What are the things about Green Day that you love ?

[LinziLetterbomb]

Their lyrics, for example my favourite lyric is from 21 Guns:

When it's time to live and let die

And you can't get another try

Something inside this heart has died

I'm not sure why but i just love it. Their songs have some of the best lyrics i have ever read. Also i love the way that they actually care about their fans, and the way at gigs you actually feel involved in the shows (yes some of the stuff they do might be the same as in other shows but it doesn't matter!)

[Comedy & Tragedy]

The fact that it has been the same 3 guys for the past 18/19 years. A lot of bands are always kicking out members, having members walk out on them, or splitting up when the going gets tough. The guys work so well together, and just by seeing them in interviews or even just seeing them on stage together, you can tell that they're all such good friends. A lot of bands don't have what they have.

They're always challenging themselves when it comes to their music. In the past 9 years, they could have put out about 4 albums that were no different to the previous ones, but they didn't. Instead, they took a whole new approach to things, questioned the world, and put out 2 albums, consisting of some of their best work. Billie's lyrics aren't a load of meaningless dribble put together. Even in the earlier days, when the songs were much simpler, they always had some sort of deeper meaning than what meets the eye.

I know this gets said a lot, but their live shows really are amazing. The intimacy they are able to create with the crowd is just great. They make it more than a concert, it's an experience to remember forever.

[annimaria]

oh god. everything. i love everything about them. they got me into music, punk rock, and opened my eyes to the not-so-perfect world we live in. i love their lyrics, the music, and they make everyone feel wanted and welcome in their shows.

[poisonoak]

other than the great music, the fact that they are best friends and stayed tight together throughout the years, thats what i love about them, they are working with people they love.

[Angela.]

I love just how much effort they give at shows. They could just go through playing the songs and introduce them like some bands, but they don't. They bring up people, bring out a t shirt launcher, water gun, and toilet paper dispenser. They stop in the middle of songs to make sure someone in the pit is okay, and to make people fighting shake hands and make up. I just love how much they put into their shows, and how much they care about the fans. For a lot of people, it isn't just 'a show'. It's one of the best days of their life.

And it's not just crowd interaction, it's how much they put into their music. Sure, they may take years to come out with a new album, but it's because they out their heart and soul into it, trying a different style and not going backwards in term of style. They could take the easy way out and make another album similar to an older one, but they don't. I respect that. They challenge themselves to do something different.

[xpoprocks&kittycatsx]

I love so many things about Green Day! I love that they take care of their fans and give us a GREAT show all the time, I love that even though they are famous and rich, they still support the working class, I love how they tell people to be a minority and be yourself and not give a damn about what others think about you, and that they're just so nice and sweet!

[Bastard of 1967]

First and always, the music - it's just so fucking great. I love it that they care so much about songs, and about making each new album a new place. I love it that they constantly challenge me. I love it that they play shows that could raise the fucking dead. I love it that there's explosions and fire and confetti and that Tre wears a red bra. I love it that Mike has his rock'n'roll snarl and that he looks like a manga hero. I love it when people who don't get Green Day don't get it. I fucking love this band.

Thanks, we needed that!

I already posted about why I admired the band in another thread and there'd be a ton of overlap here, so let me refer y'all to this post for the details, and just add a couple of things here about their live gigs. They play every show like it's their last goddamn night on earth. Every one is unique, powerful, sometimes a little different from the show the night before and other times a lot, but it's always you, the band, the interaction between you and the band, the interaction between the band itself, and this gigantic cloud of pure energy that descends on the whole arena from T plus zero seconds and doesn't let up 'til the last echoes of Good Riddance fade from the amps and the band finally leaves the stage. Doesn't matter where you are in the venue, whether you're in the pit or whether you have seats, you are for all purposes in the pit jamming and screaming right along with them, and if you sit down you just miss it. You miss that these guys really care about giving their fans the time of their life. In an age where fake celebrities rule, it's good and it's grounding to have something that feels really real to hold onto. These guys are the real deal and have been for the past 22 years, and I just love the ride!

[justcause]

Thanks, we needed that!

Yeah - this is a good place, and it's making me very happy.

[Kayfabe]

I like Billie's voice

I like the noises he makes in the songs (like suhhh, ohh wee)

I like the variety of their songs. Never in my life have I come across a band that can put songs like Take Back, King for a Day and Good Riddance, not only in the same album but one after the other. It's insane. ly awesome.

Yay! Happy thread.

First and foremost, the lyrics. Billie's way with words has always been spectacular to me. That's why Warning remains one of my favorite albums. There are lines in there that can make me pause and think "damn, that's awesome" when trying to figure out what they mean

"So I run to the edge

Beyond the shadow of a doubt

With my conscience bleeding

Here lies the truth

The lost treasures of my youth

As I hold on to the break of the day"

There are poets out there who can't write that good. Or at least they don't get my attention

Oh yes, Billie's lyrics are just :0 when you take a break from the melody and actually listen to what he's saying.

[Fia <3]

what I love the most about green day is, that their music sounds different on each album, for example Warning and American Idiot, both albums sound pretty different but it still sounds like green day.. how do they do that? That impresses me.

[Smoothed Out]

the way their songs make me feel when I hear them, how I can connect with the lyrics and through that see a reflection of Green Day themselves. The lessons I've learned, the live shows I've experienced and watching my family come together again through my love for GD after a sad time

I owe them everything

[lizziebix]

Besides the music and lyrics (which is the reason I became a fan), I love the energy they put into their shows. That every one is as amazing and exciting as the last. I appreciate that they want to give so much back to their audience and I respect and appreciate that.

(Also, I'm happy for this positive thread too!)

[21st century idiot]

love their lyrics and how they are so cool with their fans

[Daughter.of.Rage.and.Love]

Oh yes, Billie's lyrics are just :0 when you take a break from the melody and actually listen to what he's saying.

Yeah. Fairly often I find myself listening to a Green Day song (and like, listening, not just background music/doing something else) and I hear a lyric, and I start thinking about it and realize how great that actually is (it's amazing the amount of great lyrics there are in Green Day songs) , and then I realize I missed the entire rest of the song, haha.

I don't think that what what you meant, but, anyway.

[JadedHaushinka]

There's really no possibility I could name all the things what are the things about Green Day that I love because I love every god damn thing about them. If I named them, I'm sure I would forget a lot of other things.

[GDM]

What do I love about this band? That they have saved my fucking life over the last year as I've been going through a mid-life crisis big-time. I've felt so much joy and happiness over the last year with them even at my lowest, that's it's been amazing. I love that they look at their audience in their eyes, acknowledge that they exist and feed both the audience and themselves together. Whenever that synergy happens at a show (sometimes it doesn't, Camden didn't really have that feel this year), the place explodes, and I love feeling that at that moment, at that time, nothing else matters except what happens between the band and the audience. It's truly spectacular. I love their performance sensibility, I love Billie Joe's face, Mike's smile, and Tre's sick sense of humor. I love how they make people argue and how they make people come together. Hell... I just love them.

Thank you, Angeline, for this thread. The football and American Idiot hatefest (I know it wasn't a hatefest, but it felt like that), was just bringing me down. This thread is a perfect antidote!

[Bastard of 1967]

Camden didn't really have that feel this year

I was wondering if someone else felt that way too -- in hindsight it was a "good" show, not a "great" one like I've come to expect from Green Day. I strongly suspect it had some to do with the band just needing to get their their sea legs under them after coming off of a month-long break of the tour. They were ON FIRE at Jiffy Lube though, and have had an awesome setlist more recently -- and from your sig block it looks like you either have or will get to see some of that soon too!!

[GDM]

I was wondering if someone else felt that way too -- in hindsight it was a "good" show, not a "great" one like I've come to expect from Green Day. I strongly suspect it had some to do with the band just needing to get their their sea legs under them after coming off of a month-long break of the tour. They were ON FIRE at Jiffy Lube though, and have had an awesome setlist more recently -- and from your sig block it looks like you either have or will get to see some of that soon too!!

Yea, looking back over the last three shows I've been to (Camden, Hartford, Holmdel) and hearing about last night's show, there was certainly something lacking there at the Camden show. I wrote about the show on my GreenDayMind blog. I was exhausted and stressed by the time the show came around, and while I didn't write that it wasn't a great show, I didn't feel the same enthusiasm for it, and I think the audience was not as into it as the other three. By the time Holmdel rolled around, there was just (and I use this word a lot about Green Day and the audience), give and take synergy between the band and the audience, that by the time Holmdel ended, I could have sworn everyone in that place bonded with each other, even if no one knew each other. By the time JOS came around... the fist pumping and sing-alongs were crescendoing off the venue... and Hartford was amazing because there was a great sense of play, and a whole lot of girl fights around me, which just made me laugh, lol.

Anyway, as soon as I can finish my next post (hopefully tonight), i'm going to talk about what I feel made Hartford and Holmdel glow... and it's primarily that the band and the fans were feeding off of each other so much. At Hartford, there were a couple of points during the night were the folks in the seated section started banging their chairs in approval, and it was rad!!!

Anyway, yea, Camden wasn't as great as the other two, but there are minor degrees and fractions of difference. But it was the first show in a while where I walked out thinking, "hmm, that wasn't the best of the shows I've seen." But then Hartford became "the best" and then Holmdel became "the best," lol.

Haha...

[Ellenkc]

Lyrics are a big reason, I love being able to listen to a song or read a booklet and notice something new, or interpret something differently that makes me see the song in an entirely new way. The music itself obviously is a reason, it blows my mind how much they change from album to album, but it never seems forced at all. I also really admire bands that stand for something, whether its politics, encouraging individualism or going against the flow of the mainstream crap that's constantly on the radio.

Seeing them live for the first time blew my mind, it's been nearly a year and I still can't find words to express that concert. I love them for being able to put on a show like that and make a 20,000 seater arena feel like a club.

[Daughter.of.Rage.and.Love]

I was wondering if someone else felt that way too -- in hindsight it was a "good" show, not a "great" one like I've come to expect from Green Day. I strongly suspect it had some to do with the band just needing to get their their sea legs under them after coming off of a month-long break of the tour. They were ON FIRE at Jiffy Lube though, and have had an awesome setlist more recently -- and from your sig block it looks like you either have or will get to see some of that soon too!!

Funny, because Pinkpop was the first show after almost a half year break, and it definitely wasn't off or anything or that there wasn't the feel there is at Green Day shows. Just as great as always (as far as I can judge that).

[kristinsinferno]

Their sense of humor, their immense talent, their fabulous fashion, and most of all, their spirits.

sorry i got a little cheesy.

[*withoutadoubt*]

Such a great idea for a thread, Angeline.

I love so many things about this band.

First has to be the music and the lyrics. I love how I can fall in love with a song, and then later on, listen to it again, and it means something completely different. It seems like the songs are always reinventing themselves to me.

I love how their music appeals to so many different people despite age, sex, race, blah, blah, blah. There are no boundaries - we all speak 'Green Day.'

I love their live performances - I love the interaction with the crowd, the fact that they are always trying to make 'your' concert special and different, their (seemingly!) endless energy, the spontaneity of Billie Joe just doing whatever he feels like doing, stopping the band, making sure kids in the pit are ok, changing his shoes, etc. I love how they have so much fun while they are doing all of that - at times it's like I'm watching a bunch of friends 'play', joke, fool around, and I love that it's so natural.

Last week at PNC, my brother in law turned to me and said, 'Wow, that drummer kicks ass!' I love when people tell me things I already know about Green Day. (and I love and appreciate Tre's kickassedness!)

I love that their side projects are so different and so fun in their own ways. I love when they surprised us with the whole FHT thing.

I have to agree with the BJ hair comment, Angeline - and I love that he changes it so spontaneously and so drastically. Ok, and I'll admit, I LOVE the blonde, lol.

I will always love them for having the best fans in the world, and for helping me make some of the best friendships I have ever had because of them. It's so beautiful when you meet someone who 'gets it'. I've had some of the best times of my life with all of you!

I'm sure there's more...lol.

Oh, I just have to say, too, that I remember that discussion about Minority - it had me thinking for SUCH a long time about that one line. I'm so happy there's so much discussion around here again. I missed this!

[lizziebix]

I really do enjoy reading this thread so much. Everything everyone is saying, I keep nodding my head agreeing. Makes me smile.

[Adeline.Hearts.You]

Just the way that they can bring people together. No matter how much of an outcast you be be at school, or whatever like that. When you go and see Green Day, none of that matters, becasue its just like one big unit. People accept each other. Not to mention that they are one of the best bands out their, and they are brave, no affarid to speak or say what they are thinking. and i think its like comforting to know that your not the only person whos confused at whats going on in hte world.

[lizziebix]

Well said and nice first post!