Revolution Radio was ALMOST one of their best albums

[Tre's Busted Drumkit]

3 hours ago, Dysfunco said:

It should have ended with Forever Now though.

Seems like the only appropiate thing to do, considering how it ties in with the first song and all.

Ordinary World is obviously an overthought and appears to be shoe-horned in, so to speak.

It's one of their best albums overall, for sure. To me it's definitely better than 21st Century Breakdown.

I also feel like it has their most successful tracks in that American Idiot/21st Century Breakdown vein. Like "Bang Bang" and "Revolution Radio" is a culmination of that particular type of Green Day song.

I don't think Ordinary World would have worked anywhere else on the album though. I was fine with it as a "let the air out of the balloon" closer like Whatsername or See the Light, or what Good Riddance does at the end of shows. It really doesn't fit the album, which is to be expected for a standalone single that gets tossed in there because it's recorded already (except Under Pressure, which is just a perfect song in every way). It does serve its purpose at the end, and while it's not up to Good Riddance or Macy's Day Parade levels, it's far from a bad song.

[Cris.]

17 minutes ago, Tre's Busted Drumkit said:

 I was fine with it as a "let the air out of the balloon" closer like Whatsername

Excuse me?  Whatsername is a perfect song to close a perfect album. Macy's Day Parade and Fancy Sauce are the only other closers in Green Day albums that come anywhere near.

 

21 minutes ago, Tre's Busted Drumkit said:

except Under Pressure, which is just a perfect song in every way

No arguments here though

[greenalert997x]

Solid album!

Great songs I can listen repeatedly: 

Bouncing of the wall, Bang Bang, Outlaws, Trubled Times, Forever Now, Too Dumb too Die and maybe... Stil Breathing 

Songs I like less - Youngblood, Say Goodbye, Revolution Radio, Somewhere Now.

I don't like Ordinary World. To me this song is just mawkish and corny. Doesn't fit with the rest of the album. The same feeling I had with Still Breathing (but SB has really grown on me much)

 

[billy1986]

Bang bang needs to be the opener in concerts that song rocks live I wish they didn’t drop it

[Tre's Busted Drumkit]

9 hours ago, Cris. said:

Excuse me?  Whatsername is a perfect song to close a perfect album. Macy's Day Parade and Fancy Sauce are the only other closers in Green Day albums that come anywhere near.

I never said it wasn't a great song...? I said that it's a song that slowly lets the air out of the balloon, and if you really process everything going on in "Homecoming", that's exactly what it's there for. Years after the events of "Letterbomb" and "Homecoming" (in particular) tear the JOS to shreds mentally, emotionally and physically, it's a quiet moment of reflection on what might have been and why it's not. It's the coda. That's not a bad thing at all. The best album ever written (The Wall) has "Outside the Wall" after the massive, climactic "The Trial" brings the album's narrative crashing down. Literally, if you've ever seen it performed live. The Black Parade has "Blood" hidden after "Famous Last Words"...and it still doesn't answer the question of whether The Patient lived or died. Queen stuck the short, quiet, introspective acoustic "Is This the World We Created?" at the end of The Works, right after the massive guitar explosion that is "Hammer to Fall".

There are all kinds of other examples out there of a band putting a quieter ballad after the massive big finish song on their album, allowing a few minutes for...well...for the air to escape the balloon. If the song before it carries enough weight to earn that type of coda, it works beautifully. Green Day is one of the best at doing that. 

[Cris.]

3 hours ago, Tre's Busted Drumkit said:

I never said it wasn't a great song...? I said that it's a song that slowly lets the air out of the balloon, and if you really process everything going on in "Homecoming", that's exactly what it's there for. Years after the events of "Letterbomb" and "Homecoming" (in particular) tear the JOS to shreds mentally, emotionally and physically, it's a quiet moment of reflection on what might have been and why it's not. It's the coda. That's not a bad thing at all. The best album ever written (The Wall) has "Outside the Wall" after the massive, climactic "The Trial" brings the album's narrative crashing down. Literally, if you've ever seen it performed live. The Black Parade has "Blood" hidden after "Famous Last Words"...and it still doesn't answer the question of whether The Patient lived or died. Queen stuck the short, quiet, introspective acoustic "Is This the World We Created?" at the end of The Works, right after the massive guitar explosion that is "Hammer to Fall".

There are all kinds of other examples out there of a band putting a quieter ballad after the massive big finish song on their album, allowing a few minutes for...well...for the air to escape the balloon. If the song before it carries enough weight to earn that type of coda, it works beautifully. Green Day is one of the best at doing that. 

Sorry!! I interpreted your initial wording as meaning the song was underwhelming somehow, and jumped quickly to its defense, my bad! 😅 Framed like this I totally agree! (Tangent: I never managed to get into MCR in general, nor The Black Parade specifically when it came out. But I've seen so much hype around their tour right now, and reading you cite it here too, makes me feel like perhaps I should revisit it now)

[Saviour]

Did I read somewhere once that Still Breathing was written by BJA with someone else in mind but then decided to make it a Green Day song? 

It's for sure a pretty "safe" album, but I don't think you can blame them given they expressed regret over the Trilogy being prolific for the sake of it and the production on those albums being wide of the mark. 

I think it has some of BJA's strongest vocal performances. Forever Now is an all time HEATER and I have a big soft spot for Outlaws - the bridge in that song is one of the band's best. 

However Ordinary World is barely listenable. Strong contender for their worst ever song and drags the entire album down a few points just by existing. It would be a much better album listening experience if it ended on Forever Now which would've been their second-best album closer after Whatsername. 

[ThranaM]

17 minutes ago, Saviour said:

Did I read somewhere once that Still Breathing was written by BJA with someone else in mind but then decided to make it a Green Day song? 

 

Correct.

 

18 minutes ago, Saviour said:

I think it has some of BJA's strongest vocal performances. Forever Now is an all time HEATER and I have a big soft spot for Outlaws - the bridge in that song is one of the band's best. 

However Ordinary World is barely listenable. Strong contender for their worst ever song and drags the entire album down a few points just by existing. It would be a much better album listening experience if it ended on Forever Now which would've been their second-best album closer after Whatsername. 

Forever Now, and especially that last part (😮‍💨), is simply amazing and a very strong closer.

I like Ordinary World, and to "break off" the theme/sound compared to the rest of the album is imo a nice way to end the record. 
Didn't know that so many in here didn't like that song, but hey, some people like Nightlife, and who are we to judge 😅

[jengd]

I think Ordinary World is ok but I think it’s an effective calmer and closer after all the frantic madness that went before.  Don’t think the album would be degraded without it.  

[Tre's Busted Drumkit]

7 hours ago, Cris. said:

Sorry!! I interpreted your initial wording as meaning the song was underwhelming somehow, and jumped quickly to its defense, my bad! 😅 Framed like this I totally agree! (Tangent: I never managed to get into MCR in general, nor The Black Parade specifically when it came out. But I've seen so much hype around their tour right now, and reading you cite it here too, makes me feel like perhaps I should revisit it now)

Np, I was very confused lol. Context on The Black Parade: I first heard the whole thing in 2015-ish. It’s one of those albums that before I heard it, “Welcome to the Black Parade” was a running joke about emo culture for me. After hearing the whole album, it’s one of the best songs ever. I don’t think the album is quite up to AI or The Wall standards, but it is an underrated all-time great.

2 hours ago, Saviour said:

Did I read somewhere once that Still Breathing was written by BJA with someone else in mind but then decided to make it a Green Day song? 

It's for sure a pretty "safe" album, but I don't think you can blame them given they expressed regret over the Trilogy being prolific for the sake of it and the production on those albums being wide of the mark. 

I think it has some of BJA's strongest vocal performances. Forever Now is an all time HEATER and I have a big soft spot for Outlaws - the bridge in that song is one of the band's best. 

However Ordinary World is barely listenable. Strong contender for their worst ever song and drags the entire album down a few points just by existing. It would be a much better album listening experience if it ended on Forever Now which would've been their second-best album closer after Whatsername. 

Yep, “Still Breathing” was originally written for 5 seconds of Summer. Billie Joe decided to rework it into a song for Rev Rad, and it fit perfectly. “Are you scared to death to live?”, is, imo, the best lyric in any Green Day song, full stop.

I think Rev Rad is the type of lyrically and musically the type of album that really benefits from a slower closer. “Forever Now” is an amazing song, but it’s a crazy, hectic, all over the map number. Kind of like “American Eulogy” in a lot of ways. Ending the album with it would have felt kind of abrupt to me. Live, it works great when you know there’s an encore on the way. On the album, it needs that slower ballad after it.

[GreenDayJunkie86]

5 hours ago, Tre's Busted Drumkit said:

The Wall standards

one of the best albums in rock history :>. 

yeah, rev rad definately isn't up there, but is still a great album  

[Montclare]

I'll always stand up for Ordinary World. It's in my top 15 GD songs. Like @Tre's Busted Drumkitsaid, it's like an exhale. If they ended on Forever Now, you still have a bunch of adrenaline running through you. Ordinary World allows you to breathe while letting the album come to an end. It's a fitting end to the album.