Random Green Day Thoughts

[Spike]

Not when your 40

Why not?

[Anaïs.]

Why not?

"I don't have sex 'cause I can't get it up."

[Chin for a Day]

Why not?

OK, I will clarify. Its fine to have an orgy with a group of 40 year olds. I didn't get the idea that he wrote Makeout Party to a group of 40 years olds. However, since he is a 40 something that can easily get 20 somethings, I stand corrected. I will just wish that he stops writing songs about it.

[Spike]

I will just wish that he stops writing songs about it.

Agreed. One of the things that's always been appealing about Billie's writing was how he writes about women. Songs like She, Haushinka and Maria (although that's a metaphor, the point stands) are respectful and understanding. Stuff on the Trilogy just seems like objectification for the most part.

[Anaïs.]

Agreed. One of the things that's always been appealing about Billie's writing was how he writes about women. Songs like She and Hauskinka (although that's a metaphor, the point stands) are respectful and understanding. Stuff on the Trilogy just seems like objectification for the most part.

The women in the Trilogy, are not, for the most part, people. They are receptacles to insert a penis into. And that's the most disappointing thing about the entire collection.

[Chin for a Day]

Agreed. One of the things that's always been appealing about Billie's writing was how he writes about women. Songs like She and Hauskinka (although that's a metaphor, the point stands) are respectful and understanding. Stuff on the Trilogy just seems like objectification for the most part.

Agreed 100%

[StuckWithDom]

Agreed. One of the things that's always been appealing about Billie's writing was how he writes about women. Songs like She and Hauskinka (although that's a metaphor, the point stands) are respectful and understanding. Stuff on the Trilogy just seems like objectification for the most part.

i actually couldn't agree more

[Hermione]

He has used the fuck you line live before (or maybe the bad quality of the live recordings make it seem like he uses the f word)

Yeah he has. I believe one of the times was right before he crowd surfed closer to his wife and added an "Adrienne..." before singing the chorus, pretty sure if he's willing to serenade her with it it's not to be taken that seriously lol. The song is a parody of old rock and roll songs with lyrics that were really about sex but never said anything explicitly, the purpose of including an extreme line like that is to add to the contrast. Just some dark humour.

The women in the Trilogy, are not, for the most part, people. They are receptacles to insert a penis into. And that's the most disappointing thing about the entire collection.

I don't see it that way. To me it comes across as a mutual thing, with the male and female characters both looking for the same thing from each other. Both the man and the woman are up for some partying and sex in those songs and neither comes across as more of an object or more of a human than the other. Does the Lady Cobra character come across as weaker or less in control than the guy she meets? I'd say the opposite if anything, and she doesn't speak about him in any less an objectifying way either. Meanwhile there's other songs where both the male and female come across as less one dimensional (eg Lazy Bones and Amanda). I don't see sexism in it, it's even handed.

[loveblondiebilliejoe]

Tomorrow is the 17th, that means only 4 months until BJ turns brilliant and radiant age 43! XD He's still gonna look like he's 26 or somethin'

Agreed. One of the things that's always been appealing about Billie's writing was how he writes about women. Songs like She and Hauskinka (although that's a metaphor, the point stands) are respectful and understanding. Stuff on the Trilogy just seems like objectification for the most part.

I also agree with you,that is applealing with any guy that writes songs with respect for women in mind. It's just the most gentlemen thing to do.? Edited October 16, 2014 by loveblondiebilliejoe

[Guest]

On a vaguely related note, since Kay touched on it briefly, the way Billie writes about women is one of the things that made Green Day stand out in a big way. Part of the reason I abhor Dos so much is because it's such a massive departure from that empowering message that is Green Day's trademark, and instead we just get shit like Makeout Party and Fuck Time. People can argue that they're fun songs, and that's fine, but they're not what Green Day is about, and are completely at odds with their back catalogue that includes songs like She, Maria, 80, and so many others.

[Spike]

You said it so much better than me but I couldn't be bothered trying to find the quote.

[Hermione]

How do songs about men and women mutually wanting to go out and party and have sex with each other sometimes take away from that empowering message?

[Spike]

How do songs about men and women mutually wanting to go out and party and have sex with each other sometimes take away from that empowering message?

It doesn't take away from the empowering messages of earlier songs, but said message is a big part of the appeal, and just isn't there on Dos. Plus the songs were written by a 40 year old married guy so it just screams of a lack of sincerity and comes across as trying too hard. It's just silly. It's also arguably misogynistic since Billie wrote these fictional characters to just be penis receptacles.

[Anaïs.]

How do songs about men and women mutually wanting to go out and party and have sex with each other sometimes take away from that empowering message?

Because we never see anything about the majority of Dos's women besides their bodies. We don't know their personalities, their motivations, their desires. All we know is their physicality. Even if you don't consider it misogynist, it's damned poor character writing, damned poor storytelling, and frankly a cringeworthy attempt at recapturing lost youth on Billie's part.

[Hermione]

Because we never see anything about the majority of Dos's women besides their bodies. We don't know their personalities, their motivations, their desires. All we know is their physicality. Even if you don't consider it misogynist, it's damned poor character writing, damned poor storytelling, and frankly a cringeworthy attempt at recapturing lost youth on Billie's part.

Well you always see more of the character who's POV the songs are written from to be fair, we always know a lot more about Billie himself or the character he sings as than the other characters who we only see through him. However on Dos there is a female character literally given a voice (Lady Cobra) who doesn't come across as any less of a character than the guy she hooks up with. In those songs they're both one dimensional because those songs are about that one dimension of human interaction.

I wouldn't describe it as an attempt at recapturing lost youth either, when Billie himself has said it's a mid life crisis thing, about the thoughts and fantasies that might come up. And we see later in the album/trilogy that going about things the way the character has ended up being a bad idea anyway (Amy etc), and that actually being more in control of yourself and love and faithfulness are more important (The Forgotten etc). I see it as looking at male and female characters neither of which are perfect, and looking at the "what ifs" of giving into excess and seeing the good and bad results. Given all that it never strikes me as misogynist.

[Spike]

I like the ending, personally.

I remember the time you said the outro sounded "apocalyptic." In reality it sounds more like this:

[Iva]

The women in the Trilogy, are not, for the most part, people. They are receptacles to insert a penis into. And that's the most disappointing thing about the entire collection.

Roleplaying.

[AlissaGoesRAWR]

Songs that I wish were on Demolicious / would've sounded crazy awesome on it:

Stop When The Red Lights Flash

X-Kid

Dirty Rotten Barstards

Kill The DJ

Walk Away

Replace Walk Away with Lazy Bones and I COMPLETELY agree!

FINALLY someone agrees with me. Makeout Party not only is musically derivative and boring, also includes the worst set of lyrics Billie has ever written. Partying as a subject doesn't suit them in general and in their stupidness and predictabilitiness those lyrics beat even Fuck Time, which has the most disgusting line Billie has ever written, be it jest or not.

("I wanna fuck you till you're blue in the face") I'd insert the vomiting emoticon but I can't remember the code. Just no.

Honestly I thought they were above this kind of lyrics-making.

I actually enjoyed Fuck Time, and despite being a raging feminist, I don't really find it sexist or disgusting. It's meant to be completely over-the-top, and in my opinion it's almost like a parody of songs that are vaguely about sex. Rather than trying to disguise it as something romantic or clever, he's basically just like "hey, I'm here, I'm horny, let's fuck." And honestly, who hasn't felt that way before?

[DookieLukie]

When are you gonna part two of your trilogy review thingy?

Closer to DOS' release date. Probably this weekend if I have the time.

I always say the Trilogy in two ways:

1.) It's a raging midlife crisis where all rules and considerations are thrown out the window. Maybe it's poorly conveyed, but since that was the goal you can't really call it sexist.

2.) Billie really doesn't advocate this sort of behavior. Throughout the albums, the wild behaviors lead to misery, loneliness, etc. It's not like Makeout Parties are applauded. You could argue that the songs are comical in of themselves. The narrator is making a fool of himself, and we're well aware of that.

[AlissaGoesRAWR]

I will say I enjoy the previous albums' depictions of women much, much more than the trilogy's, but that doesn't mean I'm necessarily offended by them. I just find past songs like She, Westbound Sign and 80 much more appealing.

Although Amanda is still pretty good. I like that one.

[DookieLukie]

I will say I enjoy the previous albums' depictions of women much, much more than the trilogy's, but that doesn't mean I'm necessarily offended by them. I just find past songs like She, Westbound Sign and 80 much more appealing.

Although Amanda is still pretty good. I like that one.

Amanda is really catchy. Also, it hits pretty close to home because my first real girlfriend was named Amanda, and the song pretty much sums up our relationship. All of my friends think it's hilarious. They thought I won some contest to have Green Day write a song about my life or something. In fact, Billie's ex Amanda is basically just like mine. All the songs that he has written about her perfectly sum up what this girl was like. And I mean all of this in the worst way possible. This Amanda girl was the most hurtful, manipulative, and abusive person I've ever been acquainted with. I find the song "Amanda" wicked catchy though so it's like I'm hurting myself every time I listen to it.

Edited October 17, 2014 by DookieLukie

[AlissaGoesRAWR]

Amanda is really catchy. Also, it hits pretty close to home because my first real girlfriend was named Amanda, and the song pretty much sums up our relationship. All of my friends think it's hilarious. They thought I won some contest to have Green Day write a song about my life or something. In fact, Billie's ex Amanda is basically just like mine. All the songs that he has written about her perfectly sum up what this girl was like. And I mean all of this in the worst way possible. This Amanda girl was the most hurtful, manipulative, and abusive person I've ever been acquainted with. I find the song "Amanda" wicked catchy though so it's like I'm hurting myself every time I listen to it.

Songs like that are the best and the worst at the same time. I understand. (Although the name correlation, in your case, is incredibly odd!)

[Z J]

Just realized I wasn't posting in the random thoughts thread

[Beerjeezus]

The lyrics are absolute shite and Billie's vocals are filtered to oblivion. I still like the guitar, though.

the filters fit this song better than anything else on Dos and the lyrics are basically about nothing but they don't pretend to be anything else, besides I love the guitar and the outro. I agree that the way he captures women is much less respectful than before, but not mysogynic. He doesn't hate the woman he just wants to have sex and has no other intentions with her. He doesn't say women are nothing else but holes to insert a penis into, he just changes the point of view.

And he can hardly write much differently given the topic being partying.

[Hermione]

I will say I enjoy the previous albums' depictions of women much, much more than the trilogy's, but that doesn't mean I'm necessarily offended by them. I just find past songs like She, Westbound Sign and 80 much more appealing.

Although Amanda is still pretty good. I like that one.

Yeah I mean I really enjoy the depictions of women in their songs where you see more of their character and it's shown as being complex and strong as well. That doesn't happen enough in music and it's great to hear. But then again I also enjoy the songs where we know more about the male character than just his sexual desires. I don't think songs such as Makeout Party and Nightlife negate them, they're just dealing with that one particular subject so they only show that one side of people. They have plenty of songs that show both men's and women's many other sides as well so I think there's room for some like that alongside them.