Is Green Day still playing good music?

[Johnny Higher]

Before to start I want to say that I'm a big (french) fan of Green Day since 8 years ago, I buy all their CD and I play guitar learning their song, etc. It's been a while that I want to put this debate on the table here on the GDC.

A simple question : Is Green Day still playing good music ?

Trough all their carrer Green Day bring news songs with news direction, news styles, news lyrics. We used to say that Dookie is different than Kerplunk, Insomniac is different than Dookie, Nimroed than Insomniac, etc... We used to say that the band grow up and bring news sounds in their songs.

But, as a guitarist, when you see all the stuff that GD brang up you can sincerly say that "is always the same thing" You know what I'm talking about, it's about song with 3 chords, same skeleton, same idea.

For the non musicans just know that Stay The Night, Carpe Diem, Kill The DJ, American Idiot, Walking Contradiction, Let Yourself Go, 99 Revolutions etc have the same progression of chords (just the tune change) the progression is GDA (no kidding)

Once again I love Green Day but I think that when I see non-fans of Green Day listening their songs there is a part of me who says : shit when you think about this it's always the same thing.

For me Billie Joe is one of the best guitar player alive but sometimes I think that all the musicans are crooks, you know we say that is bad or that is good but when you look up on the chords you see that a Bieber's song got the same chords that a Clash's song and that's make me feel sad

With the upcoming of Uno, Dos and Tré I want to open this debate.

[Katarina.]

My opinion about this is: who cares? I like how Green Day's music sounds, that's why I listen to their songs obviously. It's the combination of the guitar, bass, drums, lyrics and the energy they have when they play their music live that make me say: yes, Green Day play good music.

There's only so many chords you can use, and they obviously want to let everyone know how much they love GDA. haha

GDC too probably, but I don't really pay attention to chord progressions so I wouldn't know.

[Maddy.]

Idunno but the similarities in songs is what I love about this band. Every album is different but they've all got that something that makes it Green Day and even though their progressions are occasionally similar and their lyrics are repeated throughout various albums, it's still great. All bands have that one line/word/riff that they love and there's nothing wrong with some things sounding a little the same when it's about the music and not about doing something all new and exclusive. They make music because they love it and we love it and it just turns into a Green Day love fest regardless of overused progressions and this paragraph has now lost all coherence

Also Bieber is the messiah u should be ashamed.

[ThibautDookie]

Tony Army

[Amanda]

I'm sorry mate, but I agree with Katarina. Who cares. Talking about chords and all that shit, it's just verbal wanking.

[Harry Potter.]

Watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfjCa9nA6_c

Did you notice at 1:40 - 1:53 that Billie plays the "solo" with one finger? That is, i'd say, quite pathetic. Billie is a very talented singer and songwriter, but in my opinion he is not the best guitar player out there. And he doesn't know how to read notes. But like already said above, nobody cares. Green Day make the best music out there, and nobody cares if it's the same chord progression.

[~ Walking Contradiction]

The Ramones played the same 3 chords for 20 years and nobody cared about it.

[petros]

I don't know if they play good or shitty music I only know that I love it...

[Neon Light]

I mean sure, the music itself isn't that complicated to play, but why does that mean it's not good? Music for me is always about how it makes me feel, and how enjoyable it is to listen and dance to.

The new songs, from what we've heard so far, tick all the boxes, so why would I deprive myself of enjoying them because they happen to have the same chord progression as other songs?

Music that is more complicated may be more fun and challenging to play, but that doesn't mean it is more enjoyable to rock out to.

[Nemo.]

i think "good music" is only an expression. everyone has a different music taste, so nobody can say that music is "good" because he likes it but another one says this music is "shit" because he doesn't like it.

[Johnny Higher]

Yeah of course we can just say "who cares ?!" but it's easy to refuse the question without asking it.

Right now it seems useless or boring to ask this question but think in 10, 20 50 years when people will talk about Green Day they will say : "Yes is a good old punk band that rock out for sure" or "That was a bunch of stupid crooks that used to do the same shitty music through their carreer, I'm gonna listen Jazz music"

The greatest music and artist shown that is to necessary to know read the music or to have done a music shcool to play good music but when you have the career and the notoriety is legitimate to put the question.

[The Forgotten]

I'm with Nemo, good music is from different points of view.... I learned this after having watched the VMA's yesterday....having seen people give out award to ''artists'' like Nikki Minaj and One Direction.... It taught me that what's non-enjoyable in my taste can be obsessed by others

[TheJedi]

Green Day doesn't even only play 3 chords..

[sauser]

Have you ever write a song?

Have you ever thought on how many songs has billie wrote on the las 20 years? Man, that's pure talent, they make the songs, the chords and the lyrics, that's all, that's rock and roll - real music - good music.

[BringMoreKnives]

[Anja]

If anything Green Day make is "bad", I'm proud to say that I love this kind of "bad".

[Fuzz]

Interesting conversation. I'd just like to throw in this article I read this morning from the LA Times about Green Day's new song and their performance at the VMA's

If a band, one that recently hasn't shied away from political issues, is going to release three albums during an election year -- and perform a mere hour before President Obama was scheduled to speak at this year's DNC conference -- it's distressing they would so distance themselves from anything even slightly topical. Few mainstream bands have the guts to address political topics, and an election year would seem to be Green Day's big opportunity to step up.

Instead, "Let Yourself Go" was all goofy fun, the kind of song this writer lost his voice to in 1992. Yet just because Green Day has returned to the sound of "Kerplunk" doesn't mean Green Day in 2012 is worth celebrating

As a longtime fan, and one who believed Green Day post-"American Idiot" could be one of the great American rock bands, "Let Yourself Go" is nothing but a letdown. If the band wants to live in the past, fine, but no reason its fans also should.

[Nemo.]

Have you ever write a song?

Have you ever thought on how many songs has billie wrote on the las 20 years? Man, that's pure talent, they make the songs, the chords and the lyrics, that's all, that's rock and roll - real music - good music.

but there are much more talented composers like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvn7h1k3Mo8&feature=related this. i'm not sure if billie can write stuff like this. (if he wants to write stuff like that is another question).

[farley drexel hatcher]

Interesting conversation. I'd just like to throw in this article I read this morning from the LA Times about Green Day's new song and their performance at the VMA's

... wow. I'm sorry, but this band just can't win. If they release a big political album, fans and critics want old green day back. If they release something fun and loud and akin to 'old green day'; people accuse them of living in the past. This is why I just don't bother with reviews or critics. I like what I like and who cares about anyone else. I think the band share a similar point of view by the looks of things.

[frunsi]

green day are not overly talented musicians for sure (mike is a pretty good bass player though). the thing is, punk rock is generally a simple genre in structures, songwriting and use of instruments. that's the great thing about punk rock and green day IMO. everyone can get an instrument, write a song with simple chord progressions and verse-chorus-verse-chorus and rock out. it's not like symphonic metal or prog rock, where you have to practice for 20 years to write songs and play the instruments appropriately.

[DecanoLP]

First of all, you have to define "good music". What is "good music"? Who decides what is good and why? And if Green Day doesn't write good music, who does?

In my opinion, that's nearly impossible to answer.

[The Guy Called Kill]

Its a weird question to ask because to fans like us we will always like what Green Day produces no matter what. Mainly because they make the type of music that we all enjoy, no one on here likes Green Day as a "guilty pleasure" so to us any song they bring out unless it is woeful we will always give the thumbs up to.

To others this may be the case, out of the new songs released none of them have been musically brilliant and lyrically brilliant but it doesn't really matter. The band have a certain blueprint that works for them and the old saying "if it ain't broke don't fix it" applies to this.

[GuitarPunk94]

i can also play every GD song on guitar and drums..and ya many are very repetitive, but beside GD i play the music of other bands (like Metallica, Blink, Tenacious D, SOAD,...) on guitar and to play a GD song is always the most fun...its simple, but its awesome

and thats brilliant..'always the same 3 chords', but with every song GD create sth new, make a different sound and stuff

my personal opinion is that UNO will make good sells (maybe not as good as Dookie or AI, but noteworthy good) because of the strenght marketing..and i believe many 'average GD fans' will think "a new album of GD, ill give it a listen"...but in my eyes the 'average' consumers wont throw more bucks to GD for DOS (the very different FBHT-like sound could be too different for 'average' GD fans/consumers) and TRÉ (hope it wont be like this, it is always nice to see that your favorite bands album is successfull)

but for me its like "i dont care" ... as long as GD continue writing new songs/having fun/releasing new albums/playing shows i dont care what critics or the number of sales or my friends etc. etc. think about the 'new' music/songs

its me who will listen to the songs and its me who will make an own opinion about all this trilogy experiment...as long as i like the (sound of the) new songs im fine with this...and of what i heard so far i can just say that im completely in love with uno,dos,tré so far

*edit: and as we can see in this newpaper article someone posted on the top of this page...there will always be negative critics (that are dump in my opinion, i mean really? first GD got criticised for their 'too' political direction (AI) and that they should better stick to their roots (Dookie)...and now GDs new songs sound like a mix of Nimrod/Warning/FBHT (i think this is the opinion of many ppl here at GDC) people bitch why GD dont step forward and re-use their old sound...*facepalm*

[Nuclear Family]

A good song is more than chord progressions. Its also about the other instruments, the lyrics, and how everything as a whole makes you feel or what it reminds you of. If a Justin Bieber song has the same chord progressions as a Clash song, so what?

And about what Andres posted from that article:

Green Day = Damned if they do, damned if they don't. When they lean towards a different direction musically, people complain and say they aren't the same anymore. When they go back to their roots a little bit, people complain and say they are going backwards and that they need to be more.... musically complex?

Plus, in my opinion, Let Yourself Go doesn't sound like anything from Kerplunk. Yes, it is a distinctive Green Day sound that is familiar throughout their history, but it wasn't recorded in 4 days with a tight budget on an independent label. I don't even think it is possible to purposefully recreate the unique sound that Kerplunk has.

[pucky]

It's not a question about good or bad music. It's about feelings, about emotions. About connecting with a band. As simple as that.

If "making good music" was so important, most of the people would only listen to a really short range of bands. You know, all those bands that are objectively and unequivocally good: Queen, Pink Floyd, Joy Division, Led Zeppelin, Radiohead...those kind of bands.

Does GD make good music? Who cares? I sure don't. This band has an awesome vocalist, one of the best bassist of the world, and a drummer that kicks ass. All together with some deep, emotional yet common lyrics that everyone can feel identified with. Who cares if BJ is just an average guitar player, or there are many best drummers than Tré Cool.

In the end, everything just is reduced to feelings.

Besides, punk/punk rock is not a genre usually refered to as "good music". It's a fast, catchy, direct and critical type of music. But apparently it doesn't have the "requests" (whatever they are) to be consider as good music. At least this is what I have heard from a lot of music experts. And, still, there are a lot of punk bands who are now in history of music: The Clash, Sex Pistols, NOFX, Green Day, Offspring... Look, for example, at Nirvana. Was Kurt a technically good vocalist? No. Was he a virtuous guitarist? No. Was all that an important issue to become one of the best bands of his time? I don't think so.

A topic/question/matter is just as important as you want it to be. Discussing during hours about this kind of topics with no final resolution, which not even a minimum amount of experts agree about his considerations...is pointless.

Do you enjoy Green Day? Then fuck the "good music" thing.