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Songs that should have been singles/had music videos


Jean

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Are there any songs that you think would have done well as singles or that you would be interested in seeing music videos for? What would the videos be of? (live footage/storylines, etc.) Out of all of their albums, not just the trilogy.

I think pre-Dookie, some good singles would have been:

1000 Hours

The Judge's Daughter

Road to Acceptance

I would be interested in seeing a video for Rest. I imagine it would be them playing live but with surreal effects on the video too give it a trippy look.

Kerplunk:

2000 Light Years Away

Christie Road

No One Knows

One of My Lies

I would add Welcome to Paradise but that's a single for Dookie.

As for Dookie, I think the singles were picked well but I wish there was an official video for She (it could be when Billie played naked lol). I also think Pulling Teeth would have been a good single. Maybe Burnout too.

Insomniac, ehhh it's my least favourite album but I think they picked all the right singles.

Nimrod:

I would have liked an alternate video for Hitchin A Ride. Before I watched it, I had imagined a 1930s theme but like, have the band as detectives on a case... and at one point, they're in a taxi chasing bad guys (or are they the bad guys? dundundun). I imagined Billie looking like he did in Haunted with the hat.

Other singles:

Worry Rock (I think the only problem would be the "fucked without a kiss again" line)

Uptight

Prosthetic Head

Warning:

Church On Sunday

Castaway

Hold On

American Idiot:

Extraordinary Girl

Give Me Novacaine (maybe with She's A Rebel, like a joint video similar to Brain Stew/Jaded)

21st Century Breakdown:

I wish there was an official video for Last Night On Earth (I do like the live one though)

Singles:

See the Light (instead of 21st Century Breakdown)

Before the Lobotomy

I'll leave the trilogy alone for now and see what else they do with it this year.

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Green Day used to be fantastic with choosing singles, which is very obvious with the huge success of songs ranging from Basket Case, Brain Stew, Good Riddance, Waiting and BOBD.

Then, 21st Century Breakdown came around, and so did the poor single choosing and promotion. Choosing the horrible Know Your Enemy as the lead single was such a poor decision, it sounded like they were trying to remake the single American Idiot, but the end result was an incredibly repetitive and disappointing single.

I think it was Andres who made the comment that East Jesus Nowhere would have been the perfect lead single for the album, and it really would have. It had the energy that the band had at the moment, a great hook, and a little bit of controversy thrown in there. Even though it became a single later, it was promoted very poorly and got a friggin live video. I would have loved to see Little Girl become a single also, it could have been a hit.

Uno rolls around, and once again, another bad lead single was chosen. Oh Love was incredibly disappointing on first listen, and it still is flat to be honest. It was a very underwhelming introduction for the trilogy hype to say the least. If they chose Nuclear Family as the lead single, I probably would have caved on the leak because I would have been that excited for the album. It could have put Green Day back in the mainstream, but nah. Didn't happen.

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Dookie : She needed a music video

Nimrod : Scattered or Take back need a music video

American Idiot: Letterbomb would've had a badass music video... I see many explosions in it

21CB: Peacemaker or a good East Jesus Nowhere music video

UNO: Rusty James

DOS: Lazy Bones, Wow! that's Loud which would've had a crazy horny party music video

TRE: Dirty Rotten Bastards, and X-kid (which I think will happen)

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It would have been extraordinary if all of the American Idiot music videos were connected and formed a mini-movie with Billie Joe playing St. Jimmy and maybe Mike as Jesus of Suburbia. (Since St. Jimmy is like the dark alter ego of Jesus of Suburbia, I think that would have worked nicely.) This would have given American Idiot a greater thread of consistency and brought the concept full circle with all of the music videos interconnected. I really wish a band would make a concept album with the music videos forming a mini-movie. This might already exist though, either way, I want it!

I would have changed 21st Century Breakdown's two lead singles from 21 Guns and Know Your Enemy to East Jesus Nowhere and Peacemaker. Yeah, East Jesus Nowhere and Peacemaker are not nearly as radio friendly as 21 Guns and Know Your Enemy, but I really don't care. (:

Imagine if the first thing people heard from Green Day in their 5 year break was East Jesus Nowhere and not Know Your Enemy, or if Peacemaker was as huge as 21 Guns was.

As for the trilogy, I would scrap Oh Love as a single and the music video and replace it with Nuclear Family. Stay the Night and Carpe Diem had the potential to be very strong singles and music videos. For DOS, I would keep the Stray Heart single and video, and add Lazy Bones and Wow! That's Loud. Finally TRE, X-Kid as the lead single with The Forgotten as the sad reflective second single and either Missing You or Walk Away as the final single/video of the trilogy.

What I edited: Some freaking typos that I missed in my proof read before I posted it.

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1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours era:

At The Library
The Judge's Daughter

Paper Lanterns

Kerplunk:

2,000 Light Years Away

Christie Road

One Of My Lies

Who Wrote Holden Caulfield?

Dookie's singles were well picked out. I don't think I'd change anything about the singles from it.

Insomniac:

Armatage Shanks

Bab's Uvula Who?

86

Nimrod:

Haushinka

King For a Day

Warning:

Church on Sunday

Fashion Victim

Deadbeat Holiday

American Idiot:

Are We the Waiting

Letterbomb

Homecoming

I personally believe it'd be a great idea if they had made a music video for every song on American Idiot that fit in with the story line. A movie made out of music videos, you know? It'd be a cool project for a fan to take on too.

21st Century Breakdown:

Before the Lobotomy

Horseshoes and Handgrenades

American Eulogy

Uno:

Nuclear Family

Fell For You

Angel Blue

I'm not going to discuss my picks for Dos or Tre because the band hasn't even released singles for those. I hope they pick some more rock-ish songs for them though, since Uno kind of picked the weirder songs off the album, in my opinion.

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1039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours: Dry Ice and Paper Lanterns

Kerplunk: 2000 Light Years Away, No One Knows and Christie Road

Dookie: She

Insomniac: 86 and No Pride

Nimrod: Platypus and Scattered

American Idiot: Letterbomb and Homecoming

21CB: Murder City

UNO: Rusty James

DOS: Lazy Bones and Stop When Red Lights Flashes

TRE: Dirty Rotten Bastards and X-Kid

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2000 Light Years Away should've been re-released on Dookie as a single

She NEEDS a music video so bad

Scattered as a single, I can imagine its music video would look like Good Riddance/Waiting's music videos

Murder City instead of LotAG, also needs a video

Stay the Night as lead single for Uno, Oh Love as second

X Kid needs a music video

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Dookie: "She" NEEDED A VIDEO

Insomniac: "86" NEEDED A VIDEO

Nimrod: "Worry Rock" NEEDED A VIDEO

Warning: "Church on Sunday" NEEDED A VIDEO

American Idiot: "Letterbomb" NEEDED A VIDEO

21st Century Breakdown: "American Eulogy" NEEDED A VIDEO

UNO: "Let yourself go" NEEDED A PROPER VIDEO

DOS: "Lazy Bones" NEEDED TO BE THE FIRST VIDEO

TRE: "Dirty Rotten Bastards" NEEDS A VIDEO!!

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In my honest opinion.......the entirety of American Idiot hahaha

That's my wet dream. Seriously.

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Dookie - She rest is good

Insomniac - 86 or Panic Song they should have made a better video for Stuck With Me rest is good

Nimrod - The Grouch or King for a Day rest is good

Warning - Church on Sunday rest is good

American Idiot - Letterbomb or Homecoming rest is good

21st CB - East Jesus Nowhere leading single Horsehoes and Handgrenades American Eulogy take out Last of the American Girls rest is ok

iUno! - Nuclear Family as lead single live video of LYG is pretty good but should have made a music video for that Loss of Control and rest is ok

iDos! - Stray Heart good leading Lazy Bones, Wow! Thats Loud, Wild One and Fuck Time w/ See You Tonight in the begining

iTre! - X-Kid, Dirty Rotten Bastards, Brutal Love, 99 Revolutions and Sex, Drugs, and Violence The Forgotten is ok

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Interesting topic. I'm always thinking I could pick singles better, because I'm clearly a very humble person.

I will ask that you guys please give reasons for your choices to make this thread more interesting and to avoid it just becoming a list of song titles. Thanks :wub:

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I haven't really thought about the CDs pre-American Idiot so much in terms of singles. They seem good overall, though I would have made Prosthetic Head a single, and maybe Having A Blast and Blood, Sex, And Booze too. But I'm going to focus on their more recent albums, because I was here for them and have been forming opinions about them already.

I think American Idiot was done really well - I loved all the singles. However, I would add Extraordinary Girl and Give Me Novacaine, and maybe Whatsername, as singles. Actually, it would have been really cool if every song had a video and told a full story, like drumdreez mentioned.

21st Century Breakdown was a total disaster regarding singles, and I think that's the main reason it wasn't more successful. The first single should have been East Jesus Nowhere, and it should have had a proper video. It has energy and isn't annoyingly repetitive. It perfectly captured Green Day's sound at that time, and it's the kind of song people can really get into. The follow-up single would still be 21 Guns, because it's beautiful, and it was pretty popular. After that I would have wanted Peacemaker as single #3, but the next few are where I'm still undecided. I want to include ¿Viva La Gloria? (Little GIrl), Restless Heart Syndrome, and maybe Horseshoes & Handgrenades and Before The Lobotomy... and Last Night On Earth.... but that's too many singles. So, I'll just stick with five singles: EJN, 21 Guns, Peacemaker, ¿Viva La Gloria?, and RHS. All with real videos and good promotion.

(And in the video for Restless Heart Syndrome, I think it should start off with Billie playing the piano and singing in this black room with minimal lighting - maybe candles or something. I've always imagined that for some reason, since I first heard the song. Peacemaker's video should be sexy and dangerous. That's all I know.)

Regarding the trilogy... I think Kill The DJ would have been a good first single for Uno, because it kind of fits the dancey pop music that's popular, but it's different and surfy and awesome. I would also fix up the video a bit. Take out the motorcycle thing, put in scenes of Billie walking in the dark NYC setting, make it dangerous and party-ish and amazing. Then I think Oh Love could be a better second single. Again, fix up the video so people aren't so bored/offended (or whatever the main complaints are) by it.

Then Dos can keep Stray Heart as a single (but it'd actually be released as a single, like with radio airplay and such). Then I'd love to see Wild One and/or Wow! That's Loud and/or Amy and/or Lazy Bones as singles.

And Tré: Dirty Rotten Bastards first, then maybe X-Kid, Brutal Love, The Forgotten (but with a just GD video) ....

The trilogy was hard for me. There are so many great songs! And with them so close together, I don't know how to make it work well.

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I don't generally like things like this, but I have a few ideas.

I'm pretty much okay with everything pre Warning. I would have liked to see Castaway as a single instead of Warning or Waiting, I feel like it's a much more energetic song outside of the slightly sterile singles chosen (outside of Minority). Nothing would have made Warning a financial success, but then again I love underrated classics.

American Idiot had fantastic singles. They were played a little too much for my tastes (and I've never been a fan of milking power ballads as singles) but overall it was a great choice.

21st Century Breakdown, like for many of you, is where I think they really dropped the ball. Know Your Enemy is a good song in my opinion (it's fantastic live and it's got fucking gooood lyrics) but at face value its simply too poppy. Most people disregarded it as such, so they didn't embrace it the way they embraced the political and energetic punch that American Idiot had as a lead single. I would have probably gone with East Jesus Nowhere as the lead single. 21 Guns would have stayed as a follow-up single (even though I loathe that song). After that, I think I would have chosen to release The Static Age or Last of the American Girls as a single. Another energetic punk rocker would also be nice; in that case I would have gone with Mass Hysteria. The title track would be the last single released, sort of like how JOS was released last for American Idiot.

In regards to Uno, the lead single for me would have been Nuclear Family or Stay The Night. Follow up would be Let Yourself Go, followed by Kill The DJ and then Oh Love as the final single.

Dos would still have Stray Heart as the lead single. It's a great song and it could probably replicate the indie success of Mother Mary, if it got proper attention. Stop When The Red Lights Flash or Makeout Party would follow as an energetic follow through. Amy is the pop ballad that gets through, and the closing single would be Nightlife, just to alienate the world.

Tre is the one album that I think has the right singles chosen. It would debut with X-Kid, without a doubt, a nice middle ground between energetic punk rock and alternative sensibilities. Then 8th Avenue Serenade, to tickle the side of pop radio. 99 Revolutions would function as the political attention grabber, with The Forgotten working as the closing ballad. Closing until Dirty Rotten Bastards is released, once again in the vein of JOS being released as the final American Idiot single.

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Nimrod : Scattered or Take back need a music video

In what universe would Take Back be a good single? Surely you'd want the singles to be successful, right?

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AI was handled pretty much perfectly singles wise. Even though Holiday didn't perform as well as AI, BOBD and WMUWSE, I still would have released it as the third single. I probably would have released Give Me Novocaine as the last single instead of Jesus of Suburbia, only because the length of JOS would have hindered it's number of radio plays.

Uno - Stay the Night should have been the lead single. I think if they stuck to one song for most of the promotions the lead single would have taken off better. Given the short release space between the trilogy albums, I would have only released two songs from each. Let Yourself Go would have been the second single.

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Sassafras Roots should have been a video because the sound and the rythm of the song describes very well Dookie.

Westbound Sign for Insomniac because it's an awesome song and it's different from the other songs from Insomniac.

Uptight and Worry Rock should have been music videos, because those songs should have been singles and should have had their music videos.

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Dookie - Was perfect in my opinion.

Insomniac - 86

Nimrod - Jinx/Haushinka, or even The Grouch, Worry Rock, Scattered or Uptight. Any of them would have been great.

Warning - Fashion Victim or Church on Sunday

American Idiot - Definitely Homecoming but Letterbomb and Whatersname would also have been good. Infact they could have made a video for everything on American Idiot.

21st CB - American Eulogy, The Static Age

iUno! - Nuclear Family or Stay The Night as lead single, Let Yourself Go and Rusty James.

iDos! - Lazy Bones

iTre! - X-Kid (lead single), Dirty Rotten Bastards, Brutal Love, 99 Revolutions. Infact I would have been happy with almost any single from iTre!

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coming clean

no pride

scattered

deadbeat holiday

give me novacaine

viva la gloria

stay the night

lazy bones

missing you

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I think that Stray Heart should have been the lead single from the trilogy instead of Oh Love. Because it's my favourite song and I think it's much more suited for a lot of radio airplay than Oh Love. And I think that it could have been the first single even though it's from Dos, hell even the guys thought about releasing it as the first single. Then the video should have been the same except that you'd see the band playing in some parts.

And Stay The Night should have been the 2nd single from the trilogy (with a video that isn't just them in the rehearsal studio).

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Are there any songs that you think would have done well as singles or that you would be interested in seeing music videos for? What would the videos be of? (live footage/storylines, etc.) Out of all of their albums, not just the trilogy.

I think pre-Dookie, some good singles would have been:

1000 Hours

The Judge's Daughter

Road to Acceptance

I would be interested in seeing a video for Rest. I imagine it would be them playing live but with surreal effects on the video too give it a trippy look.

Kerplunk:

2000 Light Years Away

Christie Road

No One Knows

One of My Lies

I would add Welcome to Paradise but that's a single for Dookie.

As for Dookie, I think the singles were picked well but I wish there was an official video for She (it could be when Billie played naked lol). I also think Pulling Teeth would have been a good single. Maybe Burnout too.

Insomniac, ehhh it's my least favourite album but I think they picked all the right singles.

Nimrod:

I would have liked an alternate video for Hitchin A Ride. Before I watched it, I had imagined a 1930s theme but like, have the band as detectives on a case... and at one point, they're in a taxi chasing bad guys (or are they the bad guys? dundundun). I imagined Billie looking like he did in Haunted with the hat.

Other singles:

Worry Rock (I think the only problem would be the "fucked without a kiss again" line)

Uptight

Prosthetic Head

Warning:

Church On Sunday

Castaway

Hold On

American Idiot:

Extraordinary Girl

Give Me Novacaine (maybe with She's A Rebel, like a joint video similar to Brain Stew/Jaded)

21st Century Breakdown:

I wish there was an official video for Last Night On Earth (I do like the live one though)

Singles:

See the Light (instead of 21st Century Breakdown)

Before the Lobotomy

I'll leave the trilogy alone for now and see what else they do with it this year.

I think just about every album up to 21CB was correct in the choice of it's singles. Since then it's been awful.

Extraordinary Girl is comfortably the worst song on American Idiot. Difficult to argue with the singles from that album seeing as they were all MASSIVE. i'd argue maybe Letterbomb too.

Know Your Enemy was a truly awful single. Would've like to have seen Murder City, Static Age or even American Eulogy and Viva La Gloria as singles.

Trilogy singles should've been centred around Stray Heart, X-Kid, Lazy Bones and Amy.

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