Random Green Day Thoughts

[Hero_Of_The_Hour]

3 hours ago, FallingFromTheStars said:

What do you hate about it?

The only tick I have with it is Whatsername is a bit too emotionally unstable for my taste. I have always pictured her as someone who is always angry. The other tick is that it tells the story out of sequence, all of his relationship with Whatsername and becoming St. Jimmy all happens in Jingletown before he goes to the city.

And oh, I thought were saying it was just a representation of Billie and not a character. Maybe our opinions aren't so different. I view him as a separate character who has been injected with some of Billie. I mean, a lot of times characters have some of their authors in them.

 

I also never liked Bayer's interpretation of any of the characters. Whatsername in particular seems to be almost completely in contrast to how she is depicted in the musical, as the hero, the only one who could possibly save Johnny from the darkness of St Jimmy. As Billie described her on VH1 Storytellers as the only one who never wanes throughout the whole thing, she stuck to her beliefs. Tre described her as a "rock". Yet in the music video she's just a cheating girlfriend who tells Jesus Of Suburbia that she fucked someone else to which he responds he never loved her and that's that. A little divorced from reality as Whatsername is based on Amanda as we now know and she really WAS a kick ass punk, with extremely strong ethics who dumped Billie because of her beliefs about punk and his signing to a major label which according to himself left him contemplating suicide right before the release of Dookie. So Whatsername, who Billie told us is a real person, wasn't just someone who fucked a guy but hey ho he doesn't care. The stage production's Whatsername of the strong willed woman who had a long lasting impression on Jesus is clearly the more accurate as in reality she left Billie devastated and feeling suicidal and we have Billie writing about her decades later. Oh and yes I believe that Jesus is supposed to be representative of  Billie because Billie has said that the original idea was that Jesus and Jimmy were the same person and in numerous interviews he has said in different ways that he is Saint Jimmy. If you watch Storytellers he explains how Jimmy is like a schizophrenic side that comes out when he's at his most vulnerable.

[FallingFromTheStars]

17 minutes ago, Hero_Of_The_Hour said:

 

I also never liked Bayer's interpretation of any of the characters. Whatsername in particular seems to be almost completely in contrast to how she is depicted in the musical, as the hero, the only one who could possibly save Johnny from the darkness of St Jimmy. As Billie described her on VH1 Storytellers as the only one who never wanes throughout the whole thing, she stuck to her beliefs. Tre described her as a "rock". Yet in the music video she's just a cheating girlfriend who tells Jesus Of Suburbia that she fucked someone else to which he responds he never loved her and that's that. A little divorced from reality as Whatsername is based on Amanda as we now know and she really WAS a kick ass punk, with extremely strong ethics who dumped Billie because of her beliefs about punk and his signing to a major label which according to himself left him contemplating suicide right before the release of Dookie. So Whatsername, who Billie told us is a real person, wasn't just someone who fucked a guy but hey ho he doesn't care. The stage production's Whatsername of the strong willed woman who had a long lasting impression on Jesus is clearly the more accurate as in reality she left Billie devastated and feeling suicidal and we have Billie writing about her decades later. Oh and yes I believe that Jesus is supposed to be representative of  Billie because Billie has said that the original idea was that Jesus and Jimmy were the same person and in numerous interviews he has said in different ways that he is Saint Jimmy. If you watch Storytellers he explains how Jimmy is like a schizophrenic side that comes out when he's at his most vulnerable.

I completely disagree about Whatsername being the hero. I wouldn't even say she's a good person. "She sees the mirror of herself. An image she wants to sell to anyone willing to buy." Letterbomb is a song about her saying incredibly mean-spirited things to Jesus, just fucking tearing him down.

She's strong-willed and a rebel, that's about it.

The musical was really just a lot of Michael Mayer pulling stuff out of his butt. Most of it is not in the album or book.

And Jimmy is an alter ego created by Jesus to not feel like a loser.


 

[unextraordinarygirl]

13 minutes ago, FallingFromTheStars said:

I completely disagree about Whatsername being the hero. I wouldn't even say she's a good person. "She sees the mirror of herself. An image she wants to sell to anyone willing to buy." Letterbomb is a song about her saying incredibly mean-spirited things to Jesus, just fucking tearing him down.

She's strong-willed and a rebel, that's about it.

The musical was really just a lot of Michael Mayer pulling stuff out of his butt. Most of it is not in the album or book.

And Jimmy is an alter ego created by Jesus to not feel like a loser.


 

St. Jimmy is Billie's demons coming out, whatever they may be. Again watch Broadway Idiot because Billie says the songs are "90% based on my life." His exact words and he explains how each character is a side of him or someone he knows. You're interpreting it too literally.

[Hero_Of_The_Hour]

24 minutes ago, FallingFromTheStars said:

I completely disagree about Whatsername being the hero. I wouldn't even say she's a good person. "She sees the mirror of herself. An image she wants to sell to anyone willing to buy." Letterbomb is a song about her saying incredibly mean-spirited things to Jesus, just fucking tearing him down.

She's strong-willed and a rebel, that's about it.

The musical was really just a lot of Michael Mayer pulling stuff out of his butt. Most of it is not in the album or book.

And Jimmy is an alter ego created by Jesus to not feel like a loser.


 

 

Go to YouTube. Watch the entire Storytellers. It's from 2004/5 so long before Michael Mayer who you hate so much. Watch what Billie says. It doesn't matter if you disagree with everyone on here. Billie wrote about real people such as Amanda, who he thought was pretty epic, and himself and gave them different names. He explained that St Jimmy was a schizophrenic side of himself that came up when he was at his most vulnerable specifically when he was walking alone in NYC he came up with the character because as he said it was like the self destructive side of himself.  Just watch the show instead of deciding for yourself what Billie intended to mean listen to what he really means. 

[FallingFromTheStars]

58 minutes ago, unextraordinarygirl said:

St. Jimmy is Billie's demons coming out, whatever they may be. Again watch Broadway Idiot because Billie says the songs are "90% based on my life." His exact words and he explains how each character is a side of him or someone he knows. You're interpreting it too literally.

I'll watch Broadway Idiot when I get the chance.

But I am not interpreting it too literally. Not everything has to be a metaphor.

51 minutes ago, Hero_Of_The_Hour said:

 

Go to YouTube. Watch the entire Storytellers. It's from 2004/5 so long before Michael Mayer who you hate so much. Watch what Billie says. It doesn't matter if you disagree with everyone on here. Billie wrote about real people such as Amanda, who he thought was pretty epic, and himself and gave them different names. He explained that St Jimmy was a schizophrenic side of himself that came up when he was at his most vulnerable specifically when he was walking alone in NYC he came up with the character because as he said it was like the self destructive side of himself.  Just watch the show instead of deciding for yourself what Billie intended to mean listen to what he really means. 

I've watched parts of Storytellers, I'll watch the whole thing if I can find it.

In the event I am wrong, I will not change the way I view the album just to "get the facts straight". American Idiot is a very special album to me and it's one of the stories I am most passionate about. It has it's own meaning to me and that will not change. I believe Billie would want it that way, for it mean something personal to everyone, rather than everyone just taking it as a biopic about his life, because that is certainly not something anyone gets from listening to it unless they are either:
A) a mega fan and know all GD facts
B) watch interviews and documentaries about it.

I was not a mega fan when I first listened to it. I was just a guy who didn't even have a favorite band, curious to see what this "rock opera" thing was all about.

EDIT: The whole Storytellers is not on Youtube. That is why I have not seen the whole thing, it isn't on youtube.

[zeldachick14]

22 hours ago, neverdone2000 said:

Brit hasn't posted a pic of Billie--do you mean the one Sara posted? I believe that was actually taken on New Years Eve.

It might've been what you're talking about. But i know the caption said "happy birthday" in it. He was wearing the rev coat that he wears for Foxboro hot tubs shows and a black shirt and a red tie in the photo if that helps. 

[Hermione]

12 hours ago, FallingFromTheStars said:

What do you hate about it?

The only tick I have with it is Whatsername is a bit too emotionally unstable for my taste. I have always pictured her as someone who is always angry. The other tick is that it tells the story out of sequence, all of his relationship with Whatsername and becoming St. Jimmy all happens in Jingletown before he goes to the city.

And oh, I thought were saying it was just a representation of Billie and not a character. Maybe our opinions aren't so different. I view him as a separate character who has been injected with some of Billie. I mean, a lot of times characters have some of their authors in them.

The way they're depicted as emo kid posers who act like selfish brats basically . Don't have a problem with the storyline but it's all too poserish and melodramatic. Especially bearing in mind the punk scene Green Day come from which was/is really about a lot more than image and being destructive for the sake of it, I just think it's a horrible representation of it.

And yeah, maybe I just think there's more Billie in it!

[Hero_Of_The_Hour]

9 hours ago, FallingFromTheStars said:

I'll watch Broadway Idiot when I get the chance.

But I am not interpreting it too literally. Not everything has to be a metaphor.

I've watched parts of Storytellers, I'll watch the whole thing if I can find it.

In the event I am wrong, I will not change the way I view the album just to "get the facts straight". American Idiot is a very special album to me and it's one of the stories I am most passionate about. It has it's own meaning to me and that will not change. I believe Billie would want it that way, for it mean something personal to everyone, rather than everyone just taking it as a biopic about his life, because that is certainly not something anyone gets from listening to it unless they are either:
A) a mega fan and know all GD facts
B) watch interviews and documentaries about it.

I was not a mega fan when I first listened to it. I was just a guy who didn't even have a favorite band, curious to see what this "rock opera" thing was all about.

EDIT: The whole Storytellers is not on Youtube. That is why I have not seen the whole thing, it isn't on youtube.

 

Storytellers used to be on YouTube in HD. Shame. Maybe you can find it elsewhere or in parts on YouTube. I "acquired" it years ago from somewhere and have it on DVD because I love the live performances of songs like Homecoming that you don't see on TV that often. Awesome stuff.

American Idiot is a very special album to most Green Day fans who probably all assign their own personal meaning to each song. I know I have my own meaning for JOS (the song) and BLVD of Broken Dreams,  Homecoming and Saint Jimmy in particular. It so happened that the American Idiot album came out at a pivotal time in my life and I took lines from the songs and attached meaning to them that applied to my particularly fucked up (at the time) and confused situation. I identified with certain aspects of the "characters" but I was of course warping the songs to suit my situation. That's fine and those songs will always mean to me what they mean to me. That's how songs work. But when Billie Joe Armstrong wrote the songs he wrote them about something. It's not wrong for fans to attach personal meaning to Billie's songs but it's wrong to disregard Billie's intention or meaning for his own songs.

[jengd]

17 hours ago, Jane Lannister said:

And he seems 100% confident. When you watch him perfom, it's almost impossible to believe he could ever not be completely self-assured. 

 

17 hours ago, Jane Lannister said:

You are right - it comes through much more when he's talking. His speeches during shows are something else - a part of the act so to speak. 

 

17 hours ago, herewegoagain said:

Peak anxious Billie - and also the sweetest thing ever - is the Hall of Fame induction video. Especially while Mike and Tré do their speeches you can see him almost literally falling apart in the background (would add a millions "s" but trying to restrain myself outsid of the fangirls thread)

I think it's really endearing, give him his band, a guitar and a mike and he's off, very comfortable with rock god persona, will do and say just about anything.  Ask him to just be himself and he's nervous as anything.  It's quite common in performers, one to one scares them, put them in front of 20,000 and they're happy.  Really strange to the rest of us! 

[FallingFromTheStars]

4 hours ago, Hero_Of_The_Hour said:

 It's not wrong for fans to attach personal meaning to Billie's songs but it's wrong to disregard Billie's intention or meaning for his own songs.

That is a matter of opinion. It's comments like these make me miss when I didn't know any other Green Day fans. All I've seen is arguments since I've met others.

7 hours ago, Hermione said:

The way they're depicted as emo kid posers who act like selfish brats basically . Don't have a problem with the storyline but it's all too poserish and melodramatic. Especially bearing in mind the punk scene Green Day come from which was/is really about a lot more than image and being destructive for the sake of it, I just think it's a horrible representation of it.

And yeah, maybe I just think there's more Billie in it!

There's a lot of destructiveness in Green Day's songs, like more than I'd care to admit.


See this is why I didn't want to get into it. I dislike arguing, it just pisses me off and wears me out, and people gang up on me when I state my opinion.

I'm turning off notifications for this thread.

[Hermione]

24 minutes ago, FallingFromTheStars said:

That is a matter of opinion. It's comments like these make me miss when I didn't know any other Green Day fans. All I've seen is arguments since I've met others.

There's a lot of destructiveness in Green Day's songs, like more than I'd care to admit.


See this is why I didn't want to get into it. I dislike arguing, it just pisses me off and wears me out, and people gang up on me when I state my opinion.

I'm turning off notifications for this thread.

Oh well it's fine to stop, I think we've both stated our views and concluded that they're not all that different anyway. Never any need to carry on a discussion if you've had enough of it, can always just stop posting and leave it.

[AmyxLongview]

10 hours ago, Hermione said:

The way they're depicted as emo kid posers who act like selfish brats basically . Don't have a problem with the storyline but it's all too poserish and melodramatic. Especially bearing in mind the punk scene Green Day come from which was/is really about a lot more than image and being destructive for the sake of it, I just think it's a horrible representation of it.

And yeah, maybe I just think there's more Billie in it!

I'll never get over how much the JOS video bothers me because of those reasons! I'd go as far as to say it's the worst thing they've put out  which is a shame because it's such a great song. 

[bouncingoffthewallbja]

After listening to 21st Century Breakdown all the way through again today, I just can't believe how fantastic East Jesus Nowhere is. It's gritty and angsty and I just love the guitar solo and the break in the middle. I love the way Peacemaker follows it as well. I definitely think it's one of their best songs, definitely one of the best post-AI 

[UNICORN VOMIT]

48 minutes ago, bouncingoffthewallbja said:

After listening to 21st Century Breakdown all the way through again today, I just can't believe how fantastic East Jesus Nowhere is. It's gritty and angsty and I just love the guitar solo and the break in the middle. I love the way Peacemaker follows it as well. I definitely think it's one of their best songs, definitely one of the best post-AI 

Fantastic album - I prefer it over AI

[St. Jonny]

Highly underrated. Some amazing songs all around. Been making a point to listen to it a lot more. Only album I couldn't sing all the lyrics to. There is a lot of stuff on it and it's quite lengthy which makes for many interesting listens!

[End Of The World]

Brutal Love is a masterpiece and deserves to be played live again. As BJ said, it has a feeling of abandon and it's like when, at the end of a party, you start tiding everything. Personally, I experienced it the other day, at the end of a party on my trip. As they "turned out the lights", my brain started to play that guitar Ab arpeggio. It made me shiver.

[unextraordinarygirl]

44 minutes ago, End Of The World said:

Brutal Love is a masterpiece and deserves to be played live again. As BJ said, it has a feeling of abandon and it's like when, at the end of a party, you start tiding everything. Personally, I experienced it the other day, at the end of a party on my trip. As they "turned out the lights", my brain started to play that guitar Ab arpeggio. It made me shiver.

Brutal Love is definitely an underrated song. It deserves more listens and to be played live. I love it!

[herewegoagain]

I was getting excited about the US tour starting soon then realised that because of the time difference I won't be able to follow the shows "live" on here as much, which was basically what got me through January. Such a first world problem but still.

[Shahd]

Sometimes I get this feeling that Green Day isn't real. I feel they're just some fictional or cartoon characters

I guess that's a random thought?!

[bouncingoffthewallbja]

If the Trilogy sees the light on this tour, I'd love to see Missing You, Let Yourself Go, or as others have said, Brutal Love being played. It's highly unlikely, but can't a girl dream?! 

[St. Jonny]

Brutal Love return! Pleeease!!

[Chin for a Day]

1 minute ago, St. Jonny said:

Brutal Love return! Pleeease!!

They can replace Ordinary World with it and I like Ordinary World.

[St. Jonny]

I don't want them to do that yet. Just add it in before OW. Final triumphant band appearance, after Jesus.

[Chin for a Day]

Just now, St. Jonny said:

I don't want them to do that yet. Just add it in before OW. Final triumphant band appearance, after Jesus.

Well if I had my way JOS would be gone, so we can add it in place of JOS!

[St. Jonny]

Bahh, they def won't wanna do that