Green Day

[Ryan44]

i have really gotten into Green Day again, after a long layoff. I an not a fan of American Idiot, but like most of the stuff before. I actually really enjoy Shenanigans, their 2nd last one. my fave song is probably gotta be, walking alone. do u have a fave? or an opinion on green day? let it be known

[HoboFactory]

I don't like them at all. Too cliched; whenever they play Green Day, or Simple Plan, or Good Charlotte, I can never tell which it is because they sound so a like and their lyrics are all alike.

[Seanathon]

Maybe it's me, but Green Day sounds nothing like Simple Plan or Good Charlotte.

 

That said, I go through periods where I am absolutely love them, as well as totally forgetting about them. Of course I do own all their albums except Shenanigans and International Superhits, or whatever it was called.

 

I'd still love to see them live.

[no yu begin wher i end]

Or maybe Simple Plan and Good Charlotte sound like Green Day? *Cue eerie music.

[Jarrod]

I like Warning! and Nimrod. Those are really good albums. I used to like American Idiot until it got really overplayed (radio and myself) where if I hear it it makes me want to vomit. Dookie I never really got into.

[Ryan44]

ok. simple plan, and those crap bands sound nothing like greenday at all. greenday has an edge, simple plan, has a whine. they suck. i didnt really like warning. i love nimrod. and dookie. american idiot, i just cant grasp it, they have become to media driven. i dont like bands that try tog et a political message out, like trashing the prez. not my bag baby.

[Near Fantastica 07]

Green day is one of those bands that starts out good and gradually gets worse with each album. Our lady peace is a good example of this phenonenom. And U2 is an EXTREME example of this. Good god I do not won't to see any new shit from them. And they used to be unreal. What pisses me off lol is that they all ride on their monster first successes. and then "hardcore" fans buy their awful dreadful new shit and I have to hear their sickass tunes on the radio. dammit anyway lol

[Quammy]

I haven't really listened to American Idiot, but I find that Green Day usually releases decent albums. The pre-Dookie albums are worth a listen if you can find them. Nimrod is probably my least favorite. I have most of their albums, not because I'm a huge fan, mostly because they're so easy to find at used CD stores.

[HoboFactory]

ok. simple plan, and those crap bands sound nothing like greenday at all. greenday has an edge, simple plan, has a whine...

Green Day whines plenty.

[Guest jsunC]

I used to like American Idiot until it got really overplayed (radio and myself) where if I hear it it makes me want to vomit.

i agree

 

 

dotdotdot903-0

23-23.

[Guest apsham]

ok. simple plan, and those crap bands sound nothing like greenday at all. greenday has an edge, simple plan, has a whine...

Green Day whines plenty.

You put their whining in a category with Simple Plan though, which doesn't fit. Wake Me Up When September Ends is totally different from "God Must Hate Me".

[HoboFactory]

ok. simple plan, and those crap bands sound nothing like greenday at all. greenday has an edge, simple plan, has a whine...

Green Day whines plenty.

You put their whining in a category with Simple Plan though, which doesn't fit. Wake Me Up When September Ends is totally different from "God Must Hate Me".

Not to me. The guy still whines and still has nothing to whine about.

Edited July 9, 2006 by HoboFactory

[saturnine]

I like Warning! and Nimrod. Those are really good albums. I used to like American Idiot until it got really overplayed (radio and myself) where if I hear it it makes me want to vomit. Dookie I never really got into.

if you let radio stop you from listening to what you like, turn it off. radio plays shitty music all the time; stop listening.

[no yu begin wher i end]

ok. simple plan, and those crap bands sound nothing like greenday at all. greenday has an edge, simple plan, has a whine...

Green Day whines plenty.

You put their whining in a category with Simple Plan though, which doesn't fit. Wake Me Up When September Ends is totally different from "God Must Hate Me".

Songs like Wake Me Up When September Ends and Boulevard Of Broken Dreams are a little easier to swallow when you put them in the context of the entire album, I find.

[HoboFactory]

Yeah, the guy with millions of fans, success, fame, etc must certainly have a lot of broken dreams. What a whiney wanker.

[no yu begin wher i end]

Um...ok...I assume you don't actually know the concept of the record or the story it tells?

[HoboFactory]

Um...ok...I assume you don't actually know the concept of the record or the story it tells?

I've heard more about it than I would ever have liked to.

[no yu begin wher i end]

Um...ok...I assume you don't actually know the concept of the record or the story it tells?

I've heard more about it than I would ever have liked to.

Obviously not enough to know what you're talking about.

[Shiri]

Dookie was nice. Good Riddance is a good song. Apart from that, meh.

[Guest apsham]

Um...ok...I assume you don't actually know the concept of the record or the story it tells?

I've heard more about it than I would ever have liked to.

Obviously not enough to know what you're talking about.

Indeed I almost totally forgot about that part. For anyone that actually cares:

 

(NOTE: This is an unofficial interpretation of the album's story, no official interpretation exists)

 

American Idiot: An introduction to the album, this song sets the stage for the story, describing the political climate of America from the all-encompassing "redneck agenda" to reality television to the media coverage of the War in Iraq.

 

Jesus of Suburbia: The second track tells the story of Jimmy, mostly referenced as the Jesus of Suburbia, who lives with his negligent mother and her boyfriend Brad in a suburb called "Jingletown, USA". His younger years were spent "on a steady diet of soda pop and Ritalin", watching television, experimenting with drugs, and loitering in front of convenience stores. He feels trapped and bored in his town and longs for escape. (I)

 

Disillusioned with life in Jingletown and its effect on his psyche, Jimmy begins his transformation into the character of "St. Jimmy", and decides to leave Jingletown for "The City". (II - V)

 

Holiday: At first Jimmy feels free from the rat race and political injustice he considers to plague others...

 

Boulevard of Broken Dreams: ...but he later finds himself alone in spite of The City's crowd.

 

Are We the Waiting: a transition period for the "Jesus of Suburbia". After losing his way in "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", he has nearly lost his mind. This is the period where he starts to find himself, or re-invent himself as the infamous "St. Jimmy". It can also be said that this is where he completely loses it and ends up with a split personality. The liner notes place this song as taking place on Easter Sunday, suggesting that Jesus dies and is re-born as St. Jimmy.

 

St. Jimmy: In doing so, he adopts a new moniker, "St. Jimmy", and lifestyle, that of an unpredictable, charismatic, and rebellious criminal to whom others (the Underbelly) gravitate. He shows signs of criminal activity and possibly the joining of a cult.

 

Give Me Novacaine: St. Jimmy is evidenced as a drug dealer and takes part in doing drugs to dull the pain of living his new dual lifestyle.

 

She's a Rebel: Jimmy meets a girl, known only as Whatsername, who fascinates him - she is a real rebel, not someone merely pretending to be one like he is...

 

Extraordinary Girl: ...and they begin dating. As Jesus falls thoroughly in love with her, he is torn between living the way she does and the way St. Jimmy wants him to.

 

Letterbomb: The explosive culmination of all the frustration and conflict between St. Jimmy, Jesus, and his girlfriend is shown through a letter to Jimmy from Whatsername. She describes the stupidity of his self-destructive rebellion and states that she cannot stand it anymore. Whatsername leaves all contact with Jimmy for good...

 

Wake Me Up When September Ends: A song about Billie Joe Armstrong's father, who died of cancer when he was 10 years old (on the VH1 show Storytellers, Billie Joe mentions that this song is the only song that veers from the overall plot of the album). Seeing as it has a date in the liner notes along with the other songs, and has lines such as ring out the bells again, like we did when spring began which was a happier time in the story, the track probably has dual meanings in that Jesus/Jimmy is now alone again, or that Jimmy has gone off to war to cope (as per the Music Video) and September is the end of his tour of duty.

 

Homecoming: Eventually Jimmy decides to abandon his St. Jimmy identity, which he had been using as a crutch. In order to abandon his title, Jimmy symbolically "kills" St. Jimmy in a personal kind of suicide, after possibly getting some advice or comforting words from him.

 

Following St. Jimmy's death, Jesus gets arrested and ends up filling out paperwork on East 12th St. (II) (East 12th Street is a real location of a police station in Oakland, California, where Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong had to fill out paperwork for his DUI in 2003) Jesus's personal life begins to fall apart (III, IV). He decides to return to Jingletown to escape this trap. (V)

 

Whatsername: Years later, Jesus looks back on his faint memories of Whatsername, wishing that things could have gone better, but not regretting his choices.

 

In the VH1 "Storytellers", it is stated that the ending is open to interpretation, as Mike Dirnt stated. He could end up in Jingletown, in a mental institution, or in jail. The entire opera is very similar to The Catcher in the Rye, a favorite book of Billie Joe's, telling the story of a young boy who leaves home and school for the city but finds himself spiralling in depression because of the nature of the adult world.

[HoboFactory]

Um...ok...I assume you don't actually know the concept of the record or the story it tells?

I've heard more about it than I would ever have liked to.

Obviously not enough to know what you're talking about.

Don't give me that bullshit. I understand enough to know I can't stand the sound of the music and that the lyrics are whiney and cliche.

[no yu begin wher i end]

Um...ok...I assume you don't actually know the concept of the record or the story it tells?

I've heard more about it than I would ever have liked to.

Obviously not enough to know what you're talking about.

Don't give me that bullshit. I understand enough to know I can't stand the sound of the music and that the lyrics are whiney and cliche.

Can't stand the music? That's one thing and that's perfectly fine.

 

The lyrics? When you take the songs by themselves, yes they are whiny and whatnot. But when you put them into the whole plotline of the story the album tells, then they become less about the band whining and more of the character's story. That was my original point.

[Drizzt]

I agree. I thought it was a solid album and to call it whiny makes little sense.

[HoboFactory]

Makes perfect sense to me.

[no yu begin wher i end]

Whatevs. I feel like listening to the Clash right now.