seeking to connect with other people. In past interviews he’s talked more about feeling lost but I really think it’s more about this connection he’s looking for.  From that initial trauma of being forcibly separated from a parent and the panic disorder that ensued, to then wanting to connect over and over to his musical idols, girlfriends, punk scene friends, Mike and Tre, fans, etc. etc., (explaining the repeat trauma of being cut off by those same punk scene friends) everything he is is about connecting with others on a genuine meaningful level and that is so human and endearing. It’s what makes his songs so impactful because you feel that connection through his songs, like he’s reaching out to you to both express himself and hoping that you relate back.   

That’s a really good analysis of his whole musical outcome. I also feel like that yes we all feel connected to him or other musicians through their songs in different ways but the thing is that for me and I realized that very clearly right after finished listening, we never really know or perceive the person behind those songs even though we feel close to the songs he wrote. There is always a barrier that we don’t see. Like we always see the musician as “that man” behind those songs, and start giving him titles like on a magazine article, like “the man (Billie) who wrote this song, got this many awards, made American Idiot“ etc. and this goes on like that for years in the musicians’ carreer. And when we got an album and start listening, we think like okay there he is, wrote all these amazing songs, so he got to be so talented/gifted etc. we mostly focus on the melodies first and then also try to find some meaning behind the lyrics and something started to appear in our minds but our main focus would be on the product as a listener naturally, and we had no idea about the different stages of that production and producer’s (musician) state of mind during those stages. I think that’s very interesting to think about when you try to switch your perspective in different ways as a listener. And more importantly, finding a common ground not only through the end production (songs)but also the musician’s itself and I think that’s possible when you come to the realiziation of your and musician’s natural being and then when you listen those songs again, everything starts to gain a different meaning. I hope that would make some sense (again lol)

Lastly, I wanna share some other listener’s thougths cause think that we also got some similar feelings, here and here

 

[Guest]

6 hours ago, Hermione said:

Totally! He summed up the appeal of those songs perfectly, earnestly expressed feelings of love and friendship and nothing mean spirited.

 

Edit: Wow interesting version of Good Riddance! Never heard it so upbeat

Another edit: Really enjoyed that. Just cool to hear him talk candidly for a good hour and the songs were great

So true. He really presents as a fundamentally decent and good-hearted person. I wish more were like him. ❤️

[Slave To The Network]

12 hours ago, pacejunkie punk said:

Yes, so unlike a typical teenage boy that is just out to get his own pleasure from a girl. He’s seeking to give, “to be good to somebody” and to be friends.  I’ve never heard crushes and love expressed like that before in songs.

Those words were something that really stuck out to me too. It's incredibly rare for a musician to write straight from the heart like Billie does. It was the sweetest thing to hear how truly selfless and good he is. I never actively noticed that about those songs before, but it seems so obvious now. I always liked them and thought they were really sweet, just never realized how absolutely devoid of negativity and lust they are. Just pure emotion and a desire to make a connection.

One thing I wondered about why he changed the lyrics in Basket Case. Was anyone else a little thrown off by that? I wonder why he decided to so that. Regardless, I absolutely loved the songs! I didn't know such a wide variety of GD styles could translate so perfectly to acoustic. This was hands down the best version of Good Riddance I've ever heard and I actually really liked it when I normally don't care for that song. I'd listen to this version any time.

@Nightlife so good to see you back! We've missed you! Glad you did what you needed to do for yourself, though. Social media can definitely be a bitch and a half.

[Bakabanas]

42 minutes ago, Slave To The Network said:

just never realized how absolutely devoid of negativity and lust they are. Just pure emotion

Yes, you especially can hear it in Platypus - "waste of semen" is just pure positive emotion. It touched my heart when I first heard it. Not to mention Take Back.

[Beyza]

I came across this interview today, Billie briefly talks about the process of making 21CB, how they push themselves to the absolute limit and it drove him crazy. I remember watching this before but now after hearing Billie’s thoughts 11 years later, it all felt more meaningful. 

 

[Julsboo]

As someone who has pretty serious anxiety and depression issues, I can totally relate to Billie in this interview.

The part where he talks about setting ridiculously high standards for himself and working himself into a mental breakdown really hit home. "It was like there was a gun to my head but I was the one holding the gun." Yes, that's a perfect metaphor... I've done that to myself too. I've worked myself so hard that self care went out the window and my health spiralled downhill until I hit a breaking point.

I don't know about Billie, but for me (and a lot of other anxiety sufferers I've talked to) it's kinda a vicious cycle. The obsession with work is a way to distract yourself from your mental health problems. When I was working hard and setting higher and higher goals, I didn't have time to sit and ruminate and think about how low I felt. It was a way of avoiding confronting my issues. The problem is that the heavy workload causes stress which feeds the depression and anxiety. Your mind can only cope with so much before it collapses. Billie talks about that feeling a bit: "my panic attacks were going up and up and up" and then resorting to abusing downers to bring himself down from the panic.

I don't know. It was an excellent interview and after listening to it, I feel like I can understand Billie very well, on a personal level now.

[Slave To The Network]

23 hours ago, Bakabanas said:

Yes, you especially can hear it in Platypus - "waste of semen" is just pure positive emotion. It touched my heart when I first heard it. Not to mention Take Back.

Yes, Platypus - the quintessential Green Day love song. 

 

[desertrose]

 

Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong discusses his hits and misses in new podcast series

https://www.nme.com/news/music/green-day-billie-joe-armstrong-discusses-hits-misses-new-podcast-series-2926691

[fatherotti]

I just finished this today. I loved it. From front to back. Billie is great as always. Just felt like such a personal journey into his story. Also. Wow. The acoustic tracks. 😲 TBH that WMUWSE sounded like an early demo. So rough and fuzzy! lol Has anyone managed to rip the audio yet??? 😁 I ripped all the tracks myself. But I'm not sure if I can upload them legally haha. Straight from the raw file for the best quality! 😋

[Hermione]

46 minutes ago, fatherotti said:

I just finished this today. I loved it. From front to back. Billie is great as always. Just felt like such a personal journey into his story. Also. Wow. The acoustic tracks. 😲 TBH that WMUWSE sounded like an early demo. So rough and fuzzy! lol Has anyone managed to rip the audio yet??? 😁 I ripped all the tracks myself. But I'm not sure if I can upload them legally haha. Straight from the raw file for the best quality! 😋

Nah we can't have download links

[Slave To The Network]

I know Billie has talked about his substance abuse before, but I just want to say that it was really brave of him to discuss it again in this audio special and go into more detail. Because I'm a biology person, I was curious about the physiological consequences of the interactions between the medications he mentioned and alcohol and did a little research on it. As expected, it's a very dangerous combination that can slow, or worst case even stop, breathing and the heart. Billie really was dancing with death and it makes me all the more proud of him for making the decision to get the help he needed and grateful that he's still with us. I don't think I was aware of how hard making 21CB was on him before listening to this, so no wonder pursuing that beast of a Trilogy right after took such a mental toll on him. I'm happy that he seems to be making his own well being more of a priority these days.

[Bakabanas]

On 4/29/2021 at 1:53 AM, Julsboo said:

As someone who has pretty serious anxiety and depression issues, I can totally relate to Billie in this interview.

The part where he talks about setting ridiculously high standards for himself and working himself into a mental breakdown really hit home. "It was like there was a gun to my head but I was the one holding the gun." Yes, that's a perfect metaphor... I've done that to myself too. I've worked myself so hard that self care went out the window and my health spiralled downhill until I hit a breaking point.

I don't know about Billie, but for me (and a lot of other anxiety sufferers I've talked to) it's kinda a vicious cycle. The obsession with work is a way to distract yourself from your mental health problems. When I was working hard and setting higher and higher goals, I didn't have time to sit and ruminate and think about how low I felt. It was a way of avoiding confronting my issues. The problem is that the heavy workload causes stress which feeds the depression and anxiety. Your mind can only cope with so much before it collapses. Billie talks about that feeling a bit: "my panic attacks were going up and up and up" and then resorting to abusing downers to bring himself down from the panic.

I don't know. It was an excellent interview and after listening to it, I feel like I can understand Billie very well, on a personal level now.

To me it is similar, but not the same. When Billie said "it is me who is holding a gun", to me, I hold a gun to finish my phd. It is my 21st Century Breakdown. And IF I finish it, I will play 21 Guns, drink for several days and cry. And will never, as Billie also said, want to go back to these times in my memory, like he was almost afraid to listen to 21CB again.

It's not fun. It's hell. But IF you make it - then it was worthwile. Green Day made it. I want to make it also. But man, it's FUCKED.

[disappearing_boy_39]

I’m surprised stuff like this isn’t appearing on the GDA landing page. Does anyone know what’s up with the site?

Also, who’s playing drums on these songs?

EDIT: Sounds like a drum machine?

[Squashie]

46 minutes ago, disappearing_boy_39 said:

I’m surprised stuff like this isn’t appearing on the GDA landing page. Does anyone know what’s up with the site?

Also, who’s playing drums on these songs?

EDIT: Sounds like a drum machine?

Billie played all of the instruments according to the credits (like the Longshot project).

[Slave To The Network]

That's what I thought. Thanks for confirming! Billie's just a super talented guy.

[Flashback]

So I finally finished listening to the podcast too. Great insights, especially the ones on 21CB and the Trilogy. But seeing Billie in Awesome as Fuck and Cuatro leaves now sort of a bitter taste, when you know how bad he was feeling at that time..

[disappearing_boy_39]

On 5/1/2021 at 11:02 PM, Squashie said:

Billie played all of the instruments according to the credits (like the Longshot project).

I wasn’t aware that Billie was playing all the instruments on The Longshot album (except for Happiness which Joey’s playing drums on).

[Squashie]

1 hour ago, disappearing_boy_39 said:

I wasn’t aware that Billie was playing all the instruments on The Longshot album (except for Happiness which Joey’s playing drums on).

the musical credits for the longshot are all Billie Joe except for drums on Happiness. 

Chris Dugan was the engineer (except 1 song was engineered by Lee Bothwick). Chris also mixed it.

 

[Annie, get your gun]

I already reviewed this on my blog, but I just want to say here that I love it. Listening to Billie is always the greatest experience - but the songs?! I wasn't expecting that!!! All I can say is that I fell in love with the new versions of Basket Case and Good Riddance ❤❤❤