Do you think green day are punk

[Lauren]

I think it depends on where you're from. This has most definitely been been debated in the world of grammar.

Okay, well Green is an adjective and Day is a noun. Since when is day plural?

Today are gonna be great!

What day are the 29th of august?

A day like these make me happy!

[Solitary One]

Green Day is Green Day. They have always been Green Day. They will always be Green Day. I couldn't care less what genre the guys are, they make great music and that's really all there is to it.

[Bohemian+Scandal]

Okay, well Green is an adjective and Day is a noun. Since when is day plural?

Green Day is the name of a group of people. That's why some people say "are" because they are speaking about the band as a "they" rather than a that. One wouldn't say "they is" you would say "they are". The word "day" is not plural, but Green Day is just a name representing something that is. This is why there is debate with band and team names and different people say it differently. There's really no right or wrong answer.

[*withoutadoubt*]

This is a thread from a few years ago - I think Angeline answered this question brilliantly, and since the question is coming up - yet again - I want to bump it.

http://www.greendaycommunity.org/Forum/index.php?showtopic=33530

Buried Deep With Your Identity: Are Green Day Punk?

June 17, 2006

Written By: Angeline

The interview’s around the time of Insomniac. The guys are slouched up against a bathroom wall - how many photoshoots over the years, new look for every era, putting a mark on time, putting a mark on your skin, blood and ink of another rite of passage? So Billie Joe says ‘I have nothing really to be proud of, except for the fact that I happen to be a punk’. Ignore the screaming lack of self-worth in this statement - or maybe not, because ‘worthless’ is punk’s dictionary definition - this is what it comes down to for him, the essence of how he sees himself. Then remember that this guy saying these words is the guy with a ground-breaking mega-hit album called 'Dookie' under his belt, a string of hit singles, cool videos, never off MTV - nothing to be proud of ? Not when it means that the thing he values more than all of that is being torn away from him - his identity, the right to say 'I happen to be a punk'. I didn’t get to hear if he had a definition of what punk is - I don’t think the guy is about definitions anyway. But to me, punk is whatever he is, and if anyone has a right to the name, it’s Green Day.

This argument rages on and on, as the ‘sell-out’ chorus loops its drone, and maybe it’s pointless to address it again. But this band’s integrity is what has been constantly attacked since Dookie, perversely because people know they care about it - and I think that to attack someone’s integrity is no small thing. That the broader community does it is a reflection of the fact that punk scares them - and here were some punks who had ventured out of their niche and were radio-friendly - in fact, pretty friendly generally. Easy game then, and appropriate for a society that is at its heart deeply conservative, to still somewhere resent the tattooed outsiders who crossed the tracks to shove their dicks in Billboard with Longview. If that’s not the case, why is it this song mentioned in every review and interview right up to today, and used ignorantly to trivialize them ?

A radical point of view is a challenge to the comfortable norm, and it’s easier to attack those who expound ideals than to engage with the ideals themselves.

But to paraphrase ‘Reject’, who the hell are we to tell them who they are ? Who even is uber-punk John Lydon to tell them? Johnny rightly expects that people should be familiar with his Punk culture and its origins in the desolation of Seventies Britain, hopeless, workless, bleak and futureless, kids taking that nothing - the badge of worthless - and making a revolution.

Johnny’s struggle blinds him to Green Day‘s, and he never bothered to discover their culture : for him, it never rains in California, and no-one is poor or degraded or disenfranchised. No need to ask what it’s like to be the underclass of a wealthy state in a wealthy nation, swept under the rug of national pride, your pain not even allowed to name itself.

No such thing as a refinery town built on landfill, no broken homes or exclusion, no trailer parks or dead-end schools, blue-collar, no-collar, drop out and fall down - this is America in the late 80s, for fuck’s sake, no such expression as ‘the slums of Oakland’ - welcome to paradise!

What if the bankruptcy of the American Dream is the barren place where your soul is seeking to be nourished - and what if in being rejected, you reject, and dare to want something different, what then?

Walk a mile in these guys’ shoes before you take away the badge of worthlessness that they blazon as a badge of pride, and tell me who’s more entitled to it, and to decide for themselves what it means to them.

So punk is indelibly their identity, but I don’t think they ever signed up to a set of rules that defined it - Billie Joe again: ‘We were never really into that whole PC punk clique’. The basic concept, yes; the rules and rigidity, no. He is first and last an artist, and whatever competes with that drive will lose - it’s rightly his higher law.

In their Gilman years, they were committed to DIY - it was a way of making possibilities where there were none, enabling themselves to go forward on the path they’d already chosen.

As kids who didn’t fit the school system and didn’t have a home life at that time, poor and disadvantaged, despite their artistic gifts - there they found a way to live with dignity, purpose and a sense of control over their lives and future - a toe-hold in American society ‘that don’t believe in me’.

They were also part of a community of artists, they got to make music and talk ideas and ideals; for Billie and Mike, who had to grow up too fast, too hard, there was structure for lives that had seen too much chaos, there was somewhere they could just be young guys hanging out. Gilman was a place where it was ok to be who they were, and it must have been such an amazing time for them.

When their needs changed and this system started to constrain them rather than free them, they moved on from it. They’ve said how they felt it was more honorable to leave the scene rather than stay and risk distorting it with their presence, but there’s no doubt they didn’t envision the painful parting that ensued. If you want the living document of that pain, it’s called Insomniac, and it echoed down the years till it was amplified again in American Idiot.

They most probably had harbored hopes that they could stay within the broader parameters of that community, continuing to contribute, which goes back to the idea of structure. Green Day’s rebellions are usually around changing situations rather than tearing them down - they want Bush out of the White House, but they don’t want to overthrow the government.

People look at them now, since American Idiot went seismic, and decry their punk status without ever knowing where these guys came from, how hard their journey has been, how they questioned all their decisions and suffered for many of them, and how a fierce artistic integrity burns in everything they do.

But ‘question everything’ means that your philosophy has to be up for grabs too - it has to be evaluated on an ongoing basis. Ask yourself in all honesty - would you let a set of rules you embraced in your teens dictate what you do for the rest of your life, no matter what else you learn or what else changes thereafter?

What if you ‘wanna be an omnivore’, a rock star, a pretty boy, all of the above instead of none of the above - would you let it stop you? That’s not punk, that’s sublimating yourself instead of expressing yourself: it’s not any kind of philosophy - it’s dogma! Would you let dogma stop you from achieving what you want to achieve in your one and only life?

Mortality is a big theme for Green Day, overtly in songs from J.A.R. to Wake Me Up When September Ends, but implicit also in almost every song that talks about time and how you use it. These guys have known loss and exclusion, they know what it is to lose your faith and have people lose their faith in you, and how important it is ‘to find what to believe’.

So there’s this fucking great band whose music has always been about truth. Music that’s never deviated from a standard, never sold an audience short, never given less than 100%, given till it hurts. They’re down-to-earth, unpretentious, still connected to their roots, still socially active and concerned, still kicking ass. Fuck the merch, fuck the ringtones, fuck the crappy covers of September - fuck everything extraneous that they don’t concern themselves with.

Who they are is what punk is ; no-one can take away from them what they owned for themselves.

[Lauren]

Green Day is the name of a group of people. That's why some people say "are" because they are speaking about the band as a "they" rather than a that. One wouldn't say "they is" you would say "they are". The word "day" is not plural, but Green Day is just a name representing something that is. This is why there is debate with band and team names and different people say it differently. There's really no right or wrong answer.

The Beatles are. the word "beatles" is plural, so the band name is plural.

billie, mike, and tre are. but green day is.

"Family" is a word representing many people. Do you say "my family are"?

[Bohemian+Scandal]

"Family" is a word representing many people. Do you say "my family are"?

Actually I do sometimes and I've heard other people say it as well. Sounds natural enough to me.

I'm going to say it probably depends on the context.

Or maybe I'm just a wannabe Brit. V_V

[st.idiot]

my family are amazing-sounds normal to me. the offspring are awesome. ac/dc are awesome.

[ChelseaWhatsername]

This topic has turned from never ending punk/not-punk argument to a grammar war.

I don't know what Green Day is. When someone asks me what genre they're supposed to be if they're not emo - because too many people call them emo shit - I come up blank. I'm still coming up blank. So all I have to say is that Green Day is Green Day, and whether they're punk or jazz, all we can do is stand back and enjoy the music.

[CoreyGregory]

To me yes they are. But in reality punk is not really a defined word. Green Day may be punk to someone, but not punk to somebody else. That doesn't mean someones wrong. It just means they have different definitions. To me, Punk is music and a lifestyle. To me punk is being an outcast and obviously being part of an outcast community. That is why i don't get pissed when people say "this band isn't punk". It is all opinionated.

[Pedestrian9394]

You know what? I don't even understand why this is an argument. They are what they are, and quite frankly, it doesn't matter to me. If someone wanted to call them hip hop, then fine. What's most important is what you hear, not the label that's stamped on them. And the awesome thing about Green Day is that they don't care what people call them either.

[blitzkriegdeb]

There isn't a clear-cut, dictionary definition of what punk actually is. To everyone, punk means something different. To me, Green Day doesn't make punk music, but they represent punk ideals. While they are popular and they make rock operas and concept albums, they're making the music that they want to make, and they aren't gonna let anyone tell them otherwise. They never let fame go to their heads, and even if they're playing Wembley Stadium or a club, they always give it their 150%, and make sure that the fans are involved with them every step of the way.

[CoreyGregory]

You know what? I don't even understand why this is an argument. They are what they are, and quite frankly, it doesn't matter to me. If someone wanted to call them hip hop, then fine. What's most important is what you hear, not the label that's stamped on them. And the awesome thing about Green Day is that they don't care what people call them either.

BOOYAW!!! So correct! Music is so awesome cause it is fun. And when you waste your time labeling it, it's not fun anymore. So PEOPLE!! Stop overthinking it. The important thing is that they are music that you like!

[Pedestrian9394]

There isn't a clear-cut, dictionary definition of what punk actually is. To everyone, punk means something different. To me, Green Day doesn't make punk music, but they represent punk ideals. While they are popular and they make rock operas and concept albums, they're making the music that they want to make, and they aren't gonna let anyone tell them otherwise. They never let fame go to their heads, and even if they're playing Wembley Stadium or a club, they always give it their 150%, and make sure that the fans are involved with them every step of the way.

This.

[Guest]

who gives a shit? im just so sick of even hearing this question from anyone

if you like them, it shouldnt matter if theyre "punk" or if they're "sellouts". i just think its so stupid that people even care.

[CoreyGregory]

There isn't a clear-cut, dictionary definition of what punk actually is. To everyone, punk means something different. To me, Green Day doesn't make punk music, but they represent punk ideals. While they are popular and they make rock operas and concept albums, they're making the music that they want to make, and they aren't gonna let anyone tell them otherwise. They never let fame go to their heads, and even if they're playing Wembley Stadium or a club, they always give it their 150%, and make sure that the fans are involved with them every step of the way.

I JUST SAID PRETTY MUCH THE SAME THING!

[Wretched & Divine]

It seriously gets under my skin when people accuse them of being sellouts. I actually wrote a rather... bitchy/ranty post on my blog about this a couple of weeks ago. I'll copy and paste it, but I might tone it down because I don't want to sound psycho about this

I seriously cannot word how angry it makes me that “fans” would accuse them of it just because they’re commercially successful and, let's face it, a mainstream band.

I also think it is extremely selfish, as though these “fans” don’t want the band to gain exposure because they don’t want to share. Well fuck you. If Green Day weren’t mainstream, I would never have heard of them considering I live in Australia and pay very little attention to current music, mainstream or not.

And it's not just with Green Day (they just happen to be the band I adore)- it's with any punk/indie act which manages to break into the mainstream. I don't think it's fair to turn on a band the moment they manage to crack the market, because essentially, you're hating the fact they're succeeding in what they dedicate their lives to doing. You can't tell me that isn't selfish.

I just can't get my head around how anyone can call themselves a fan when they're actually angry about their favourite band/artist being successful. And somehow you're in some kind of elite club if you liked them before they cracked the mainstream? Sorry, but no. I mean, congratulations to you if you were, but it doesn't give you some sort of special status in the eyes of anyone else, least of all the band. It's not like if you walk up to Billie and say "I loved you guys since before Dookie. AREN'T I FUCKING AWESOME AND BETTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE?!" that he's going to give you a pat on the back. He'd likely just think you were a jackass

As for them being "punk", I think this argument/discussion is way too old and people really need to accept the fact that their music is going to grow and change as they themselves grow and change. They're not gonna be writing songs like Longview and Basket Case forever.

And this ended up being much longer than I expected because I added a fair bit to the copied post from my blog lol

[JohannaRaeRamone.]

This thread will be removed in five, four, three, two...

And they're Green Day, they're whoever they wanna be. They don't need punk, they transcended it years ago for greater things, much like their influences and punk gods the Clash. Of course they're not out living as street punks making no money and playing the same music they made in their little punk community 20 years ago; they're artists, not cartoons.

[iwroteholdencaulfield!]

musically, NO any other way, yeah

[Clayish]

No Green Day is not punk. never was.

[Doris The Spider]

I don't know and I don't care. I love them no matter what they are.

[gdpony]

yes they are.

[CaesarSalad]

who gives a shit? im just so sick of even hearing this question from anyone

if you like them, it shouldnt matter if theyre "punk" or if they're "sellouts". i just think its so stupid that people even care.

i agree with you, 100%.

genre classification is for petty little people who need that label to feel superior and elitist to other petty little people. sure, it's useful in finding similar bands with similar styles, but, at the end of the damn day, just listen to whatever makes you happy.

[Holly Ann]

Yes. They go against the general mainstream and have ~punk views.

[Katarina.]

I think they are. But I don't care about the whole discussion if they are or not. In the end they decide if they are themselves. I love their music, whatever genre it may be

[ganis]

This definition of punk and if they're punk or not doesn't matter.. I love the band and their music, that's what's important for me...

According to me they are punk, because they have a mind they're own, they play the music they enjoy playing, n they music others think they should play.

I had a much better argument before, but i forgot it, so sorry for this crappy argument