Green Day is already going straight into the studio?

[Joe.]

25 minutes ago, LaughingClock said:

Thanks for the permission. Very sweet of you. You may continue to breathe and I’m not offended but thanks for the qualification and I do appreciate you saying you didn’t mean to offend, while I wasn’t offended, it’s a giant leap forward in our continuing friendship. Lol.

FTR, analyzing for me is a past time, I wish I could say that this will be the last time, I’m sort of like Sean Penn at Fast Times.

Yeah I'm not having a go, just adding to the debate by questioning the links made

10 minutes ago, Hermione said:

Can you not make things personal? Pretty sure no one meant it personally when they disagreed with you (edit: actually it wasn't even you) about the album. I don't want to get into a whole discussion about this, just asking that you avoid taking things personally/making things personal in what should be a pleasant discussion about music.

Yeah I wasn't being personal, simply adding to the debate. For me personally they're a collection of songs that focus on similar themes - rather than being deliberately linked as on say AI. That doesn't mean there are no links in the lyrics, just they weren't as intentional as on other albums

[jengd]

@LaughingClock YES.  I could not agree with you more on BJA's ability as a poet and pretty much all you have been saying.  With just about every new release, I am stunned by how in touch with the world he is, his ability to tap into what ordinary people feel and are going  through, and his ability to prophesise, whether deliberate attempts or not, are verging on the scary!

[localinsomniac]

To @LaughingClock- I just wanted to say that I've enjoyed reading through your analysis in this thread. I love BJ's lyrics, but must admit that I'm not always insightful enough to read into some of deeper meanings/connections. So thank you for helping some of us to look at the songs from a different angle.

[Hermione]

Unrelated to my previous post I have to say I've also really enjoyed your song analysis here @LaughingClock (and everyone else who's been part of it). With this reminder of how great Billie's songwriting is I'm even more excited for their next project.

[pacejunkie punk]

2 hours ago, JoeFrusciante said:

Yeah I'm not having a go, just adding to the debate by questioning the links made

Yeah I wasn't being personal, simply adding to the debate. For me personally they're a collection of songs that focus on similar themes - rather than being deliberately linked as on say AI. That doesn't mean there are no links in the lyrics, just they weren't as intentional as on other albums

That’s fine but I just have to disagree that the songs were not deliberately linked and that there is no intentional narrative. He’s spoken many times about the importance of an album as a complete piece of work and that the songs have to speak to each other. This album tells a story. We’ve seen him wrestle with song order when making past records this one is no different. It even mirrors 21CB in the way SN/FN work like Song of the Century intro and outro completing the thought. 

He has also talked about how political songs and love songs come from the same emotional place and that the running theme of all of his music is one of being lost and trying to make sense of chaos whether that be in the world or your personal life. On this album they are so intertwined they are inseparable which is why like his thoughts the songs bounce back and forth between the chaos of the world and the chaos of his life he is trying to fix. Back and forth back and forth trying to work it out all the while thinking of family, friends, past, present, future, all the thoughts rehab makes you go through. 

By saying it’s a narrative, that doesn’t make it a straight line. He feels like a mess, so his mind reflects that clutter, very ADD all over the place but I will insist it is a very intentional song order illustrating how his mind works and coming to a resolution in the end where he intends to tackle his problems and find some peace.

[LaughingClock]

On 11/30/2017 at 4:14 AM, JoeFrusciante said:

Yeah I'm not having a go, just adding to the debate by questioning the links made

Yeah I wasn't being personal, simply adding to the debate. For me personally they're a collection of songs that focus on similar themes - rather than being deliberately linked as on say AI. That doesn't mean there are no links in the lyrics, just they weren't as intentional as on other albums

Alright alright. My natural reaction to Joe anywhere near me is that he is on the attack. I am sorry. Sheesh. So emotional. You crazy kids are so sensitive.

And as far as the album being cohesive, it is as a matter of fact. Not opinion.

[LaughingClock]

3 hours ago, JoeFrusciante said:

Yeah I'm not having a go, just adding to the debate by questioning the links made

Yeah I wasn't being personal, simply adding to the debate. For me personally they're a collection of songs that focus on similar themes - rather than being deliberately linked as on say AI. That doesn't mean there are no links in the lyrics, just they weren't as intentional as on other albums

I know I am responding to this twice but I didn't really notice how super cool you were the first time.  We've gone neck to neck so many times here that I suppose I jumped the gun.  My last one was a half ass apology.  Your entitled to your opinion.  I just automatically assume you're fucking with me and based on this response you're the measure JF today.  I apologize for my response.  You kew.

2 hours ago, Hermione said:

Unrelated to my previous post I have to say I've also really enjoyed your song analysis here @LaughingClock (and everyone else who's been part of it). With this reminder of how great Billie's songwriting is I'm even more excited for their next project.

Thanks Herms!   

[gaslight13]

Spoiler

4 hours ago, LaughingClock said:

***TLDR ---- The stuff before the asterix below is a lot of fluff that sort of explains why I love the way Billie writes and why I always look into his lyrics. I thought a lot, if not most of you would find it pretentious and boring so I am adding that so you can skip it and go to where I just answer her? post.

Let me just start with I almost fucking died laughing when you started your gorgeous post with a casual "I'm putting your post in a spoiler because you ramble on forever" which I absolutely do and I love being ribbed so bravo on that.  I am going to do something I don't normally take the time to do.  You guys probably think I sit here and type forever but I am actually always just spitting words out of my fingers at break neck speed and sometimes my thoughts are actually slower than my fingers and I have serious ADD and am just all over the place but I'm just gonna do the opposite of what you did and copy your whole post here and take the time to try and respond to the things you wrote.  The people I most get along with in the real world are people that like to wax philosophy, poetry and meanings of things that people don't discuss in most circles (like quantum physics and brain remapping for therapy).  Like I had a 3 hour discussion about the personality of cites with a girl I know the other day.  A girl that is a genius and we read poetry books that would make some of these "hard to understand lyrics" really seem like nothing.  If anyone here is really into poetry, you would know that the Billie is a poet in every sense of the word and what makes him so successful and wonderful is he does it without trying to be slick with big words but with the ability to slide things by you.  It didn't start with this album, he's been doing it for years.  I could go all the way back to the beginning and make you think twice about lyrics you've been singing and thinking about one way for however many years.  Billie loves to be tricky. I would even say that's his greatest attribute as a song writer is to implant the meaning of his lyrics so deep into the words that they become  so interpretable that even songs that are so singularly about something, it's also buried enough that people can project their own lives into the music and that IS WHY Green Day is looked at as, to their deepest fans as not just a good rock band but also a hand to hold in life.  When I first was a fan of Green Day, I just liked the music.  I liked the fans (which they have changed over the years and mostly for the better).  It's the only band that I still connect with in a real way that resonates throughout my entire life and that only started happening as I became old enough to enjoy it on that level.  The stuff that's hidden is sometimes not even just in the meaning but the words themselves.  It's why the misheard GD lyrics thread is one of my favorite reads on this forum.  

I mean a song that says something simple like "In the land of make believe, they don't believe in me" is so mind mind-spinningly good and yes, it's been said before in different ways but implanted in the meanings of the songs and the placements make them take on new meaning and new ways to interpret that idea of paradoxical and equivocal poetry and thought.  What does that line really mean?  The inversion of it is that I don't believe in things that aren't real. Bo once said "Did you ever think that God doesn't believe in you?" and it was genius too but it was long after AI and the idea is the same.  It turns the tables.  He says, fuck you.  This is me.  There is nothing wrong with me regardless of what you think. I don't care what you think because it's all bull shit (make believe) and in that world, they don't believe in me so why should I care?  All that is said in those lines but to be able to put that much thought in a small amount of words is not easy.  Poets spend their lives figuring out how to do that.  I have always been attracted to circular poetry like Ghilbran (an 18th century poet from Lebanon) who writes about Joy and Pain.  You can't experience one without the other.  Yin/Yang.  He very much writes like Billie Joe.  I implore all of the Billie lyrical fans to read Ghilbran and you'll see what I'm saying.  He writes one of my favorite pieces of poetry in the world. In fact, when I am at my lowest because someone close died, or anything really, I turn to it to remind myself that it's life.  Life is not all roses and if you have one without sorrow, you lead an empty existence.  Most musicians and comedians and people who perform or write had hard or life altering childhoods and it's almost always family.  Look into the past of your musical loves and you will find despair, death and worse.  If you live in excess, you better balance it out with a loving wife that you stay married to forever and a family.  Fuck, I just meant to answer your questions and move on but I haven't even started that which means this is going to be a novel and nobody but maybe you will read it.  It's okay, I'm going to London and Germany shorty so I can bail after this embarrassment of a post.  Ha. But now I have to post the pros of Ghilbran that I mentioned.  He wrote a poetry book that should be required reading for every human.  It's called the "The Prophet" and it's about a fictional God that the people of a fictional place ask about various things like Death/Life, Love/Marriage Eating/Drinking  Work/Play, Crime/Punishment, and for me,  the most important one is Joy & Sorrow and that'e the one out of all of them that I always read when I need it and the reason I bring it up again is because the yin/yang of the pros (or lyrics) are exactly similar to BJ.  Ghilbran, unlike Billie is not confined by the shortness of having to write a song to fit. I would argue though that this has made Billie one of the best and most underrated poets of our generation.  He has wrote pros that jump in your ears, tears up your mind and rips your soul, breaks your heart, lifts you up, or just makes you laugh.  These aren't easy things to do.  I would love for BJA to write a book of poetry one day. 

Here is Ghilbran on Joy & Sorrow.  Now you KNOW what this is about.  You don't have to interpret it.  This is Ghilbran on his thoughts on (though the fictional God) his opinion on the sameness of Joy & Sorrow.  How they are not separated, but are the same.  This is something that Billie has done for several albums now.  Creating circular logic that plays off of yin'/yang philosophy:  Khalil Gilbran on Joy & Sorrow

Then a woman said, Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow.
And he answered:
Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven?
And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.
Some of you say, “Joy is greater than sorrow,” and others say, “Nay, sorrow is the greater.”
But I say unto you, they are inseparable.
Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.

Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy. 
Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced. 
When the reassure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.

I love it every time i read it. It's written in 18th century English but it's still very basic as far as deep poetry goes and yet it is so fulfilling and relieving.  It doesn't try to mask truth, it does however give you answers to things you might not have had questions about.  I never thought before my grandfather made me read this about the fact that our joy and our sorrow are the same thing.  Without one, you can't have the other. It is the things that we love most that give us the most pain.  The person you love most brought you your most joy and their death, by that very "selfsame well" is the well that brought you the joy that is now causing the pain.  And remember that joy and sorrow are inseparable because when JOY is at your feet and filling your heart with joy on the board, sorrow "is asleep on your bed".   "Only when you are empty are you at a standstill and balanced".  I realize I already crossed the line for people that just like to listen to Green day and sound pretentious and out of line but this is the kind of stuff Billie is writing about nowadays (unless it's a playful song like YoungBlood or Outlaws) and even those have some deep meanings but the songs that Billie really loves are the ones that mean something to him lyrically.  He loves to write.  He is a poet as much as he is a musician.  To me, even more so.  If it weren't for Billie's lyrics, they would just be another good band that I see on the circuit all the time.  I wouldn't be writing this right now.  HOW THE FUCK DID I GET THIS FAR and not even begin answering you.  I have been typing for like 10 minutes already. UGH. if you are still reading, thanks.

******I am adding an astrix here because I must add something for the TLDR people.  i probably lost them about 5 paragraphs ago.  "Oh fuck, he's doing it again".  Sorry guys.

@LaughingClock I quoted you in a spoiler to keep this post from being insanely long.
That shit made me laugh.

I thoroughly enjoy reading your interpretations because you pick up on a lot; some of which I was also thinking, and other stuff that I hadn't considered. I completely agree though about the cohesive-ness and the way Forever Now circles back on Somewhere now lyrically. It does musically as well. Something I only picked up on because I have the CD in my car and I skip OW the instant the track changes so it goes directly into SN. I think Rev Rad was one of their tightest records lyrically. There was no "excess" (though excess isn't always bad). I'd love it if he found a way to take the tightness, honesty, and cleverness of the Rev Rad lyrics and infuse a bit of what I'm calling "excess" of albums like AI or 21CB. If that makes any sense. 

I am with you on that 100%.  It took me a few listens before I loved the album.  Before I started really listening to the lyrics, I was just enjoying the sort of back to basic music but at the same time Billie had his breakdown and got off drugs, my daughter was born and I couldn't live the life I lived and be a good father and I wasn't going to be that Dad that is traveling all the time and also down drugs and things that would make her less of a good person. I wanted to be a good father because I have never loved anything more than I did my daughter and it happened the first second I made eye contact with her and I was not expecting that.

Regarding the "I'll put it off another day" line though. I was going to argue with you on that one because that's such a weird way to say that you're going to do something right now, especially since common sense would lead a person to interpret the opposite. However, it kind of makes sense with the line that follows "I ain't gonna stand in line no more" because why would he want to start a revolution, then change his mind and put it off, then stand up again and say no, he's not dealing with this shit anymore. So, assuming you're correct, since that's what fits with the rest of the narrative, I have to criticize him here because who the hell would get that? I think I'm generally pretty good at interpreting his lyrics as I relate pretty closely as well, though I do miss things, but usually even when I miss stuff, if it's pointed out, it suddenly seems obvious. This is a huge stretch in my opinion and only fits due to the context. I'm in favor of writing things in this way, I just think that line missed the mark. 

Well then, ironically, I will argue with you.  The lyric is meant to be sneaky and it's far from his sneakiest and you wouldn't be the only person that I had turned their definite thought on this the other way around.  The reason I say I would argue with you is WHY in the world would you want it spelled out when it's so magically beautiful the way it is.  It's not that difficult to figure out.  I am sure you are good at looking into his lyrics and understanding them but here we are with you agreeing with me and yet you missed it.  The fact is, it's also the end of the album and if you realize that there is sort of a double narrative, although intertwined with the chaos of the world and the other songs are about drug addiction  and what it means to get off it with all the let's say "Static Noise" makes things harder, then you would have to realize there needs to be a conclusion.  It could be other things too.  But because of his addictions, his desires, his whatever, he doesn't do anything about it.  He (us, whoever) just waits around and he is calling people to action and people have come to action to defend the world right now because it's a dangerous time.   Billie is not only wonderfully gifted, he is FUCKING scary prophetic.  If he thought we lived in "Troubled Times" when he wrote that song, do you think he ever thought we would be where we are now? In a couple weeks the whole country and the world is on edge and fearing the brink of war and WWIII.  WWIII ain't gonna be fought in Normandy either.  It's gonna be a video game that ends well for nobody.  So he has decided it's time to stop bullshitting and stop talking, and stop doing nothing and DO SOMETHING. Put it off another day. I am sure you heard the story of when he was in NY and he got out and walked with the BLM march. He literally just got out of his rental and started machine with them.  Not going to wait in line anymore. It should be pretty easy to figure out because it is also the en of the album and why would he have no arc for his character which is  character throughout the album?  He wouldn't and he doesn't. You are entitled to not like it because it wasn't obvious to you but it was to me and I think it's one of the greatest lines he's ever written for the very reason you would argue that he deserves criticism for it but again, it's art, it's not made to be forcefully liked.  You can give people your thoughts and try and make them see things differently but you have to do it lightly because nobody likes to be told what they should think but you and I differ in large amount about the brilliance of it on this one, which is totally fine.

I'm not sure I follow you on the time proximity thing though with Still Breathing. It sounds like you're saying it's referencing that time has past since he was in rehab? Or am I misinterpreting you? I always took the "so far away" part to relate to the other line you mentioned, "making my way to you". As in, he got lost in the wreckage (of himself) and that kind of brought him far away, but he's telling his loved ones to shine a light because he's still in there and he's still alive and he's making his way out and back to them after getting stuck somewhere far away from them. Sort of like if a building collapsed and you figure everyone inside was lost but if you dig far enough and search with a flashlight, you'll find him, he's in there and he's still alive. 

Beautiful.  That is EXACTLY what I meant and you stated it better than I could have. The wreckage was indeed himself, his self destruction.  Shine a light on the wreckage which is so far away, so far away but I want to get back to you.  It PLAYS PERFECT (to the person that pointed out that YoungBlood was written a while ago) but it correlates to this song in perfection because he is talking about how 80 is his muse, his love, his reason, his "I'm a rough boy, around the edges....She's my weakness, fucking genius, swear to God and I'm not even superstitious"  says that she is what keeps him honest.  She has always been his rock.  It has what has kept him from really going off the deep end and anyone that has a wife or loved one and they are far away and partying on whatever drugs, they seem so far away and the wreckage you feel when the remorse kicks in the next day (or maybe three days) and you feel like a piece of shit for whatever you've done and you cry and wish you were in the arms of you're love.   I mentioned Brain Stew.  That feeling is one where you want to put a fucking bullet in your head when you've been partying for a week and you're sitting there and are ready for the drugs to wear off.  "The clock is laughing in my face" is one of my favorite lines because I know the feeling.  The first time I ever did drugs and saw my infant baby even several days after coming down (drugs effect you mentally, especially as you age for a lot longer than you think)., I cried for like 3 hours and swore to myself and the Universe the I would get sober (and unless you consider weed a drug, I don't) then I have been since.  My muse, my love, was my wife and my daughter.  I know that feeling. Anyway, you said it to perfection.  Yes, that's what it means.  Trust me on this one, for sure.  

Also, could you elaborate (or point me to another thread, etc. where you already did) on what you figured out with this line?  "I want to hold you like a gun, we'll shoot the moon into the sun". Because that one stumped me.  

Probably not the best line to have brought up.  It's just that everyone HATED the line and when we discussed it way back when (and my content is all gone because I requested the mods delete all my content once and they obliged) but essentially and we came up with so many meanings but what stuck with me and YoungBlood is just a fun song about his favorite thing to write about, Addie, and the line "I want to hold you like a gun, we'll shoot the moon into the sun" everyone was saying was just words for words, rhymes for rhymes and I thought differently. I think of it sexually and lovingly.  Just the idea of a man holding a woman like a gun in so many forms conjures up visions of sexualitly and desire and to shoot the moon into the sun is to take that and take something that is lifeless and small and make it big and fiery (again, the terminology is sexual in nature and BJA has always been a very sexual person). It's just another way of Billie saying that he loves 80 in YoungBlood but in a sexy way and that he doesn't often discuss and really sort of hides in those lyrics.  I love it.  Some people don't and this one is very interpretable but I PROMISE, Billie in the last 15-20 years has never wrote a lyric that he doesn't think about.  He doesn't just put words on the table and he doesn't all of a sudden forget how to write.  Not every line has as much deepness but they can't all be or just like joy and sorrow, we wouldn't have too much balance. If nothing was average, nothing would be great either, right?.  This is just a good line and nothing more but it's not a throw away line as some were saying.

I'm so glad his writing is still so good. It gives me more hope than fear for the next record. I hope he finds a good way to make the next one honest and personal as well. I'm not sure if, objectively, it's good or bad writing to write in such a way that on the surface seems pretty good, but for those who understand the circumstances (and especially those who relate) it's fantastic. But selfishly I enjoy it and hope he keeps it up  

Again, I'm with you but there is nothing better to me than to enjoy music selfishly.  It's much better to enjoy it with other people and that's why I am typing away here but it's a wonderful thing to feel like you need some love in your life and pick up The Prophet or listen to a song that means something to you from anyone really but of course Billie.  As a Green Day fan, there probably aren't a lot of people here that love the music of Leonard Cohen. I have seen him in concert probably 15x and he was a poet first and picked up a guitar at 36 to make money because poetry wasn't playing the bills. He was a genius.  Most people know him from the song "Hallelujah" but he has made so many great songs.  

You think that Billie's lyrics are often difficult to decipher, here is a song from LC about a girl that he once dated that was a manic depressive and her decline into drugs and self destruction and yet it's a beautiful love song written to her (about 30 years ago) but his voice only got better as he aged so I'm showing this version:

If one person read all of this, thanks. 

Now Billie puts some poetry in his music, Leonard put music in his poetry.

 

Haha, WOW that's a lot. Not knocking you though. I tend to get carried away too, I just waste entirely too much of my life trying to shorten my posts. I skim read the poetry part though I'll likely read closer later as I'm definitely interested to get into other writing that uses a similar style to what Billie does. Anyway, I'll probably have more thoughts on that when I've had a chance to read a bit closer.

Regarding your replies to me, when talking about the "I'll put it off another day" line. OF COURSE I don't want him to spell everything out in an obvious way, however, there's poetic tricky lines that make you work for their real meaning, and then there's lines that even when you figure out their real meaning, are just too much of a stretch. To me, this is the latter. As I said, sometimes I get stuff right away (even not "obvious" lines), sometimes I have to work for it, or someone else offers an idea and it changes my perspective. I love that. It's the best kind of writing. I just think this one missed the mark. It's not like a pride thing because I didn't pick up on it initially. I'm not that fragile when it comes to my thoughts being challenged. It's that, now that I do see it that way, I don't think it works. Generally speaking, this kind of thing impresses me whether or not I picked up on it without help, just not in this case. I guess I see what you mean about it not being all THAT sneaky in the sense that if someone considers the context and placement, the literal meaning doesn't fit so it has to be the meaning you said. However, I still think it's a bizarre and ineffective way to word that line rather than tricky and clever. Maybe that's just me. In which case, I would concede. But for now I stand with my original thought that the line doesn't really work. So yeah we probably have to agree to disagree on this one, haha.

Re: Still Breathing. Cool, I thought you were saying something else entirely but glad we're on the same page. I didn't think that was a hard one to interpret but it's one of my favorite parts of the song lyrically as I find it incredibly relatable. Definitely a beautiful example of his writing.

Re: "I want to hold you like a gun..." Okay, that possibility had definitely crossed my mind and I couldn't think of anything else that made sense but I wasn't confident. Regarding "shoot the moon into the sun", I see what you're saying there though what is lifeless and small? The person he's having sex with? I feel like that doesn't fit with how Billie talks about women. I thought of it in the context of indicating time passage. Sort of like he wants to have sex all night into the morning. I have no doubt that he thinks about every lyric. He's talked quite a bit about how painstakingly he works on the lyrics so I never thought of it as like a throw away lyric. I actually like it better now running with this interpretation rather than questioning it.

I actually do like Leonard Cohen, though admittedly I haven't spent a ton of time really diving into his work. That's something I'll definitely do at some point. I actually don't think Billie's that difficult to decipher usually (though that's not a knock at him), but I have no doubt LC is much of the time. Can't really speak to it though because as I said, I haven't really made much of an attempt. 
 

4 hours ago, Kuromignonne said:

To say a word on this, I personally think it's a literal evocation of Billie's thoughts at a time, maybe during a long time, the way he has tended to postpone the time where he would start taking care of his addiction, "putting it off" and "think about tomorrow"; instead, he may have remained too busy wanting to "start a revolution" and "hear it on [his] radio," and even though in Billie's case he has actually happened to hear himself on the radio, this part of the song is also a metaphor for the way each and every one of us gets launched in a daily race to keep up with planning, information of all kind, trying to have our own impact on the world at whatever scale, while we have our personal crutches at the same time, and we postpone the taking care of it for good because there is too much happening and it seems impossible to stop our daily running, which keeps our minds entertained, and preventing us from taking time to change things within ourselves.

The line "I ain't gonna stand in line no more" seems simple just like that, Billie says it (ending up screaming it) 8 times at the end of Forever Now. To me (who have been recently getting out of my own addiction) it's (among other things) a way for Billie of saying he moves aside from the line he has been following, that line being at a very deep level in himself and at the same time the way he resonates with everything around him; he starts thinking in a different way of the stuff that had blocked him so far and that he was thinking of only in terms of "do I postpone it (again) or not?" It's probably too recent for me in my own case to explain it fully, things still have to emerge, but when you want to get rid of a severe addiction, you set the problem in a misleading way when you just focus on the time you'll stop postponing it. If Billie was once thinking "they're so much else to do now, I'll put it off another day" he probably didn't know when that would be, didn't have a clue or find the time to think about it, but only focusing on this "when" was just not the solution, it was more like another symptom. While he has found another way of thinking of it, transforming it and finding his inner freedom, not standing in the line of the self-destruction he seemed to inevitably go back to, anymore, while keeping his personal freedom towards what comes from the outside world.

I apologize but I don't really follow you here. Are you arguing that it means what it seems to originally as in, he's going to procrastinate? That's how I'm taking your points but then @LaughingClock "loved" your post so I'm guessing it's the opposite? haha.  



 

[Maddie86]

So since Jason White played on Back In The USA and since they've been writing all these new songs on tour, he will probably play on the next album, right? weren't the trilogy songs written on the 21st CB tour while he was around? If he is on the next album then maybe they won't do it at Otis again since they said there physically wasn't room for a producer I would like to see them with a producer next time around. I'd be fine with Rob but if they don't use him then I'd like to see someone other than Butch Vig

[WhiteTim]

Butch is one of the best producers around why wouldn’t you want Butch? 

[MillenniumFan]

Because he doesn’t understand Green Day as well as Rob. 21st Century Breakdown isn’t a patch on previous albums (American Idiot, Nimrod, Dookie) production wise.

[Maddie86]

33 minutes ago, WhiteTim said:

Butch is one of the best producers around why wouldn’t you want Butch? 

Nothing against him, I like a lot of his work and i just started watching Sonic Highways and I enjoy seeing him in it, but I wasn't really a fan of 21st and if they aren't gunna use Rob I'd like to see them try someone new

[WhiteTim]

2 minutes ago, Kyle Serlington said:

Nothing against him, I like a lot of his work and i just started watching Sonic Highways and I enjoy seeing him in it, but I wasn't really a fan of 21st and if they aren't gunna use Rob I'd like to see them try someone new

Tbf the sounds for 21st was what GD wanted it was supposed to sound loud and chaotic if they worked with Vig again doesn’t mean they’d do the sound of 21st again 

[pacejunkie punk]

One of the articles that GDA just added to their archive finally answered my burning question of what happened to Jingletown studios. So the band sold it because it was obsolete and turning into a “money pit” with costs of repairs and upgrades needed. After 15 years they thought it was time to move on and Billie likes the fact that Otis is more centrally located in downtown Oakland among his shop and the record store, etc. That said, I agree it’s too small for a more ambitious record with a producer and more musicians. It’s fine for practice sessions and demos but where will they record next? Fantasy studios, is that still an option?  I don’t see them owning two studios so maybe they’ll move around going forward and not stick to one place. 

[That Dude]

About two years between albums is the usual, so after a short break from touring they could be in the studio already.  They should take their sweet time like I know they do, and have a delicious album fully cooked for an October 2018 release (two years after Rev Rad).   

And while the wait is truly painful, I know they've got little gems that will come our way during the wait.  (they've literally either performed, released a song or video every year since 1986).  

The real question and perhaps it deserves it's own thread, is what this thing will sound like. 

Will Green Day finally do that down and dirty "raw / lo fi / sh*tty" sounding record that he's always talked doing? 

Will Green Day take on a lighter, more stripped down sound?  

Will Billie push his vocal abilities further than ever? 

I really feel like it's time to hear some more vocals from the other guys.   Haven't heard Tre singing since 2004 and haven't heard mike since his one line on the Trilogy in 2012.   Only 5 out of 12 albums have Tre or Mike vocals and I freaking love them when they do it.   Also, Jason Freaking White needs a mic.   At least do a duet with one of them.   I'm still waiting for a serious Tre song.  He's got soul man!

Maybe they will FINALLY get around to doing a SELF TITLED album.  solid black with a big white GREEN DAY in something similar to the WARNING font is what I'm imagining now.   

Or going back to the one word album titles.......CONQUEST.   

NIGHT. 

CONQUEST DEATH.  

EMERALD YEARS 

BLACK NIGHT

BURN THE STARS 

14 tracks.  12 just seems so....standard.

NOT American Idiot Part II but one or two songs with call backs to some things, maybe something about him f*cking up again and St. Jimmy reappearing for a short period of time.  Maybe Youngblood makes him forget all about his troubled times and gets him right again.  The sofa pillows are where he needs to stay - but only when he's not rocking the world in a nice clean fashion.  

St. Jimmy Superstar could be a 14.00 minute song, to tie in all the 14's.  

Well, time to do litter boxes.  My sofa pillow life is calling.  

 

 

 

[nick.]

Oh man. The idea of a self titled album seems so epic to me. How could a "Green Day" self titled album not be epic as hell? 

[DookieLukie]

I don't really like self-titling albums. It usually points to a lack of creativity unless the band just went through a lineup change or an identify crisis.

[Hero_Of_The_Hour]

Billie has given quite a lot of interviews both in print and on tv/radio discussing the meaning of various songs off Revrad. Since he wrote the lyrics I'd suggest looking up his explanations. They tend to vary from fan interpretations. One small example of one of his numerous explanations.

Some fans are going to read "Still Breathing" as a song about your personal issues these past few years, but it seems to be more universal than just your own story.
"I try to. I don't wanna be selfish. [Laughs] I'd rather write something where my eyes are forward, not so much internal. I hope it makes people happy and creates a difference in some way, just by people recognizing themselves in the song." A junkie on the verge of death, a gambler about to lose everything and a wounded soldier on the front lines are all characters in a slow-building, unsettling track. "That was a very heavy song," says Armstrong. "Sometimes I run away from being too heavy. But sometimes it just comes out that way." The chorus, "I'm still breathing on my own" alludes to the fact that "at some point, we're all going to have to be on life support," says Armstrong. "As time goes on, your thoughts get darker." 

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/billie-joe-armstrong-on-green-days-topical-new-lp-w433483

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/green-days-revolution-radio-a-track-by-track-guide-w441350

 

There is another interview I have read or saw where he stated the "you" he's making his way back to in SB is himself as it's about finally being able to breathe by yourself again.

[Hermione]

3 hours ago, DookieLukie said:

I don't really like self-titling albums. It usually points to a lack of creativity unless the band just went through a lineup change or an identify crisis.

Totally unoriginal and cheesy thing to do at this point too. It always has to be this serious, "we just felt this album really represented us as band, man" thing, and no thanks . When it's a band's first album they can get away with it but any other time I cringe.

[Thatsername]

The only self-titled Green Day album I could think of would be a farewell album, so I hope that won’t happen before, let’s say, 2050  Self-titled albums tend to be emo sometimes, but I don’t want the new GD record to be all emo, I want the whole package of emotions. I want it to be angry like Bang Bang, crazy like Basket Case, sad like No one knows, epic like JOS or Forever Now, funny like King for a Day, reflecting like Still Breathing and political like Holiday. Come on guys, that’s not too much to ask, is it? 

The thought that they already have demos in their pockets fills my heart with joy, I love that they love what they’re doing and that the world tour - which means all of us who have been there - inspired them. A lot to look forward to in the next couple of months/years!! 

[Christian's Inferno!]

Didn't Billie say that the trilogy were basically self-titled or something. Like that the records are basically just called Green Day.

And yeah, self-titled records can be unoriginal but sometimes they completely change things like Blink 182 did with their self-titled album. That didn't sound like the albums they did before

[That Dude]

Didn't realize the whole self-titled thing was such a big deal.  I've never analysed the particular issue, now you guys have got me looking into the "curse of the self titleds"  

I've got a new theory about ALBUM 13.  We haven't heard from the Tubbies or The Network for a while, and I don't think we'll be getting new albums by them any time soon.  Maybe in 2020 but not yet.  A Network album could follow a Green Day album next time and that would be cool.  Sort of promote them both at once.  My theory is that the new Green Day album could have a song featuring those bands.  Have a solo by the Rev or Balducci, and then vocals by Van Gough or something.  

Big, epic rock record with a song or two of Network weirdness would be good.  

I'm still trying to think of album titles too.    

[DeJennsitized]

I'm also not a fan of self-titled albums, and I'm not sure GD would be the type of band to do one - especially as they're such fans of concepts (in whatever form it takes.) I feel each album they've done has had a theme, and they title the album accordingly. I think they'd feel just calling it Green Day is lazy.

Also, would cause confusion since they already have a self titled song  

[pacejunkie punk]

1 hour ago, MysticManiac said:

Didn't Billie say that the trilogy were basically self-titled or something. Like that the records are basically just called Green Day.

Sort of, what he said was the idea was similar to what bands like Led Zeppelin did by calling their albums Led Zeppelin and Led Zeppelin II. This was like Green Day Uno, Green Day Dos, etc.

[Hermione]

Yeah I like how they've already kind of done self titled their own way with Uno Dos and Tre. Difference being it was an amusing, original, fun and creative way of doing it.