Random Green Day Thoughts

[solongfromthestars]

I remember when the intro to 21st Century Breakdown played every time you visited Green Day's site, like an annoying Myspace profile. Except not annoying because it was new Green Day and those few notes were so exciting. The lyrics were released before the album and they seemed so dark and depressing - which they are, I just never expected the songs to be that emotional and catchy. When I first saw the cover I was disappointed, but all the album art soon became my favourite (though I still think the back cover should have been the front cover).

Then Know Your Enemy came out and my mum and I listened to it so many times we could still hear it after we switched it off. I knew when I watched a blurry, low quality video of ¡Viva La Gloria! from the Uptown show I was going to love it. I still couldn't have imagined how good the whole album was. The lyrical imagery is like vivid snapshots of both the beginning of the 21st century and Billie's life and mind. Maybe that's why a lot of fans have such vivid memories of it, because it kind of documented all of us in different ways at that point in time. It's no exaggeration that it changed my life. It inspired me when very little else did and by the end of the era, I was in a completely different place to where I'd been for the years leading up to it.

Don't get me started on 21st Century Breakdown or I'll start writing essays I firmly believe it's one of the best albums ever written. 21 Guns is also my favourite Green Day music video.

[MillenniumFan]

On ‎12‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 2:00 PM, Billie Hoe said:

There is nothing like listening to 21st Century Breakdown that can catapult me back into my 14-15 year old self. Suddenly I remember smells I really liked, I'm wearing my brown winter boots, I'm interning at the pet store, I'm meeting up with my friend to write stupid spoof songs on her keyboard, having dumb stupid fun together... that's why this is my favorite album, it makes me so nostalgic and I see it all so vividly before me, I can feel how I felt back then. 

That's what AI does for me  

...which is why it's my favourite GD album haha

[Rumpelstiltskin2000]

My old and new phones got crushed so badly at the Longshot in Vancouver and Seattle that they didn't really work anymore. Finally got a new phone last week but couldn't connect to the network because the code was on the phone that wasn't working. Took it into the store today and got it sorted. Had one of @solongfromthestars photos of the Longshot on the background and explained to the guy that it was at that gig where my phone got crushed to which he replied "cool". He told me to come back 10 minutes later when their tech specialist was off lunch because he didn't know how they could sort it out. When I got back the tech guy said the first guy could fix it after all and he asked me so "who is he anyway?". I replied "It's Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day". Guy doesn't know who I'm talking about so I say "American Idiot?". Said he didn't know it. Then he says "Wake me up when September Ends?" and I reply "Yeah, that's the one!".

 

38 minutes ago, solongfromthestars said:

I remember when the intro to 21st Century Breakdown played every time you visited Green Day's site,

It still gives me the chills when I hear it because if I close my eyes I can still see Green Day running on stage to it back on that tour.

[Billie Hoe]

I liked Green Day casually since American Idiot but 21st CB is when I became a fan it was the first album I ever owned a physical copy of (I had only downloaded AI from YouTube or something and burned it on a CD...) And I actually wanted to go to a show but I had nobody to go with and my mother didnt want to let me go alone (understandably, at 14), but not seeing them on this tour is probably my biggest regret haha.... Not gonna lie, that album helped me through some shit that was going on in my life at that time and if it wasn't for East Jesus Nowhere, a song that I listened to religiously, I probably would have lost my mind. Even had them up on my wall. Its not my favorite song, I barely listen to it anymore, but at the time it meant everything to me

[UNICORN VOMIT]

12 hours ago, jengd said:

I too love 21 CB, I think it’s the last time I dashed out of work and ran up the street to buy the cd! Got into a big row with Warner Bros about their delivery of UNO on release day, really not the same 😂

I purchased the trilogy in store - I had all the dates sync to my calendar - unfortunately I trusted Warner for the delivery of RevRad ...... never again.

[The Grohl]

For RevRad I ordered the vinyl on Amazon and then ran out to Target to get the CD. That's the first time I ever got both formats same day. 

The trilogy I think I had preorderd but it was via Amazon. I did later get the box set with the lyric book from Warners Canadian site I think. 

[DeJennsitized]

On 12/11/2018 at 3:34 PM, kaylubd said:

For RevRad I ordered the vinyl on Amazon and then ran out to Target to get the CD. That's the first time I ever got both formats same day. 

The trilogy I think I had preorderd but it was via Amazon. I did later get the box set with the lyric book from Warners Canadian site I think. 

I pre-ordered the Trilogy box set from Warner, then I cancelled it because I didn't have the money to pay for it. Then I pre-ordered it again when I did. 

Cue me getting two of everything as they were released  

[Hermione]

On 12/8/2018 at 4:37 PM, lizziebix said:

Cool gift. But where's the picture to share?  

 

Finally able to upload a picture (Windows 10 sucks) 

I have an urge to break it and take the little guitar out, but I won't  

[Montclare]

2 hours ago, Hermione said:

Finally able to upload a picture (Windows 10 sucks) 

I have an urge to break it and take the little guitar out, but I won't  

The sheriff badge. 

[Hermione]

27 minutes ago, Montclare said:

The sheriff badge. 

It's just a pick in a star shaped background but I wish it was that . Also that reminds me when Billie was wearing a sheriff badge during 21st CB times I bought my brother one lol 

[That Dude]

On 11/15/2018 at 2:59 AM, jengd said:

Found this on soundcloud.  It’s the interview they did one evening for Radio One (UK) just before UNO was released and they did that surprise set at Reading.  It must be one of the most out of control radio broadcasts ever but it’s hilarious, albeit pretty sad now we know what came next.

  https://soundcloud.com/greendayuploader/green-day-bbc-radio-1

"we wouldn't have done it if the song quality wasn't there"  

"we're having a lot of fun right now, this is the spirit of Green Day what we're doing right now"  

Awesome!

"my true love is a wonderful spirit in the great place of radio uno right now" is the actual title of F(woo) Time!  

What start with an F and end with a UCK?   Firetruck!  

Yeah, this made me think about how much we lost when Billie got sidetracked.  I honestly don't think so many people would be hating on the trilogy had it been the giant epic hit fest it could have been.  I'll always stand up for it.  If I to let some Green Day records go, 1039, Kerplunk and Insomniac would get axed before Uno/Dos/Tre. 

  

 

 

[Rumpelstiltskin2000]

On the 21st Century Breakdown Tour I sneakily recorded @solongfromthestars freaking out to hearing "Letterbomb" for the first time live. She hated me for it and for ruining the video. However, yesterday she finally thanked me for it and even made a gif of it! Here you go:

  

Nice jumping!

[The Bellie]

A little while ago, I was posting a topic about a line in Forever Now, responding to @LaughingClock who ended up telling me he was interested in my thoughts about Still Breathing, which is my favorite song. I guess there must be a topic dedicated for that, but quite lazily, I'm just gonna post it here. I could've done much earlier, since I listen to this song every day several times a day, if it wasn't for lack of time... but I just laid down thoughts about this song, which has helped me through hard times and still helps me now. I hope it's not too confused! Here it goes.

I’m like a child looking off on the horizon

I’m like an ambulance that’s turning on the sirens

First line of the song, Billie put himself at the scale of a child, the child he was, it’s like as an adult he wants to soothe that lonely child. It sets the tone of vulnerability and kindness to oneself throughout the song. He relates to any other child feeling sad, lost, wanting to go elsewhere, far away from where’s he’s at, missing someone that’s gone. The child looking off on the horizon is Billie when he lost his dad and he came from that to be in a state comparable to an ambulance that’s turning on the sirens, which echoes to someone in danger, close to a deadly state, but still alive, as Billie when he put himself in danger.

In his case, the child looking off on the horizon became that person in the ambulance, it’s the same. I’ve always been struck by these two phrases one after the other, I can picture him identifying as having put himself in such danger, I suppose it was as shocking, or mind-blowing, in a way, for him to realize as for us to hear.

Oh, I’m still alive

He’s relieved to be still alive after that.

I’m like a soldier coming home for the first time

He identifies as a soldier, as if he has fought his addiction as a soldier would fight an enemy, as if his inner battle was like a war field, as terrible, and when he finally gets out of it, not only is he still alive, he also reaches some place that is home for him, for the first time.

I dodged a bullet and I walked across a landmine

A bullet is like a sudden, punctual, fatal threat, like when he used to take, here and there, a great quantity of alcohol and pills that could have killed him. The landmine is something that’s more on the long run, like describing the threat of killing himself that is always there, that could happen any moment, because the addiction was always around.

Oh, I’m still alive

Same as previously, when he thinks of it, it feels incredible to think he has survived all of it.

Am I bleeding? am I bleeding from the storm?

Right after he realizes he’s still alive, it’s like he checks himself to see if he’s wounded somewhere. The storm is a metaphor for his inner storm, the part of him that he takes care of with the addiction, and then the storm quickly becomes the addiction itself when it comes like a whirl, takes over all of his problems (without solving them) and becomes what devastates him inside. Something strong enough to take over his feelings of heartbreak and loneliness is strong enough to possibly kill him. So right after the storm has struck, he pauses to see if he’s okay. Whether he’s bleeding or not, what matters is he’s still alive, as he says a little after…

Just shine a light into the wreckage

The wreckage is the result of the storm. And when you find yourself in there, you can have the feeling that everything’s lost and desperate, that you’re doomed, but when he feels that he’s still alive, which feels incredible, Billie tells himself there is actually a possible way out, he can find a light to shine somewhere to get out of there

So far away, away

He pictures he is able to leave the terrible addiction in which he’s got lost, to leave it far behind, and shine a light very far away from the devastation in which he finds himself to be.

cause I’m still breathing

I’m still breathing so there’s still hope, I can find my way out of here

cause I’m still breathing on my own

“on my own” refers to the state of vulnerability in which he had fallen, like it means so much that he can still breathe all alone, as if this wasn’t even sure anymore. Breathing is at the base of everything, it’s the most important, it means you’re alive, and if he’s alive, he can find a way out of the darkness, he can do anything. Nothing else matters, but the fact that he’s alive. It echoes to the fact he is able to find a light in himself, even if he doubted it, as he doubted he would still be breathing the next day.

my head’s above the rain and roses

Whatever the bad things and the good things, that all made him turn to his addiction because it was his way to manage his emotions, it was even his way to connect with himself the best he could, no matter how much the good and bad may affect him, he will preserve himself, he will stay alive, keep his head (and his breath) above all of it

making my way, away

my way to you

“you” could mean himself, making his way to himself like finding himself, accepting himself, connecting to the lost child he was and lost adult he is. He will in any case continue his way through the good (roses) and the bad (rain)

I’m like a junkie tying off for the last time

Is it the last time because the junkie will die? or because he will stop being a junkie afterwards? Any time could be the last time, that’s a freaky thought, but it could also be a hopeful thought. Anyways, he knows it’s the last time, whether he’s hopeful or desperate

I’m like a loser that’s betting on his last dime

It’s like Billie who’s betting on what’s left of his health, when he thinks he’s not going to wake up the next morning, but still, despite feeling he’s “holding on for life”, he keeps drinking and taking pills.

Oh, I’m still alive

he realizes how lucky he is.

I’m like a son that was raised without a father

Literally. He comes back to the child he was. When Billie was responding to comments on the Longshot account that was still private then, he said “all the songs are kinda sad, but not self-indulgent sadness. Rainy day sadness”. I always felt that this line in Still Breathing was the prior, necessary self indulgent (in a good way) sadness he needed to give himself. Like saying : “Yes, it was that bad. It was that much sadness and devastation.”

I’m like a mother barely keeping it together

Like his own mother after his dad died, Billie also barely kept it together for himself all the way from then. He connects to the ones that were left: the child, the lonely parent.

Just shine a light into the wreckage

So far away, away

cause I’m still breathing

cause I’m still breathing on my own

my head’s above the rain and roses

making my way, away, away

That additional “away” echoes to me as, when following the light meant to take him away from the devastation, he’s gone so far that he’s close to get out of life. That refers to the fact the addiction can be the light you shine at first, to get away from something within yourself, and if the addiction is eventually deadly, it’s a sign that it’s not the right thing in the end and it’s not what you really run away from. It’s like a misleading light. But at the same time, it shows addiction can save your life to a certain point. And the following lines (in the bridge of the song) show how hard it is to separate ways with it. The addiction has become the storm over time but it also saved you from the storm, by becoming a light you’ve followed, and you’ve followed it so far you have to let it go or die. If you can let go of it, you will eventually find out what you’ve really been staying alive for.

As I walked out on the ledge

on the ledge of life. For wanting to free himself from the storm, his addiction, and the part of himself that makes him turn to this addiction, he walks away, and that’s where it gets really interesting: he makes his way through the wreckage, driven by hope, the hope when he realizes he’s still breathing, but by making his way through and walking out, so far away, he comes to that point where he’s on the ledge. As if, he can’t get rid of that part of him that is equal to devastation, that made him turn to addiction, he would have to throw himself entirely to get rid of it. That would mean death.

are you scared to death to live?

It’s a strong play of words: scared to death supposedly refers to how scary death is, but here it’s the opposite, it’s about how scary life is. Billie sums it up by saying: “you’re scared of living, so you’re scared of that thing in you, that storm, and when you try to get away from it completely, to annihilate it, by ways of the addiction, and with the addiction, there’s only death”. It could be ‘you’re scared of living since you’re trying to reject that thing in you’, or ‘you’re trying to reject it since you’re scared to live’. Billie could also realize he’s scared of the part of himself that makes him turn to his deadly addiction, but that it’s included in his self, it’s part of his life, it even defines his life (cf. in Forever Now, “a life on the wild side [that got] so full”, the wild side he’s grateful for in the end is also this part that makes him this junkie, this addict, this extreme person). Anyways, he’s come to the point where he could jump now and everything would be over.

I’ve been running all my life just to find a home that’s for the restless

It’s like an antithesis: is he restless because he’s running? But he’s running to find a home for the restless, so basically he’s running so he won’t have to run anymore. There’s another line of indulgence towards himself. He just states his life has that desperate, senseless storyline to it.

When Billie says, on the ledge, he’s been “running all [his] life just to find a home that’s for the restless”, he’s like describing the no-way of his addiction being his savior and his doom at the same time. It’s like: “I can’t stop running, I have to find this home. But it’s because I’m running that I have to find this home.” Problem and apparent solution at the same time. Quickly turns out to be another problem over the problem. But it has saved his life, helped him to function, and no matter how messed up this could have been, he has made it through, which indicates that the solution has always been in him.

and the truth that’s in the message

What’s the real message in this no-way? He eventually came to the ledge by trying to find a home that’s for the restless. It’s like saying, “I looked everywhere, but I’m still running, now I’m just heading to death. Well the solution could be death.” But when he finds himself a step away from death, he realizes he doesn’t want the answer to be it. Finding out the truth in the message is also finding out what he wants to get away from. There was always something in his run that would possibly lead him to death, but once he gets the taste of it, he rediscovers his attachment to life, he knows that what he wants to get away from is what takes him away from life. Whatever that may be: the devastation he feels, that causes or is caused by his addiction and that he wants to get away from, may feel deadly, but he knows he can find a light in there that will maintain him in life, and keep him breathing, as he still is. The light is in himself as the devastation is, it comes from the same place.

making my way, away, away

For the second time, this additional “away” marks another level of distance, or urgency, from what he wants to get away from. Is it the same thing as before? He realizes he can’t find a solution to his own restlessness, but he has made the choice of life, even acknowledging how scary life was really to him, and how scary it would be to have to renounce to the addiction in order to stay alive. Acknowledging the difficulty, his vulnerability, his fear to live, was in itself defining to get over his addiction. Even more, the fact he went so close to death was what permitted him to give himself this indulgence, this understanding, this strength, because he had only this choice if he decided to live. That may be one element of “the truth in the message”, but whatever the latter turns up to be for him, the attachment for life and the joy to appreciate being still alive, even more after you fell so deep that you’re just amazed to still be alive, is something beautiful, stronger than despair; it’s like somehow, within all the despair, you find something that’s stronger than it. It’s what makes you able to shine a light to get out of anything that feels deadly within yourself. I always thought of this song when Billie said on stage “life ain’t pretty, but if you hold on to it, it can be pretty beautiful”.

cause I’m still breathing

cause I’m still breathing on my own

my head’s above the rain and roses

making my way, away

cause I’m still breathing

cause I’m still breathing on my own

my head’s above the rain and roses

making my way, away

my way to you

my way to you

my head’s above the rain and roses

making my way, away

my way to you

 Thanks goodness for that song

[maryjanewhatsername]

1 minute ago, The Bellie said:

A little while ago, I was posting a topic about a line in Forever Now, responding to @LaughingClock who ended up telling me he was interested in my thoughts about Still Breathing, which is my favorite song. I guess there must be a topic dedicated for that, but quite lazily, I'm just gonna post it here. I could've done much earlier, since I listen to this song every day several times a day, if it wasn't for lack of time... but I just laid down thoughts about this song, which has helped me through hard times and still helps me now. I hope it's not too confused! Here it goes.

I’m like a child looking off on the horizon

I’m like an ambulance that’s turning on the sirens

First line of the song, Billie put himself at the scale of a child, the child he was, it’s like as an adult he wants to soothe that lonely child. It sets the tone of vulnerability and kindness to oneself throughout the song. He relates to any other child feeling sad, lost, wanting to go elsewhere, far away from where’s he’s at, missing someone that’s gone. The child looking off on the horizon is Billie when he lost his dad and he came from that to be in a state comparable to an ambulance that’s turning on the sirens, which echoes to someone in danger, close to a deadly state, but still alive, as Billie when he put himself in danger.

In his case, the child looking off on the horizon became that person in the ambulance, it’s the same. I’ve always been struck by these two phrases one after the other, I can picture him identifying as having put himself in such danger, I suppose it was as shocking, or mind-blowing, in a way, for him to realize as for us to hear.

Oh, I’m still alive

He’s relieved to be still alive after that.

I’m like a soldier coming home for the first time

He identifies as a soldier, as if he has fought his addiction as a soldier would fight an enemy, as if his inner battle was like a war field, as terrible, and when he finally gets out of it, not only is he still alive, he also reaches some place that is home for him, for the first time.

I dodged a bullet and I walked across a landmine

A bullet is like a sudden, punctual, fatal threat, like when he used to take, here and there, a great quantity of alcohol and pills that could have killed him. The landmine is something that’s more on the long run, like describing the threat of killing himself that is always there, that could happen any moment, because the addiction was always around.

Oh, I’m still alive

Same as previously, when he thinks of it, it feels incredible to think he has survived all of it.

Am I bleeding? am I bleeding from the storm?

Right after he realizes he’s still alive, it’s like he checks himself to see if he’s wounded somewhere. The storm is a metaphor for his inner storm, the part of him that he takes care of with the addiction, and then the storm quickly becomes the addiction itself when it comes like a whirl, takes over all of his problems (without solving them) and becomes what devastates him inside. Something strong enough to take over his feelings of heartbreak and loneliness is strong enough to possibly kill him. So right after the storm has struck, he pauses to see if he’s okay. Whether he’s bleeding or not, what matters is he’s still alive, as he says a little after…

Just shine a light into the wreckage

The wreckage is the result of the storm. And when you find yourself in there, you can have the feeling that everything’s lost and desperate, that you’re doomed, but when he feels that he’s still alive, which feels incredible, Billie tells himself there is actually a possible way out, he can find a light to shine somewhere to get out of there

So far away, away

He pictures he is able to leave the terrible addiction in which he’s got lost, to leave it far behind, and shine a light very far away from the devastation in which he finds himself to be.

cause I’m still breathing

I’m still breathing so there’s still hope, I can find my way out of here

cause I’m still breathing on my own

“on my own” refers to the state of vulnerability in which he had fallen, like it means so much that he can still breathe all alone, as if this wasn’t even sure anymore. Breathing is at the base of everything, it’s the most important, it means you’re alive, and if he’s alive, he can find a way out of the darkness, he can do anything. Nothing else matters, but the fact that he’s alive. It echoes to the fact he is able to find a light in himself, even if he doubted it, as he doubted he would still be breathing the next day.

my head’s above the rain and roses

Whatever the bad things and the good things, that all made him turn to his addiction because it was his way to manage his emotions, it was even his way to connect with himself the best he could, no matter how much the good and bad may affect him, he will preserve himself, he will stay alive, keep his head (and his breath) above all of it

making my way, away

my way to you

“you” could mean himself, making his way to himself like finding himself, accepting himself, connecting to the lost child he was and lost adult he is. He will in any case continue his way through the good (roses) and the bad (rain)

I’m like a junkie tying off for the last time

Is it the last time because the junkie will die? or because he will stop being a junkie afterwards? Any time could be the last time, that’s a freaky thought, but it could also be a hopeful thought. Anyways, he knows it’s the last time, whether he’s hopeful or desperate

I’m like a loser that’s betting on his last dime

It’s like Billie who’s betting on what’s left of his health, when he thinks he’s not going to wake up the next morning, but still, despite feeling he’s “holding on for life”, he keeps drinking and taking pills.

Oh, I’m still alive

he realizes how lucky he is.

I’m like a son that was raised without a father

Literally. He comes back to the child he was. When Billie was responding to comments on the Longshot account that was still private then, he said “all the songs are kinda sad, but not self-indulgent sadness. Rainy day sadness”. I always felt that this line in Still Breathing was the prior, necessary self indulgent (in a good way) sadness he needed to give himself. Like saying : “Yes, it was that bad. It was that much sadness and devastation.”

I’m like a mother barely keeping it together

Like his own mother after his dad died, Billie also barely kept it together for himself all the way from then. He connects to the ones that were left: the child, the lonely parent.

Just shine a light into the wreckage

So far away, away

cause I’m still breathing

cause I’m still breathing on my own

my head’s above the rain and roses

making my way, away, away

That additional “away” echoes to me as, when following the light meant to take him away from the devastation, he’s gone so far that he’s close to get out of life. That refers to the fact the addiction can be the light you shine at first, to get away from something within yourself, and if the addiction is eventually deadly, it’s a sign that it’s not the right thing in the end and it’s not what you really run away from. It’s like a misleading light. But at the same time, it shows addiction can save your life to a certain point. And the following lines (in the bridge of the song) show how hard it is to separate ways with it. The addiction has become the storm over time but it also saved you from the storm, by becoming a light you’ve followed, and you’ve followed it so far you have to let it go or die. If you can let go of it, you will eventually find out what you’ve really been staying alive for.

As I walked out on the ledge

on the ledge of life. For wanting to free himself from the storm, his addiction, and the part of himself that makes him turn to this addiction, he walks away, and that’s where it gets really interesting: he makes his way through the wreckage, driven by hope, the hope when he realizes he’s still breathing, but by making his way through and walking out, so far away, he comes to that point where he’s on the ledge. As if, he can’t get rid of that part of him that is equal to devastation, that made him turn to addiction, he would have to throw himself entirely to get rid of it. That would mean death.

are you scared to death to live?

It’s a strong play of words: scared to death supposedly refers to how scary death is, but here it’s the opposite, it’s about how scary life is. Billie sums it up by saying: “you’re scared of living, so you’re scared of that thing in you, that storm, and when you try to get away from it completely, to annihilate it, by ways of the addiction, and with the addiction, there’s only death”. It could be ‘you’re scared of living since you’re trying to reject that thing in you’, or ‘you’re trying to reject it since you’re scared to live’. Billie could also realize he’s scared of the part of himself that makes him turn to his deadly addiction, but that it’s included in his self, it’s part of his life, it even defines his life (cf. in Forever Now, “a life on the wild side [that got] so full”, the wild side he’s grateful for in the end is also this part that makes him this junkie, this addict, this extreme person). Anyways, he’s come to the point where he could jump now and everything would be over.

I’ve been running all my life just to find a home that’s for the restless

It’s like an antithesis: is he restless because he’s running? But he’s running to find a home for the restless, so basically he’s running so he won’t have to run anymore. There’s another line of indulgence towards himself. He just states his life has that desperate, senseless storyline to it.

When Billie says, on the ledge, he’s been “running all [his] life just to find a home that’s for the restless”, he’s like describing the no-way of his addiction being his savior and his doom at the same time. It’s like: “I can’t stop running, I have to find this home. But it’s because I’m running that I have to find this home.” Problem and apparent solution at the same time. Quickly turns out to be another problem over the problem. But it has saved his life, helped him to function, and no matter how messed up this could have been, he has made it through, which indicates that the solution has always been in him.

and the truth that’s in the message

What’s the real message in this no-way? He eventually came to the ledge by trying to find a home that’s for the restless. It’s like saying, “I looked everywhere, but I’m still running, now I’m just heading to death. Well the solution could be death.” But when he finds himself a step away from death, he realizes he doesn’t want the answer to be it. Finding out the truth in the message is also finding out what he wants to get away from. There was always something in his run that would possibly lead him to death, but once he gets the taste of it, he rediscovers his attachment to life, he knows that what he wants to get away from is what takes him away from life. Whatever that may be: the devastation he feels, that causes or is caused by his addiction and that he wants to get away from, may feel deadly, but he knows he can find a light in there that will maintain him in life, and keep him breathing, as he still is. The light is in himself as the devastation is, it comes from the same place.

making my way, away, away

For the second time, this additional “away” marks another level of distance, or urgency, from what he wants to get away from. Is it the same thing as before? He realizes he can’t find a solution to his own restlessness, but he has made the choice of life, even acknowledging how scary life was really to him, and how scary it would be to have to renounce to the addiction in order to stay alive. Acknowledging the difficulty, his vulnerability, his fear to live, was in itself defining to get over his addiction. Even more, the fact he went so close to death was what permitted him to give himself this indulgence, this understanding, this strength, because he had only this choice if he decided to live. That may be one element of “the truth in the message”, but whatever the latter turns up to be for him, the attachment for life and the joy to appreciate being still alive, even more after you fell so deep that you’re just amazed to still be alive, is something beautiful, stronger than despair; it’s like somehow, within all the despair, you find something that’s stronger than it. It’s what makes you able to shine a light to get out of anything that feels deadly within yourself. I always thought of this song when Billie said on stage “life ain’t pretty, but if you hold on to it, it can be pretty beautiful”.

cause I’m still breathing

cause I’m still breathing on my own

my head’s above the rain and roses

making my way, away

cause I’m still breathing

cause I’m still breathing on my own

my head’s above the rain and roses

making my way, away

my way to you

my way to you

my head’s above the rain and roses

making my way, away

my way to you

 Thanks goodness for that song

Dude this essay/dissertation was well worth the read!!  love this song so much!!

[Slave To The Network]

Boy. That was a lot to take in. Of course, this is all your own interpretation of the lyrics, right, @The Bellie? Are there any interviews where Billie specifically discussed this SB and how it's related to the addiction problems he's had?

He's doing so much better now, isn't he? When you lay it all out like you just did, it makes me even more grateful for him when we could have lost him. Thinking about if we did lose him or had lost him makes me want to cry. 😭 I love him so much!

[The Bellie]

18 hours ago, Green Day In Seattle said:

Boy. That was a lot to take in. Of course, this is all your own interpretation of the lyrics, right, @The Bellie? Are there any interviews where Billie specifically discussed this SB and how it's related to the addiction problems he's had?

He's doing so much better now, isn't he? When you lay it all out like you just did, it makes me even more grateful for him when we could have lost him. Thinking about if we did lose him or had lost him makes me want to cry. 😭 I love him so much!

This is my only interpretation, it was also a lot from a writing point of view , it's my favorite song and I can say I'm still breathing myself thanks to that song alone. Billie did say this song was about survival and getting though hard times, and that it was related to him surviving his addictions (I can't tell you in which interview he said that precisely, perhaps the 2016 Rolling Stone one but I'm too lazy to go check now!) but I know he's never been too specific about the addiction when it comes to Still Breathing, he said he wanted to write it in a rather external way, going through hard times in general. But I've always had the feeling that he identifies with the figures he uses, every of them, perhaps a little more than what he says in interviews, and that feeling plays a part in my interpretation of the song.

So everything I wrote is what I feel, not about my own experience but what I feel of Billie when he sings it, even more when I see live performances. The way he sings it, moves on stage, etc., almost brought concrete images in my brain as I watched a lot of videos of it played live. So I really wanted to take some time to write some down.

I don't know if all of it makes sense once it's written, perhaps it isn't even satisfying for me when I read it, but the way I feel about SB not simple anyways. I'm still trying to figure out what made me manage to overcome my own shit thanks to that only song (or more precisely, thanks to watching Billie singing it live) while I had tried everything before, and naturally I'm also trying to grasp the same thing that happened for Billie, and that's also why I want to write about it. Where did he find that depth, that strength, that he can transmit to people, in a way? Like something you've never heard of before, but that connects with you on the highest level. He goes seeking in your soul on a depth you've never known in yourself before. He makes you a better person, a brightest person. I don't really like myself but the bright side in me is much, much bigger since I've become a GD fan.

I said to some people, who were talking about great French intellectuals and saying that these were geniuses, that Billie was also a genius, and this statement seemed to annoy them a lot . I wanted to go on and tell them what I've just said above, that he can make people better and save lives, but I knew it was useless to say. I said to someone else today that for me Billie was one of the greatest singer in the world and they laughed at me. Okay, go ahead and laugh, but the man is so fabulous I'm still trying to grasp the mystery in a song while that song that already had its effects on me. And, boy, the way he puts it out with his singing voice is my favorite thing in the world. I could live only for that sound of his voice. 

[Slave To The Network]

Billie IS a genius. People who only see academic intellectual types as geniuses are dumbasses. He's a kinder, smarter, more genuine person than any of those kinds of people and does much more good in the world. Billie is the best! Practically every day there's something he does or something I learn about him that makes me think "Wow! He is such an amazing, wonderful person." 

[jengd]

@The Bellie I agree with so much that you say above.  I also think, in true Billie style that the whole thing about shining a light on the wreckage can be taken quite literally as Billie taking stock on what damage he’s done to his relationships with Adie, his sons and wider family, Mike, Tre, his business reputation and everyone and everything around him.  Re Billie discussing the meaning of Still Breathing, watch his body language when he’s asked about it, he really doesn’t want to go into depth about it and I think he’s developed this answer of “it’s just about everyone having to go through stuff” as it’s clearly true but there’s no way, to me, that the song doesn’t say a lot more than that.  We know Billie is a very personal writer and also know he often does not want to discuss his lyrics, this is one of his coping mechanisms.

[pacejunkie punk]

5 hours ago, jengd said:

@The Bellie I agree with so much that you say above.  I also think, in true Billie style that the whole thing about shining a light on the wreckage can be taken quite literally as Billie taking stock on what damage he’s done to his relationships with Adie, his sons and wider family, Mike, Tre, his business reputation and everyone and everything around him.  Re Billie discussing the meaning of Still Breathing, watch his body language when he’s asked about it, he really doesn’t want to go into depth about it and I think he’s developed this answer of “it’s just about everyone having to go through stuff” as it’s clearly true but there’s no way, to me, that the song doesn’t say a lot more than that.  We know Billie is a very personal writer and also know he often does not want to discuss his lyrics, this is one of his coping mechanisms.

All true. He’s described songwriting as “the cheapest form of therapy”. Once he’s gone through it all to write the thing It should speak for itself and I’m sure the last thing he wants to do is talk about it over and over.  A universal message is better marketing anyway, inviting people in instead of shutting them out of his private shit. 

[BUBBYBUB]

10 hours ago, Green Day In Seattle said:

Billie IS a genius. People who only see academic intellectual types as geniuses are dumbasses. He's a kinder, smarter, more genuine person than any of those kinds of people and does much more good in the world. Billie is the best! Practically every day there's something he does or something I learn about him that makes me think "Wow! He is such an amazing, wonderful person." 

He is brilliant. probably has a high IQ 

[LaughingClock]

@The Bellie

Beautiful interpretion.

I have so much to respond to. I have pretty much done a lengthy review and breakdown similar to what you did there on every song on RevRad as it was my own personal bible as I was also going through the process of getting sober, coincidentally at the same time as Billie and know/knew exactly some of the things he was alluding to in some of the songs.

 

Particularly on SB, I found it a lot less complex and intrapersonal than you did. I thought, to me, it was a heavy emotional song but the little two line verses “im a xxxx da da da daa daa” to be just metaphors for the same thing but you have some very interesting break downs that I agree with mostly but not in total (not that it matters). Like most good writing, it is different per reader.

Unfortunately I don’t have the time @ the moment but I will write out my thoughts later. You can ask anyone here that I have no problem reading or writing very long posts but the only one people like reading are the lyrical breakdowns or something of the sort. 

Beautiful stuff. Loved reading. Response to come when I have time. I haven’t been around here lately.

Lovely!

Edit: Just read some of the responses below yours and specifically I agree with @jengd about the “wreckage” which is why it gets “farther away” and “making my way back to you”, his muse, Addie, his family. Etc.

Before reading your interpretation based on the way he wrote this, performs it and how I generally took it, I thought it was a little less complex than how you took it as I said above. Just metaphors of people that have survived things but I was intrigued by some of your interpretations such as feeling like a child which is something he hated. He doesn’t like being taken care of. It was humiliating to him. Much like some of the lyrics at the beginning of both Nows he talks of the embarrassment of being a child so there very well be something to what you’re saying. I’ll look it over and give you my thoughts later. Good stuff.

[That Dude]

2018 was short of Punk Rock releases.....Pennywise and Good Charlotte were really the only ones I cared about this year, and neither of those really stuck with me.  2019 is shaping up to be a very Punk-centric year and I'm so excited:  

Green Day!

Offspring!

Weezer!

Rancid!

Avril Lavigne! (I know her new album will probably be the furthest thing from Punk imaginable, but hey.  She was lumped in there at one point and that counts!). 

Avril's new album probably won't be anything to write home about.  At best, a song or two?  

Rancid will probably make an alright album....

You never know what you will get with Weezer.  Four mixed bags, one massacre of music/die/burn in flames and seven really great records.  But so far, the BLACK ALBUM isn't sounding like anything good.  It was supposed to be a dark, gritty Weezer and now it's supposedly going in the opposite direction.   we'll see, buuuuutttttt......

The Offspring!!!!!!  These guys haven't had a new album in SEVEN YEARS and they are in the top five of my "most missed bands".  They have been putting out consistently great albums with only a few bumps along the way (Conspiracy of One is kind of lame) since 1994 or so.  I have confidence in this band.   Like 70% or more in them.  But......

GREEN FREAKING DAY.  Other than the promotion of the Trilogy (aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggh!!!) They have NEVER let me down.  I started with Nimrod, continued with Warning and then went back to 1039 and Kerplunk, then the rest is history (and the last 21 years of my life).

They say that our brains are different when we're young.  That we can't truly fall in love with new music after age 30.  I don't know if that's true.  

What I know is that the moment I heard "Good Riddance" on the way to middle school, I knew I had found something special.  I've had bad luck in love.  I'm working on my second divorce and have  said "Goodbye to Romance".  But like the most loyal dog, Green Day have been there for me.  From a bullied and disturbed 11 year old boy to a 33 year old father and divorcee.........I've had several favorite bands.  But from 1985 to now, Green Day remain at the top. 

Here's some of the contenders for my top spot over the years.  They aren't anywhere near the top now:

Micheal Jackson.....let me down.

Barenaked Ladies....let me down. 

Everclear....let me down. 

Smash Mouth.....let me down.   

GREEN DAY reign supreme and I couldn't imagine how bad Album 13 would have to be to knock them out of that NUMBER ONE SPOT. 

ALBUM 13!

ALBUM 13!
 

 

 

  

[21guns&novacaine]

I dunno if anyone else has posted it (if not, feel free to make an official thread)

 

There's a TV show called Inside West Coast Customs and there's an episode on right now about how they restored the Book Mobile for the charity auction and to be displayed at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016. It says it's a 2018 episode so there's some new, golden goodies on it. 

[DeJennsitized]

Sometimes I think about the fact that the only two bands to get a RockBand game entirely to themselves were the Beatles and Green Day, and it sorta blows my mind

[solongfromthestars]

I was wearing my Packers hat on the train home from work the other day when a crowd of pissheads got on. It doesn't even say Green Bay Packers, just Packers. They still thought the Packers and Green Day were the same thing and started shouting "AMERICAN IDIOT!" and "SHE LIKES GREEN DAY!" until one of them went "no, Green BAY PACKERS!" Then they saw the photo of me and Billie onstage on my phone and asked if we were married. England's memory of Green Day is strange.