1972 project speculation thread

[Christian's Inferno!]

I had no idea Letterbomb was the 2nd track to be heard from the album. A really interesting choice for sure

5 hours ago, senti jamir said:

Wow so only 1 single before the album was out ?

Might explain why it sold fewer copies on the 1st week

The reason why American Idiot sold less in the first week than it could've is probably due to the fact that it was the follow up to Warning. People probably weren't that hyped to hear the follow up to Warning until they heard the singles. Comparatively, 21CB would've had a lot of hype going into it just because it was the follow up to AI. AI sold 267,000 copies in its first week while 21CB sold 215,000 copies in its first 3 days (+166,000 for the following 7 days). 21CB's peak was always going to be the first week or two

[PleasedToMeetMe]

It was a scary time pre-AI. Not a lot of people listened to Warning when it came out so Green Day wasn’t a very popular band anymore or on anyone’s radar.  A lot of people thought Green Day hung it up and that Superhits/Shenanigans were the final nail in the coffin. It wasn’t really until BOBD came out as a single that EVERYONE began to take notice of the “new” Green Day. 
 

at least these days it’s a lot easier to know the band are up to something and that new music will be coming in the near future 👍

[That Dude]

Interesting to hear how old fans were at each release, so I will join the fun.

My first wait was between Nimrod and Warning.  11 Years old when Nimrod changed everything.

Warning, Superhits and Shenanigans became the glue cementing my obsession as my parents and I listened to those nonstop, filling what would have been a long and painful dry spell. 

I remember taking Warning and Superhits on vacation with us in 2001.

I was 19 when Idiot came out and oh boy was being a real idiot in real life.

Now I'm just a grouch sitting on the couch, the world owes me 400 bucks.

 

[Beerjeezus]

There’s so much about the AI image overhaul that never stops to fascinate me. There was this band that released an album of The Kinks and folk rock inspired music and then someone took a look at them and went you know what guys, you should do the emo look that would work for you. And then they decide to record a rock opera and aim big and it all works out. When you watch HLAHG, you can tell they were thinking it through as a comeback/reinventing themselves and in hindsight, yeah, it was perfect, but it was such a strike of genius. I wouldn’t look at a chubby 30-year-old man and think “that’s gonna be the next teenage heartthrob!” if I were a Warner exec

[pacejunkie punk]

8 minutes ago, Beerjeezus said:

There’s so much about the AI image overhaul that never stops to fascinate me. There was this band that released an album of The Kinks and folk rock inspired music and then someone took a look at them and went you know what guys, you should do the emo look that would work for you. And then they decide to record a rock opera and aim big and it all works out. When you watch HLAHG, you can tell they were thinking it though as a comeback/reinventing themselves and in hindsight, yeah, it was a perfect, but it was such a strike of genius. I wouldn’t look at a chubby 30-year-old man and think “that’s gonna be the next teenage heartthrob!” if I were a Warner exec

And watching the music videos from Warning (especially Minority) they were still being marketed as goofy, silly cartoon punks. It really was a reinvention in every way.

[PleasedToMeetMe]

Did anyone hear listen to the album through the MTV website when they premiered it like a week early? I remember being really surprised by songs like Are We the Waiting, BOBD and WMEWSE and being blown away by JOS.

[The Grohl]

I remember being obsessed with the singles after my friend show them to me. The next day I went to circuit city to pick up American Idiot.

[legendary]

I start being a fan in 2005-2006, so the first album I saw the release was 21st. What a journey until now... I think the first single with more hype to me as a fan was Bang Bang. My "hype score" after listen the first single since 21CB was:

 

1. Bang Bang

2. Know Your Enemy

3. Oh Love

4. Father of Al...

[jengd]

1 hour ago, pacejunkie punk said:

And watching the music videos from Warning (especially Minority) they were still being marketed as goofy, silly cartoon punks. It really was a reinvention in every way.

Totally true. I really hope that one day we hear all the inside info on this but it really feels like they went through this whole “do you even really want to do this anymore” thing and then in the serious, adult conversations that followed realised they could do more, could grow up and push boundaries and then had the guts to pull it off, complete with rock  star makeover.  Really remarkable.

[Sanity Loan]

12 minutes ago, legendary said:

I start being a fan in 2005-2006, so the first album I saw the release was 21st. What a journey until now... I think the first single with more hype to me as a fan was Bang Bang. My "hype score" after listen the first single since 21CB was:

I haven't been particularly thrilled with the lead single choices since AI, other than "Bang Bang." Here is what I would have picked:

• 21CB: "21st Century Breakdown" or "East Jesus Nowhere" ("Know Your Enemy" was too bland)
• Trilogy era: "Stay the Night" ("Oh Love" was just strange)
• RevRad: "Bang Bang" (perfect!)
• FOAM: ??? ...whatever...

[GDFan2019]

7 minutes ago, Sanity Loan said:

I haven't been particularly thrilled with the lead single choices since AI, other than "Bang Bang." Here is what I would have picked:

• 21CB: "21st Century Breakdown" or "East Jesus Nowhere" ("Know Your Enemy" was too bland)
• Trilogy era: "Stay the Night" ("Oh Love" was just strange)
• RevRad: "Bang Bang" (perfect!)
• FOAM: ??? ...whatever...

I would’ve picked Graffitia for FOAM, after all, it was in the MLB The Show 20 soundtrack

[pcj]

3 hours ago, PleasedToMeetMe said:

It was a scary time pre-AI. Not a lot of people listened to Warning when it came out so Green Day wasn’t a very popular band anymore or on anyone’s radar.  A lot of people thought Green Day hung it up and that Superhits/Shenanigans were the final nail in the coffin. It wasn’t really until BOBD came out as a single that EVERYONE began to take notice of the “new” Green Day. 
 

at least these days it’s a lot easier to know the band are up to something and that new music will be coming in the near future 👍

At the time the music critics and press had written off GD as irrelevant and were predicting their demise. Arse holes.

When Warning was released Oct 2000, GD were halfway through a world tour to sell out venues. Considered then as now as one of, nay, the best live band in the world ever. The album sold 500,000 in first two weeks and has so far sold 3.5m copies. Yes, a lot less than Dookie, but hardly a band in decline. Warning is now accepted as another GD classic album. When Warning came out it blew my mind, this was not the end, imho it felt that the future was very bright for GD. I wasn't disappointed.

[GDFan2019]

1 minute ago, pcj said:

At the time the music critics and press had written off GD as irrelevant and were predicting their demise. Arse holes.

When Warning was released Oct 2000, GD were halfway through a world tour to sell out venues. Considered then as now as one of, nay, the best live band in the world ever. The album sold 500,000 in first two weeks and has so far sold 3.5m copies. Yes, a lot less than Dookie, but hardly a band in decline. Warning is now accepted as another GD classic album. When Warning came out it blew my mind, this was not the end, imho it felt that the future was very bright for GD. I wasn't disappointed.

I wonder what would’ve happened if the C&V album was completed and released as originally planned?

[suffoKate]

And in HLAHG, to think BJ thought we were so bad in the forums bad back then…🤣

[That Dude]

1.       Follow The Yellow Brick Road

2.       Torchlight (Dirnt’s Face)

3.       Context In a Handbasket (Dedicated To You)

4.       Revoked  (Tre’s Lament)

5.       Slip of the Steak

6.       Tasty People Are Gross

7.       Kidney Bill

8.       Technology Equals Arnold

9.       Oppositions of Love

10.   Chauvinist Wrist

11.   Packet of Wry

12.   Shaving (Smooth)

13.   Green Day Collapse

14.   Constellation of Destruction (Green Day Suck!)

15.   Assault on GDA:   Part 1: Therapy / Part 2: Facility / Part 3:  Nail / Part 4: Collapse The World of Green Day (My Name Is Legweak)

[ollhjr]

Long time listener, first time caller, or at least it's been a while since I have posted anything.  Just adding my two cents to my thoughts for the upcoming album and when my fandom took off. 

 

My Green Day fandom officially launched when 21st Century Breakdown released.   I got an issue of Rolling Stone in early 2009 with Taylor Swift on it, and it had a story on Green Day still putting together the finishing touches for the follow-up to American Idiot.  I forgot what the title was, but I remember the song East Jesus Nowhere had a different working title a couple of months before the album was released.  For me, I only knew of When I Come Around, Good Riddance, and the singles from the American Idiot album prior to 21st Century Breakdown.  Loved each of the tracks, but didn't do any deeper digging than that.  Honestly, I am not even sure if I was truly jacked by the release of Know Your Enemy, although I do remember them using that for the NCAA March Madness tournament.  Either way, between the article and the NCAA promo, it got me interested enough to check out the album.  The album came out either the week before I graduated from high school, the week of, or the week after.  I just remember listening to the album from my iPod setup in my car nonstop when it came out.  The title track was euphoric to me sonically and lyrically.  It reminded me of the classic rock I grew up listening to with hints of The Who and Queen, or that's what bands it reminded me of.  From there I was hooked the rest of the album.  The album might not have had the long-term commercial success and singles hitting radio airplay, but I will argue into forever that it is one of their best albums.  A product of it being my first album of theirs I listened to all the way through, but I feel that that sonically it is some of my favorite sounding things to listen to, and lyrically while it can be dark, the lyrics came from Billie's experience.  Plus, I know Billie talked about how taxing making that album was, and I can only imagine what it is like making a follow-up the a blockbuster of an album that American Idiot was.  They were coming from a true genuine place, even if the storyline for the rock opera might be a bit more over the map compared to American Idiot.  I hope that if I am lucky enough to see them again that they can find a way to add more songs from that album to the setlist, or by divine intervention add the title track.  It would hit me the same way when I saw the Foo Fighters two years ago and they played Aurora, my favorite track of theirs.    

My first album cycle where I jumped in with both feet was the Trilogy, and what a time to be a fan to see the creation of an album.  Remember all of the video updates they posted on YouTube, and how this site was flooded with a level of analysis not seen since the Zapruder film?  What does that blue filter mean?  Trying to pause and zoom in to see names of songs, etc.  It was paradise and maddening at the same time, which would seem like a good set of words to describe what that album cycle became.  So these videos on TikTok reminded me a lot of the lead-up to the Trilogy.

 

As for the next album, I have some hopes, but no true-blue expectations.  At this point they are a legacy band, so the likelihood of having anything top the Billboard Top 200 albums or Top 100 singles chart is out of the question.  I want them to make an album that they are proud of, that is true to where they are at the moment, and builds upon their strengths with some hints of new elements that stays true to their sense of not making the same record twice.  I don't want them to chase a certain sound, or to play the nostalgia card because rock/alternative/pop punk music is having a renaissance.  Make the music that is true to where you are at this moment.  *There I go being a hypocrite and putting together a laundry list of things I want them to do for the next album, but honestly do whatever moves you guys! 

 

I will finish with this.  It seems since American Idiot the subsequent albums have followed the trend of trying to outdo the previous album in terms of the extravagance or the event associated with a new album, or trying to course correct from the response to previous albums to some degree.  It will be interesting to see if whatever comes from the 1972 sessions if they fall into either category, or forge a new path of being comfortable/confident with where they are.  Again, not to say that they were feeling this with any of the subsequent albums, but it is just what I feel the music they released since American Idiot can fall under.   21st Century Breakdown and the Trilogy would fall into the outdoing the previous albums category.  Follow up a concept record with another, with even more songs?!?!  The Trilogy, how about three albums with 37 songs in total?!?!   Having songs in Angry Birds and other avenues, etc.  I am sure part of that was to make money back for releasing three albums of music, but it was all about making an event out of it.  Not to mention the documentary on the making of the album.  It is interesting to see artists today, especially in Country music like Zach Bryan and others releasing three albums worth of songs, and that it is a trendy thing to do.  A product of the streaming age and having more things to stream, even though I am still sure there are other factors to this trend.  To me 21CB stuck the landing better in terms of the spectacle of it all, although I have more than a soft spot for what the Trilogy was all about, even though again it was an extremely dark time for Billie and the guys.  The Trilogy served as a course correction of the perception of people not wanting another concept record, which I was guilty of, and I know from interviews from the Trilogy era that the guys were more than happy to create an album that didn't have that kind of structure.  It was just that they played both sides of trying to make an event out of this album cycle, and course correct to do more "classic" Green Day.  RevRad was a course correct from the Trilogy in my book.  A more straight down the middle album with some of the best bits of the music that they have made this century.  A standard twelve-track album that was less of an event in the lead-up to the release of the album, but still a great payoff.  The Trilogy wasn't critically acclaimed, and there were more than enough people putting together what they thought would be the best standard twelve-track album from all of the songs of the Trilogy.  Father of All was another course correct of going against a safe record that RevRad could come across as.  A wild/party record with elements of Dos and Foxboro, with literally no filler when it comes to the amount of time the record lasts for.  Another album that I may like a bit more than others do for the sake of doing something a bit wild, even if lyrically it is a bit rough to put it lightly. 

 

Who knows if this new project will follow in this pattern that I feel has emerged since AI, but I look forward to it either way.  At this point they aren't obligated or need to put out any new music, so anything they do release is a win.  I just want it to be a solid addition to their catalogue, and something that they are proud of.   As many of you have mentioned recently who have been a fan far longer than I have, there was a stretch where their existence as a band was in question, so I can be as patient as I can be in this day of instant gratification of wanting new music right now!  Although the marketing strategy seems a bit odd to me with the radio silence after the initial bombardment of updates, but I suppose having a world tour during the process would have a little bit of an impact.  Feel free to let me know if I am way off base, or need to clarify anything!  Beyond glad to be part of this community, and I hope to see some of you guys for the show in Milwaukee this July.  Still got to get my ticket, but when you have Green Day and Foo Fighters on back-to-back nights, I will for sure find a way to be there!   Wouldn't miss it for the world. 

[Red]

8 hours ago, GDFan2019 said:

I wonder what would’ve happened if the C&V album was completed and released as originally planned?

It probably would have just been a mixed bag, average album with some decent songs on it. Not unlike FOAM, but probably with much better production and safe to say it definitely wouldn't have had the same impact as American Idiot.
I think the band realized this and knew it wouldn't be worth it in the end to put it out when big, iconic rock albums were coming out in full throttle and many bands were evolving past just doing the same thing over and over in pursuit of ambition.

(I've always had my doubts C&V was actually finished and stolen, lets face it, the story we know is much more exciting and unique than "we decided to scrap it and start over because it wasn't good enough").

4 hours ago, That Dude said:

1.       Follow The Yellow Brick Road

2.       Torchlight (Dirnt’s Face)

3.       Context In a Handbasket (Dedicated To You)

4.       Revoked  (Tre’s Lament)

5.       Slip of the Steak

6.       Tasty People Are Gross

7.       Kidney Bill

8.       Technology Equals Arnold

9.       Oppositions of Love

10.   Chauvinist Wrist

11.   Packet of Wry

12.   Shaving (Smooth)

13.   Green Day Collapse

14.   Constellation of Destruction (Green Day Suck!)

15.   Assault on GDA:   Part 1: Therapy / Part 2: Facility / Part 3:  Nail / Part 4: Collapse The World of Green Day (My Name Is Legweak)

Calling it now, track 6 is going to be the greatest Green Day song of all time. Also the transition to Kidney Bill will be more iconic than the transition between Holiday/BOBD.

[GDFan2019]

11 minutes ago, Red said:

It probably would have just been a mixed bag, average album with some decent songs on it, much like FOAM, but probably with much better production.
I think the band realized this and knew it wouldn't be worth it in the end to put it out when big, iconic rock albums were coming out in full throttle and many bands were evolving past just doing the same thing over and over in pursuit of ambition.

(I've always had my doubts C&V was actually finished and stolen, lets face it, the story we know is much more exciting and unique than "we decided to scrap it and start over because it wasn't good enough").

Do you believe their story about the session tapes being stolen or did they just make up that story as an excuse to start from scratch?

[Red]

2 minutes ago, GDFan2019 said:

Do you believe their story about the session tapes being stolen or did they just make up that story as an excuse to start from scratch?

Nah, if it was stolen, I believe it would have leaked at least 15 -20 years ago. They also probably would have had it release officially anyway.

[GDFan2019]

1 minute ago, Red said:

Nah, if it was stolen, I believe it would have leaked at least 15 -20 years ago. They also probably would have had it release officially anyway.

Mike even said, "We still had the backups but they just weren't the same."

[localinsomniac]

2 minutes ago, GDFan2019 said:

Mike even said, "We still had the backups but they just weren't the same."

Which is looooool because what's different? The color of the ZIP disk? Come on.

[Red]

11 minutes ago, GDFan2019 said:

Mike even said, "We still had the backups but they just weren't the same."

So? The band members say a lot of things. Not saying they're liars, but they do like to stretch the truth sometimes to make things a little more exciting.

I believe there are demos, I just don't believe there was ever a finished C&V album, and if there was then we'd have it by now in some form. Theres also the matter of the person who "stole" it probably would have tried to sell it and we'd all know about it.

[That Dude]

20 minutes ago, GDFan2019 said:

Do you believe their story about the session tapes being stolen or did they just make up that story as an excuse to start from scratch?

Has anyone ever tried to ask The Network their side of the story?   

 

[Red]

Just now, That Dude said:

Has anyone ever tried to ask The Network their side of the story?   

 

The Network have fucking NOTHING to do with Green Day. 

Jesus.... really, people? 

[killjoywhatsername]

I love this thread wound back to AI and the tapes. That was my intro to Green Day. Hearing those songs on radio constantly snapped something in me as a 10 year old. My mom hated rock or anything adjacent and kept me from it but when those songs came on she was like “you use to be terrified by their one song about eyes bulging” (had no idea what she was talking about cause I was 2 when insomniac came out and that was Brain Stew.  Obviously I went on a deep dive into their discography after that. I went small Catholic school (100 kids k-8) and I remember these three 8th graders told me I was I was poser cause I only got into Green Day cause American idiot (granted, they dressed as Billie, Tre and Mike for Halloween at school which even now I think is rad) but I was stubborn and rattled off at them songs off warning and nimrod. Silly, in retrospect but funny.