Unpopular Green Day Opinions

[Cameron.]

So 5 minutes of random power chord riffs? Or a Last Ride In esque jam on a riff of about 6 notes?

Last Ride In is fantastic

[Spike]

The live jam they did on the American Idiot tour was fucking fantastic, but maybe that's because it didn't involve any guitar at all. Mike's bassline, oh my god. Still not over it.

[JOE THE X-KID]

So 5 minutes of random power chord riffs? Or a Last Ride In esque jam on a riff of about 6 notes?

I was thinking more of a "time as an imploding unit" kinda thing

[Guest]

I was thinking more of a "time as an imploding unit" kinda thing

I don't even particularly care for TAAIU It's all about Waiting For Green dude

[JOE THE X-KID]

I don't even particularly care for TAAIU It's all about Waiting For Green dude

Whaaaat! Actually.... yeah I'd agree

[Guest]

Whaaaat! Actually.... yeah I'd agree

I just listen to Time... to get to Waiting For Green. I find the exercise makes me appreciate WFG even more

[Idiotic Tendency...]

This has been hard to say but American Idiot is my least favourite GD song... It's so generic and repetitive.

[walking_c0ntradicti0n]

This has been hard to say but American Idiot is my least favourite GD song... It's so generic and repetitive.

you got a point there. saying American Idiot is the best song on American Idiot just sounds too mainstream

[Spike]

This has been hard to say but American Idiot is my least favourite GD song... It's so generic and repetitive.

I have to agree with this. She's A Rebel gives it a run for its money as my least favourite song on the album, but American Idiot is 100% attitude. In terms of the song itself there's not a lot going for it. The riff in the bridge is edited pretty badly so you can hear the joins at the end of every two bars, and that's really started grating recently. I wish Tre mixed it up more with the drum fills and Mike wasn't just playing root notes, too. The performance and production do make it decent, but the song itself doesn't do much for me. Also, as strong as most of the lyrics are, bits of it are a bit silly.

[Idiotic Tendency...]

you got a point there. saying American Idiot is the best song on American Idiot just sounds too mainstream

It's not even that it's mainstream, I just dont like the song very much

[munns6691]

Green Day HAVE to do something different. The only thing the Trilogy proved is that they can't do pop-punk anymore without ripping either themselves or other people off.

.

See I disagree. If they focused on 15 of those songs, went through the lyrics more than twice to make them complete and give them the attention they deserve, and went back to a louder sound instument wise ( like AI or 21st) it would have been a great album.

I like Green Day because I like the style they have always used as a base and tweaked things along the way. A brand new style or re-invention probably means I won't like them nearly as much

[Guest]

See I disagree. If they focused on 15 of those songs, went through the lyrics more than twice to make them complete and give them the attention they deserve, and went back to a louder sound instument wise ( like AI or 21st) it would have been a great album.

I like Green Day because I like the style they have always used as a base and tweaked things along the way. A brand new style or re-invention probably means I won't like them nearly as much

I don't think there's even 15 songs on the trilogy that weren't ripped off in some way. I have no doubt that if they went back through it and fixed a few things the album would be much improved, but the obvious borrowing of riffs has been getting increasingly obvious since Warning. Y'know, Waiting sounds like Downtown, She's A Rebel is basically Boxcar by Jawbreaker, KYE is Rebel Girl by Bikini Kill, and Mike's part of American Eulogy is note for note Clash City Rockers by The Clash. There's taking inspiration, and then there's shamelessly copy and pasting.

I'm not saying totally abandon their core sound. What I am saying is that it's in real need of tweaking, because it's stale as fuck.

[munns6691]

I don't think there's even 15 songs on the trilogy that weren't ripped off in some way. I have no doubt that if they went back through it and fixed a few things the album would be much improved, but the obvious borrowing of riffs has been getting increasingly obvious since Warning. Y'know, Waiting sounds like Downtown, She's A Rebel is basically Boxcar by Jawbreaker, KYE is Rebel Girl by Bikini Kill, and Mike's part of American Eulogy is note for note Clash City Rockers by The Clash. There's taking inspiration, and then there's shamelessly copy and pasting.

I'm not saying totally abandon their core sound. What I am saying is that it's in real need of tweaking, because it's stale as fuck.

Hmm, see its hard because after so many years of music in general most songs sound like something that has been made before. Plus I haven't heard any of the songs that they "copied" so it doesn't bother me in the slightest. But they could do something dofferentish and keep their roots appartent then okay, but their "different" sounding sounds are probably their worst ones.

[walking_c0ntradicti0n]

Hmm, see its hard because after so many years of music in general most songs sound like something that has been made before. Plus I haven't heard any of the songs that they "copied" so it doesn't bother me in the slightest. But they could do something differentish and keep their roots appartent then okay, but their "different" sounding sounds are probably their worst ones.

and by different im gonna assume you mean kill the dj, drama queen, and who the fuck can forget nightlife?

[Z J]

I don't see how when I said classic rock people got the idea that I meant like the Forgotten. I fucking hate that song. And I'm a sucker for ballads but it is brutal.

However Brutal Love is a very good song, has a good build, creative and well-written lyrics, and is killer live. I don't think they should make a full album of slow songs, however. And I don't think I consider Brutal Love to be classic rock either.

What I'd like to see them to do is go back to their true basics while expanding in other areas.

Their basics to me are:

-Great melodies; something that the trilogy had some of

-great basslines/bass led songs; trilogy had none of that really

-harmonies; they seemed to forget that was allowed on the trilogy

-lyrics that can connect with almost anyone

They could do those things very easily, and they don't have to be re-hashing old ideas to do that.

As for what they could expand on:

-Lead guitar riffs; get a little creative, Wow that's loud! was simple but I love the guitar riff. They're definitely capable of writing more like that

-Lead vocals; Billie showed he still has the ability to sing so now lets hear some great vocals again. He has a great ability to use vocal inflections and runs when he wants to. I'd like to hear more of them like WMUWSE, Give Me Novacaine, Castaway, Church On Sunday, Macy's Day Parade

I think people here tend to over-simplify music. Songs with similar chord progressions are not the same damn song. (Sorry Oasis). They can release an album that doesn't get creative with chord progressions and still have it be new and great. The trilogy wasn't bad because they chose not to stray too far from their power chords, it was bad because they forgot that harmonies and bass players existed.

[Spike]

I think people here tend to over-simplify music. Songs with similar chord progressions are not the same damn song. (Sorry Oasis). They can release an album that doesn't get creative with chord progressions and still have it be new and great. The trilogy wasn't bad because they chose not to stray too far from their power chords, it was bad because they forgot that harmonies and bass players existed.

Totally agree with your entire post, especially this bit. A chord progression is not a song. The chorus of Having A Blast and the verses of When I Come Around have the same chord progression (albeit in different keys) and obviously they're totally different. Judging a song by chord progression ignores the melody, tempo, rhythm, dynamics, instrumentation, feel, lyrics and production. Terrible idea.

The thing is, as much as Green Day's more classic sound falls squarely into the bracket of pop-punk, they don't sound like anyone else. They're more melodic than The Offspring, more mature than Blink 182, less hard rock than Sum 41, more complex than Bowling For Soup... the list goes on. What could be seen as their most generic songs are still distinctly Green Day, and even when other great bands cover them it sounds totally weird (New Found Glory got close with Basket Case, but it was still wrong, same goes for Bowling For Soup doing Stuart & The Ave). They also really seem to have found their other main strength in big ballads (BOBD, 21 Guns, Brutal Love), and I see that as their signature sound more than anything, these days. For that reason, I don't really care what 'formula' they do or don't stick to, as long as they sound like Green Day. And that could mean anything from BOBD to She to Misery. I think it speaks volumes for their longevity that Nuclear Family sounds like it came straight off Nimrod, yet it's fresh and exciting at the same time. The way I see it, they can stick to a formula but also make original sounding music at the same time. If that wasn't the case, they'd never have got past the first five tracks of Dookie.

[HolyHandGrenade]

Last Ride In is fantastic

Same with Espionage

[munns6691]

and by different im gonna assume you mean kill the dj, drama queen, and who the fuck can forget nightlife?

Pretty much. But then again those songs, well usually, aren't meant to be serious exactly. So if they tried something a bit different with the same attention to detail that they usually put into their work the result may be different

[Spike]

Pretty much. But then again those songs, well usually, aren't meant to be serious exactly. So if they tried something a bit different with the same attention to detail that they usually put into their work the result may be different

I think that's the crux of what's wrong with some stuff on the Trilogy. They can do these different styles, and probably very well, if they just take the time to make it work. Kill The DJ would be brilliant if not for the repetitive and weak lyrics.

[AlissaGoesRAWR]

Oh Love was only the most successful because it was the only single that got any promo whatsoever

Oh Love was successful?

[HolyHandGrenade]

Oh Love was successful?

"most successful" - therefore, using the metric of relativity. Example: Iraq was more enjoyable than World War Two

[Mar]

Oh God please no instrumentals. I respect what the guys do beyond Billie's vocals, but I just can't stomach the instrumentals, especially if they just become show-off moments.

[AlissaGoesRAWR]

Oh God please no instrumentals. I respect what the guys do beyond Billie's vocals, but I just can't stomach the instrumentals, especially if they just become show-off moments.

Can't unhear you playing Last Ride In while I was completely shitfaced at Steve's.

[Spike]

Last Ride In is fantastic

#UnpopularGreenDayOpinions

[munns6691]

I think that's the crux of what's wrong with some stuff on the Trilogy. They can do these different styles, and probably very well, if they just take the time to make it work. Kill The DJ would be brilliant if not for the repetitive and weak lyrics.

I agree completely. Kill the D.J. Would have been good with a different chorus and some verse touch-ups