Blasphemy & Genocide: Unpopular Green Day Opinions, Part 2

[Z J]

Nice Guys Finish Last, Warning, The Saints Are Coming?

But yeah. I agree, they're clearly a greatest hits band live. But it saddens me.

It doesn't sadden me so much because I understand it. But I would like to see just a small stretch where they go absolutely bonkers on the setlist and play a lot from their back catalog.

I agree that live, they have become that way. But I think what keeps them from being just a greatest hits band is that they are very much capable of writing songs still that crack the "greatest hits"

That brings an interesting thought to mind about what a greatest hits album would contain.

[Clockwise]

My greatest hits album would feature all 37 songs from the trilogy. It's hands down my favorite stuff they've ever put out.

[AlissaGoesRAWR]

My greatest hits album would feature all 37 songs from the trilogy. It's hands down my favorite stuff they've ever put out.

[Z J]

My greatest hits album would feature all 37 songs from the trilogy. It's hands down my favorite stuff they've ever put out.

[Gwen Stacy]

EJN was performed on the Grammys and was a single. Let Yourself Go was far and away the most exposed single on the trilogy with the vma performance and KFAD is something that every "hardcore" GD fan has seen. Waiting was also a single.

Single does not equal a hit. Performance on an award show doesn't make a song a hit either. None of the singles you mentioned even charted on the Billboard top 100. Green Day has around 15 hits (Dookie singles, AI singles, Good Riddance and a few songs here or there that get radio play) and their shows usually run around 30 songs. Just from how many songs they play at a given show, there's a good portion of that show dedicated to songs that aren't hits. When I went to go see Van Halen they played 2 songs that could qualify as deep cuts. When I went to go see Rush, it was mostly deep cuts with the hit songs mostly at the beginning at the end. Green Day has historically been good about balancing the two sides. I mean these are the guys who opened up half the shows on the Dookie tour with Going To Pasalacqua. So to say that they are only a greatest hits band or that they cater to the casual fans, I just can't see it.

[Spike]

EJN was performed on the Grammys and was a single. Let Yourself Go was far and away the most exposed single on the trilogy with the vma performance and KFAD is something that every "hardcore" GD fan has seen. Waiting was also a single.

Since when was Let Yourself Go a single? I had no idea. I would have thought the one with the most exposure was Oh Love.

[Daughter.of.Rage.and.Love]

Speaking of singles, how many/which trilogy songs have music videos? I know of disaster Oh Love and the awesome Stray Heart video, but there have got to be more music videos than two off of three album/30ish songs.

[Hermione]

My greatest hits album would feature all 37 songs from the trilogy. It's hands down my favorite stuff they've ever put out.

It would be brilliant to see that in a little club or something. Or just all of Dos plus a few from the others in that setting, I'd love it so much.

Speaking of singles, how many/which trilogy songs have music videos? I know of disaster Oh Love and the awesome Stray Heart video, but there have got to be more music videos than two off of three album/30ish songs.

Kill The DJ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW7VhkNqjnc

And they don't really count but there's the X-Kid video that's just a cassette running, and a cool official live video of Let Yourself Go. That's it I think. But as long as the amazing winner of the fan video making competition exists I don't mind too much, seriously great

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USosyRzsJcY

[Guest]

Nuclear Family and Stay The Night had shitty in studio videos too.

[Backyard Skulls]

The nuclear family video is one of my favourite green day videos and it's not even by them

[Daughter.of.Rage.and.Love]

Yeah, the fanmade Nuclear Family video is one of the better Green Day music videos

And thanks for the info Hermione! Had no idea KtDJ had a video. Did know about that casette thing and the live LYG video, but those are hardly music videos... not good enough to count imo

[The Disappearing Boy]

My greatest hits album would feature all 37 songs from the trilogy. It's hands down my favorite stuff they've ever put out.

Thread winner.

Since when was Let Yourself Go a single? I had no idea. I would have thought the one with the most exposure was Oh Love.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_Yourself_Go_%28Green_Day_song%29 Achieved the remarkable high of 193 on the UK singles chart.

even though most of the trilogy wasn't good i still think it's sad that they just kind of gave up on making music videos and releasing singles and doing any sort of promo. just makes the whole thing seem like even more of a flop

I seem to remember thinking before rehab that everyone was pretty satisfied with the lever of promotion that had been planned, but with rehab coming, there's no point in promoting an album if the band isn't there.

[Hermione]

That's why I think that instead of continuing to produce new music and have fans get more and more disenchanted with their efforts, Green Day should just tour every now and then, and if they get hit with an itch to write new music, they should put out another Tubbies album

Maybe they don't actually care what fans think of their efforts though? Not enough to let it affect what music they make or whether they make it anyway. I get the impression that they feel driven to make music that they like and that they enjoy making, not that caters to what fans want/expect. I'd say they should go on doing what they want and it's a nice bonus if fans like it and tough luck if they don't

[Clockwise]

Totally serious. It's superb power pop, with some dirty garage rock and epic stadium rock thrown in. I love it.

I laughed!

It would be brilliant to see that in a little club or something. Or just all of Dos plus a few from the others in that setting, I'd love it so much.

It really would, that would be amazing. It's a shame that'll probably never happen now.

[Daughter.of.Rage.and.Love]

Really, do a lot of fans think or expect another album of American Idiot-caliber? I don't think that's the case, and even if it is, I don't think they would care a whole lot. I mean, with the Trilogy they didn't care for shooting big either, they just made an album that they enjoyed for their fun.

also that Kill the DJ video? My God that's the dullest opening minute of a music video ever. Nothing happens. Nothing! It's just shots of the guys on motor cycles. If the music was groundbreaking and complex and mega interesting I'd be at peace with it because it would allow the viewer to focus on the music, but KtDJ is a fairly dull song of its own...

After that it just becomes a bad and tasteless video, but at least not dull. Doesn't really make much sense either.

Can't imagine that's an unpopular opinion, but hey

[DookieLukie]

EJN was performed on the Grammys and was a single. Let Yourself Go was far and away the most exposed single on the trilogy with the vma performance and KFAD is something that every "hardcore" GD fan has seen. Waiting was also a single.

They played 21 Guns at the Grammys. EJN was at the VMA's.

Since when was Let Yourself Go a single? I had no idea. I would have thought the one with the most exposure was Oh Love.

Nowadays, what is or isn't a single is very blurred. It had a special release and charted, so I guess that makes it some sort of single lol

They've got time, yeah, but the problem is they are dealing with wide-spread, unreasonably high expectations from the fandom and the public at large. I've heard it said over and over again in this thread and elsewhere - "Yeah, the Trilogy sucked but so did Warning and then they came out with American Idiot!" There's this idea that Green Day is somehow going to pull a culture/music/scene changing album out of their ass for a third time. That's unreasonable. They're lucky to have done it twice. But because the expectation is there, the fans are going to continue to be disappointed when the albums aren't as good, when they aren't received as well, when they don't vault Green Day back into the public arena in the way that Dookie/AI did. Would I be absolutely thrilled if Green Day were able to pull off another comeback like they did with AI? Yes, I would be. I wouldn't be able to describe how happy that'd make me, but I'm also realistic and I know the chances of that happening are very low. The best I'm hoping for is another Nimrod-esque album, but again, even an album of that caliber would disappoint a lot of fans because everyone's waiting for "the next American Idiot."

That's why I think that instead of continuing to produce new music and have fans get more and more disenchanted with their efforts, Green Day should just tour every now and then, and if they get hit with an itch to write new music, they should put out another Tubbies album

TIL that Green Day fans bear strong similarity with Rome-era Jews, except American Idiot instead of a Messiah

[AlissaGoesRAWR]

Business is business, though. Sure, dick around and make whatever music you want in your downtime, experiment with your style and with what works and what doesn't, but when you're going to invest a lot of time, energy, and money into producing an album, you're going to want people to buy it.

This. I think a lot of people on this forum have an idyllic view of their music-making process. "They do it cause they luuuv it, they don't care what anyone thinks!"

Their jobs, per se, are to make and sell music. They know that, and if they were just making music for the sake of loving it, one could argue they wouldn't have signed onto a major record label with the intent to sell a shitton of records and get rich. So if they don't sell music, they're failing at their jobs. And they know that. There's no way they "don't care," as much as everyone here would like to think that's true. That's evident in their lack of trilogy promotion post-rehab and lack of significant acknowledgment of the music in their setlist. "Eh, this didn't work, fuck it, let's try something else some other time..."

[AlissaGoesRAWR]

#sellouts

Yeah, how un-punk of them. #boycottgreenday

[Guest]

TIL that Green Day fans bear strong similarity with Rome-era Jews, except American Idiot instead of a Messiah

There is so much wrong with this sentence I don't even know where to begin

[DookieLukie]

There is so much wrong with this sentence I don't even know where to begin

Nah. The Jews were waiting for a Messiah that they would never get. They had misinterpreted scripture to say that their savior would be a militant one who would aid them in the destruction of Rome and the renewal of the Holy Land. When Jesus came preaching about metaphorical destruction and renewal, most Jews, especially those in power, rejected him. Truthfully, powerful Jews just didn't want anyone tampering with their profitable system, even if it was a Messiah of sorts.

Now to Green Day fans. We're all waiting for another American Idiot or Dookie, an album to help us fight the modern static of pop radio. However, what we will probably get a solid if not equally good album that accomplishes more of a subtle music revolution in ourselves.

[Guest]

[Hermione]

Business is business, though. Sure, dick around and make whatever music you want in your downtime, experiment with your style and with what works and what doesn't, but when you're going to invest a lot of time, energy, and money into producing an album, you're going to want people to buy it.

Of course they want people to buy it, but that has to come naturally as a result of making music they're inspired to make and not by trying to guess what fans want and give them it. The latter just leads to uninspired, unfulfilling music that isn't good. I think the best bands never do that and Green Day are among them, it's why their songs ring true, they've lasted so long, and they're such a great band.

Wanting their music to be packaged and promoted well once they've made it, and for people to enjoy it and want to buy it because they think it's as good as they do, sure. But that can't be the main motivation for writing the songs and choosing what musical direction they go in, if they get to that stage then I'd agree they should pack it in! That part of it has to be based on real artistic inspiration or there's no point.

[DookieLukie]

Of course they want people to buy it, but that has to come naturally as a result of making music they're inspired to make and not by trying to guess what fans want and give them it. The latter just leads to uninspired, unfulfilling music that isn't good. I think the best bands never do that and Green Day are among them, it's why their songs ring true, they've lasted so long, and they're such a great band.

Wanting their music to be packaged and promoted well once they've made it, and for people to enjoy it and want to buy it because they think it's as good as they do, sure. But that can't be the main motivation for writing the songs and choosing what musical direction they go in, if they get to that stage then I'd agree they should pack it in! That part of it has to be based on real artistic inspiration or there's no point.

Sadly, this may be why the Trilogy wasn't as good as we had hoped. I think Green Day sort of caved into the "Do another Dookie" pressure from fans. I remember reading that even his son asked him if they'd go back to their roots. The Trilogy came out sort of pretentious in that way...like Green Day was trying to be a band they aren't anymore.

[Daughter.of.Rage.and.Love]

This. I think a lot of people on this forum have an idyllic view of their music-making process. "They do it cause they luuuv it, they don't care what anyone thinks!"

Their jobs, per se, are to make and sell music. They know that, and if they were just making music for the sake of loving it, one could argue they wouldn't have signed onto a major record label with the intent to sell a shitton of records and get rich. So if they don't sell music, they're failing at their jobs. And they know that. There's no way they "don't care," as much as everyone here would like to think that's true. That's evident in their lack of trilogy promotion post-rehab and lack of significant acknowledgment of the music in their setlist. "Eh, this didn't work, fuck it, let's try something else some other time..."

I do think they have a certain degree of freedom in their music making process because they've sold so well in the past. I can hardly imagine they go to the studio and go "well, what music shall we make that's going to sell well?". They didn't start making music for the money, and they don't do it now. I mean, of course it's partly for the money because you gotta live off of something, but in the end you can't say their passion, doing what they like, isn't going to play a part.

[Hermione]

Sadly, this may be why the Trilogy wasn't as good as we had hoped. I think Green Day sort of caved into the "Do another Dookie" pressure from fans. I remember reading that even his son asked him if they'd go back to their roots. The Trilogy came out sort of pretentious in that way...like Green Day was trying to be a band they aren't anymore.

I totally disagree with that, first because they actually never said they were going back to their roots or making an album like Dookie, and second because it doesn't sound like Dookie and is different from anything they've done before. I think some fans might feel that way because of all the shit going around about "back to their roots", they expected that and then were disappointed when they "failed" to deliver it, as if they'd tried to do that but missed the mark. But in reality all the band did was decide to make some simpler, more fun and spontaneous albums after the heaviness of making 21st CB, with a retro/rock and roll twist that made them different to their older simpler stuff, and never claimed to be doing anything other than that.