AI 5 song demo cd discovered by redditor

[fatherotti]

They sound fantastic! My thanks to the person who discovered this and uploaded it for the world to hear! It's history. And it's beautiful. The music is beautiful. It's raw. Tears... 🥲 Boulevard in that tuning is fucking phenomenal. 😍

[CristhyneS]

I'm fascinated by this. You walk into a thrift store and find this gem, something that's been around for 20+ years. And you do it the week before the band's release of the 20th anniversary release of the album and more polished (from what I read from your comments) demos. It's just nuts.

Can someone help me with Radio Baghdad ?

Spoiler

I'm trying to understand these modified lyrics, what I hear so far:

She writes(?) a letter to herself

Something .... (?)

And it seems to far away

Can someone help me fill in the blanks or correct me if I'm wrong?

 

[Cooper Castille]

Not sure if anyone else noticed, but in the photos of the disc, it looks like a layer is covering up some writing on the original CDR. It looks like the date?

Green Day
5-??-04 (?)

[Liam]

1 hour ago, CristhyneS said:

I'm fascinated by this. You walk into a thrift store and find this gem, something that's been around for 20+ years. And you do it the week before the band's release of the 20th anniversary release of the album and more polished (from what I read from your comments) demos. It's just nuts.

Can someone help me with Radio Baghdad ?

  Hide contents

I'm trying to understand these modified lyrics, what I hear so far:

She writes(?) a letter to herself

Something .... (?)

And it seems to far away

Can someone help me fill in the blanks or correct me if I'm wrong?

 

All I can make out is

She mails a letter to herself
Self addressed to (....) (hell?)
And it seems so far away

[Christian's Inferno!]

So the WMUWSE demo is a later version to the one that was released? Cus this one has the "like my father's come to pass" line

5 hours ago, Nezirath270 said:

 

Boulevard = better than the ones we officially got so far

 

Honestly don't understand this opinion at all. The instrumental outro is completely absent as is the lead guitar riff during the verses

[Karl Karlson]

46 minutes ago, Liam said:

All I can make out is

She mails a letter to herself
Self addressed to (....) (hell?)
And it seems so far away

...
Self addressed to her in hell(?)
...

[CristhyneS]

33 minutes ago, Christian's Inferno! said:

So the WMUWSE demo is a later version to the one that was released? Cus this one has the "like my father's come to pass" line

Maybe. But not necessarily. Could be that he originally wrote it with the line about his father, then felt it was too personal like that to release it, so he changed it to keep out that line. Then went back to the original. I remember him saying about that song that it's the most personal thing he's written, so a back and forth in his decision to keep that line wouldn't surprise me. 

 

[jengd]

Agreed, wow, the timing of this is crazy but they sound great.  Weird how some bits are fully formed and others have changed a good bit.  As already said, the abrupt endings are so strange!

[Sanity Loan]

2 hours ago, CristhyneS said:

Can someone help me with Radio Baghdad ?

  Reveal hidden contents

I'm trying to understand these modified lyrics, what I hear so far:

She writes(?) a letter to herself

Something .... (?)

And it seems to far away

Can someone help me fill in the blanks or correct me if I'm wrong?

 

She mails a letter to herself
Self-addressed to her in Hell
And it seems so far away

[alienlifeform]

 

[pacejunkie punk]

It’s interesting how there are no cross references yet to the concept story. No Whatshername reference in Radio Baghdad and no Jimmy references in Novacaine.  I wonder at what point they decided to go with a concept record idea and drop these references in the various songs to tighten it up.

The soft acoustic guitar intro was a much better choice for WMUWSE over drums, it’s interesting to hear both because where the drums gives the song a more anxious, heart pounding feel, the guitar gives it heart and melancholy. 

These are just what you want in demos, those early takes where you really get the evolution of the songs.  I’m curious to see what versions are on the deluxe release but at least we have these now.

[CristhyneS]

30 minutes ago, pacejunkie punk said:

It’s interesting how there are no cross references yet to the concept story. No Whatshername reference in Radio Baghdad and no Jimmy references in Novacaine.  I wonder at what point they decided to go with a concept record idea and drop these references in the various songs to tighten it up.

The soft acoustic guitar intro was a much better choice for WMUWSE over drums, it’s interesting to hear both because where the drums gives the song a more anxious, heart pounding feel, the guitar gives it heart and melancholy. 

These are just what you want in demos, those early takes where you really get the evolution of the songs.  I’m curious to see what versions are on the deluxe release but at least we have these now.

I am fascinated by this as well! Also, there is no she/he switches in Radio Baghdad, as there are in Extraordinary Girl, i.e. "some days she feels like dying", instead of "some days he feels like dying". Meaning it was also changed latter to address the relationship between the Whastername and JoS, rather than being a one-sided song as it was in this demo.

I'm obsessed.

@Cooper Castille if you figure out the date written in the disk, please let us know.

[Little Boy Named Booze]

We are in 2024 and finally got this!

[AlissaGoesRAWR]

5 hours ago, Cooper Castille said:

Not sure if anyone else noticed, but in the photos of the disc, it looks like a layer is covering up some writing on the original CDR. It looks like the date?

Green Day
5-??-04 (?)

I'm gonna say it's 5-10 so I can write my birthday into Green Day lore.

[suffoKate]

3 hours ago, Sanity Loan said:

She mails a letter to herself
Self-addressed to her in Hell
And it seems so far away

Those lyrics are badass as hell 

6 hours ago, Cooper Castille said:

Not sure if anyone else noticed, but in the photos of the disc, it looks like a layer is covering up some writing on the original CDR. It looks like the date?

Green Day
5-??-04 (?)

I’d guess 30?

[Little Boy Named Booze]

3 hours ago, pacejunkie punk said:

I’m curious to see what versions are on the deluxe release but at least we have these now.

Pretty sure this CD alone will be better than the entire deluxe. 

[alienlifeform]

 

[grfan9]

Boulevard sounds incredible! 

I love the different tuning! 

[GuitarPunk94]

wow, this is what i call a "demo version" of a song! so much better than the "demos" we got so far from official release

insane to hear this 20 years later

[PrimadonnaROCKS]

pure gold! thanks to those who discovered this and posted!

[nopride84]

Since some of the lyrics aren't changed to work in the concept it couldn't be a may 2004 date because on may 13th 2004 it was announced the new album was going to be called  american idiot and a punk opera. It must say like 5 songs or something like that.

[pacejunkie punk]

1 hour ago, nopride84 said:

Since some of the lyrics aren't changed to work in the concept it couldn't be a may 2004 date because on may 13th 2004 it was announced the new album was going to be called  american idiot and a punk opera. It must say like 5 songs or something like that.

Plus they were already recording at Ocean Way by February of 2004 and the songs were complete. This had to be from when they were demoing at Jingletown before that

[Cooper Castille]

1 hour ago, nopride84 said:

Since some of the lyrics aren't changed to work in the concept it couldn't be a may 2004 date because on may 13th 2004 it was announced the new album was going to be called  american idiot and a punk opera. It must say like 5 songs or something like that.

Honestly, yeah, "5 songs" might be more likely. I do wonder when these recordings might of been made.

[CristhyneS]

I'm not entirely convinced that it says 5 songs/demos. The spacing between the shades I see is kind of consistent with a date.  But maybe it's just because I want to believe 😂

I do not think the last number is 4, I see a round shape at the top and the bottom. My money is on  5 - 07 - 03

The first middle "number" (this would be behind the E and V in "Boulevard") looks kind of round on the top and on the bottom, while the second looks a bit flat on top and I cannot see anything on the bottom. For the last two I see them both rounded at the top and the bottom, so it could be 00 or 03, but 03 fits better the suspected timeline. Yes I have over analyzed and over inspected this. I've also asked in reddit, maybe the person who has it can see it better in the CD. We'll see 🤞

 

[aahhhh]

the person with the CD might be able to see when it was originally burned