Why does the trilogy get so much crap

[Z J]

granted the AI and 21CB albums, in some ways, are 'better', but then again both albums were built on different foundations (as were many albums - different headspaces etc) - they WANTED to create a big, epic concept/story of an album, so naturally, with a bigger/higher goal, they are going to push themselves that much more. But with the trilogy, they just wanted to write music, with no grand plan, of which they accomplished. Simple as that.

I think your definition of growth may also vary slightly from mine. To me, growth is not just technical improvements, and/or honing a craft, but trying new things, and stepping into new grounds, maybe even out of ones comfort zone. Which, to me, is what they did do with the trilogy - the sound is different to anything they have done before, even if the solo's, lyrics, drums etc dont break any new and awing grounds.

Would I be wrong in thinking you view the trilogy as a bit more on the 'soft' side?

Haha no you would be right, it's enjoyable but it doesn't compare to their other work for me. I agree growth can be what you say as well, and I think that's part of what I was trying to say Re: Dos. It was supposed to be this dirty garage rock sound but I think they fell short of the FBHT. The songs were not anything new for GD's catalog and it wasn't an improvement on any of their previous work. A song like Brutal Love is unlike anything they've done. GD has had success in the past by throwing caution to the wind and sticking a middle finger in the face of nay-sayers. For example: Good Riddance was the opposite of what punk is supposed to be, making it so incredible. Nobody had ever really done a punk-rock opera before, and GD was kind of washed up in the eyes of some so what do they do? They make American Idiot. Then everyone wanders how they could possibly follow up one of the best albums of the decade. What does GD do? They wait 5 years and release ANOTHER rock opera but this time the songs are not punk rock they're epic piano/rock ballads. The band has always thrived on changing, growing, and being unpredictable. I just don't think the trilogy was enough of a step forward in any direction

you realise that just as often as songs are written from a persons POV, there are just as many written either via the headspace of another (through empathy I'm guessing) or by putting oneself in another's shoes? There are also some songs that are a little auto-biographical but take on the form of a character or something else, or even blend into a bit of both? There's a Pink song called Save My Life where she starts singing about a friends drug/depression etc problem, and the last verse she talking to herself about the same thing = perfect blending of similar subject matter. Heck, didnt Billie even say Jimmy and JOS were elements of himself that were then built on to create the characters?

Lyrics are just a way of explaining something from whatever point of view. Doesn't alway have to be a persons fantasy, it could be as simple as how they view X, Y or Z, with that view possibly not being the correct or whole picture.

Plus, any form or art is little more than the artists interpretation of something, be it an object, emotion, situation etc, so saying yo dont 'buy' a song, to me, either means you just dont like it, or worse, you dont understand it (by the way, you dont need to lie a song to understand it. I'll be honest, I'm not too fond of Drama Queen, but I get and respect it.) If you listen to the lyrics and what BJA said about the meaning, its perfectly clear what he's on about (least to me it is), and therefore the song does its job very well, and IS infact good...whether you, I, or anyone else enjoy it or not, is a different matter altogether.

This is all true. But lyricism is not only based on meaning. When I say I am not a fan of the lyrics, it's not just song meanings it's also about how poetic, creative, and relatable the lyrics are. The relatable part is very very dependent on the person. JOS was auto-biographical for BJA the "land of make believe" line is one of the best lines GD has and it applies to Armstrong and the band in an extreme way. All of Dookie was an anthem to teenage angst. AI was a political statement but even outside those two songs (AI and Holiday) there are a ton of lyrical gems. Insomniac was an angry backlash against the punk elitists and so on. Trilogy just doesn't have it.

[Scott34]

Am I the only one that wants "See You Tonight" to be like 5 minutes longer? It's epic.

[Flyingdonutz]

Imagine this setlist.

99 Revolutions

Let Yourself Go

Stay the Night

Fuck Time

Stray Heart

Wow! That's Loud

Missing You

Drama Queen

X-Kid

Dirty Rotten Bastards

Brutal Love

Oh Love

The Forgotten

Quite honestly, that setlist would have likely dethroned Nimrod as my 3rd favourite Green Day album of all time. And what else there is to consider is there were at least 5 other fucking amazing songs on that album that could be put in that list. Us all being hardcore Green Day fans we want all 37 songs, but that setlist up there, marketed properly, would have been a massive hit and would have felt like a good follow up to 21st Century Breakdown. The trilogy has too much filler, cut down on that and release an album called 99 Revolutions instead of Uno, Dos, and Tre, and you get a 5 star album. So IMO, Green Day did a great job on these albums. If you look at the three as one album, there's a lot of epic songs. More than any other Green Day album.

[Fuzz]

I wonder how people would perceive these albums if everything went according to plan and they didn't have to take a 6 month break with Billie's rehab. I think people would have a very different reaction to the lyrics he was writing without knowing the struggle he was going through.

Musically, I love the trilogy. They are very different than the last two albums and it's what I wanted. It has a lot more rock n roll feeling to it rather than just punk, and that's the stuff I really love. There are also songs like Lazy Bones that I just love and consider them among my top Green Day songs.

[UNICORN VOMIT]

I wonder how people would perceive these albums if everything went according to plan and they didn't have to take a 6 month break with Billie's rehab. I think people would have a very different reaction to the lyrics he was writing without knowing the struggle he was going through.

Musically, I love the trilogy. They are very different than the last two albums and it's what I wanted. It has a lot more rock n roll feeling to it rather than just punk, and that's the stuff I really love. There are also songs like Lazy Bones that I just love and consider them among my top Green Day songs.

I totally agree. After watching Cuatro again - I think the trilogy was exactly what the band set out to achieve.

[The Disappearing Boy]

I'm finding it so difficult to put my finger on exactly what my opinion of the trilogy is. It's decent. There are some good songs. But there are also some average to bad songs. That said, bad for Green Day is still better than many other bands. My 'perfect Trilogy' album would be:

1. Stop When the Red Lights Flash

2. X-Kid

3. Wow! That's Loud

4. Makeout Party

5. Dirty Rotten Bastards

6. Lady Cobra

7. Nightlife

8. Little Boy Named Train

9. Fuck Time

10. Stay the Night

11. Let Yourself Go

12. Nuclear Family

13. Kill the DJ

14. Loss of Control

15. 99 Revolutions

16. Ashley

17. Lazy Bones

18. Brutal Love

I have that as a playlist in itunes and it works pretty well together. I probably play it more than I do just Trilogy songs.

[naliuj]

I really like the albums. Not the best but definitely not the worst albums I've heard. Green Day doesn't seem to like looking back so it's no surprise to me that they would try something completely different with each album they make.

[walking_c0ntradicti0n]

I really like the albums. Not the best but definitely not the worst albums I've heard. Green Day doesn't seem to like looking back so it's no surprise to me that they would try something completely different with each album they make.

i dont get whats so bad about looking back

[SEAtacticsFTW]

They are really just average for me. Some jems here and there, but mostly meh. I kinda wish Uno didn't exist, I just didn't like it too much. Besides the jems like LoC and STN

[stories and songs]

There are some of the best songs of Green Day's career so far on the trilogy. Lazy Bones, X-Kid, DRB, Amy, Walk Away, Brutal Love, Rusty James - there are so many amazing songs on the trilogy that I absolutely love.

A personal problem I have with the trilogy, though, is the "sex, drugs, & rock n roll" vibe that the albums all have, particularly Dos!. I love the sound of all three albums, but the lyrics really do trip me up. Put simply, the lyrics don't sound like Green Day lyrics to me. Green Day is more about humor and laughing at the rockstar lifestyle than actually being a part of it. There was a lack of humor and heart in the trilogy; I could never really connect to the albums, and I have never had that problem with Green Day before.

[Guest]

They are really just average for me. Some jems here and there, but mostly meh. I kinda wish Uno didn't exist, I just didn't like it too much. Besides the jems like LoC and STN

gems*

Sorry, that just really bothered me for some reason.

[michael1989]

I loved the trilogy. It could have been cut down to a terrific double album rather than 3 very good ones, but overall it was a great trilogy and a welcome departure from the political lyrics of the last couple albums (for a change, AI and 21CB are both excellent).

[TommyGun]

To me, these 3 albums are great, even though they're not my favorite green day albums, the trilogy is one of the best things they have ever done as a whole.

They released 37 new songs in just a few month and that is great for us.

Billie once said in an interview, that he doesn't thinks that the trilogy is a failure and so i think, too because we all love it and i will be remembered by us as another era of green day.

And i think there are quite a few songs from the trilogy that maybe will stay in green day's live catalogue, such as 99 Revolutions, Stay the Night, Oh Love etc.

And as long as we listen to these 3 albums it won't be a failure

[Guest]

And i think there are quite a few songs from the trilogy that maybe will stay in green day's live catalogue, such as 99 Revolutions, Stay the Night, Oh Love etc.

Wouldn't be shocked if in 3 years time none of those songs are on the setlist. Oh Love, their only proper single, has already been dropped, and the other two are unknown outside of the fanbase. When the greatest hits tour comes around, the Trilogy probably won't be featured heavily, if at all.

[Tubbie Head]

I love the Trilogy, it's one of my favourite things they've done! And I'm really happy they did it!

The bad things about the trilogy was the singles choice and promotion (which was even worst than 21stCBD... Of course the circumstances weren't the same but I was expecting a much bigger impact). I recognize it's a really bad "era" to call in new fans. And even people who are casual fans probably didn't get excited about it after hearing the first singles AND videos (which I think plays a big part of it). I would personally despise the band if the first thing I'd seen of them was the video for Oh Love, or even Kill the DJ. It would have turned me off completely.

[naliuj]

i dont get whats so bad about looking back

Nothing but they just like to keep moving. Short attention span I guess.

[Virtuous Xman]

Okay as an older fan of some sort. The problem with the triple album is the fact of history repeating itself. After Insominac came out, a lot of people did not like it because it wasn't dookie part 2. Furthermore a tremendous amount of green day "fans" at the time were really fucking bandwagon fans. Therefore they jumped off of Green Day and were on to the next thing at the time which turned out to be the coming of nu metal. Furthermore when Warning came out even a lot more people now didn't like Green Day because the album wasn't like dookie, nimrod or insomniac. Even though the lyricism was a mixture of dark/ hopeful tunes. And the guitars weren't really distorted.

Now fast forward to American Idiot, you have a new generation of people who frankly with all the technology in the world. Don't really know shit about the band and think American Idiot is their first album or technically their second album after Dookie. Stupid right, however the same trend that happened with Dookie, repeated itself again with A.I. Now that doesn't mean its a bad album at all, however you gotta realize that a lot of fans during AI and Dookie were really just one album fans. And it happens with a lot of bands.

The triple album could have taken off a lot better, however when you have lack of promotion and a lot of tour dates canceled, it really doesn't help album sales. Unfortunately we still live in a society where if things are not in people's face, they don't go looking for it, which is rather sad. Green Day will continue to have a good fanbase, regardless.

Nevertheless will that fanbase be as huge as Dookie, AI, numbers...probably not. Most people only follow trends and want to feel cool cause they are listening to an album that everyone else is into.

I'll never forget when AI leaked on this exact website back in 04 (thanks to Warner Brothers by the way), the next day I drove up to Cal State Long Beach blasting that album and people were actually quite shocked and didn't know who the band was. When I told them, they were complelty speechless. My point of this, is that if you take the time to look for quality stuff, you'll be surprised of what you find, regardless of the era. So maybe that will also happen with the triple album later down the road. Who knows.

[green day is]

Unfortunately we still live in a society where if things are not in people's face, they don't go looking for it, which is rather sad.

There's a difference between things that aren't "in people's face" and things people just don't know about. Not everybody keeps up with Green Day on a regular basis enough to know when they're putting albums out, and that's why promotion is necessary in the first place. If you aren't told about something, you won't know about it. That isn't sad, it's just a fact.

[cartoonjunkie]

The issure that my boyfriend has with the new Trilogy albums and I honestly feel the same way after he mentioned it, is that in too many of the songs there are lyrics that keep repeating way too often.

Examples:

Let yourself go, Let yourself go, Let yourself go

So say you'll saty the night, I don't wan to say goodbye, So say you'll saty the night, I don't wan to say goodbye

Someone kill the dj, shoot the fucking dj, Someone kill the dj, shoot the fucking dj

99 revolutions tonight, 99 revolutions tonight, 99 revolutions tonight... ect.

Not saying that they've lost thier touch or have gotten lazy, but it does feel like the Trilogy was a bit rushed on a lot of songs.

[michael1989]

I hope some of the trilogy stuff becomes a staple of Green Day concerts (STN, Stray Heart, X-Kid, etc). I don't think popularity is necessarily an indication of what they'll play.l

21CB was more popular than the trilogy yet they've only been playing 1 song from it on this tour and it's not 21 Guns.

[UnoDosTreCuatro]

Because everyone wants everything they make to be exactly like Dookie. Green Day changes with their albums, and people don't accept as a different sound by Green Day, but talk bad about it because it isn't Dookie. I love love love the trilogy, and it really annoys me that THIS is a lot of the reason it's getting crap. But fortunately, Green Day doesn't take the crap, and does new and awesome things when they make their music

[solongfromthestars]

Green Day (and most other bands) will get crap whatever they do. People want simpler lyrics, they want Billie singing about girls and wanking again, then they complain that they're too simple and it's creepy now he's older. They say they want a different sound, they don't like it when they get it. They want Dookie, they complain when they play it live.

Whilst the trilogy may have been badly torn apart, I remember seeing a shitload of hate for 21CB too. The same for American Idiot back when I was a kid listening to BOBD on repeat. As far as I know, Warning got the same treatment when it came out as well - so did Insomniac and Nimrod. Not sure about Dookie but it must be the same (and I've seen a few fans recently saying they've never liked it). People will always find a reason to complain.

Personally I do think there's some bad songs on the trilogy, but then there'll be a song I don't like on any album. Overall I really enjoyed it, and I like the dark/brash vibe that a lot of people aren't comfortable with. Dos is up there in my top three albums of all time. I don't feel that there's a lot of filler or that they aren't real Green Day albums, and I don't think singing about sex or an affair necessarily means a lack of heart. But that's just me.

[LogikaX]

I give the Trilogy crap because I don't think it's very good or enjoyable. I only gave it a free pass as long as I did because it was Green Day. I made a "best of" album out of the Trilogy songs and I don't even listen to that anymore.

[EmmaCharlatan&Saints]

cause they are pretty crap..only a handful of decent songs should have just released one album

[Spike]

I don't think "not looking back" is a case of having a short attention span. It's just a case of, what's the point in looking back? If you want Dookie, go listen to Dookie. And as great as that album is, another record of similar material would be totally pointless, since even the songs on that album alone are a bit samey. Live shows are meant to be a celebration of what they've done in the past, so they absolutely should try new things in the studio. It's not like the songs/albums we all know and love won't be there anymore if the band go on to take a direction we don't like.