03 - Revolution Radio

[Semi-automatic lonely boy]

1 hour ago, Fantalacqua said:

I was really excited about this song and couldn't get it out of my head ... but then my husband pointed out that the catchiest part of this song has appeared in Simon & Garfunkel's "Homeward Bound" song and I was reallllllly deflated. It's the same feeling I got when the same melody lines has appeared in previous songs before. Here are a few breakdowns of what I've dissected.

American Idiot = Dillinger 4's "Doublewhiskeycokenoice"
Warning = The Kink's "Pictures Book"
Jinx = The Pretender's "Great Pretender"
21 Guns (guitar solo) = The freaking Full House theme song melody line!!!

And Billie Joe has done this to himself as well! "Basket Case" is the same chord progression of "One of My Lies" just turned an octave higher.

All in all, even with all this said, I still love what Green Day puts out. It just goes to show how influenced his songwriting is to existing great works of art.
 

Any one else catch these things???

 

there are a lot more.

for example:

waiting - downtown (forgot the artist)

kill the dj riff - the magnificient seven (the clash)

nuclear family - safe european home (the clash)

she's a rebel - boxcar (jawbreaker)

brain stew - 25 or 6 to 4 (chicago)

 

but actually i dont think homeward bound sounds like revolution radio. if you want to find similiarities look for extaordinary girl verse (RR verse), coming clean verse (RR chorus), or barely legal (RR chorus).

 

edit: brutal love - bring it on home to me (sam cooke). but he was actually credited for the song.

 

[Beerjeezus]

Kill The DJ has always reminded me of a Clash song, now I have to listen to the two and compare. 

I've never thought of Nuclear Family though. 

[Chin for a Day]

2 hours ago, Fantalacqua said:

I was really excited about this song and couldn't get it out of my head ... but then my husband pointed out that the catchiest part of this song has appeared in Simon & Garfunkel's "Homeward Bound" song and I was reallllllly deflated. It's the same feeling I got when the same melody lines has appeared in previous songs before. Here are a few breakdowns of what I've dissected.

American Idiot = Dillinger 4's "Doublewhiskeycokenoice"
Warning = The Kink's "Pictures Book"
Jinx = The Pretender's "Great Pretender"
21 Guns (guitar solo) = The freaking Full House theme song melody line!!!

And Billie Joe has done this to himself as well! "Basket Case" is the same chord progression of "One of My Lies" just turned an octave higher.

All in all, even with all this said, I still love what Green Day puts out. It just goes to show how influenced his songwriting is to existing great works of art.
 

Any one else catch these things???

 

This is standard with any band.  We could probably go on for pages comparing the same chord progression in different songs for any band.  It is really nothing unusual.  I really don't understand why people make such a big deal about it. 

[Bastard of 1967]

On 9/14/2016 at 8:19 PM, TimmyChunks said:

Having eagerly anticipated and voraciously listened immediately to every new release since Insomniac (I had first heard them when Longview came out and was immediately hooked), I have a good sense of knowing what I will like 10, 20 years down the line during the first week of listening vs. what goes into the "ok" bin. Without a doubt, I'm sure I'll be mixing in RR with Scattered, Westbound, Letterbomb, Stuart, and my other all-time faves a decade from now. The song is that good; I actually think the chorus might be in their top 5 in power and hook. I also love BB, but it is in that tier-1A list of GD songs for me- a great track with endless listening in the future (Uptight, Viva!, Deadbeat, Having a Blast, for perspective), but of the two...I think RR is the pick so far. 9 songs to go on this album- I'm super excited about the overall potential (edit: I say 9 songs since I'm already counting Ordinary as a "listened to" song even though it was the live version. I'm sure the studio version will have a dfferent feel but it's likely we already have a sense for the song).

The riff that falls at the downbeat in the middle of each RR verse lays Mike's bass line on thick, and mixed with Billie's lead the sound you get is right out of the best tracks off Insomniac -- just with more modern recording techniques and an smoother mix overall.  Never thought I'd hear that sound from Green Day again, and I fucking love it.

1 hour ago, Neutral Milk Hotel said:

Basket case is Canon in D too. But I don't think you can call yourself a band until you've ripped off canon

If you have or had a chance to listen to the old multitrack isolations that got captured from the "old" Green Day Rock Band, check out the "other instruments" track for JoS that has the piano track that backgrounds "City of the Damned".  It *is* Canon in D.

[Libertine Angel]

4 hours ago, Jane Lannister said:

Kill The DJ has always reminded me of a Clash song, now I have to listen to the two and compare. 

I've never thought of Nuclear Family though. 

I can kind of get This Is Radio Clash off Kill the DJ if I think about it.

[DookieLukie]

11 hours ago, AlissaGoesRAWR said:

 

Also, I'm really interested in the idea of "human instinct" driving hate...? Hate is taught. You're not instinctually racist or sexist. 

Humans use heuristics to simplify informational input. Heuristics point out differences. When in history has every group of people been patient and loving to another group? From the deepest historical accounts we have, racism has been rampant and fueled by differences. Basically the point is that no one decided dark skin meant you were unequal and taught it to generations of children. Views of a group of people (Africans) based on their differences from Western culture led to devaluing them as people and later implementing skin color as a catch-all. Whoever is different from the group in power is always the one targeted. Evidence even shows that homosapiens were hostile to other types of early humans and apes. Ape groups are even hostile against each other when in close proximity. Racism is a natural human thought left to fester for thousands of years. It will never go away.

[JardyOfSuburbia]

22 hours ago, DookieLukie said:

The whole story is just so weird. I've been to Columbus and it seems like a nice place. Anywhere else in Ohio, this wouldn't shock me. That place is literally white protestants full of racism thrown against a wall of very poor minorities. Water and oil. Columbus seemed like a safe haven to me (I loved it there), but I guess the crime and general garbage bleeds over?

Man, Ohio isn't all "white protestants full of racism thrown against a wall of very poor minorities."

Don't be hating on us.

[Joe.]

What's the saying? Good musicians write, excellent musicians steal?

[Semi-automatic lonely boy]

10 hours ago, Libertine Angel said:

I can kind of get This Is Radio Clash off Kill the DJ if I think about it.

you can humm the magnificient seven riff allong kill the dj. radio clash could only be considered similiar in style, not so much the actual melody or the riff.

[AlissaGoesRAWR]

On 9/16/2016 at 3:29 AM, DookieLukie said:

The whole story is just so weird. I've been to Columbus and it seems like a nice place. Anywhere else in Ohio, this wouldn't shock me. That place is literally white protestants full of racism thrown against a wall of very poor minorities. Water and oil. Columbus seemed like a safe haven to me (I loved it there), but I guess the crime and general garbage bleeds over?

The Associated Press just published a great story about this phenomenon, actually. How Columbus seems great if you're white and decently well off, and compared to the rest of Ohio is booming. But for minorities, poor people and those living in more violent areas, it's an entirely different place.

The issue of poverty and its relation to race speaks to the "rise of the slums" line in Rev Rad, too. 

[Fantalacqua]

On 9/16/2016 at 2:49 PM, Scattered Wreck said:

This is standard with any band.  We could probably go on for pages comparing the same chord progression in different songs for any band.  It is really nothing unusual.  I really don't understand why people make such a big deal about it. 

Not so much a big deal as with all of that said, I still like it regardless... But I would think as a songwriter, your first intention is to not rip off existing music regardless if it's your own or someone else's. A songwriter's goal is to write original songs. It's a way for a musician to resonate and transcend through time. I'm pretty sure Billie Joe didn't set out to write "Revolution Radio" to resemble the Beatles "Help!" or Simon and Garfunkel's "Homeward Bound" ... but it does. Just pointing it out and I'm sure there are other songs which does the same. "Bang Bang" was completely original. I can't pinpoint any parts of that song that I've heard elsewhere.

[Chin for a Day]

18 minutes ago, Fantalacqua said:

Not so much a big deal as with all of that said, I still like it regardless... But I would think as a songwriter, your first intention is to not rip off existing music regardless if it's your own or someone else's. A songwriter's goal is to write original songs. It's a way for a musician to resonate and transcend through time. I'm pretty sure Billie Joe didn't set out to write "Revolution Radio" to resemble the Beatles "Help!" or Simon and Garfunkel's "Homeward Bound" ... but it does. Just pointing it out and I'm sure there are other songs which does the same. "Bang Bang" was completely original. I can't pinpoint any parts of that song that I've heard elsewhere.

However, there are only so many chord progressions.  It is not a rip off, it is utilizing a standard chord progression.  Most bands are using variations of the same chord progressions.  That is why you are going to often hear another song in another.  What matters is what the band does with that standard chord progression.  For Bang Bang Billie used an unusual strum pattern and then used octaves in the bridge.  That is what makes it different.  

What they did is not a rip off, it is just using a standard chord progression    

[Second favourite son]

27 minutes ago, Fantalacqua said:

A songwriter's goal is to write original songs.

A songwriter's goal is to write good songs.  If that means taking inspiration from others, or even sampling other songs, then that's what they'll do - Billie has shown he's willing to do this a number of times.  

[grene cniht]

Is anyone still waiting for the free download? I might just go ahead and buy it at this point.

[Second favourite son]

Just now, Master Roshi said:

Is anyone still waiting for the free download? I might just go ahead and buy it at this point.

I got it eventually after writing to the Europe store, they sent an email back with it attached. 

[inthehallwaynow]

Oh god I love this fucking song. It makes me ok with the album title now and I find myself listening to it more than Bang Bang which I did not think was possible.

[Eric]

31 minutes ago, Master Roshi said:

Is anyone still waiting for the free download? I might just go ahead and buy it at this point.

Do not waste your money man. Email them about it!

[UNICORN VOMIT]

4 hours ago, Second favourite son said:

I got it eventually after writing to the Europe store, they sent an email back with it attached. 

No holding out much hope for the download appearing on the official release date.  I also wonder how late the physical copy will be - place your bets.

[Second favourite son]

1 hour ago, Tinkle said:

No holding out much hope for the download appearing on the official release date.  I also wonder how late the physical copy will be - place your bets.

My a day to remember vinyl was 4 days late, so I'm hoping the universe will balance out by bringing my GD one 4 days early.  I'll settle for on time though  

[UNICORN VOMIT]

45 minutes ago, Second favourite son said:

My a day to remember vinyl was 4 days late, so I'm hoping the universe will balance out by bringing my GD one 4 days early.  I'll settle for on time though  

If mine arrives only 4 days late I will be pleasantly surprised.

[21guns&novacaine]

It's definitely growing on me. The catchy hook has kept this song on repeat. 

[Sanity Loan]

I heard this song at Buffalo Wild Wings at lunch today. I was surprised.

[Sanity Loan]

Simple and to the point my statement was.

[Met Fan]

I love this song, my only reservation about it is how it feels like the chorus ends abruptly and almost doesn't flow well into the next section.

[Lone]

Talk about the third song off the album here!

Lyrics

 

Scream with your hands up in the sky
Like you want to testify
For the life that's been deleted

Sing like a rebel's lullaby
Under the stars and stripes
For the lost souls that were cheated

We will be seen but not be heard

We are revolution radio
Operation no control
In the headline, my love's bullet proof
Give me cherry bombs and gasoline
Debutants in surgery
In the headline, legalize the truth

Give me rage
Like there's tear gas in the crowd
Do you want to live out loud
But the air is barely breathing

Rise, of the slums to the obsolete
Of the dawn of the new airwaves
For the anti-social media

We are revolution radio
Operation no control
In the headline, my love's bullet proof
Give me cherry bombs and gasoline
Debutants in surgery
In the headline, legalize the truth

We will be seen but not be heard
We are the songs of the disturbed

We are revolution radio
Operation no control
In the headline, my love's bullet proof
Give me cherry bombs and gasoline
Debutants in surgery
In the headline, legalize the truth

Song page on GDA: http://www.greendayauthority.com/music/song/758/