About Saviors...

[Jesus-of-nowhere]

So im a huge green day fan I have every album but 2 on cd (And shennanigans, superhits, dookie 30, and bullet in a bible) but like I dont really like Saviors. Anyone else feel that? Like I like The American Dream, Corvete Summer, and Look Ma but the lyrics for the album just feel kinda mid to me. Im really not that picky either I like most of their stuff theirs on;ly a few albums I dont like. What do yall think?

[Insomniac1984]

I still think Saviors is the more solid release since American Idiot/21st Century Breakdown. Maybe it hasn't got the focus of the world wide media/rankings, but it is a well made GD Record, IMO.

[pacejunkie punk]

https://www.greendaycommunity.org/topic/104216-saviors-album-discussion/?&page=74#comments

[Alan86]

Saviors is a great record. To me it's similar in level to Revolution Radio. And I think the band themselves must love it because the are playing 5 songs from Saviors every concert which is a lot considering they are playing 2 albums in full. 

[Lenny]

Saviors is their best since 21cb. First time they put a focused effort into an album since.

As for lyrics, Billie’s lyrical style has changed over the years from more of a direct bold statement style to a small tagline and catch phrase that leaves more meaning in what is not said vs what is said. It’s clever in its own right. 21cb serves as a bridge between the two styles.

It feels like the trilogy’s lyrics might have suffered from Nimrod syndrome where they were never really properly prepared or thought out before going into production. 
 

Billie suffered a lot mentally during the 21cb sessions and lead up to it. He was never the same after that imo. Then the band declined for years after as they cut corners to eliminate the pressures. Saviors is the first time they really revisited real studios and committed to the quality fans expect from the production side of things.

[solongfromthestars]

It's grown on me a bit since it came out and will probably grow on me more yet, but it's definitely my least favourite Green Day album right now. Suzie Chapstick is a top 10 song though.

[nopride84]

So no one likes revolution radio ? Definitely better than saviors on my opinion they had something to prove after billies breakdown. Saviors feels like ai wrote all the lyrics

[CristhyneS]

I really love Saviors! I'll admit that lyrically it's not as powerful as American Idiot or 21st Century Breakdown (but really, what is?), or even Revolution Radio. But there are still some songs that have very powerful lyrics. And the sound is just great (I'm not talking about the quality of the production here, because I have no idea about that, but more about the music and the vibe let's say). Some songs have really grown on me, for example Bobby Sox, I didn't think much of it the first time I heard it, but the more I listen to it the more I come to appreciate as a fun and nostalgic song that reminds me of my first love, now it's in my top 3 of the album. Fancy Sauce was love at first sight, the lyrics were great, the music really powerful, it's been my favorite song off Saviors since the first time I heard the album. Strange Days Are Here to Stay and TADIKM also have great lyrics and great music. For my taste the weakest songs in the album are Suzie Chapstick and Father to a Son, but there are people who love them, so it's a matter of what floats people's boats.

And I was not around the Green Day world when RevRad came out, I heard it for the first time the day I bought tickets for Bataclan last November, but what's this about people not liking it? I loved that album and wish I had heard it sooner, I would have returned faster. For me it's a a similar level as Saviors, or even slightly higher. They are both great albums in my opinion.

33 minutes ago, Lenny said:

It feels like the trilogy’s lyrics might have suffered from Nimrod syndrome where they were never really properly prepared or thought out before going into production. 
 

 

I think the Trilogy just suffered from burnout. Especially from Billie, but probably from all the band. Too much pressure to put out something epic and a Trilogy sounded like a really epic idea.

[solongfromthestars]

A lot of people do seem to hate RevRad but I think it's seriously underrated. There isn't a bad song on it. I mean, Bang Bang? Say Goodbye? Still Breathing? Too Dumb to Die? Forever Now? That's one of their best live songs ever, up there with American Eulogy and Homecoming. Some of the lyrics in Bang Bang and Forever Now are almost on par with 21st Century Breakdown, and that's coming from someone who thinks that's the best album ever written.

Anyway, I'll shut up since this isn't a RevRad thread

[Montclare]

1 hour ago, nopride84 said:

So no one likes revolution radio ? Definitely better than saviors on my opinion they had something to prove after billies breakdown. Saviors feels like ai wrote all the lyrics

RevRad is my favorite Green Day album. 🙂

[Hermione]

Somewhere Now/Forever Now > Jesus of Suburbia/Homecoming to me lol

But Saviors is amazing. The production is absolutely incredible and makes it their most beautiful sounding album. The lyrics, the music, the combination of personal and social commentary themes done really well, the nice mix of classic GD sound, classic rock sound and some "new Green Day" sound. It's also a HUGE step up from Father of All Motherfuckers, really feels like they tried to be extra ambitious again and succeeded. I would say the only slight duds are Father to a Son and maybe the title track, everything else is straight fire.

[CristhyneS]

52 minutes ago, Hermione said:

Somewhere Now/Forever Now > Jesus of Suburbia/Homecoming to me lol

But Saviors is amazing. The production is absolutely incredible and makes it their most beautiful sounding album. The lyrics, the music, the combination of personal and social commentary themes done really well, the nice mix of classic GD sound, classic rock sound and some "new Green Day" sound. It's also a HUGE step up from Father of All Motherfuckers, really feels like they tried to be extra ambitious again and succeeded. I would say the only slight duds are Father to a Son and maybe the title track, everything else is straight fire.

Blasphemy!! 😂

But in all seriousness, Somewhere Now/Forever Now are indeed amazing (specially Forever Now! I agree with @solongfromthestars it's up there in their best lyrics ever). Say Goodbye? I know there are only like 10 different lines in that song, but each one carries a lot. I know Billie probably had a different context in mind when he wrote that, but that is easily the best description of all my feelings leaving my country and saying goodbye to the ones that I love that anyone has articulated, written by a guy who's lived his whole life in pretty much the same place lol. Revolution Radio (the song), Bang Bang, Too Dumb Too Die, all have amazing lyrics too.

On the other hand, "I want to hold you like a gun, we'll shoot the moon into the sun" are my least favorite line in any Green Day song ever 😅 It's made so much worse by the fact that there's a switch in the music at that point of the song, so all your attention is drawn to it. It ruins the whole song for me haha.

Saviors is amazing. I think that it's just generally a more upbeat album than we are used to? Songs like Look Ma, Bobby Sox, 1981, Corvette Summer... they are fun and some even uplifting. My sister, who is a forced Green Day listener who has grown to like them, the first thing she said after hearing the album was "it's a lot less dramatic" lol. Again, a song like Bobby Sox is so good at bottling that feeling of starting to hang out first your boyfriend/girlfriend, and just wanting to be with them, doesn't matter what you are doing, and just that innocence. Sure, it's not some sharp observation about the world or about some dark inner struggles, but I think there is still a lot of merit to a song that can bring back up those feelings. But the album still manages to pack in a lot of social commentary, and a lot of personal struggles too. It's very well balanced I'd say. And I love the title track too, which I know is not among the most popular ones.

[Gonzalo17]

3 hours ago, nopride84 said:

So no one likes revolution radio ? Definitely better than saviors on my opinion they had something to prove after billies breakdown. Saviors feels like ai wrote all the lyrics

Revolution radio IS their BEST post american idiot album

[Rumpelstiltskin2000]

I really, really like Saviors. Is it their best album? No but I love all that Green Day have put out including FOAM and RevRad 

[The Grohl]

1 minute ago, Rumpelstiltskin2000 said:

I really, really like Saviors. Is it their best album? No but I love all that Green Day have put out including FOAM and RevRad 

My feelings are the same! I think Saviors is a really strong album and is their best material in a long time. It's focused, there's a good mix of high energy anthems and ballads, and Billie's songwriting is on point. Plus, I really like the commentary about life in the 21st century that's found here. It's a big turnaround from the fuck it let's party nature of FOAM. Saviors has great energy, it's all killer no filler, there's an urgency to it, and it's just a good time. It doesn't feel safe like RevRad or half baked like FOAM and that's coming from someone who likes both those albums. Put it this way, if I wanted a Green Day album to listen to that isn't any of the big three, I would reach for Saviors over RevRad or FOAM.

[PhuzzyPhriend]

7 hours ago, Lenny said:

Saviors is their best since 21cb. First time they put a focused effort into an album since.

As for lyrics, Billie’s lyrical style has changed over the years from more of a direct bold statement style to a small tagline and catch phrase that leaves more meaning in what is not said vs what is said. It’s clever in its own right. 21cb serves as a bridge between the two styles.

It feels like the trilogy’s lyrics might have suffered from Nimrod syndrome where they were never really properly prepared or thought out before going into production. 
 

Billie suffered a lot mentally during the 21cb sessions and lead up to it. He was never the same after that imo. Then the band declined for years after as they cut corners to eliminate the pressures. Saviors is the first time they really revisited real studios and committed to the quality fans expect from the production side of things.

I agree with all of this. I feel that Saviors is their best work since 21CB. In particular, I feel like Saviors represents a return to some much deeper lyrics that speak to the state of society. Political commentary has always been what Green Day do best, so it is great to see that again.

[Christian's Inferno!]

5 hours ago, The Grohl said:

My feelings are the same! I think Saviors is a really strong album and is their best material in a long time. It's focused, there's a good mix of high energy anthems and ballads, and Billie's songwriting is on point. Plus, I really like the commentary about life in the 21st century that's found here. It's a big turnaround from the fuck it let's party nature of FOAM. Saviors has great energy, it's all killer no filler, there's an urgency to it, and it's just a good time. It doesn't feel safe like RevRad or half baked like FOAM and that's coming from someone who likes both those albums. Put it this way, if I wanted a Green Day album to listen to that isn't any of the big three, I would reach for Saviors over RevRad or FOAM.

What are "the big three"? Obviously American Idiot and Dookie are 2 of them but I feel like the 3rd could be Insomniac, Nimrod or 21st Century Breakdown depending on who you ask. There isn't really consensus on what is the 3rd big Green Day album and none of those albums come close to what AI and Dookie did

[The Grohl]

1 hour ago, Christian's Inferno! said:

What are "the big three"? Obviously American Idiot and Dookie are 2 of them but I feel like the 3rd could be Insomniac, Nimrod or 21st Century Breakdown depending on who you ask. There isn't really consensus on what is the 3rd big Green Day album and none of those albums come close to what AI and Dookie did

I would consider it AI, Dookie, and 21CB. Those were big albums for Green Day, especially when thinking about mainstream appeal.

[Gonzalo17]

Big 3:

American idiot

Dookie

Nimrod

[Gwen Stacy]

2 hours ago, Gonzalo17 said:

Big 3:

American idiot

Dookie

Nimrod

This. Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) is a standard and was a monster hit. In a 100 years it’ll probably be the one song they’ll be remembered for most. People play it at graduations and weddings (completely missing the point of the song in the process, but I digress). As much as I’m mostly sick of hearing it, its impact on their legacy can’t be ignored. Plus Nimrod was the first time they truly branched out and went ‘experimental’ which set the stage for Warning and American Idiot and the rest of their career. It’s really an incredible album and deserves that #3 spot.

 

I like Saviors a lot. It has the “dolls house” quality of Nimrod but manages to hang together more as a collection of songs better than Revolution Radio, which I think mostly comes down to them bringing back in Rob Cavallo and a lot of their regular production folks. I don’t think Saviors is lyrically as strong as 21st Century Breakdown but it definitely has it’s moments of strength in that department. A very solid Green Day album but it doesn’t crack their top 3 for me.

[Christian's Inferno!]

10 hours ago, The Grohl said:

I would consider it AI, Dookie, and 21CB. Those were big albums for Green Day, especially when thinking about mainstream appeal.

21CB is my favourite album but wouldn't Nimrod be the 3rd most commercially successful Green Day album? I mean, it has Good Riddance, it sold 10 million album copies and in terms of streaming, it's right up there with 21CB despite being a much older album

[Lenny]

1 hour ago, Christian's Inferno! said:

21CB is my favourite album but wouldn't Nimrod be the 3rd most commercially successful Green Day album? I mean, it has Good Riddance, it sold 10 million album copies and in terms of streaming, it's right up there with 21CB despite being a much older album

This was my thought exactly however, in terms of sales/streaming would it not be Insomniac? 

[Saviour]

Cool, so we've established - and not for the first time on this forum, I suspect -  that music is subjective. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...Apart from FOAMF which is objectively bad. 

[Christian's Inferno!]

33 minutes ago, Lenny said:

This was my thought exactly however, in terms of sales/streaming would it not be Insomniac? 

I mean I think Insomniac/Nimrod are basically on par with each other when it comes to album sales. But then Nimrod/21CB are on par with each other in terms of streaming thanks to Good Riddance and 21 Guns. Insomniac has Brain Stew which doesn't have as many streams as either. Nimrod seems to be the album that has its strength in both sales AND streaming