Blasphemy & Genocide: Unpopular Green Day Opinions, Part 2

[Hermione]

I guess he was just trying to lead in to talking about the new album instead of going straight to it. I think Billie was just slightly caught by surprise because he was expecting to talk about Rev Rad, and he's always a bit on guard when talking about the trilogy because it wasn't that well received and iHeart and everything.

[jengd]

1 hour ago, Hermione said:

I guess he was just trying to lead in to talking about the new album instead of going straight to it. I think Billie was just slightly caught by surprise because he was expecting to talk about Rev Rad, and he's always a bit on guard when talking about the trilogy because it wasn't that well received and iHeart and everything.

I agree.  I think they naturally don’t want to revisit their low point with all that surrounds that time and regarded Revrad as a fresh start.  They usually seem to want to move on and not keep revisiting the past in any thing they do.  

[disappearing_boy_39]

17 hours ago, solongfromthestars said:

“Oh no. The only thing I would have done differently is I would have put all three records out at the same time. I wouldn’t have staggered them. That was the only thing. But that was just this crazy time for us. Just throw down some songs and it’s all about the moment. Don’t think, just play. Don’t think, just write. If it’s flawed in any way, it’s because it’s unfocused. But I think that’s the beauty of it too.”

These are my exact thoughts! I loved the unruly, unkempt nature of these albums. Except I enjoyed the staggering of the albums...that was actually quite exciting! It was great to reach the end of an album, relisten over and over and think "Ah, in just a few short weeks we get another new GD album!" This is probably what it felt like being a Beatles fan in the early days. They were receiving, two albums a year! And The Beach Boys were sometimes releasing three.

[pacejunkie punk]

4 minutes ago, disappearing_boy_39 said:

These are my exact thoughts! I loved the unruly, unkempt nature of these albums. Except I enjoyed the staggering of the albums...that was actually quite exciting! It was great to reach the end of an album, relisten over and over and think "Ah, in just a few short weeks we get another new GD album!" This is probably what it felt like being a Beatles fan in the early days. They were receiving, two albums a year! And The Beach Boys were sometimes releasing three.

Cool idea in theory but in reality I remember the buzz over Uno but then Dos and Tre were overshadowed by the postponed tour dates and the confusion over what was going to happen with the tour for people who had tickets.  

[UNICORN VOMIT]

9 hours ago, pacejunkie punk said:

Cool idea in theory but in reality I remember the buzz over Uno but then Dos and Tre were overshadowed by the postponed tour dates and the confusion over what was going to happen with the tour for people who had tickets.  

For sure - but going back to my original post - if rehab didn't happen the trilogy tour would have been a huge success because the songs they were playing live were fantastic.   I remember Let Yourself Go at Soundwave was a cracker😋

[Rob]

I want them to stop chasing an audience that doesn’t exist anymore, and drop the hot topic look. It comes off as incredibly inauthentic and pandering, and is probably the biggest gripe I hear about them from casuals and former fans.

 

id also would like them to stop the political shit too. It just says a lot of nothing except cliche “stick it to the mannnnn!” Rhetoric. Just dress more like how you normally dress off stage and write more songs that are universal in topic. Although I think they’ll probably drop a huge anti trump album in 2020 to try and put them back on the map. That’s my prediction.

 

but personally, I don’t think it’ll work this time. The hot topic “punk” fad was on fire in 2004, guitar drive rock still had a place in the mainstream top 40, they were still young and could more easily slip into relevancy, and Billie Joe had more sex appeal. None of that is happening this time. I’d just prefer a strong album that isn’t pandering with “let’s start a revollutttttiiiiioooonnnn!” Without really saying much beyond vague rebellion lines. 

[Christian's Inferno!]

13 minutes ago, Rob said:

I want them to stop chasing an audience that doesn’t exist anymore, and drop the hot topic look. It comes off as incredibly inauthentic and pandering, and is probably the biggest gripe I hear about them from casuals and former fans.

 

id also would like them to stop the political shit too. It just says a lot of nothing except cliche “stick it to the mannnnn!” Rhetoric. Just dress more like how you normally dress off stage and write more songs that are universal in topic. Although I think they’ll probably drop a huge anti trump album in 2020 to try and put them back on the map. That’s my prediction.

 

but personally, I don’t think it’ll work this time. The hot topic “punk” fad was on fire in 2004, guitar drive rock still had a place in the mainstream top 40, they were still young and could more easily slip into relevancy, and Billie Joe had more sex appeal. None of that is happening this time. I’d just prefer a strong album that isn’t pandering with “let’s start a revollutttttiiiiioooonnnn!” Without really saying much beyond vague rebellion lines. 

I'm fine with them being political but I do have a problem with
A) Some of their kind of generic clichéd political songs like 99 Revolutions, RevRad and Troubled Times. Not that they're bad songs, I actually like all of them quite a bit but they don't really say anything but clichés unlike in their past political songs. A song like Bang Bang is a much better example of a good modern "political" Green Day song.

B) I don't want them to do an Anti-Trump album. We get it Billie, you hate Trump. Guess what, that's not an unpopular opinion. The next album probably won't happen until the next election anyway and I don't think Trump will get a 2nd term

I don't think they really care about getting "back on the map". I think they're happy about having 2 massive albums in their career and are fine with just making more music for their fans. I mean, for RevRad they clearly didn't care that much about how well it did since there wasn't that much promotion outside of Bang Bang. I'm honestly gonna be really disappointed if their next album is just American Idiot again but about Trump. That's what is expected and is boring

[MillenniumFan]

Well, any repetition of American Idiot in that way wouldn't work, because the original American Idiot is such a masterpiece that it holds true until this day.

In other words, there really wouldn't be any need for it.

I have to say though, I am torn on the issue of political songs. I think in principle, I don't have a problem with them writing politically charged songs. Depending on your interpretation, they've done so since as far back as Dookie or Insomniac, not just since Warning/AI. American Idiot also happens to be my favourite album. That being said, I don't think now would be the time and place for an entirely political album, regardless of how cleverly constructed it may be.

I also agree with @Christian's Inferno!'s point on tired clichés and platitudes. The music industry has changed a lot over the years, but so have politics. The last thing that people want these days are empty political slogans, virtue signalling and partisan politics. To be fair to Green Day though, even the songs with more "clichés" than others don't go that far.

But my overall point is that writing songs on more concrete issues (like they did recently with "Bang Bang" or like with Holiday in AI) would appear to be the way forward. 

In conclusion, I will say that my preferred album would be one with a Green Day typical mix of emotions and topics ranging from more personal issues to politics. But in any case, I would prefer lyrics to be clever and concrete, rather than based on clichés and slogans. And if Billie has run out of such ideas in the political sphere, then I'd rather he drop the politics all together and focus on other things.

[Libertine Angel]

I'm happy for them to write more politically charged songs as long as they're better than they were on the last album, as people have said they're just a bunch of clichés and buzzwords which is pointless, if you have something to say then say it but don't pretend to be saying something. I don't care what they look like or if they get big again, as long as the music's good, and for that they need to put some real thought into it.

[Beerjeezus]

6 hours ago, Libertine Angel said:

I'm happy for them to write more politically charged songs as long as they're better than they were on the last album, as people have said they're just a bunch of clichés and buzzwords which is pointless, if you have something to say then say it but don't pretend to be saying something. I don't care what they look like or if they get big again, as long as the music's good, and for that they need to put some real thought into it.

Yes, I would be happy if they got genuinely poltical, but I'd prefer not political lyrics like Longshot over vague stuff like revrad.

[The Bellie]

On 3/30/2019 at 12:12 AM, Rob said:

I want them to stop chasing an audience that doesn’t exist anymore, and drop the hot topic look. It comes off as incredibly inauthentic and pandering, and is probably the biggest gripe I hear about them from casuals and former fans.

id also would like them to stop the political shit too. It just says a lot of nothing except cliche “stick it to the mannnnn!” Rhetoric. Just dress more like how you normally dress off stage and write more songs that are universal in topic. Although I think they’ll probably drop a huge anti trump album in 2020 to try and put them back on the map. That’s my prediction.

but personally, I don’t think it’ll work this time. The hot topic “punk” fad was on fire in 2004, guitar drive rock still had a place in the mainstream top 40, they were still young and could more easily slip into relevancy, and Billie Joe had more sex appeal. None of that is happening this time. I’d just prefer a strong album that isn’t pandering with “let’s start a revollutttttiiiiioooonnnn!” Without really saying much beyond vague rebellion lines. 

From an audience and music point of view, to lose your mind at the beginning of a gig, Billie screaming "do you wanna start a revolution" with a bunch of catchy songs works fine for me. As for the lyrics, it's only subjective whether they are more or less empty. With the way Billie sings them, they sure mean more than empty slogans to him. I think it's a good thing some lyrics may seem "vague" though, everyone can relate to it in their own way. Or if they don't, simply enjoy the music and loose energy. I've seen a lot of people not listening to the lyrics (in general) and just enjoying the music. It's a good thing we more core fans pay attention to every line because we expect quality in it coming from Billie, but lyrics put aside, this type of loud, fast and catchy songs still contributes to make an album and a show good. Whenever I look at a live performance of Bang Bang and Rev Rad, I'm still blown away.

Also, in Rev Rad they were a fair amount of songs that weren't "political" at all. I don't even know what that term covers? How is a song like Troubled Times political, expressing despair for attacks killing people? It's something everyone thinks about. I'm not at all against songs being more on the personal aspect, but since he kept a lot of those for The Longshot, I'm guessing the next GD album will be just as the same type of formula as the previous ones, a mix of "political" and "personal".

PS: Billie doesn't have less sex-appeal now ! That's also subjective

On 3/30/2019 at 12:37 AM, Christian's Inferno! said:

I'm fine with them being political but I do have a problem with
A) Some of their kind of generic clichéd political songs like 99 Revolutions, RevRad and Troubled Times. Not that they're bad songs, I actually like all of them quite a bit but they don't really say anything but clichés unlike in their past political songs. A song like Bang Bang is a much better example of a good modern "political" Green Day song.

B) I don't want them to do an Anti-Trump album. We get it Billie, you hate Trump. Guess what, that's not an unpopular opinion. The next album probably won't happen until the next election anyway and I don't think Trump will get a 2nd term

I don't think either they will make an anti-Trump album. Or else everyone will remind Billie that he said Trump wouldn't get a single line out of him . He's reflecting on what's going on, good and bad and will continue to make songs out of it. I would be almost surprised (in a god way!) if I like the new album as much as Rev Rad. They better write damn good songs to play in the beginning of the show instead of Bang Bang and Rev Rad, if they don't keep those. In the song Rev Rad, the depth of the lyrics may not be very original but the goofiness is, "the air is barely breathing" and "anti-social media". With the melody, I enjoy the song overall more than Bang Bang, of which the lyrics gave me perhaps more to think about.

About the other examples of "cliché" songs you mentioned, I agree that not every line is to think deeply about, the repeated chorus in 99 Rev for instance, but there are these great lyrics alongside the less original ones. The line "history will prove itself in the halls of justice and lost souls" is genius to me. Billie himself said (I lost the reference, it was a written interview, when he was asked about the trilogy) that particular song was one of the best stuff he's written, to him. In Troubled Times, I also don't think "what good is love and peace on earth when it's exclusive" is flat. So all this to say, it's really subjective whether the lyrics in a song are cliché or more than that. Billie doesn't seem afraid of sounding that way though, he really writes first to make sense for himself. 

[Christian's Inferno!]

3 minutes ago, The Bellie said:

I don't think either they will make an anti-Trump album. Or else everyone will remind Billie that he said Trump wouldn't get a single line out of him . He's reflecting on what's going on, good and bad and will continue to make songs out of it. I would be almost surprised (in a god way!) if I like the new album as much as Rev Rad. They better write damn good songs to play in the beginning of the show instead of Bang Bang and Rev Rad, if they don't keep those. In the song Rev Rad, the depth of the lyrics may not be very original but the goofiness is, "the air is barely breathing" and "anti-social media". With the melody, I enjoy the song overall more than Bang Bang, of which the lyrics gave me perhaps more to think about.

About the other examples of "cliché" songs you mentioned, I agree that not every line is to think deeply about, the repeated chorus in 99 Rev for instance, but there are these great lyrics alongside the less original ones. The line "history will prove itself in the halls of justice and lost souls" is genius to me. Billie himself said (I lost the reference, it was a written interview, when he was asked about the trilogy) that particular song was one of the best stuff he's written, to him. In Troubled Times, I also don't think "what good is love and peace on earth when it's exclusive" is flat. So all this to say, it's really subjective whether the lyrics in a song are cliché or more than that. Billie doesn't seem afraid of sounding that way though, he really writes first to make sense for himself. 

Yeah I do think that those songs do have some good lines in them. But overall, they feel clichéd with the choruses of 99R and TT just repeating the same clichéd lines and RevRad seems to be about nothing in particular. Even though it was inspired by BLM, nothing in the song really indicates that it's about anything in particular

[Libertine Angel]

I'd forgotten about Troubled Times, that is so disappointingly bland to me. "We live in troubled times" - yes, clearly, anyone who reads a newspaper or just looks out the window on a bad day can tell you that, what's your point? It just swaps the title track's enthusiastic stream of useless slogans for morosely stating the obvious with no further depth, and I see both of those as equally pointless. Compare to what I think is the best political song ever written, and from a band we know GD are big fans of: 

Every single line states its case and makes its point without ever sounding remotely contrived, it's observation without banality and a call to arms without cliché. I don't expect this level of writing from future GD because I wouldn't expect it from anyone, but I'd like some more concrete writing than the kind of political commentary I could get by programming a Vaguely Leftist Sentiment Bot.

[pacejunkie punk]

I love Going Underground. This is one of those times when I wish The Coverups took requests because I long thought this would be a great song for them to do. 

[Libertine Angel]

13 minutes ago, pacejunkie punk said:

I love Going Underground. This is one of those times when I wish The Coverups took requests because I long thought this would be a great song for them to do. 

I think In The City would be a better fit for them, the energy would really suit their style. When GD did that livestream from the studio a few years ago they had All Around The World on the jukebox, that'd be cool too.

[Beerjeezus]

The thing is, you first need the politics and then comes the writing. We expect a pronounced message from a centrist and then we're disappointed.

[Hermione]

I think it's perfectly legitimate to make political songs that don't have a specific message. Granted I prefer ones that are more specific because they're usually more interesting and hard hitting but it's ok to just express confusion or to wish for a better situation etc too. Troubled Times doesn't make a particular political point but I don't think it has to, it's made to express feelings of confusion and worry. I don't find "rallying cry" songs like Revolution Radio that interesting but again I think they're still artistically legitimate and come from an honest place. They don't have much point as political protest but they do as an expression of personal (and often relatable) feelings.

Also they gave songs like Troubled Times more bite with the videos (MLK crying and Trump with KKK hoods for teeth). And I think Say Goodbye and the accompanying video make some pretty bold points. Like, the ballsier their writing about politics is the happier I'll be but they're still allowed to make other types of songs on the subject.

[pacejunkie punk]

I don’t think it’s bad to call him a centrist or confused about politics either. Not everyone has to have an extreme viewpoint to have a viewpoint. In fact, I think his political songs are more relatable when he says he’s just sad about things and feels helpless. I think most of us feel that way and don’t have any clear answers. I do think it’s honest. It’s almost phony for him to write a song detailing how we should tear the system down when no one is actually going to do that, we’re going to continue to watch events unfold as a form of entertainment until the world collapses under its own weight. And oh yeah, don’t forget to vote.  These are valid feelings. 

[maryjanewhatsername]

Random thought that will get me slaughtered like that $50 guillotine I bought for @Beerjeezus : To me, the Longshot is "Green Day extras" (solely based upon sound), and Foxboro Hot Tubs sounds like "1950's Green Day". I think for me, this is mainly based upon the fact that Billie sings for Foxies and Longshot. Anyone feel this way? when is my crucifixion? 

[Hermione]

9 hours ago, maryjanewhatsername said:

Random thought that will get me slaughtered like that $50 guillotine I bought for @Beerjeezus : To me, the Longshot is "Green Day extras" (solely based upon sound), and Foxboro Hot Tubs sounds like "1950's Green Day". I think for me, this is mainly based upon the fact that Billie sings for Foxies and Longshot. Anyone feel this way? when is my crucifixion? 

Yeah I think it makes sense. Foxboro and The Network are literally a by-product of Green Day (created during the making of Green Day albums as ways to experiment) and have the same band members, recently it was confirmed at least a couple of Foxboro songs started out as Green Day ones too. And the Longshot is written and sung/performed by the same guy who writes and sings/performs Green Day's songs, I think it does have its own vibe to it but it's pretty much as similar to Green Day as an act could be. Bands like Pinhead Gunpowder or The Frustrators are a lot more separate but I don't think it's bad to consider those three basically Green Day with a twist.

[pacejunkie punk]

1 hour ago, Hermione said:

Yeah I think it makes sense. Foxboro and The Network are literally a by-product of Green Day (created during the making of Green Day albums as ways to experiment) and have the same band members, recently it was confirmed at least a couple of Foxboro songs started out as Green Day ones too. And the Longshot is written and sung/performed by the same guy who writes and sings/performs Green Day's songs, I think it does have its own vibe to it but it's pretty much as similar to Green Day as an act could be. Bands like Pinhead Gunpowder or The Frustrators are a lot more separate but I don't think it's bad to consider those three basically Green Day with a twist.

It’s unavoidable when he has such a distinctive vocal style. Any song Billie writes and sings is going to sound much like a GD song.  

I always think of Pinhead Gunpowder as what GD would have sounded like if they had remained an independent punk band and evolved much more slowly.  They’re like AU Green Day.

[Hermione]

38 minutes ago, pacejunkie punk said:

It’s unavoidable when he has such a distinctive vocal style. Any song Billie writes and sings is going to sound much like a GD song.  

I always think of Pinhead Gunpowder as what GD would have sounded like if they had remained an independent punk band and evolved much more slowly.  They’re like AU Green Day.

Agreed

I feel like from the start Green Day were already more musically varied than PHGP and more willing to be less "punk", they have a lot of similarities but I think Green Day were always destined to do more. Also Aaron's writing is so distinctive that it distances it more from Green Day for me.

[Montclare]

I'd go with 60's, not 50's for the Foxies though, especially considering the influences (Kinks, Monkees).  

[Libertine Angel]

14 hours ago, maryjanewhatsername said:

Random thought that will get me slaughtered like that $50 guillotine I bought for @Beerjeezus : To me, the Longshot is "Green Day extras" (solely based upon sound), and Foxboro Hot Tubs sounds like "1950's Green Day". I think for me, this is mainly based upon the fact that Billie sings for Foxies and Longshot. Anyone feel this way? when is my crucifixion? 

Yeah, Longshot feels to me like Billie's offcuts that he likes but aren't up to scratch for Green Day proper, and the Foxboros are a great outlet for playing retro rock'n'roll without the burden of expectations.

[UNICORN VOMIT]

On 5 April 2019 at 2:42 AM, Libertine Angel said:

Yeah, Longshot feels to me like Billie's offcuts that he likes but aren't up to scratch for Green Day proper.

Nope