American Idiot 20th Anniversary Announcement + Holiday/BoBD Demo out Friday!

[That Dude]

Who is talking at the beginning of Everyone's Breaking Down? Sounds like maybe Cigarettes and Valentines or American Idiot were going to have that radio-static thing going on - possibly tied to their pirate radio station.  

 

[That Dude]

The lyrics for Homecoming (nobody likes you)  have let me to the Phenomenauts spotify page, and I was trying to figure out which album tre would have been listening to the master of.    Rockets and Robots?  it was some weird sounds like the organ sounds from Nobody likes you......hmmmmm.

[nowshesgone]

38 minutes ago, That Dude said:

Who is talking at the beginning of Everyone's Breaking Down? Sounds like maybe Cigarettes and Valentines or American Idiot were going to have that radio-static thing going on - possibly tied to their pirate radio station.  

 

Wasn't there a picture of an early tracklist (verifiable by the fact that Are We We Are and ST Jimmy arent split apart yet and letterbomb is still called Clusterbomb) that showed a song called "Welcome" directly before American Idiot?
i bet the start of EBD or the radio chatter before "Nobody Likes You" was that track

[Robbie1039]

Watching the documentary for the second time right now with a couple of beers before my work week starts 😎 (side note: I was thinking of getting weezer’s 30th anniversary blue album cd pack but saw it’s basically double the price of this with less stuff, so I’m torn.)

[green day is]

timestamped video

For a long time this was the only demo material we had heard from AI whatosever so it was really satisfying to hear it on this version. I was looking out for it.

[Robbie1039]

At the end of the documentary, Mike says that looked like a 3 million dollar what video?

[Cris.]

After waiting ages, finally got my boxset yesterday and not having spoiled myself until then, here are my first impressions (I know probably most/all of this has been discussed by now, but bear with me, I had stayed away from this thread - I will catch up and read what I missed later):

American Idiot alt version is the missing link between the Green Day of Nimrod and Warning and the Green Day of American Idiot. Very interesting!

Novacaine - Same song (as far as I can hear) as the leaked demos from a couple of weeks ago.

She's a Rebel - For me, the song that improved the most by being fitted into the AI narrative arch.

Radio Baghdad - Same lyrics as the leaked demos, but this one has the proper out I think, no? So the leaked demos probably predated this one.

Cluster bomb - Already so close to Letterbomb, but pretty amazing to see how a few subtle changes elevated the song to the next level to become Letterbomb.

WMUWSE - So much better in its final version (or even the leaked demo version) with the lines about his father passing. It just hits differently and so much more. I'm glad Billie decided to keep it like that.

Homecoming - Jesus fucking christ. I love this band. Thank you thank you thank you so much for letting us listening to that beautiful hot chaotic mess. I guess this is a pretty raw version of that seed of Homecoming, and eventually of the whole album, that they have talked about so much. Also, it gave me very strong The Who vibes! I really feel like they were listening to Tommy and decided they wanted to do their own punk rock opera, and not knowing how to go about that, they were like "okay, let's just write whatever and stack them together just as fun exercise, okay? Now, Mike, I'm going to hope over real quick to the county jail to deal with my DUI, Tre is going to help Jason White with something, just stay here and start" and bam! And then it starts becoming a bit more organized very progressively.

Just Another Year and Everyone's Breaking Down - It's funny, after having no idea what these songs would be for the longest time, yesterday before listening to the demos I decided to first listen to AI, and I was reading the lyrics as I went along (hadn't done that in ages!) when I got to Homecoming part I and "waste another year flies by" I was like... could Just Another Year be a spin off or the seed for this? And then in the last part "the 7-11 to the fear of breaking down" and again I was like... Everyone's Breaking Down be linked to this? I loved them both. I do wonder what came first though? Particularly for Everyone's Breaking Down, was it the bit in Homecoming demo that they then tried to expand into a song, or they borrowed from this song to tack it on the Homecoming demo?

Lowlife - I also loved this! And this one I didn't suspect at all what it'd be! After hearing the previous two, I thought maybe it'd be some version of Rock and Roll Life from Homecoming, so when the dearly beloved line hit it was a shock! But I also loved it!

Whatsername - I think this might also be identical to the leaked demo?

I haven't had the time to read the booklet that came with the boxset, any clues in there as to what the timeline for Homecoming/Just Another Year and Everyone's Breaking Down might be? Or for when JoS and Lowlife got merged?

Overall, really enjoyed seeing the changes they made to songs that were already very formed, to fit them into the story arch. Novacaine going from "everything's better than here" to "Jimmy says it's better than here" probably being the most subtle. But the changes to the lyrics of She's a Rebel, Radio Baghdad and Cluster bomb too, all very interesting to see! 

[The Grohl]

I've finally cracked into this set. I haven't listened to everything, but most of the demos are interesting to hear, but don't do much for me. Aside from a few songs most of them sound like the final version. What I do love is the documentary. I didn't expect it to be almost 2 hours! It was fantastic! It's such a nice trip down memory lane. A great mix of archival footage, live stuff, and new interviews with the boys. I really enjoyed it. This is what I wanted from HLAHG. Speaking of which, I wish that movie wasn't included with the box set. It received its own release, so it feels a bit redundant. I'd rather have a full live show or a blu-ray full of AI era performances. 

[That Dude]

The vinyl box set has some additional pictures, like the family with the bear trap from the American Idiot single and a few more pictures of the guys themselves.  

 

[JReevz]

Something that just occurred to me that might support the fact that the demos came from cigarettes and valentines sessions:

in HLAHG when Billie starts playing the into to homecoming to rob in the studio he looks up like he’s reaching to remember it - but clearly there was a demo of it somewhere that we now have from the box set that confirms it existed before the formal AI sessions. So would this be a potential discontinuity in the time line of “the songs were stolen” to we made a masterpiece? Or am I crazy and reaching - something I noticed when watching the DVDS now

[nowshesgone]

I'm guessing that out of all of the demos AI Alt, Novacaine, Shes a Rebel, Clusterbomb, Just Another Year and Everyones Breaking Down all originate from C&V while the rest (including Lowlife) are all from the AI sessions

[Nezirath270]

4 hours ago, nowshesgone said:

I'm guessing that out of all of the demos AI Alt, Novacaine, Shes a Rebel, Clusterbomb, Just Another Year and Everyones Breaking Down all originate from C&V while the rest (including Lowlife) are all from the AI sessions

Pretty much

On 11/5/2024 at 12:58 PM, green day is said:

timestamped video

For a long time this was the only demo material we had heard from AI whatosever so it was really satisfying to hear it on this version. I was looking out for it.

Weird how this short documentary has more behind the scenes than the heart like a hand grenade docu

[Mollyluna]

Having just watched the new documentary and HLAHG, I looked around a bit on YouTube and found this. I think it’s interesting, a lot of material not included in those films.

[Dysfunco]

On 11/5/2024 at 3:32 AM, nowshesgone said:

Wasn't there a picture of an early tracklist (verifiable by the fact that Are We We Are and ST Jimmy arent split apart yet and letterbomb is still called Clusterbomb) that showed a song called "Welcome" directly before American Idiot?
i bet the start of EBD or the radio chatter before "Nobody Likes You" was that track

You mean this? It could potentially just a intro of sorts, not an actual song: https://imgur.com/eWiqXZg

[AlissaGoesRAWR]

Something tells me this is gonna get a resurgence of popularity on Spotify this week!

[Dingle]

https://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200/

Due to 20th anniversary release, according to greenday.fm, original album American Idiot is listed as re-entry to Billboard top 200 albums at number 39. Nice one

https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/albums-chart/

And re-entry to UK top 100 albums at 32

[Robbie1039]

16 hours ago, That Dude said:

The vinyl box set has some additional pictures, like the family with the bear trap from the American Idiot single and a few more pictures of the guys themselves.  

 

The cd version should’ve come with the plastic covers for the discs too, like in this video.  

[British Idiot]

Ok I’m 100% showing my age… but is there a way to watch the documentary and the bbc footage without a blu-ray player? Is there a dvd version?

 

I was at the bbc show and really want to see it again, but don’t think I can buy a blu-ray player just for this! 😆

[DookieLukie]

3 hours ago, Dingle said:

https://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200/

Due to 20th anniversary release, according to greenday.fm, original album American Idiot is listed as re-entry to Billboard top 200 albums at number 39. Nice one

https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/albums-chart/

And re-entry to UK top 100 albums at 32

Wow, 39! I didn’t expect THAT high but I guess album sales right now are pretty sparse.

[A Worry Rock]

Vinyl box set is already down to $113 at Walmart.

 

https://www.walmart.com/ip/seort/9678503995

[billy1986]

Hope they release lowlife as a single or video that is just as good as black eyeliner 

[Dingle]

12 hours ago, British Idiot said:

Ok I’m 100% showing my age… but is there a way to watch the documentary and the bbc footage without a blu-ray player? Is there a dvd version?

 

I was at the bbc show and really want to see it again, but don’t think I can buy a blu-ray player just for this! 😆

I know where you're coming from matey. I'm sorry, I don't know if they will release it on DVD or any other format any time soon.

Luckily for me I had a birthday coming up before the release of the 20th anniversary box set. Many not-so-subtle hints and comments to family and friends on the enormous merits of investing in having a Blu-ray player over a DVD player, with much much higher quality.  lol.

The thing is, the main consideration was, how could my life go on without being able to play the documentary, not knowing what I was missing, shudder. Thankfully, surprise surprise, a shiny new Blu-ray player was one of my birthday presents. And it is getting well used watching this awesome doc over and over. A fitting end to another amazing year of being a GD fan. Brilliant Saviors album, seeing the band live four times, a new PG album, and now this AI anniversary set. Heaven on earth.

Just to rub it in, here's the trailer. 😁 Somehow, some way, get your hands on a Blu-ray just to watch this doc, it'll be worth every penny. Good luck.

 

 

[Cris.]

Am I the only one disappointed by the documentary? I had already watched HLAHG and I'm in no hurry to watch it again. I'm with @The Grohl on this, I would much have preferred they released a live show for the 2nd Blu Ray rather than HLAHG again. The new documentary is an improvement in comparison to HLAHG but still it could have been so much better. Both documentaries are basically just a collection of random behind the scenes and live performances. That makes a compilation, not a documentary. Lots of wasted potential in both.

[Dingle]

33 minutes ago, Cris. said:

Am I the only one disappointed by the documentary? I had already watched HLAHG and I'm in no hurry to watch it again. I'm with @The Grohl on this, I would much have preferred they released a live show for the 2nd Blu Ray rather than HLAHG again. The new documentary is an improvement in comparison to HLAHG but still it could have been so much better. Both documentaries are basically just a collection of random behind the scenes and live performances. That makes a compilation, not a documentary. Lots of wasted potential in both.

Got to agree with you there, a full live show Blu ray instead would have been amazing, to go with the documentary, oops, sorry,  compilation. 😉

[pacejunkie punk]

1 hour ago, Cris. said:

Am I the only one disappointed by the documentary? I had already watched HLAHG and I'm in no hurry to watch it again. I'm with @The Grohl on this, I would much have preferred they released a live show for the 2nd Blu Ray rather than HLAHG again. The new documentary is an improvement in comparison to HLAHG but still it could have been so much better. Both documentaries are basically just a collection of random behind the scenes and live performances. That makes a compilation, not a documentary. Lots of wasted potential in both.

I agree, it felt sort of all over the place like HLAHG did and it didn’t tell a compelling story clearly. They should have gone deeper into the interviews about where the band really was at the end of the Warning era, with a triumphant finish to where they ended up. They did that loosely but more interviews with the people involved like Rob Cavallo, Warner execs, etc. cut all the repeat footage from HLAHG and BIAB and for god’s sake give up on the story that the tapes were stolen and just tell the truth.  

Instead of “we had a lot of fun on tour”, show how they first wrote an okay album, their career was on the line, the label pushed them to do something better and with hard work and sacrifice (like two divorces and a DUI) they got there and succeeded. It’s an emotional story if they ever want to really tell it.