Song of the Week 21st Century Breakdown

[Bastard of 1967]

thx have to listen this now

EDIT: Ah finally I got it

Yea! You totally miss it behind Billie's vocals, but when you drop the vocals it just jumps out and hits you. I don't know if this was intended, but you could interpret this as a little "we're coming home again" refrain as Billie is rattling off his checklist of everything that's just plain, well, fucked up.... it's as if he's highlighting exactly what we've come home to now that our 40-year-long holiday has come to a grinding halt. **CHILLS UP SPINE**

I think it's the only Green Day song where the video actually made me love it more - it's perfect. It brings the song to life. The lyrics are vivid enough already but with those visuals it really smacks you in the face.

Marc Webb's best work, by a mile. Several scenes stand out for me and just make me go "holy sh*t" every time I see it.... At the beginning, Nixon tossing the baby into a trash barrel and watching it explode, the banker sliding down the stock market chart, Christian and Gloria being the parents of the child who represents the Class of 13, the hand reaching out of the TV to draw the child in, the forging of the guitar on the blacksmith's anvil, and toward the end, the toss of the bloody-rose bouquet onto the graveyard.....and once that's done, the zombie of yesterday's dead and buried political arguments crawls out of the ground, starts arguing with a contemporary colleague, and then they wind up sucking face with each other...... Then all the CGI dissolves into cold, sharp reality as Billie closes the song with dream America dream, scream America scream....

And you just *have* to laugh when you notice that Billie is so short that, to properly composition that scene where Mike and Tre get wheeled in from the wings on dollies, Webb had to have Billie stand on a box. Poor bj can't get no respect, I tellya!!

[Bastard of 1967]

I've been to the edge and I've thrown the bouquet

Of flowers left over the grave

I don't understand this one. What it means. What the message in it is. I don't get any further than what it literally says, apart from some tiny shards of possible meanings, but too little to puzzle anything together.

What are other people's thoughts on this line/lines?

Then something not to do with 21st Century Breakdown (as if this post isn't too long already), only in general with Song of the Week.

I wonder what Green Day and especially Billie (since he wrote the songs) would think of Song of the Week, of people picking their songs apart (in a good way) and figuring them out. Because sometimes it goes deeeeep in these threads.

I discussed that verse earlier in this thread here -- I interpet it as a giant handoff/kissoff of one generation's unsolved, worsening problems to the next. "Gee, thanks Dad!!"

Billie's a f*cking amazing wordsmith. I hope he'd at least get a chuckle out of these threads.

[E!!i]

And you just *have* to laugh when you notice that Billie is so short that, to properly composition that scene where Mike and Tre get wheeled in from the wings on dollies, Webb had to have Billie stand on a box. Poor bj can't get no respect, I tellya!!

I didn't know that

[Bastard of 1967]

I didn't know that

Look carefully at the bottom center of the screen during that shot...I think you can actually see the box if memory serves correct. Almost as big a #FAIL as seeing the camera track that encircles bj in one part of the 21 Guns video.

[E!!i]

Look carefully at the bottom center of the screen during that shot...I think you can actually see the box if memory serves correct. Almost as big a #FAIL as seeing the camera track that encircles bj in one part of the 21 Guns video.

haha yeah I see that, but what's with the camera circling?

[Bastard of 1967]

haha yeah I see that, but what's with the camera circling?

You can see the track that the camera is rolling around Billie on.....it breaks the scene a bit and is quite the nasty-ass technical flub if you ask me. It's visible briefly at 3:40, and then it's real bad at 5:07, 5:17, and a couple other spots on out.

[Daughter.of.Rage.and.Love]

Well, they all stand on boxes, haha. Mike and Tre are on boxes because they're rolled in and out of the image, so Billie has to stand on a box as well to be even with them

I've never noticed a camera track in 21 Guns... that's funny

[E!!i]

You can see the track that the camera is rolling around Billie on.....it breaks the scene a bit and is quite the nasty-ass technical flub if you ask me. It's visible briefly at 3:40, and then it's real bad at 5:07, 5:17, and a couple other spots on out.

I know but what's so bad with it?

[Bastard of 1967]

Well, they all stand on boxes, haha. Mike and Tre are on boxes because they're rolled in and out of the image, so Billie has to stand on a box as well to be even with them

Yep, but you don't see their boxes. bj's special! :eyebrow:

[Daughter.of.Rage.and.Love]

I discussed that verse earlier in this thread here -- I interpet it as a giant handoff/kissoff of one generation's unsolved, worsening problems to the next. "Gee, thanks Dad!!"

Billie's a f*cking amazing wordsmith. I hope he'd at least get a chuckle out of these threads.

Hmm, I got a bit farther with the aid of that, but I'm still not completely clear with it, haha. Thanks for linking it though; I had forgotten about that part of the post (so many big and extensive posts in this thread. Nothing wrong with that, but it gets hard to remember everything).

The 1969 have thrown the bouquet, which was taken from the grave of their own failed plans at making the world a better place, kind of like you pass the stick in a relay race, only that the stick/bouquet is pretty useless, it's the remain of their try at fixing the world and it's not a lot, and the Class of 13 can't really do much with it. I can't really fit the "been to the edge" part into it, though.

I'm kind of ruining the lyrics with stupid things like this, and it's not even decent. Sorry for that

[Bastard of 1967]

I know but what's so bad with it?

The last time I checked, my living room didn't have a big railroad track sitting in it...and in my opinion it makes the production look a little less-than-professional, a little unpolished in these places. It's kindof like the feeling you'd get showing up at a formal party in your finest tux or evening gown with a big poppyseed stuck between your two front teeth....not sure how else to describe it.

[Daughter.of.Rage.and.Love]

Yep, but you don't see their boxes. bj's special! :eyebrow:

Still, it's totally obvious they're on boxes of some sort!

But I like the "Billie's a midget and he needs a box" much better, actually.

[Bastard of 1967]

Hmm, I got a bit farther with the aid of that, but I'm still not completely clear with it, haha. Thanks for linking it though; I had forgotten about that part of the post (so many big and extensive posts in this thread. Nothing wrong with that, but it gets hard to remember everything).

The 1969 have thrown the bouquet, which was taken from the grave of their own failed plans at making the world a better place, kind of like you pass the stick in a relay race, only that the stick/bouquet is pretty useless, it's the remain of their try at fixing the world and it's not a lot, and the Class of 13 can't really do much with it. I can't really fit the "been to the edge" part into it, though.

I'm kind of ruining the lyrics with stupid things like this, and it's not even decent. Sorry for that

That's pretty close to what I was getting at. I treat "been to the edge" and the "20th century deadline" as sort of synonymous concepts for each other. Personally, Billie very much lived on the edge, dabbling in punk culture, drugs, alcohol, ink, etc. and somehow didn't go over it like say Kurt Cobain did, and now he's grown up; metaphorically his parents' generation (who I think are the "Bastards of 1969" since bj wasn't born til '72) had set the end of the 20th century as their "deadline" for making things right in the world... so that's "the edge" from that generation's perspective. "By the time my generation takes over....", that sort of thing, we've all heard it at one point or another. Now they hit the end of that chain, the 1999/2000/2001 transition from the 20th to the 21st centuries and things are more f*cked up than ever. "Now, here, grandkids (class of 13), now it's *your* batch of shit to figure out how to fix, we're done."

Just one person's interp.

But I think it's a good one.

[Daughter.of.Rage.and.Love]

That's pretty close to what I was getting at. I treat "been to the edge" and the "20th century deadline" as sort of synonymous concepts for each other. Personally, Billie very much lived on the edge, dabbling in punk culture, drugs, alcohol, ink, etc. and somehow didn't go over it like say Kurt Cobain did, and now he's grown up; metaphorically his parents' generation (who I think are the "Bastards of 1969" since bj wasn't born til '72) had set the end of the 20th century as their "deadline" for making things right in the world... so that's "the edge" from that generation's perspective. "By the time my generation takes over....", that sort of thing, we've all heard it at one point or another. Now they hit the end of that chain, the 1999/2000/2001 transition from the 20th to the 21st centuries and things are more f*cked up than ever. "Now, here, grandkids (class of 13), now it's *your* batch of shit to figure out how to fix, we're done."

Just one person's interp.

But I think it's a good one.

Ah, that kind of edge. I was thinking of an edge as in "I've taken big risks for the good cause and went as far as I could possibly go" and that in a good way, which doesn't fit in with the rest of the song (or album for that matter). But that kind of edge sounds very logical. The edge is the end of the trying (and failing) and where the bouquet is thrown and a new generation can take over and try to fix it.

As for which generation, I don't think that the Bastards of 1969 are Billie's parents, more of the generation in between that, the generation born in the fifties. Like you said in an earlier post, the Woodstock '69 generation. Maybe it's a broader generation, though.

It wasn't even a proper interpretation, just thinking out loud and hoping it'd make sense in the end

---

Now as for something barely related to the song. My sister is a casual (real casual) Green Day fan, I am obviously a huge fan. I'm the class of '12, she's the class of '13. I'm the one with the class of '13 shirt (and the one getting remarks like "you do know we're the class of '12, right?"). Damn

[Bastard of 1967]

Now as for something barely related to the song. My sister is a casual (real casual) Green Day fan, I am obviously a huge fan. I'm the class of '12, she's the class of '13. I'm the one with the class of '13 shirt (and the one getting remarks like "you do know we're the class of '12, right?"). Damn

Funny that. You could always purposefully fail something and get held back a year I suppose.

[J'net]

The last time I checked, my living room didn't have a big railroad track sitting in it...and in my opinion it makes the production look a little less-than-professional, a little unpolished in these places. It's kindof like the feeling you'd get showing up at a formal party in your finest tux or evening gown with a big poppyseed stuck between your two front teeth....not sure how else to describe it.

It reminds me of occasionally seeing a microphone hanging over the heads of the characters in an old "taped before a live audience" sitcom - back when I used to watch TV. You're supposed to be watching some real people sitting and talking in their living room and suddenly you see a big mike hanging there ... it spoils the effect.

[Daughter.of.Rage.and.Love]

Funny that. You could always purposefully fail something and get held back a year I suppose.

Yeah... no

[websitedesign]

i love this band!

_______________

Web site Design

[greendepent]

fav lyrics

I swallowed my pride

And I choked on my faith

I've given my heart and my soul

Agreed, it calls to No Pride, other of my fav songs

I read in somewhere: Green Day's Bohemian rhapsody, and I think that is true

[J'net]

i love this band!

Hi, and welcome! We love people who love this band! Did you get to see any of the shows on their tour this year?

[justcause]

Look carefully at the bottom center of the screen during that shot...I think you can actually see the box if memory serves correct. Almost as big a #FAIL as seeing the camera track that encircles bj in one part of the 21 Guns video.

I don't think it's a fail - I think it's deliberate. If you consider how slick and perfect the rest of the video is, the flow of the black-and-white images, and then when it goes to 'real', you get to see the nuts and bolts of how an image is created. You have this hot, color-flooded picture of a rock'n'roll hero, but when it pulls back, you see he's standing on a box, you see Mike and Tre pulled back and forth with an almost exaggerated awkwardness. You see the image being created - believe what you see?

Referring to what you said earlier in the thread, I feel like one of the elements of 21CB - the whole album - is Green Day consciously engaging with their earlier work, taking stock, walking those paths again and asking 'where are we now, who are we now?'

[Bastard of 1967]

I don't think it's a fail - I think it's deliberate. If you consider how slick and perfect the rest of the video is, the flow of the black-and-white images, and then when it goes to 'real', you get to see the nuts and bolts of how an image is created. You have this hot, color-flooded picture of a rock'n'roll hero, but when it pulls back, you see he's standing on a box, you see Mike and Tre pulled back and forth with an almost exaggerated awkwardness. You see the image being created - believe what you see?

Referring to what you said earlier in the thread, I feel like one of the elements of 21CB - the whole album - is Green Day consciously engaging with their earlier work, taking stock, walking those paths again and asking 'where are we now, who are we now?'

My wife made that observation also the first time she saw the 21CB video and I pointed out the "flaws" in the closing shots. In the end, I think I'm straddling the fence about whether they're deliberate or just accidental/sloppy. I'm even more puzzled by the question since we see those technical issues arising in two different videos -- are they really building a theme here, or does Marc Webb need glasses? I do see the "nuts and bolts" as fitting in better with the overall theme of the 21CB title track, especially since it all occurs at the end of an effects-loaded video right after all the otherwise-perfect CGI work fades away to cold, sharp reality. I can definitely see Billie and Marc looking at the reel together afterwards -- and even if that staging wasn't initially deliberate, seeing the light bulb going off above both of their heads at the same time and saying "yeah, that works, let's keep that in there."

But the camera's railroad track being so obviously left visible in the 21 Guns video? Still very hazy to me about how that does anything but detract from the themes of the song or the rest of the video. I remain fully open to being enlightened however -- if you have some thoughts on this, please share!

[E!!i]

My wife made that observation also the first time she saw the 21CB video and I pointed out the "flaws" in the closing shots. In the end, I think I'm straddling the fence about whether they're deliberate or just accidental/sloppy. I'm even more puzzled by the question since we see those technical issues arising in two different videos -- are they really building a theme here, or does Marc Webb need glasses? I do see the "nuts and bolts" as fitting in better with the overall theme of the 21CB title track, especially since it all occurs at the end of an effects-loaded video right after all the otherwise-perfect CGI work fades away to cold, sharp reality. I can definitely see Billie and Marc looking at the reel together afterwards -- and even if that staging wasn't initially deliberate, seeing the light bulb going off above both of their heads at the same time and saying "yeah, that works, let's keep that in there."

But the camera's railroad track being so obviously left visible in the 21 Guns video? Still very hazy to me about how that does anything but detract from the themes of the song or the rest of the video. I remain fully open to being enlightened however -- if you have some thoughts on this, please share!

maybe it's not a mistake cause in Holiday you can see it at the end too

[Bastard of 1967]

maybe it's not a mistake cause in Holiday you can see it at the end too

Gotta go in for a closer look -- thanks for pointing that out!

[E!!i]

Gotta go in for a closer look -- thanks for pointing that out!

no problem