Blasphemy & Genocide: Unpopular Green Day Opinions, Part 2

[JOE THE X-KID]

This must be a joke, seriously. You're entitled to your opinion but to say Green Day are sellouts because they made an album that had huge worldwide success, is just dumb.

[Steven Seagull]

This must be a joke, seriously. You're entitled to your opinion but to say Green Day are sellouts because they made an album that had huge worldwide success, is just dumb.

No one said that. They went from writing songs about masturbation and marijuana to becoming sages of 21st century by ripping off everything that made Dookie a success, then loading it with political bullpucky. They had an album prepared in 2003 but that one was stolen. From what I heard that album was more like their old stuff Nimrod/Warning not some rock opera fcs. With trilogy they actually returned to their roots.

[The Disappearing Boy]

lol

[Sauli]

No one said that. They went from writing songs about masturbation and marijuana to becoming sages of 21st century by ripping off everything that made Dookie acky.

No, like it or not, they had to change. Say, it would only has been a bad joke if they had written songs whose topics are merely masturbation, teenage love and weed when they were over 30. Sorry. Thats exactly whats so extraordinary about them. Instead of ripping off their earlier success and repeating the trick until it worns out, they came up with something new.

They were nearly written off already before the success of AI. The public would have forgotten them. So like it or not, the path they chose with American Idiot, was the only one that kept them still relevant. They couldn't have continued the way they used to anyway.

So like it or not, no matter if you like AI or not, without it Green Day would nowadays be remembered as a mid nimeties punk pop band with a few hits, but they wouldn't be in that position they are now. Also, the younger generations (including for example me) would most likely never had got into them.

[Steven Seagull]

No, like it or not, they had to change. Say, it would only has been a bad joke if they had written songs whose topics are merely masturbation, teenage love and weed when they were over 30. Sorry. Thats exactly whats so extraordinary about them. Instead of ripping off their earlier success and repeating the trick until it worns out, they came up with something new.

They were nearly written off already before the success of AI. The public would have forgotten them. So like it or not, the path they chose with American Idiot, was the only one that kept them still relevant. They couldn't have continued the way they used to anyway.

So like it or not, no matter if you like AI or not, without it Green Day would nowadays be remembered as a mid nimeties punk pop band with a few hits, but they wouldn't be in that position they are now. Also, the younger generations (including for example me) would most likely never have got into them.

No, cause they would stick to the old Green Day. Fans were around them since they started making music and they would still be around. And if this would actually happen what would we miss? AI and 21st CB. I am fine with that

[Hermione]

No one said that. They went from writing songs about masturbation and marijuana to becoming sages of 21st century by ripping off everything that made Dookie a success, then loading it with political bullpucky. They had an album prepared in 2003 but that one was stolen. From what I heard that album was more like their old stuff Nimrod/Warning not some rock opera fcs. With trilogy they actually returned to their roots.

The change was much more gradual than that. They matured with each album after their first, writing about stuff that affected them at the time. Have you listened to the lyrics of Warning? They were already writing way more outward looking lyrics at that point, talking about the problems of society rather than just personal concerns. American Idiot was a logical next step after that.

They've never just stayed the same and kept pointlessly making the same album over and over, they've always had the ambition to change and improve with each album. AI was just an extra big leap of ambition. And it basically tells the story of Billie's youth, set to the political backdrop of the time it was written. It's about the real life issues of Billie's own past and present, so I really don't see how they weren't being true to themselves with it! As for the "stolen" album, they've said it was similar to Warning, the same old stuff and not ambitious. They realized it wasn't good enough so they made something better instead - isn't doing their best instead of settling for something mediocre what a band should do?

No, cause they would stick to the old Green Day. Fans were around them since they started making music and they would still be around. And if this would actually happen what would we miss? AI and 21st CB. I am fine with that

They don't make music for fans/you. They make music for themselves. If you like it you can listen to it, if you don't like it too bad. If they made music to try to cater to what fans want instead of making the music they're inspired to make it would suck big time.

[JOE THE X-KID]

No one said that. They went from writing songs about masturbation and marijuana to becoming sages of 21st century by ripping off everything that made Dookie a success, then loading it with political bullpucky. They had an album prepared in 2003 but that one was stolen. From what I heard that album was more like their old stuff Nimrod/Warning not some rock opera fcs. With trilogy they actually returned to their roots.

So 30 year olds should be writing about Masturbation and smoking weed? thats just creepy. Like it or not , Green days sound hasn't really changed, even with American Idiot their core powerchord sound is still there. They had families and matured at that point, writing about current affairs that affected America and to some degree the world. Plus the trilogy isnt really a return to roots. One, they used a much cleaner guitar tones. Two, the themes of the trilogy are pretty much about fucking girls and wanting to fuck girls.

In contrast to their older songs which take a less sexist approach and are more based around teenage angst. Yes, i absolutely love older Green Day (or whatever you want to call it) but that was a point in time when they were young and im sure they're very proud of it, but they're adults now. They're outlook on the world is a lot different, just because you dont like that they've expanded their musicality and grown up doesnt mean they are sellouts.

[Hermione]

People keep saying the trilogy is sexist. I don't see how? Wanting to have sex with someone isn't automatically sexist, on the album there's a male character and female character who appear to be equally up for having a good time!

[Guest]

[JOE THE X-KID]

People keep saying the trilogy is sexist. I don't see how? Wanting to have sex with someone isn't automatically sexist, on the album there's a male character and female character who appear to be equally up for having a good time!

Sorry that was probably a bit of an exaggeration, but i was pissed haha

[Sauli]

But still, before Billie wrote about relationships in a creative,understanding way which is not very common in rock. That was the strength of their love songs. Those new songs are just too one-dimensional, though I wouldn't classify them as sexist necessarily.

[The Disappearing Boy]

They realized it wasn't good enough

Or Reprize, but I'm just being a conspiracy theorist here

[Hermione]

Sorry that was probably a bit of an exaggeration, but i was pissed haha

No need to apologize , wasn't only aimed at your comment and I know that wasn't even your main point, I've just noticed it being described that way a few times and disagree. I do agree with everything else you wrote, it's definitely true that he was writing about girls (and stuff in general) in a different way on the trilogy compared to on their early albums.

But still, before Billie wrote about relationships in a creative,understanding way which is not very common in rock. That was the strength of their love songs. Those new songs are just too one-dimensional, though I wouldn't classify them as sexist necessarily.

I'd agree there. But I think it applies to both sexes, on earlier albums he was writing about the more serious and complex sides of relationships, but on the Trilogy he wrote more specifically about the idea of going out and partying and having flings, and the good and bad consequences. It's that one dimension of men being explored as well as that one dimension of women, men aren't portrayed with any more complexity. I'd say there are some more creative and understanding lyrics as well, but again that applies to men and women, there's more reflective songs such as Amy, Amanda or Wild One where women have more dimensions just as there's songs like Lazy Bones where the man has more dimensions. The complexity or lack of complexity never seems biased towards one sex or the other to me.

Or Reprize, but I'm just being a conspiracy theorist here

Probably both . I'm going by Green Day's account that they realized it wasn't "maximum Green Day" and resolved to push themselves further, whether that realization was influenced by Reprise's reaction and/or tapes being stolen or not I'm not sure but they did arrive at it somehow.

[Sauli]

I'd agree there. But I think it applies to both sexes, on earlier albums he was writing about the more serious and complex sides of relationships, but on the Trilogy he wrote more specifically about the idea of going out and partying and having flings, and the good and bad consequences. It's that one dimension of men being explored as well as that one dimension of women, men aren't portrayed with any more complexity. I'd say there are some more creative and understanding lyrics as well, but again that applies to men and women, there's more reflective songs such as Amy, Amanda or Wild One where women become more dimensional just as there's songs like Lazy Bones where the man becomes more dimensional. The complexity or lack of complexity never seems biased towards one sex or the other to me.

You're right, it isn't sexist, but personally I prefer those lyrically more "deep" songs. I have neved been a fan of music that is merely about partying and stuff, which for example explains why much of generic hard rock has never hadany appeal to me. But lyrics are very important to me, I suppose I pay more attention for them, for good or bad, than most of us..

[The Disappearing Boy]

Probably both . I'm going by Green Day's account that they realized it wasn't "maximum Green Day" and resolved to push themselves further, whether that realization was influenced by Reprise's reaction and/or tapes being stolen or not I'm not sure but they did arrive at it somehow.

My reading of the whole thing is this: someone, somewhere along the line realised it was crap, and so it needed to be scraped. That could be Green Day or someone from Reprize. But the fact that Warning had done so poorly commercially and critically must have been in the back of their minds (certainly Reprize, if not Green Day), and I think that would have helped to make up their minds about scrapping the album. It'd just be interesting to know if that decision came from a financial or artistic/creative stand point. They then just decided to put out a cover story about it being stolen.

Either way, I do wonder if Reprize might tell Green Day to up their game, so to speak, after the poor commercial/critical performance of the Trilogy. But then again maybe not, as that poor performance was pretty much entirely down to rehab, which was obviously an unforeseen circumstance.

[Purple Haze]

It's boring, something a beginner guitarist could come up with. The verse is like: "meh, just get over with it". Worst GD single. And the music video with all that hulk semen is just . So funny when people say it's extremely important.

Well "Kill the DJ" was hardly Jimi Hendrix either.

[Hermione]

My reading of the whole thing is this: someone, somewhere along the line realised it was crap, and so it needed to be scraped. That could be Green Day or someone from Reprize. But the fact that Warning had done so poorly commercially and critically must have been in the back of their minds (certainly Reprize, if not Green Day), and I think that would have helped to make up their minds about scrapping the album. It'd just be interesting to know if that decision came from a financial or artistic/creative stand point. They then just decided to put out a cover story about it being stolen.

Either way, I do wonder if Reprize might tell Green Day to up their game, so to speak, after the poor commercial/critical performance of the Trilogy. But then again maybe not, as that poor performance was pretty much entirely down to rehab, which was obviously an unforeseen circumstance.

Yeah it would be interesting to know the full/real story. I suppose that side of things is never going to be something that bands and record companies are totally open about though, which is somewhat understandable.

[Purple Haze]

People keep saying the trilogy is sexist. I don't see how? Wanting to have sex with someone isn't automatically sexist, on the album there's a male character and female character who appear to be equally up for having a good time!

"I wanna choke you 'till you're blue in the face". Well, maybe that's more misogynistic. I agree that the whole trilogy isn't misogynistic though, just a few songs from Dos.

[Spike]

music revolution != sell out

You honestly think there's such a thing as a sell out? Oh dear.

[SmoothedOut]

My reading of the whole thing is this: someone, somewhere along the line realised it was crap, and so it needed to be scraped. That could be Green Day or someone from Reprize. But the fact that Warning had done so poorly commercially and critically must have been in the back of their minds (certainly Reprize, if not Green Day), and I think that would have helped to make up their minds about scrapping the album. It'd just be interesting to know if that decision came from a financial or artistic/creative stand point. They then just decided to put out a cover story about it being stolen.

Either way, I do wonder if Reprize might tell Green Day to up their game, so to speak, after the poor commercial/critical performance of the Trilogy. But then again maybe not, as that poor performance was pretty much entirely down to rehab, which was obviously an unforeseen circumstance.

I think they made the fans expect too much. Before the release, there was talk about Uno sounding like the early Beatles and AC/DC (I didn't see the point of that comparison then since Green Day has always sounded like those great rock n' roll bands). Also, they let us in on the creative process of creating the Trilogy. I thought it was cool of them to do this but, after watching the clips, I thought the band was going to write songs about longboarding, skating, and biking and ditch the themed approach. I was wrong. Others might have expected different things, but it's no doubt that the band gave us a lot to expect.

[Guest]

So basically you have just confirmed my statement that AI is the album that made them sell outs.

2004 called. It wants its insult back.

[The Disappearing Boy]

1994 called. It wants its insult back.

FTFY

At least in Green Day's case anyway!

[Spike]

FTFY :lol:At least in Green Day's case anyway!

Don't you mean in Green Day's... basket case?

[Sauli]

^

That is so bad joke I repped you only because it is so sad to see you how low you have fallen.

[Spike]

^

That is so bad joke I repped you only because it is so sad to see you how low you have fallen.

I was never that high to start with.