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How has your relationship to Green Day evolved?


mbk

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I first heard Green Day when Dookie came out. I wasn't even that big of a music fan at the time, but hearing Green Day just left me so thrilled and happy that I didn't know what to do with myself. It was kind of overwhelming. Then I learned that 39/Smooth and Kerplunk existed, and I was like a 5-year-old on Christmas morning. Then my life changed, and I stopped paying a lot of attention to Green Day during Nimrod and Warning, but I would still sometimes have dreams in which Billie Joe came to visit me, like he was an old friend. Then American Idiot came out, and I was overwhelmed all over again, and have been since, but "my" Green Day felt different: they were so much more a part of the mainstream and had promotions that I couldn't relate to. They felt less mine. I still love them, but I will never feel the same way about them as I did in 1994.

How has your relationship to the band been? Have you always felt the same way about them, or has it changed over time?

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That was very interesting to read. I do relate to some of what you said. When I first got into GD, it had a feeling of being "mine". My band, my story, my songs, no one else understood the significance, the message of the songs etc. But that disappeared soon when I realised how big they actually have got and with them being everywhere on TV and in magazines. Let alone the internet. I don't agree with everything they do nowadays and to be honest, I did find myself in moments where I started to question my 'relationship' to them but those moments were really rare and never lasted long. I still love Green Day as much as I did when I first got into them and even if they ever do something I absolutely disagree with (like breaking up :P), I'll still love them just as much. What they have given me, no one can take away.

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I felt the same like you the last two years. But somehow, my relationship to GD changed too. One year ago, I stated listening to other bands, manily metal bands and GD became less important to me. And my relationship to gd is going down. I'm not that excited about the triology as i should be. UNO is an awesome record but don't listen to it over and over again because i'm adiccted to other bands and the music doesn't catch me like the music of the other bands i'm listening too at the moment :( But I'm still a fan and i their music means so much to me especially the songs of AI.

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The first Green Day song I ever heard is Poprocks & Coke, thanks to a listening exercise in my English book where you had to complete the lyrics. I liked it, but I didn't go further. 3 years later, in February this year, I discovered that they were the same guys that sang that American Idiot song that I had heard of but never listened to. Then I decided to listen to it in Youtube. Then I just went watching the related videos. The song that really got me into Green Day was the Dookie version of Welcome to Paradise. That one hooked the hell out of me. Then I started listening to their albums (I don't remember which one first, probably American Idiot). I really loved them, so I started putting their songs in my phone and bit to bit I became an Idiot.

At first I was more of an American Idiot fan. I heard many people saying Going to Pasalacqua was epic so I listened to it. I thought it was weird as hell and wasn't sure if I liked it, at first I didn't. Then I started listening to all their pre-AI stuff, but it actually wasn't a good moment because I was very ill with fever for a week. I ended up kinda feeling that 'old' Green Day wasn't the Green Day I knew, it was a very very weird feeling. Probably I was just a little out of myself because I was very ill. I just started listening again to their AI-21CB stuff and when I was ok again I started listening again to their old stuff. Now I like all their albums, but I kinda prefer the lyrics of their old albums because they are way more relatable. I just can't relate to a single word in AI, because my dad is alive, I don't do drugs, people kinda likes me... I'm too much of a good kid to relate to that. I can relate to most of their 39-Warning and trilogy stuff though. I like AI and 21CB but not that much, specially 21CB because I just don't really mind it.

So yeah, I went from an AI fan to a die-hard fan knowing all their albums and all that. Now I don't even understand why people don't want to even try their old albums. And yeah, I also felt they were like 'mine', they were my little obsession, they were some relaxing time I had alone.

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When I was in middle school and high school, I was still trying to find my identity and figure out who I was. Green Day and their "be who you are and don't give a fuck what anyone else thinks of it" attitude was something that really helped me through those times. I could also relate to a lot of their earlier material that had a lot to do with being bored, pissed off, and frustrated with girls. This was also around the time I started playing guitar and writing songs, and Billie Joe's songwriting had a huge influence on my own. He showed me that you could do so much with so little. I also tried to emulate their hair styles and clothing in certain ways. Not flat out copy them, but take certain things here and there and turn them into my own look. Again, this had to do with trying to find my own identity at the time. "Who am I? How should I dress? I like how Green Day dresses. I want to take certain things from them." Problem solved, in my mind. Overall they just kind of felt like friends to me in the sense that no matter how shitty my day was, I knew I could come home and listen to them or watch videos of them and they would be there for me. They were my absolute favorite band.

Today? I have a better idea of who I am. I've developed into my own person. I don't need to try and dress like Billie Joe. I can just dress like myself and that's fine. I'm wiser and have experienced more so if something happens to me, I don't need to run home and listen to a Green Day song to help me get through it. I've got myself to get me through it. I guess I don't really feel the emotional attachment to them that I once did. It's more about just strictly listening to the music, and I'll still check out live videos and stuff, but this is about as far as my relationship with them goes these days. I don't think of them as "friends" anymore. I think of them as musicians making music and either I like it or I don't. I no longer have the obsessive feeling toward them. I'm also able to critique them now, whereas before they could do no wrong. But I am perfectly okay with all of this because they had a large hand in making me the person I am today and for that I will always owe something to them.

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I tend to get obsessed with bands for weeks or months at a time and then move on while just listening to the music and not considering the band my friends per se. The first group that bucked this trend was green day. They still faded from perfect band that could do no wrong but prior I had never had a band speak to me so much. Because of that they remain more important than some of my fad interests.

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I became a Green Day fan during the American Idiot era (big surprise there). I saw the unofficial video for American Idiot on Fuse, where Billie Joe held up cue cards with lyrics on them to go along with the song, and some chick wearing an American flag outfit was dancing strangely in the background. I fell in love with them instantly. I researched them on the internet, began listening to their albums, and that Christmas I asked for all the Green Day albums. At that time, I was at a point in my life where Dookie meant a lot to me. I was going through things and related to the feeling in the album. I played it over and over and it really helped me get through those rough times.

Since 21st CB, I started really listening to other bands and going to other concerts, collecting other albums, and almost seemed like I had lost that connection I had with the Green Day music. But since they announced the release of the Trilogy, I re-found them and realized the reason I feel in love with the music in the first place.

I also feel like, as a person, I've grown with their music. Each album, to me, represents a stage in life. As you grow, you can relate more and more to different albums. For that reason alone, I think I will always have a strong relationship with Green Day and their music.

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i was about 7 when american idiot was released and i liked it but disliked everything else that they did but know i can stop listing to them

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The first Green Day song I ever heard is Poprocks & Coke, thanks to a listening exercise in my English book where you had to complete the lyrics. I liked it, but I didn't go further.

i wanna have a english book like this!!!!!!!! :angry :D

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It was 4 years ago when I was 12 I heard Blvd. of Broken Dreams with music class and I directly bought American Idiot followed by 21st Century Breakdown, Bullet in a Bible, Dookie, Awesome as F**k, International Superhits, Nimrod., Kerplunk!, Warning:, and now the ¡Uno! ¡Dos! ¡Tré! ultimate box set. Just can't stop listening to them

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I guess I don't really feel the emotional attachment to them that I once did. It's more about just strictly listening to the music, and I'll still check out live videos and stuff, but this is about as far as my relationship with them goes these days. I don't think of them as "friends" anymore. I think of them as musicians making music and either I like it or I don't. I no longer have the obsessive feeling toward them. I'm also able to critique them now, whereas before they could do no wrong. But I am perfectly okay with all of this because they had a large hand in making me the person I am today and for that I will always owe something to them.

I think that I would like to feel more that way than I do -- and I do to some extent. I don't think that they could do no wrong or anything like that, and I am able to think critically about their work. But I kind of wanted not to like the new albums as much because then I could feel a little more detached. But with the new music, I just feel pulled back in all over again. I'm even posting on GDC when I haven't been here for years! :D
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I first heard Green Day when Dookie came out. I wasn't even that big of a music fan at the time, but hearing Green Day just left me so thrilled and happy that I didn't know what to do with myself. It was kind of overwhelming. Then I learned that 39/Smooth and Kerplunk existed, and I was like a 5-year-old on Christmas morning. Then my life changed, and I stopped paying a lot of attention to Green Day during Nimrod and Warning, but I would still sometimes have dreams in which Billie Joe came to visit me, like he was an old friend. Then American Idiot came out, and I was overwhelmed all over again, and have been since, but "my" Green Day felt different: they were so much more a part of the mainstream and had promotions that I couldn't relate to. They felt less mine. I still love them, but I will never feel the same way about them as I did in 1994.

How has your relationship to the band been? Have you always felt the same way about them, or has it changed over time?

That seems to be how a lot of Green Day fans feel, and I don't understand it. You will never feel the same way as you did when Dookie came out. For one thing, you weren't that much of a music fan so it came to you by surprise and it also surprised everyone. Dookie brought punk back into the mainstream during that time and they won't be able to do that again. American Idiot was sort of the same way, as it was written during a time in which we were at a critical time in the U.S and it just like Dookie hit people by surprise. Both of those albums came at a time where things were different, and they won't be able to keep reaching that amount of success.

But my relationship with them is a short one. I was 11 when AI came out, but I really didn't start getting into music until I was 13-14 so i missed out. I became a fan when I heard 21 Guns. I really didn't love the song all that much but I loved the sound so I decided to check their old music out. I did that and started to love their music. Fast forward to now, Uno is the first GD album in which I could anticipate and I liked it a lot except for two songs. Although I've had a short relationship with them, I don't see it changing much. I wished I could've enjoyed Dookie and AI at the time, but as long as they're putting out music, I'll be okay. My one and only Green Day wish though would be for them to put out an album that matches the success of Dookie or AI. To put out three classics in three different decades would be awesome!

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I was first introduced to Green Day at a relatively young age by my brother by listening to Dookie, and I loved it. It was all I'd listen to. My brother bought me copies of Nimrod and Insomniac and then I got the rest of the albums up to American Idiot and then AI when it came out. I was always listening to other bands, but Green Day was very prominent and always there. When I was around 15 I started thinking like "well, my favourite band hasn't changed in around 6 years. There is something wrong with me." I felt like I should have grown out of liking Green Day by then and that it was weird that I still liked them, so I tried to tell myself I didn't like them as much as I did. This lasted for about 2 weeks and then I was just like "Fuck it, I love Green Day."

So I guess my relationship hasn't really evolved much since I started listening to them back when I was little. I'm not a huge fan of change. I'll rewatch the same shows and movies, reread the same books and listen to the same music without getting bored of it. Such is the case with Green Day. I never force myself to like something because Green Day made it, I just end up always loving what they make. I don't know why and I don't really care, I've found myself a special band that will always hold a place in my heart so why question it?

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I think that I would like to feel more that way than I do -- and I do to some extent. I don't think that they could do no wrong or anything like that, and I am able to think critically about their work. But I kind of wanted not to like the new albums as much because then I could feel a little more detached. But with the new music, I just feel pulled back in all over again. I'm even posting on GDC when I haven't been here for years! :D

I've never even posted on this board before signing up earlier this month! I think if you take a strong interest in something at some point in your life, there are always parts of that connection that will stick with you no matter what. Although my attitude toward the band has become a bit more casual and detached, I still consider myself a fan and they were a big part of my life so I'm always game for talking about them. It's kind of like if you were to grow up worshiping your local sports team but then you move out of state. Your life changes and your interests change, and now you have a new local team, but there is always that part of you that will want to follow what your old team is up to. And the thought of going to the games and watching games on TV, etc... bring back fond memories and positive vibes...it just sticks with you.

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I first heard about Green Day in 1994 when Dookie came out. I was in Junior High at the time and I could not get that darn sound out of my head. It was pretty common for me to walk around the halls of the school singing Longview. I was at a phase in my life where I was tring to figure out who I was. As embarrassing as it is for me to say this, my mom picked out my clothes and did my hair until I was in the 7th grade. I always had to borrow my cousin's copy of Dookie because I didn't have my own at the time. Then Insomniac came out and I instantly was hooked. I bought the album and ended up getting some concert tickets to my very first concert. After that concert, my life was changed. I loved the energy and the emotions that I felt at that show. Green Day has been my favorite band ever since, although there have been times where I felt less connected (especially around the time that the Saints Are Coming came out). It has also become a family tradition to go to at least 1 show on every album that has come out (unless they don't come anywhere close to where I live). My dad and I have seen them at least once for every album since Inosmniac came out (I even got to see them during the Pop Disaster Tour). I can honestly say that I owe my life to Green Day. I went through a really tough time in 2004 when my best friend died on me. I fell into a very deep depression where I cut myself off from everyone (including my family). I became very withdrawn and was extrememly suicidal. My world came crashing down when my best friend died. I would have killed myself if I had not had something to look forward to, which was the release of American Idiot (and the tour that followed). I will always have respect and I will always be appreciative of how much of an impact 3 people have had on my life. I will be forever grateful to them in helping me during my darkest days. Sorry for the long post.

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Long Story short, when I first heard of Green Day, I liked them, but I wasn't really into them because I didn't listen to their type at that point in time, but a few years later I came across them again, and I tell you, it was like a revelation an epiphany of some sort, my whole perceptive of music had changed, and It has changed me ever since :happy: So I would say, my relationship with the band began strictly music based, but as I listened more and learned more about the band, I felt like I could relate with them and their music more than any other artist/s.

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I listened to Green Day when I was a kid growing up, but for some strange reason I thought Green Day was Blink 182 I thought they were the same band. I was dumb because they don't even sound alike. I remember hearing Good Riddance in middle school and I liked it, but I wasn't a huge fan until I heard Boulevard of Broken Dreams on the radio for the first time ever. I called the radio station to see who the band was then I heard more and I really liked it, a lot. I went to Best Buy with my sisters and we bought American Idiot the album. We fell in love with it we would listen to it everyday over and over again. Then I started listening to more Green Day and I loved it all! Now I'm a huge fan!

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I got into them 7 years ago when I was 19, American Idiot was the first album I heard and I thought the lyrics and music were amazing so I gradually bought each album finding each of them to be amazing too and found myself hooked. I suppose the main change was getting online a couple of years later just because I went from being desperate for any scrap of info or unheard song to having an almost endless supply of Green Day at my fingertips, which I enjoy and appreciate very much. Plus obviously the first few months I was getting into them were a bit different because of that initial extra super excitement of discovering something new. Especially as I'd been listening to rap music almost exclusively for several years, it was a bit of a shake up to be listening to rock and it took me a while to get my head round a rock band being my favourite music act :lol:. That time was extra special but I think that goes without saying.

But other than that I don't think my relationship to them has changed much really, I've always just really liked their music and reading/watching stuff about them and getting excited when they release new music or do cool things, and still do.

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I am an 'older' newish Green Day fan, and have only recently joined the GDC forums. I would say I have been a big fan for about the last 5 years or so. We had the cd American Idiot in the house, we had got it after seeing their promo slot on Top Of The Pops, but I had not listened to it that much. I remember liking the title track and another song nearer the end (probably Letterbomb), but it wasn't until I watched the DVD Bullet In a Bible, that I got into them in a big way. I think it was probably the interviews, with the things that Billie Joe said, along with the fact that they can actually sing live, virtually as good as on record, (I just love Billie Joe's voice, it seems to just get better and better with every recording now), that decided it for me, and they have been my favourite band ever since 2007. I prefer their newer albums, Warning onwards, but like a lot of the earlier stuff too, but I think his voice on the earlier recordings sometimes puts me off. I love the re-recordings of Christie Rd, Burnout etc. I have gone on to collect as much as I can afford - all their albums on CD, some on vinyl, lots of singles (cd and vinyl), loads of other merch, and as many back issues of music mags where they are on the cover/featured as I can find (Rolling Stone/Q/Kerrang/AP, etc). I have been to see them twice in 2009/10, and feel I was lucky to do so.

I do listen to lots of different music, but find myself getting bored and always come back to Green Day, I think American Idiot is the best album I have ever heard, I love all the songs on it, obviously I am listening to Uno! virtually non-stop since it came out, and I think the whole trilogy will be brilliant, but I think given another 30 years, American Idiot will stand the test of time, and be up there with the other masterpieces from the last few decades.

In my eyes, they are the 'Last Band Standing', and I hope they go on to write many more brilliant records.

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The first album I ever bought was American Idiot. Green Day changed my life completely, taught me how to think for myself, etc. Inspired me to create, to write songs, make films, etc. I have a very very deep connection with Green Day to this day, they're my favorite band, and I enjoy all of their music. After AI, I collected all of their prior albums and learned every single word to every song, all of the words are now part of my DNA I believe. They were my first concert in 2005. I got into loads of other bands, and also love loads of other bands, but they've always been number one. 21st Century Breakdown came around and my love for them grew even more, I met some really great friends because of them, and turned new friends into die hard fans. They mean the world to me.

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I got into them in 2009. I just entered secondary school and didn't make friends yet (Actually no single person liked me at all :mellow: So glad it changed) and all my old ones went to different schools so I felt pretty lonely. So I sat feeling bored and down in the bus on my ride home and skimmed through my iPod, back then always filled with the current German Top 100, when 21st Century Breakdown (the song) caught my attention. So I gave it a try and it totally blew me away. Couldn't stop listening to it for days. A week later or so I rushed into the next music store and bought Nimrod and International Superhits - The rest is history :wub: So as cheesy as it sounds, but Green Day was without even knowing I exist like a friend to me in a time I had none and they still kinda are, but not as relevant as back then because I got to a point where I know who I am. They got me interested in that whole genre of music and I'm so grateful for that. Nowdays my iPod's full of amazing bands that deserve to be heard and that's never gonna change.

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American Idiot was the first album that truly enveloped me in the Green Day world. I was 12 at the time and have never looked back since. I remember desiring all of their other albums, which I acquired shortly after. Not to mention the pictures.... ALL of the pictures... in a binder that I still have today. Even with the long gap between AI and 21CB, I was still listening religiously. After 21CB, I started getting into other bands, and while I still listened to Green Day, it wasn't nearly as often. But with all the trilogy hype now, I've reverted to my old ways I suppose :lol:. I guess my relationship hasn't changed much... I pretty much listen to them daily, and they're really the only band who I actually care what they're up to.

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I remember when I first heard of Green Day. In 2003, I decided that the country music I'd grown up listening to didn't really resonate with me, and I decided that the pop rock that was on the radio sounded more interesting. My first favorite singer after my musical "conversion" was Avril Lavigne, and I was really obsessed for a little while. I remember her saying in some interview that her favorite band was this group called Green Day. They sounded interesting, so I looked them up on All Music. I saw that they had been active since the 80s and thought "Uh, they're so old!" So I didn't check out their music. (I was 13 still, so anything before I was born seemed ancient, lol.)

Then in summer 2004, I was watching MTV a lot, trying to discover new music to fill up my CD tower with. One day I saw "American Idiot" and noticed it was by Green Day - my favorite singer's favorite band!! I fell in love with that video and song. Every single time it came on TV, I would turn it up really loud and just soak it in. I LOVED that song and it never got old (even to this day). Then Boulevard Of Broken Dreams came out, and I loved it even more, but in a more emotionally moving kind of way. I loved their music and really wanted to get to know this incredible band. I remember that winter, literally every person in my high school math class (including my teacher!) was going to the Green Day concert - everyone except me :( I was so sad that I didn't find out about it until it was too late.

In March or April 2005, my dad finally bought me American Idiot. By then I wasn't as interested - I didn't like the new video for Holiday for some reason. I listened to the CD.... and hated it. It was really different from what I was used to, and hearing that much swearing and references to drugs kind of freaked me out or something, I don't know. I stopped it in the middle of Homecoming. Then, in summer that year, my dad convinced me to listen to the CD again, to see if I'd like it better this time. After persuading me, I finally did.... and I loved it! It was like the best music I had ever heard. So I listened to it again. And then one more time. My love for Green Day truly began that day. I became obsessed.

I spent the next year collecting all of their music, and grew to really love all of their different styles and lyrical themes. They seemed so real and relatable, but different too. They seemed like a band that could really change my life. For the first few years, I was just obsessed and wanted to learn everything I could about them. They didn't feel like my band or anything - eveyone liked them, so it felt more like I was fitting in my happening to love the most popular rock band in the world. They made me feel like I belonged in a way, but I also felt that my obsession with them also made me unique - no one else knew them as well as I did. And no one loved them as much as I did. They felt like someone everyone likes, but only I really understood. Or something.

Around 2007-2008 I kind of lost interest a tiny bit. I was listening to other bands. But after FBHT I started feeling intrigued by them again, and by the time 21st Century Breakdown was released, they were my absolute favorite band again. But this time they felt more like they belonged to me in a way - I'm not sure why. This is when I first saw them live too - in Seattle at their first tour stop, and in 2010 at their final North American show in California (I flew down there just for them). My crazy loyalty and obsession really blossomed at this time - I flew to California in 2009 to see their musical, flew there again the next year for their final concert, then flew all the way to NYC (the first time I'd been to the East Coast!!) to see St. Billie on Broadway. I suddenly had a dozen Green Day shirts. I was really wearing my love for Green Day on my sleeve, and was following them around the country (with the very little money I earned from working at a grocery store part time when not in college classes) because they somehow seemed that important to me.

Now, I feel like I love Green Day more than I ever have before. And they seem more special to me now - having seen them live, and with them not being the "popular" band right now, I feel more like I'm part of an exclusive group of people who really love Green Day. And now with Billie getting the help that he is, he feels more like a dear family member. Green Day has been such an important part of my life the last 7 years, and they have really defined who I am as a person. They shaped my taste in music in a lot of ways, and made me more comfortable in who I am. Nothing will ever replace the magic that American Idiot held for me, but I think part of that has to do with nostalgia, and a gratefulness for being able to discover the best band in the world. How I feel about Green Day changes over time, and I think now they feel closest to me - like family almost - and they will always have a special place in my heart. They have been my favorite band for a long time, and my love for them has only grown.

Plus, being able to share this special love of the wonderful band here on GDC has been invaluable! Being able to talk about them, share our different opinions about them/the songs/the albums, etc - this has been a wonderful experience that has added to my love of Green Day. I've only *really* been posting here for a few months, but already this feels like a bigger GD family. :wub:

p.s. Look how much Green Day inspires me - I wrote a freaking novel, haha!

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My "relationship" with Green Day has been doing nothing but growing, every single day. :)

There was only 1 person that told me it was a phase, but it fucking wasn't. Because every time people say something I don't like about them, is like I turned into a positive thing that makes me love them even more. Throughout my life there has been plenty of stuff I just stopped liking -not hating-, but this band isn't one of them. I don't know how to explain it... but they're always surprising me. And the music never ever gets old or boring, I'm always like re-discovering the songs.

And they keep me busy! With Green Day's music on my side I never feel alone or start thinking useless bullshit that doesn't worth my tears.

They make me happy. :happy: ♥

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They used to take me out and treat me nicely, but now we're both pretty much just in it for the sex.

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