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Song of the Week this week is the apathetic Burnout, the opening track off Green Day’s major-label debut, Dookie, released in February of 1994. I chose this week’s song after watching the newly uploaded Green Day interview from Italy GDA posted about earlier in the week, specifically because of Billie’s great line “apathy rules - fuck everybody!”

Burnout is a simple, snotty, two-minute celebration of being an unmotivated, apathetic and bored teenager, wasting away their life without a care in the world. It sets up the mood for the entire Dookie album, (the first words on the album being “I declare I don’t care no more”) and really showed the newly-introduced-to-Green Day-world what the band, at the time, was all about. The thing I love about this song the most is that it’s unapologetically not giving a damn about anything – it’s not angry, or sad, or trying to prove any sort of point, it’s simply the state of mind of a bored, directionless teenager.

The song got played a decent amount of times on Green Day's most recent 21st Century Breakdown tour, and is a real treat live - Tre's drum solo is a highlight and the crowd always livens up for the old favourites. A live version recorded in Japan in 2010 was also included on the Awesome As Fuck Live DVD, released earlier in the year.

There’s a plethora of live videos of Burnout out there, but I think the performance of the song at Woodstock captures the song best – the band were relatively new and unknown back when they played Woodstock ’94, and the energy from the band and crowd is just great.

Video credit: GreenDayConcerts

And here’s a neat clip of the massive crowd at Wembley Stadium (2010) being equally as enthusiastic about the song as the Woodstock crowd was sixteen years earlier.

Video credit: cazannep

Lyrics:

I declare I don't care no more

I'm burning up and out and growing bored

In my smoked out boring room

My hair is shagging in my eyes

Dragging my feet to hit the street tonight

To drive along these shit town lights

I'm not growing up, I'm just burning out

And I stepped in line to walk amongst the dead

Apathy has rained on me

And now I'm feeling like a soggy dream

So close to drowning but I don't mind

I've lived inside this mental cave

Throw my emotions in the grave

Hell, who needs them anyway?

I'm not growing up, I'm just burning out

And I stepped in line to walk amongst the dead

I'm not growing up, I'm just burning out

And I stepped in line to walk amongst the dead

Dead…

I'm not growing up, I'm just burning out

And I stepped in line to walk amongst the dead

I'm not growing up, I'm just burning out

And I stepped in line to walk amongst the dead

Dead…

*********************************************************************************************************

You can nominate songs for discussion as Song of the Week in the SotW Nominations and Archive thread, which contains links to each previous Song of the Week in its first post.

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Well THIS is a song I can easily relate to, lately. :P Good choice, this drum solo is just crazy, eargasmic.

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I've lived inside this mental cave

Throw my emotions in the grave

Hell, who needs them anyway?

favourite lyrics :wub: love, love this song.

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I love this song so much it's unbelievable! I can't believe it's been a year since I first heard the song. Listening to it, that first time, is really what made me a green day fan. The upbeat guitar riff and slick drum beat always bring back memories of becoming a Green Day fan, jumping around in my room and singing along to Dookie. Not really sure what the hell Beej was saying but not caring either. Slowly memorizing the songs, them becoming a part of me and my life. Changing me to what I have become a year later. My favorite line would have to be "I'm not growing up, I'm just burning out."

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One of the first "old" Green Day songs I owned. I loved the lyrics, and it was catchy. I think that this is one of their strongest songs, just because it's relatable with creative lyrics. My favorite lyric is:

I declare I don't care no more, I'm burning up and out and growing bored.

Mostly because I catch myself saying, "I declare I don't care no more". I mean, who hasn't said something like that once in their life? Oh, and the growing bored part. Yup, that sums it up for me too. :P

Anyway, great song choice! ;)

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I didn't know there was a separate pit at Wembley!

Anyway, another brilliant song choice! Burnout was the start of the best thing that happened to the 20th Century.

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I adore this song. Actually today one of my friends had "I live inside this mental cave, throw my emotions in the grave, hell who need 'em anyway" as her Skype status. When I bought Dookie, this was actually one of the first songs I fell in love with. Burnout is such a great song!

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Oh, oh, oh! Definitely one of my all time favorites. I love this song and I can totally relate to it at times. So.. great choice! :thumbsup:

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As you can tell by my username, Burnout is my favourite song! It just opens up Dookie with a bang.

But my favourite part of the song is the amazing drum solo. :woot:

Great choice!

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I can't remember exactly when I first heard this song live but I almost shat bricks. This song is one of the best to sing along to and get rowdy with and it's especially awesome seeing Tre do his thing on his drums. Killer song live.

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"I declare I don't care no more..." -I like that line. This is a great song, one of the best of Dookie although not one of my favorites. And yes, it sounds really amazing live. :)

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Weird, I just chose this as my favorite song from Dookie in the 30-day tumblr challenge I'm doing. Such a great track. I would expand on that but I've been studying for two tests since 2 PM so bye.

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Burnout, like very song from Dookie, it is amazing. My favourite line would have to be the first, "I declare I don't care no more", it sets the mood for the rest of the songs. And those drum solos. Them, along with JOS's are my favourite drum solos I heard from Tré. They really show off his great drumming skills

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the important thing to note here is this the first track off of awesome Dookie!

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When I firstly heard this song, I immediately went learning lyrics because I wanted to sing along it... It was a song that hit me as soon as I listened to it. But when I read the lyrics, it was like :"S***, this is me!". I realized every line could fit with myself, but it was the first time I figured out those feelings were mine... Green Day know me more than I know myself... :happy:

Plus, I like the fact that this song it's about being apathic... of being apathic! "So close to drowning, but I DON'T mind"... They're not whining about this situation, but just describing it, and what a way they choosed! An explosive song like this, which you must jump at even if you "threw your emotions in a grave" ;)

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