saraHsunshine Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 I absolutly love this song! I am so glad it made the 21CB. I love the feel of it as well as the lyrics. This song is so much fun to blast in a car while driving fast, which is, obviously, how I judge song quality. But actually, I just love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gloria123 Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 this is a great song and all but it doesn't grab me like other songs on 21CB. i think its the voice changing thingy (i can't remember the name for it) that makes it sound kind of fake kick-ass on a side note....i was once walking home from the library with my mom and some kid was playing this song on his cell phone and i freaked out because it was so random and cool. my mom thought i was crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asemh Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 This song pumps me up like mad!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belita Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 Omg, i luuuuuuv this song!! It has SO MUCH ENERGY! I wish they could play it live.....would be sooo awesome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubbles. Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 I wasn't too keen on this one when the album was released, but since then it has totally grown on me. I love it so much! It puts me in the mood for moshing and going crazy. I think it's great lyrically, too... Wish they would play it live! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiona? Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 This song kicks ass. It's the song you can listen to when a) you're driving with your windows open and you wanna BLAST IT b) you're exercising, like going on a run or something and it gets you pumped c) you're alone in your room and you start dancing around and playing air guitar . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insomniactwin Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 ... Who the fuck doesn't like "HS and HG"???? .... 'nuf said Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica. Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 This is one of my favorite songs off of 21CB! The lyrics and sound has a raw edge to it, it's filled with so much energy, and it's just an awesome song to dance/sing along too! :dance: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David41275 Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 I've always loved this song and EJN... Oddly, the two songs that always get schat on by reviewers as being the weakest songs on the album.... Fools. H&H is a brilliant Green Day song, end of story, because BJ writes 'angry' lyrics like no one else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadedHaushinka Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 It's a good song, but I usually skip it. I like how it has that angry sound, you know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xoram Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 Being a fan of Green Day's angry songs, I took a liking to "Horseshoes and Handgrenades" right after my first listen of "21st Century Breakdown". I imagined how great it would be to hear it live, since its the perfect song to just let loose and dance to, or, quoting a major poet: "Get naked in the middle of the pit and do the worm". Even though the melody is smug, angry and chaotic, it has that superb beat and tempo, the kind that's directly connected to your feet and has you jumping up and down before you even realize what's happening, and your body will be touching the ground with clockwork precision just in time to prop yourself up in the air again. That kind of orchestrated chaos is what makes great danceable punk music in my opinion. What I get from this song lyrically, is the feeling I'm watching a self-destructing jerk (probably Christian, in one of his crazy fits) walk into a crowded room and going on about how he's the center of the universe. The winner. The champion. The invincible colossus. We've all met them, from high-school football teams to our superiors at our workplaces. People who get off on making everyone else feel small and worthless. "Well, everything you employ was meant for me to destroy to the ground now" to me describes perfectly the need and pleasure of this kind of people get from making people's hopes and expectations crumble to ruins, while "...'almost' only really counts in horseshoes and hand grenades" is the line to make someone else feel like no matter how much they try, how much effort they put into something, they'll never amount to anything. And of course, if you ask yourself what's the easiest way to deal with these kind of people, the answer lies in the signature of our very own J'net. "Don't give up." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dog Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 I think its probably the best song on the album, It doesnt half remind me of the Hives! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillieJoeLegstrong Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 i love singing this song on rockband...it gets me pumped! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whatshername0303 Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 It's not my favorite song on 21st Century Breakdown, but I must admit that I like to scream the lyrics when I listen to it... Here's my favorite line: I'm a hater, a traitor, In a pair of Chuck Taylors Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 I actually really like this song very much. One of the Top Ten off of the album that I like, but I don't know which number it would be. I would most likely have to listen to the album over and over again to lay down my favorites off of it. To me though, this song has almost a little Insomniac feel to it. Which I really like. Anybody else here it? Anyway, if I ever need a little pick me up this song would do the trick off of this album. I just love the intro and the big "I'm not fucking around!" to start if off. Makes me smile. Good choice for SOTW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermione Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 Regarding the discussion about when this song was written, I'm really sure I read an article where they said it was written in 2006, one of the first songs from when they went back into the studio after American Idiot. Can't find the article but definitely remember it saying that, I remember finding it interesting when I read it. Looks like they really went for it when they went back to work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bastard of 1967 Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 What I get from this song lyrically, is the feeling I'm watching a self-destructing jerk (probably Christian, in one of his crazy fits) walk into a crowded room and going on about how he's the center of the universe. The winner. The champion. The invincible colossus. We've all met them, from high-school football teams to our superiors at our workplaces. People who get off on making everyone else feel small and worthless. "Well, everything you employ was meant for me to destroy to the ground now" to me describes perfectly the need and pleasure of this kind of people get from making people's hopes and expectations crumble to ruins, while "...'almost' only really counts in horseshoes and hand grenades" is the line to make someone else feel like no matter how much they try, how much effort they put into something, they'll never amount to anything. After a week of 11-hour days I FINALLY have a chance to comment on this song. I like your interp a lot, even though I don't find myself necessarily agreeing with all of it. Shortly after 21CB was released, Angeline (Justcause) commented to the effect that "piss off an angel and she becomes a winged fury." So I tend to subscribe more to that point of view: that the narrator in this song is Gloria the torchbearer rather than Christian the nihlist. It's especially easy to miss that viewpoint since the theme of the song is explosive destruction -- and it thus seems to fit Christian's character so well. Under this interpretation, the repeating "G-L-O-R-I-A" that ends H&H might be envisioned as Gloria scribbling her own name on the city buildings in a declaration of defiance (compare iVLG! -- "You blast your name in graffiti on the walls")....but here she's acting in a destructive rather than inspiring or constructive way, because now she's fucking pissed. This begs the question then of: why is she so infuriated? My theory: Have you ever been caught in a lie that you'd been trying to hide for so, so long that it's become the truth for you? And then you're forced to face the real truth? This is called hitting rock bottom (which we know is something that Billie Joe has faced in his own life and that permeates some of Green Day's music). Yes, the cold, hard truth will set you free, but first it'll piss you the fuck off. Gloria's beloved Christian has now become consciously aware of the secret, self-destructive and self-defeating lies ("Little girl, little girl you dirty liar/you're just a junkie preaching to the choir") that have paralyzed her and thwarted her fantasy of leading "the choir infantry" (yeah there's that damn Know Your Enemy again!) in societal upheaval. Yes, she confesses to it in RHS (acknowledging that she's "her own worst enemy"), but next she goes postal. So Gloria's response is first to retreat (in Little Girl) into herself and go introspective (beating herself up in RHS), and then to lash out indiscriminately at everyone and everything in H&H. And right there is "that age-old contradiction" between "demolition and self-destruction -- what to annhilate?": Do you turn the anger inward and destroy yourself, or outward and destroy everyone else? Or both at the same time? All that's guaranteed is that you "annhilate this old age" -- you cut your own "old age" short -- which I think is a veiled reference to suicide. Either the kind of virtual "cage up the self-destructive part of your personality" that we see on American Idiot in Homecoming, or actual, physical hari-kari. What I particularly agree with in your interpretation is how you read the "Maybe you're the runner up.../Almost only really counts..." lyric. Especially in light of Gloria's "I've had it with this shit, you wanted me to do something instead of sit on my ass, WELL NOW I'M FUCKING DOING IT, OKAY???" hissyfit, I think a harsh, introspective, and self-deprecating look at her own "you'll never amount to anything" failures fits just perfectly. And so does the first "adult" look at the "real world" that Christian and Gloria are then able to have in "Static Age" and the reconciliation between them that flows from it in 21 Guns. Your post got me thinking about this song in ways I hadn't before. Hopefully the results won't scare the crap outta anyone. Nice job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deletethisaccount Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 The main riff to Horeshoes and Handgrenades is great. I love how it goes along to the beat of army men marching at the beginning. Nice vocal melody during the verse. I love the scream at the bridge. I honestly wouldn't mind having sex while this song was playing. However, I don't really like the chorus. It feels out of place. I also don't like the lyrics. To me, it sounds like he's going out of his way to try to sound angry and tough. I like songs like "Christians Inferno" and "Platypus" where the anger seemed to come more naturally and it was easier to relate to. That's just what I think though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Billiejoezee- Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 Everytime i try to do the cool "scream" i sound like a cat choking on a hair ball. Worst than slipknot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daughter.of.Rage.and.Love Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 After a week of 11-hour days I FINALLY have a chance to comment on this song. I've never looked at the song, or even the album, like, that. Interesting eye-opener for sure. Great post! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermione Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 Everytime i try to do the cool "scream" i sound like a cat choking on a hair ball. Worst than slipknot. LOL when I do it on Rock Band my scream is so pathetic. And then when it turns into the cool "ah-ah-ah-ah-ah" laugh thing I sound like a bird squawking. I still do it every time though, I refuse to leave it out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlegirl-of-suburbia Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 LOL when I do it on Rock Band my scream is so pathetic. And then when it turns into the cool "ah-ah-ah-ah-ah" laugh thing I sound like a bird squawking. I still do it every time though, I refuse to leave it out I can't do the G-L-O-R-I-A without loosing my voice for a couple of days, so i stick to air guitaring myself through the song... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bastard of 1967 Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 However, I don't really like the chorus. It feels out of place. I also don't like the lyrics. To me, it sounds like he's going out of his way to try to sound angry and tough. I like songs like "Christians Inferno" and "Platypus" where the anger seemed to come more naturally and it was easier to relate to. That's just what I think though. Take a look at my post just a little earlier in this thread -- H&H isn't about Christian, it's about *Gloria*. And yes, she is *trying* to sound tough (and to some extent failing at it) because in truth she's really a pathetic, dirty little liar -- she has too many problems of her own to solve before she can lead the revolution. This helps tie up and cement one of the key themes in the whole album -- that you have to fix what's wrong in yourself before you can even begin to think about fixing what's wrong with everybody and everything else in the world. That transforms the whole song from "meh" into yet another piece of punk brilliance out of Billie Joe's pen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GDInsaniac Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 This is a great song, but it sucks that billie joe doesn't really like it cause it would be a great live song. This song is great for 21CB because its a good reminder of their punk roots and it makes people remember where their carreres all started from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Billiejoezee- Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 LOL when I do it on Rock Band my scream is so pathetic. And then when it turns into the cool "ah-ah-ah-ah-ah" laugh thing I sound like a bird squawking. I still do it every time though, I refuse to leave it out when I try to do it, I just end up cracking up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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