Random Green Day Thoughts

[DookieLukie]

If Green Day released Stop Drop and Roll as a GD album, it would be widely considered one of their best and and probably would have won a few awards.

[RedundantIdiot]

If you could take a time machine to any 3 GD gigs that you didn't go to, which ones would you pick? Here's mine:

- The gig before they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Lots of old songs and John Kiffmeyer on the drums. 

- Any UK arena gig from the 21st Century Breakdown tour. Epic setlists and Prima Donna as the support. 

- The gig in my city on the AI tour. They've never been here since and probably won't again. 

[pacejunkie punk]

8 minutes ago, RedundantIdiot said:

If you could take a time machine to any 3 GD gigs that you didn't go to, which ones would you pick? Here's mine:

- The gig before they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Lots of old songs and John Kiffmeyer on the drums. 

- Any UK arena gig from the 21st Century Breakdown tour. Epic setlists and Prima Donna as the support. 

- The gig in my city on the AI tour. They've never been here since and probably won't again. 

1. FBHT show at Don Hills

2. Tower records show for Nimrod

3. Green Day at Gilman 1992 or early 93

[The Grohl]

35 minutes ago, RedundantIdiot said:

If you could take a time machine to any 3 GD gigs that you didn't go to, which ones would you pick? Here's mine:

- The gig before they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Lots of old songs and John Kiffmeyer on the drums. 

- Any UK arena gig from the 21st Century Breakdown tour. Epic setlists and Prima Donna as the support. 

- The gig in my city on the AI tour. They've never been here since and probably won't again. 

Jaded In Chicago

Any gig from the American Tour

Any gig from 21CB tour

[jengd]

I saw the 21CBD tour with Prima Donna and very wonderful it was too!

Jaded in Chicago

Milton Keynes

and Tubbies at Don Hill

 

[Yosuke Hanamura]

3 hours ago, RedundantIdiot said:

If you could take a time machine to any 3 GD gigs that you didn't go to, which ones would you pick?

Giants Stadium 2005

The 10 Spot

LG Arena 2009 (Night 1)

[solongfromthestars]

I'd go for:

• Fox Theatre, April 14, 2009. 21st Century Breakdown is my favourite album of all time and seeing it live in full, in Oakland, would have been my ultimate Green Day dream come true, especially at that moment in time.
• Tiki Bar, August 11, 2011, when they treated themselves "as a new band" and played all those unknown trilogy songs for the first time. I remember desperately searching the house for things I could sell and trying to find any last minute jobs I could do or loans I could take out to make it to that show, but there was no way it was going to happen.
• Echoplex, August 6, 2012. They played most of my favourite trilogy songs - Wild One, Kill the DJ, Makeout Party, Stray Heart and 8th Avenue Serenade - all in one show! Hard choice between that one and the 1-2-3-4 GO! Records "Bay Area Fan Appreciation Event" they played the September before. Actually maybe I'd prefer that one because I hate LA

45 minutes ago, Yosuke Hanamura said:

LG Arena 2009 (Night 1)

That was my first show! Good choice

[Montclare]

Any Foxies show, but especially Don Hill or the Bowery 2010

Pinhead Gunpowder 2010

Warfield 2005 when some band called The Network opened for them

[Beerjeezus]

This isn’t the first time that I’ve listened to You Can’t Wrap Your Arm Around A Memory on youtube and then Stay The Night came up next - can the algorithm tell it’s kind of similar? 

Shows I’d go to:

Any early show because nothing tops small shows. I guess there’d be a different charm in seeing them at Gilman or in Bialystok, Poland but it’s te best kind of show

One of the super long 21CB era shows where they played lots of rare songs, I’d go with Prague 2010 for sentimental reasons
 

Any Longshot show - it might have taken the spot of FBHT as the best side project

The show with Norah Jones because when will that happen again?

[MillenniumFan]

A friend recently asked me to give him some recommendations since he basically only knew 21CB and AI songs. He said he had listened to Manic Monday recently and was "underwhelmed" by it lol and was now gonna listen to FOAM (album). I told him 1. that Manic Monday was one of Billie's projects and 2. that FOAM also got mixed opinions because it constitutes a break from "classic Green Day style" (though I still think it's great that he listens to it and makes up his own mind). 

However, I then obviously recommended he listen to some 90s stuff. And it was while I was doing a run down of all the 90s albums that it really struck me that Nimrod truly is my favourite 90s album, not Dookie. That's not to say I think Dookie is massively overrated, I can absolutely see the appeal and it would easily be in my Top 5 or Top 3 Green Day albums. But I just really love Nimrod so much more. I think it's a more varied, more "mature" (from a song-writing perspective), slightly better produced, but not any less "raw" album than Dookie was. To me, it really is the perfect 90s Green Day album. Almost a kind of "greatest hits", combining the best of each different style and sound that the band was capable of pulling off, but WITHOUT losing their "essence" in the process. 

Kerplunk is great in terms of song-writing, yes. Dookie is a groundbreaking album, yes. Insomniac is angry, fast, loud, fun and very punk, yes. 

But Nimrod just feels more complete, like a more "wholistic" approach. To those that rejected it as "Green Day going soft" or something, I think that they purposefully tried to ignore or deny the song-writing skills that this band has that lie beyond just short, fast and punchy alternative rock / punk songs. They'd be the same people to reject American Idiot further down the road, but in my opinion they're really missing out... 

[The Grohl]

Manic Monday underwhelming? That's how I would describe the original version

[LeavingPasalacqua]

On 5/26/2020 at 3:11 PM, RedundantIdiot said:

If you could take a time machine to any 3 GD gigs that you didn't go to, which ones would you pick? Here's mine:

- The gig before they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Lots of old songs and John Kiffmeyer on the drums. 

- Any UK arena gig from the 21st Century Breakdown tour. Epic setlists and Prima Donna as the support. 

- The gig in my city on the AI tour. They've never been here since and probably won't again. 

-Cattle club, Sacramento, 1994

-Bullet in a bible concert, Milton Keynes 2005

-Anything from the 21CB tour

9 hours ago, MillenniumFan said:

A friend recently asked me to give him some recommendations since he basically only knew 21CB and AI songs. He said he had listened to Manic Monday recently and was "underwhelmed" by it lol and was now gonna listen to FOAM (album). I told him 1. that Manic Monday was one of Billie's projects and 2. that FOAM also got mixed opinions because it constitutes a break from "classic Green Day style" (though I still think it's great that he listens to it and makes up his own mind). 

However, I then obviously recommended he listen to some 90s stuff. And it was while I was doing a run down of all the 90s albums that it really struck me that Nimrod truly is my favourite 90s album, not Dookie. That's not to say I think Dookie is massively overrated, I can absolutely see the appeal and it would easily be in my Top 5 or Top 3 Green Day albums. But I just really love Nimrod so much more. I think it's a more varied, more "mature" (from a song-writing perspective), slightly better produced, but not any less "raw" album than Dookie was. To me, it really is the perfect 90s Green Day album. Almost a kind of "greatest hits", combining the best of each different style and sound that the band was capable of pulling off, but WITHOUT losing their "essence" in the process. 

Kerplunk is great in terms of song-writing, yes. Dookie is a groundbreaking album, yes. Insomniac is angry, fast, loud, fun and very punk, yes. 

But Nimrod just feels more complete, like a more "wholistic" approach. To those that rejected it as "Green Day going soft" or something, I think that they purposefully tried to ignore or deny the song-writing skills that this band has that lie beyond just short, fast and punchy alternative rock / punk songs. They'd be the same people to reject American Idiot further down the road, but in my opinion they're really missing out... 

I always thought this. Excluding AI, because that’s such an incredible album that it’s incomparable to others, nimrod was always my favourite album. Don’t get me wrong Dookie is incredible and is generally a really fun album all round with unbelievable songwriting, but the mix of songs on nimrod is absolutely brilliant, and like you said it’s much more mature from a songwriting perspective. They’ve still got fast and punky songs like haushinka, jinx and i hate you, but with absolute gems like hitchin a ride, prosthetic head and redundant and then random genre switches like last ride in and good riddance, it’s generally just a genius album

[pacejunkie punk]

 

[jengd]

FYI the induction speeches the Rock and Roll HoF Have uploaded are full, uncut versions!

[Rumpelstiltskin2000]

On 5/26/2020 at 3:11 PM, RedundantIdiot said:

If you could take a time machine to any 3 GD gigs that you didn't go to, which ones would you pick?

I'm late to the party on this one but my three would be:

The Warfield 2005 when The Network opened;

The Fox Theatre 2009 when they played 21st Century Breakdown in full; and

Sweet Children opening at the House of Blues

[LeavingPasalacqua]

Unpopular (I think?) opinion, but Oh Yeah from FOAMF is 100% and without competition the worst song green day have ever released

[Beerjeezus]

7 minutes ago, LeavingPasalacqua said:

Unpopular (I think?) opinion, but Oh Yeah from FOAMF is 100% and without competition the worst song green day have ever released

I wish they didn’t use the sample. It adds nothing to the song and it certainly contributes to how awful it is live.

[LeavingPasalacqua]

Just now, Beerjeezus said:

I wish they didn’t use the sample. It adds nothing to the song and it certainly contributes to how awful it is live.

To me that song in in particular, and (although I do actually love a few songs on FOAMF) most of the album, sound like they’ve been made for a cell phone commercial or something- tacky, overproduced, trying to be catchy and very little meaningful lyrical content

[Beerjeezus]

12 minutes ago, LeavingPasalacqua said:

To me that song in in particular, and (although I do actually love a few songs on FOAMF) most of the album, sound like they’ve been made for a cell phone commercial or something- tacky, overproduced, trying to be catchy and very little meaningful lyrical content

I enjoy how catchy the album is and even though it’s a “easy-listening” kind of sound, I like how fresh it is, but I agree it’s a mostly fun album rather than something thought-provoking, even though the lyrics desl with serious topics.

[LeavingPasalacqua]

7 minutes ago, Beerjeezus said:

I enjoy how catchy the album is and even though it’s a “easy-listening” kind of sound, I like how fresh it is, but I agree it’s a mostly fun album rather than something thought-provoking, even though the lyrics desl with serious topics.

It’s certainly a shake up of their usual sound and I massively respect the artistic integrity it takes to make a completely different sounding album just for the hell of it, but I fell in love with punky, political, yet reflective and emotionally provoking green day lyrics, and for some reason, I’m not sure why, lyrical content plays a huge part in whether I like music or not, so out of all their stuff, FOAMF is the only album that never truly hit home for me, and oh yeah in particular just epitomises the dull, pop-esque sound of the album for me

[Beerjeezus]

13 minutes ago, LeavingPasalacqua said:

It’s certainly a shake up of their usual sound and I massively respect the artistic integrity it takes to make a completely different sounding album just for the hell of it, but I fell in love with punky, political, yet reflective and emotionally provoking green day lyrics, and for some reason, I’m not sure why, lyrical content plays a huge part in whether I like music or not, so out of all their stuff, FOAMF is the only album that never truly hit home for me, and oh yeah in particular just epitomises the dull, pop-esque sound of the album for me

Yeah same. The lyrics don’t hit as hard compared to other albums, even though I don’t know why, because I wouldn’t say they’re bad (not worse than the trilogy at least), they’re just simple. Maybe it’s the happy-go-lucky music overpowering the words.

[Guest]

Agreeing with what many people have said here about FOAM. I don't know that the lyrics or the sound connect as deeply for me as did previous albums, but it's still good work. I think the "problem" with Green Day is that they have set their own bar so high that anything that's not mind-blowing feels disappointing. But having said that, I still never have heard a Green Day song that I thought was legitimately bad. I really like Sugar Youth (which is probably the most Green Day-sounding song on the album), Junkies on a High, and Take the Money and Crawl (probably my favorite song on the album). Graffitia has some beautiful lyrics but I don't really love the sound. I love the title track but get slightly annoyed by the filter that makes Billie's voice sound shrieky. Fire, Ready, Aim is probably the song that comes closest to being bad because it doesn't seem to be about anything. Like, I get that it was just written for an NHL promotion, but still.

Edited June 4, 2020 by Guest

[Beerjeezus]

8 hours ago, BillieMyLove said:

Agreeing with what many people have said here about FOAM. I don't know that the lyrics or the sound connect as deeply for me as did previous albums, but it's still good work. I think the "problem" with Green Day is that they have set their own bar so high that anything that's not mind-blowing feels disappointing. But having said that, I still never have heard a Green Day song that I thought was legitimately bad. I really like Sugar Youth (which is probably the most Green Day-sounding song on the album), Junkies on a High, and Take the Money and Crawl (probably my favorite song on the album). Graffitia has some beautiful lyrics but I don't really love the sound. I love the title track but get slightly annoyed by the filter the makes Billie's voice sound shrieky. Fire, Ready, Aim is probably the song that comes closest to being bad because it doesn't seem to be about anything. Like, I get that it was just written for an NHL promotion, but still.

Yeah the album would be better if FRA wasn’t on it. It’s good as a song for an ad, but it’s annoying on the album. In general the album gets much better once you get past the singles and then the second half has the best songs.

Btw I wonder if I perhaps have a distaste for music that was used in ads... Tame Impala’s The Less I Know The Better is a cool song and I have no good reason to dislike it, but my brain goes “which car ad was this? Which car which car” whenever I hear it and that kind of ruins it. Now I googled, it’s Toyota.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Beerjeezus said:

Yeah the album would be better if FRA wasn’t on it. It’s good as a song for an ad, but it’s annoying on the album. In general the album gets much better once you get past the singles and then the second half has the best songs.

Btw I wonder if I perhaps have a distaste for music that was used in ads... Tame Impala’s The Less I Know The Better is a cool song and I have no good reason to dislike it, but my brain goes “which car ad was this? Which car which car” whenever I hear it and that kind of ruins it. Now I googled, it’s Toyota.

Ads ruin everything LOL. But yeah, I agree that the singles are kinda the worst part of the album. I was actually really impressed when the album came out and I listened to it and was like, "Wow, this is so much better than the singles." Although I also have to say that "Meet Me on the Roof" (even though it was a single) just kinda makes me feel happy even though it's not super deep. And the video is hella cute. 

Though I must say that there was one time an ad made me love a song. The first time I heard "How It Starts" by the Features was in that Ford Mustang commercial several years ago, and then I went and listened to the whole song and it's still one of my favorites.

[LeavingPasalacqua]

Just realised I have the same coping mechanism for everything. Relationship troubles? Listen to American idiot! Mental health issues? Listen to American idiot! Literally any minor inconvenience at all in my entire life? American idiot!