The Great Divide Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 I don't know if all you guys have noticed, but those three songs sound very similar. I remember reading somewhere that Governator was based on a song written for Cigarettes and Valentines. A phone message demo was posted on Green Day Authority some time ago, it was about a minute and a half long or so, and it sounded very similar to Spike just with different timing and different lyrics. The demo was from around 2001 as I recall, Spike was released in 2003, and Governator saw its release in 2004 or 2005 as an AI b-side. The releases of these songs happened very close to each other. My hypothesis is that they demoed some music shortly after Warning was released and wrote a basic riff that they liked and turned into a short song. This demo was most likely the one posted on the site. One or two years after they recorded that demo, they finally turned it into a song and were set to release it on Cigarettes and Valentines, but with the loss of the master tracks they decided to keep it away for another song and that song became Spike, obviously with some changes to fit the New Wave sound associated with The Network. After releasing MM2020, they resumed writing for Green Day and recorded a new song using a fairly similar riff which became Governator. In their opinion it didn't quite fit the story of AI, so it was simply released as a b-side. So what do you think? Are they related or is it all simply a coincidence? Here is a link to the phone demo for reference: https://soundcloud.com/todd409/green-day-what-about-today Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chin for a Day Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 I clicked on this expecting for someone to try and say how Tom was like Arnold Schwarzenegger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 Probably. It's not unusual for bands to use riffs that they came up with years previously. It's happened a couple of times with Biffy Clyro, and at least once with Muse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basKT_case90 Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 I definitely hear the similarities between Spike and the demo. However I don't hear it with Governator. And if only phone recordings back then were higher quality, we could actually understand those lyrics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Great Divide Posted July 9, 2015 Author Share Posted July 9, 2015 I definitely hear the similarities between Spike and the demo. However I don't hear it with Governator. And if only phone recordings back then were higher quality, we could actually understand those lyrics If you listen closely, Governator uses the same type of rhythmic structure. I read that it was loosely based on a song from C&V so thats probably why you don't quite hear the resemblance. The pre-chorus ("I'll be back") sounds fairly similar to the chorus of Spike ("I need a fix"). I think the rest of Governator mainly just took from the structure and rhythm of Spike or whatever that song was actually supposed to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DookieLukie Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 Probably. It's not unusual for bands to use riffs that they came up with years previously. It's happened a couple of times with Biffy Clyro, and at least once with Muse. It also happened with my band, the Talentless Hacks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Todd Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 that's my soundcloud link haha. Glad I could help make the song more widely available for everyone to listen to Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Great Saiyaman Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 For some reason I always thought the riffs to "Church on Sunday" and "Nuclear Family" always sounded similar to the riff on "Sassafras Roots". That might just be me, though. Haven't listened to those three songs in a while, so I could change my mind if I hear them again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alienlifeform Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 Looks like Billie has re-used the lyrics of the fone demo on "Let Yourself Go", at least the "fuck" parts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spike Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 For some reason I always thought the riffs to "Church on Sunday" and "Nuclear Family" always sounded similar to the riff on "Sassafras Roots". That might just be me, though. Haven't listened to those three songs in a while, so I could change my mind if I hear them again. Church On Sunday and Sassafras Roots use the same chord progression and Nuclear Family uses the same chords in a different order, so yeah they're pretty similar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuck-with-she Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 Hate to admit it but quite a few of Green Day songs sound familiar. But it doesn't make them any less awesome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lauren Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 Probably. It's not unusual for bands to use riffs that they came up with years previously. It's happened a couple of times with Biffy Clyro, and at least once with Muse. Not even just reusing a riff idea that never made it into a song/onto an album; Green Day even reused riffs that were on their studio albums. Like how Viva la Gloria (Little Girl) has the melody to Restless Heart Syndrome in the intro on piano (although, this is a "rock opera", so it was purposefully done to foreshadow the next song on the album). The bridge in Haushinka is the Walking Contradiction main riff/chord progression. Then they use a riff they made up for the Simpsons Theme song (ok, not an "original", but this specific riff isn't in the original theme song, so they "wrote" it), in Before the Lobotomy (right before the reprise of the intro). And a few more that I can't remember at the moment. They also reused some lyrics in some songs as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Benjamin Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 The main chord progression in phone demo/What About Today is the bridge of St. Jimmy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.