Can GD Make Another AI?

[UNICORN VOMIT]

Just now, stories and songs said:

Alright, everyone needs to start holding up signs at concerts that say "ZOMBIE ROCK OPERA" to plant the seed. 

Or #nokfadonthesetlist

sorry couldn't resist😂

[Hero_Of_The_Hour]

Holy crap...my Zombie Idiot idea could actually catch on! I better call that Michael Mayer guy and copyright it!

[Josh100_3]

You've got to remember that there was 6 albums BEFORE american idiot. Everybody figured dookie would be the classic all time album.

 

Give them time, who knows what they will pull off 5 - 10 years from now.

[Steven Seagull]

7 hours ago, Psycho Shop said:

I can't wait until Seagull finds this thread  As much as I like American Idiot, I wouldn't want another, we'd all only think they were too formulaic. I hope they can make something as great and successful as AI though, however unlikely.

Found it!

My reaction to the title

Now lets talk about another Dookie instead!

[Thatsername]

Honesty, I'm tired of people saying "they should make another AI" or "they should make another Dookie". Each album had its time and it stands on its own. I think that's a mistake many bands do, they try to repeat their biggest success and fail most of the time, because it just seems forced. One of the many things I love about GD is that they're not afraid of trying new things, even if they fall on their faces. They move on, they grow.

Maybe they will release an album with just one 45-minute song about a possible President Trump fucking up the world (I know Billie said he doesn't get any inspiration out of this guy, but who knows?). Maybe they decide to become a jazz band. I have no idea, but they will always find ways to surprise us. Everything's possible

[BullwinkleCheech]

In reaction to the title of this thread; Green Day can not and will not create anything like AI or Dookie ever again. The momentum is over and Revolution Radio has proven that. It's a good album but nothing like AI or Dookie.

[BilIie Joe Armstrong]

I'd be much happier if they just...didn't. Why recreate something when they can do something new? 

[Hero_Of_The_Hour]

3 hours ago, Jane Lannister said:

I'd be much happier if they just...didn't. Why recreate something when they can do something new? 

 

I don't think the idea of the thread (though obviously I made a little joke about the zombie AI) was about recreating American Idiot, it's asking if we think they'll ever make anything as great, groundbreaking or monumental again. 

Honestly given that since 2009 they've released nothing that remotely moves me I feel Billie seems to have somehow lost direction especially lyrically and I think we've seen the best of Green Day. It was everything from when they formed up to and including 21St Century Breakdown. If he had anything amazing in him I feel he would have pulled it out of the bag for this album because he'd want to make a huge impression given the lack of enthusiasm for the trilogy but if this is the best they can come up with it's really disappointing. Especially lyrically given the amount of crap going on in the world at this very moment there's an infinite amount of inspiration for a decent writer to draw inspiration from and the Billie Joe of 2004 would have blown us away with his lyrics. Instead when he did draw on current political situations like with the title track he fucked up with lines like "give me cherry bombs and gasoline" when talking about the Black Lives Movement that does not support violence. Personally to go back to the thread title no, I don't think we'll ever get another epic album like AI unfortunately. Just open the lyric sheets of Insomniac, Dookie, Warning, American Idiot and place them next to Uno, Dos, Tre and Revrad and you see a slide in quality. My opinion anyway. 

[James11693]

I think the real question is, can Green Day make another Breakdown?

[Wretched & Divine]

No. And that's okay. Michael Jackson never made another Thriller, but he continued to be successful and creative up until Invincible in the early 00s. I don't think it's healthy to allow an artist's most successful record set your expectations because you're bound to be disappointed and underwhelmed by everything else they do.

American Idiot had an impact on pop culture at the time that really can't be overstated. It's not fair on the guys to compare everything to that.

[Alan86]

13 hours ago, MikeDirntConfused said:

Do you guys think GD can pull off another AI? I'm not necessarily talking about in terms of popularity, but in terms of content. Seriously, the album is my personal favorite and I genuinely think it belongs somewhere on the greatest albums ever created. After AI, GD just fell off for me. It's still my favorite band, but something's off.

I believe that album was a once in a career type deal. Everything aligned perfectly for them and the music they produced was just brilliant.

 

 

It's kinda unfair to judge anything they release now against that album because it's not normal to be able to keep to that standard.

I try not to compare new albums to their past because it's unfair. Everyone will have a favourite album that they are attached to and to compare a new album to one you are so attached to..... well the new album is never going to stand a chance against your favourite is it? 

Im trying to judge RevRad on its own and so far I'm really liking it. 

[MikeDirntConfused]

I don't really mean another rock opera. I mean something as well developed. I mean, I've been listening to random GD songs from the 90's - early 2000s such as Redundant, Waiting, She, Hitchin a Ride, etc. and I found that while being simple songs, they have quality and a lot of thought put into them. Now listen to the duds of the trilogy and RevRad. It's like everything declined - the music, lyrics, effort, etc. since 2012. Personally, I didn't like 21st Century, but the quality and effort was there - there's no denying that. 

[stories and songs]

Isn't quality and effort subjective from a listener's point of view, though? I happen to think RevRad is a really quality album with a lot of heart, and I think from everything they've told us about making it, they put a lot of effort into it. It might not resonate with you on the same level some of their previous work did, but it's rather hard for anyone to state flat out that they're not trying hard enough. A lot of the Trilogy didn't resonate with me, but that doesn't negate the fact that I'm positive they worked really hard on it.

[zeldachick14]

I mean i feel like the songs on revrad are really intertwined but separate at the same time like AI and 21CB. If you wanted to you could call it a concept album in my opinion. It's just how you look at it y'know. 

[Maddie86]

13 hours ago, Billie Hoe said:

Yeah, about that. If I recall correctly, they went into the studio with Warning without having a single lyric written. Talk about effort

you must be mistaken, I've never heard that. Billie did say in Heart Like a Hand Grenade though that nimrod was a lyrical nighmare because he had to write a lot of the lyrics in the studio. They wrote a lot of songs for it and tried to find the album within the songs. they said that with Warning they just focused on writing a smaller amount of more inspired songs

[Billie Hoe]

15 minutes ago, Kyle Serlington said:

you must be mistaken, I've never heard that. Billie did say in Heart Like a Hand Grenade though that nimrod was a lyrical nighmare because he had to write a lot of the lyrics in the studio. They wrote a lot of songs for it and tried to find the album within the songs. they said that with Warning they just focused on writing a smaller amount of more inspired songs

right! that was nimrod. i must have mixed something up. 

[Leni.]

38 minutes ago, Kyle Serlington said:

you must be mistaken, I've never heard that. Billie did say in Heart Like a Hand Grenade though that nimrod was a lyrical nighmare because he had to write a lot of the lyrics in the studio. They wrote a lot of songs for it and tried to find the album within the songs. they said that with Warning they just focused on writing a smaller amount of more inspired songs

I thought he said it in Cuatro but I'm not sure, doesn't matter  

[BilIie Joe Armstrong]

17 minutes ago, Hero_Of_The_Hour said:

 

I don't think the idea of the thread (though obviously I made a little joke about the zombie AI) was about recreating American Idiot, it's asking if we think they'll ever make anything as great, groundbreaking or monumental again. 

Honestly given that since 2009 they've released nothing that remotely moves me I feel Billie seems to have somehow lost direction especially lyrically and I think we've seen the best of Green Day. It was everything from when they formed up to and including 21St Century Breakdown. If he had anything amazing in him I feel he would have pulled it out of the bag for this album because he'd want to make a huge impression given the lack of enthusiasm for the trilogy but if this is the best they can come up with it's really disappointing. Especially lyrically given the amount of crap going on in the world at this very moment there's an infinite amount of inspiration for a decent writer to draw inspiration from and the Billie Joe of 2004 would have blown us away with his lyrics. Instead when he did draw on current political situations like with the title track he fucked up with lines like "give me cherry bombs and gasoline" when talking about the Black Lives Movement that does not support violence. Personally to go back to the thread title no, I don't think we'll ever get another epic album like AI unfortunately. Just open the lyric sheets of Insomniac, Dookie, Warning, American Idiot and place them next to Uno, Dos, Tre and Revrad and you see a slide in quality. My opinion anyway. 

I agree with you on a lot of this. 

I don't think they will do anything as influential and huge as AI, however I don't even expect them to. One iconic album is a big success, having two is extraordinary. As much as I'd like to consider AI their standard it just isn't but it is pretty spectacular that so many people think so. It's kind of a curse surrounding everything they've done since, though. 

I wouldn't say Billie lost direction lyrically but he sure changed it. I agree that a lot of what he's written in recent years is questinable. His writing has become much more metaphorical, full of similes  (some of which are somewhere on a scale from weird to downright cringey), and much less straightforward. Sometimes it's hard to understand what he wanted to say and some of it is just word salad - it's hard to say where is the line drawn sometimes, to be honest. Not all of it is bad, though. Yes, certain three albums were underwhelming but this writing style was used on 21cb too, effectively and it suited the record very well. 

I'm can't exactly call myself a fan of this style, however I think it's good he tried a different approach to writing, perhaps a more challenging one. It would be boring and even more formulaic if he kept writing songs using same methods. 

And yeah, RevRad the song has shitty lyrics. I couldn't argue even if I wanted to. I still enjoy it in private, though. It has a catchy melody. What a shame the lyrics are so poor - it might have been an outstanding song. I have no problem with lyrics of the rest of the album, maybe except for Youngblood. He didn't go very in-depth about the social issues he wrote about but Green Day have never gone into too much detail in this type of songs and the fact that lyrics aren't very gaphic doesn't mean they aren't meaningful. 

[stories and songs]

With Bang Bang existing in the world, I can't agree that he has slipped in the quality of his writing. That song is really different for him and very effective. He has changed his style over the years, and it's not everyone's cup of tea. I do think that when he's writing from the first person (either himself or a character), he's much, much more focused than when he's trying to capture a concept or idea (like RevRad the song, or Know Your Enemy—even though Know Your Enemy is hugely important in context of the full album). He has the innate ability to make his own life issues very relatable, and that hasn't gone away. Sometimes when he's trying to capture a broader topic he goes a little too abstract, but even then it's not always the case. I know the "We live in troubled times" isn't a unique statement, but the verses in that song are particularly well written. 

[BilIie Joe Armstrong]

2 minutes ago, stories and songs said:

With Bang Bang existing in the world, I can't agree that he has slipped in the quality of his writing. That song is really different for him and very effective. He has changed his style over the years, and it's not everyone's cup of tea. I do think that when he's writing from the first person (either himself or a character), he's much, much more focused than when he's trying to capture a concept or idea (like RevRad the song, or Know Your Enemy—even though Know Your Enemy is hugely important in context of the full album). He has the innate ability to make his own life issues very relatable, and that hasn't gone away. Sometimes when he's trying to capture a broader topic he goes a little too abstract, but even then it's not always the case. I know the "We live in troubled times" isn't a unique statement, but the verses in that song are particularly well written. 

"We live in troubled times" is blunt on purpose. It's simple and it would be a cliche if it weren't so very true. 

You make a very good point: when he's thinking of a more abstract concept (no characters no story) he tends to work with associations. The ideas are loosely connected but it's mostly about creating a feeling than about conveying a definite meaning. It's quite common in modern poetry. 

[That Dude]

RevRad has similar vibes and After RevRad's cycle, they'll probably focus efforts on the American Idiot film which will get them even more in the spirit of things and perhaps influence the next album to be American Idiot II.  

Everybody keeps asking them about politics and about how this would have been a perfect time for another one, and I think why Billie sort of dodges the question is because really, it was never about politics.  It was about a boy and a girl.  And that's timeless.   

2020-something will be time.  

American Idiot: Dos!

We get to find out what happens to Jesus and Amanda as they continue breathing.    

[stories and songs]

I think American Idiot, 21CB, and this album were never really about politics, I agree. It's about the emotions people deal with living in a world like this, with political issues as a backdrop. AI was conceived in the immediate post-9/11 world, but it didn't specifically talk about Bush or a terrorist attack. It talked about normal people trying to find their way in a new and pretty scary reality. That's why I'm puzzled when people complain RevRad isn't specific enough politically, when this is easily the most specific they've gotten about issues like gun control and police brutality.

[Maddie86]

3 hours ago, Ellen Caulfield said:

I thought he said it in Cuatro but I'm not sure, doesn't matter  

oops! my bad! looks like I'm the one who was mistaken now!

[BilIie Joe Armstrong]

7 hours ago, Alan86 said:

I believe that album was a once in a career type deal. Everything aligned perfectly for them and the music they produced was just brilliant.

 

 

It's kinda unfair to judge anything they release now against that album because it's not normal to be able to keep to that standard.

I try not to compare new albums to their past because it's unfair. Everyone will have a favourite album that they are attached to and to compare a new album to one you are so attached to..... well the new album is never going to stand a chance against your favourite is it? 

Im trying to judge RevRad on its own and so far I'm really liking it. 

I wish I could like this more than once. 

[Dakke]

Can they? Surely. But it is important to consider that, amongst other factors, the musical landscape of 2016 differs vastly from 2004. Mainstream rock ruled the airwaves in 2004 (Coldplay, U2p, now Twenty One Pilots and hiphop-infused alternative battle for the charts with dance and more poppy alternative music. Secondly, consider the background. In the early 2000s they were overtaken by blink-182, Sum 41, New Found Glory and Good Charlotte, but they still co-headlined a major pop punk tour with blink. Their troubles were mainly musically with the dissatisfying Cigarettes & Valentines, which propelled them to produce something radically different with American Idiot, which prevailed as the poster child of the post 9/11, anti-Bush rock movement in 2004. In 2013, their latest records had bombed commercially (Dos! and Tré! were barely marketed or remarked), received a very mixed critical reception and Billie was in rehab, forcing them to cut their tour short. In 2014, they had more personal demons to combat. To the mainstream public, they hadn't produced anything noteworthy since 2009. It was basically only from the HoF induction onward that they were noticed again. I think Billie very much wanted to avoid producing another 21CB, which was a bitch to write and record, instead seeking to take the band into another direction and reflect on the cataclysmic (post-)Trilogy years. They needed to find their souls again (Somewhere Now) and settle (Forever Now) after the post-21CB madness and that's exactly what RevRad is. A superficially deceptively simple album with a very deep meaning buried underneath the lyrics. We will get another record before the turn of the decade and maybe it will be another AI in terms of brilliancy, maybe it won't. They had to do what felt right, not force themselves like they did with 21CB and the Trilogy, and the result is RevRad, an album that differs as much from any post-Warning album as Warning did from all their 90s records.