Green Day (Thread about Green Day)

[kngen]

are they the biggest band to ever play Wigan Cricket Club? seems likely!!!!

Saw them in Glasgow on the tour before that (91, I think). There was about 15 people there, but they played their wee hearts out (they were still teenagers then I suppose). Was great fun, and someone on the tour had clearly played them Vic Reeve's Big Night Out when crashing at their house, as after the gig when they were packing up, Billie Joe slowly collapsed at my feet and shouted out 'Oh, I've fallen'. I helped him back up and said 'You wouldn't let it lie' or something and he gave me a big grin and said: 'Hahaaa! Yeeeah, man!'

So even though I was done with them after that first LP, and they went on to be an omnipresent cultural phenomenon/irritation, I can't totally hate them due to that gig and interaction.

Still love this song though:

He wrote that when he was 15, which is fucking wild in hindsight. If only everyone's teenage fannying-about could be so focused and engaging.

[tookish]

I was about twelve or thirteen when American Idiot came out, and it was one of my most-played albums, especially cherished because it had a Parental Advisory sticker on it.

Their music is among the stuff that cradled me through quite a difficult childhood, and will always hold a special place in my heart.

I'm not a connoisseur of musical genius and am much more interested in lyrics, but I genuinely think Green Day were fantastic live and their albums hold up to scrutiny. Haven't listened properly to the new album yet, mind.

[Gurke and Hare]

I like Good Riddance, but I accept that it's the kind of acoustic noodling that a lot of people raise their eyes at.

[lankyguy95]

Is it a "hot take" to suggest that Insomniac is one of the greatest punk albums of all time?

It's spotless.

[The Mollusk]

It's deffo up there for me, and yeah it is spotless. Dookie is the best album in the broader sense but Insomniac is the one I revisit more as it just boots the fuckin barn doors in from start to finish. Hugely satisfying sound, amazing energy.

[Dr M1nx PhD]

Is it a "hot take" to suggest that Insomniac is one of the greatest punk albums of all time?

It's spotless.

I'd disagree on the grounds that it can't be a punk album on a major label.

One of the greatest rock albums though? Yes, absolutely.

[dontpaintyourteeth]

I've done some research (looked at album covers) and I had Dookie on cd and Insomniac on cassette, almost certainly charity shop buys back in the day. I don't remember ever playing them but I know three songs off the former and one off the latter.

[dontpaintyourteeth]

Also mind the version of Brain Stew that was on the Godzilla soundtrack which I'm pretty sure was exactly the same but with some roaring sfx

[non capisco]

It's deffo up there for me, and yeah it is spotless. Dookie is the best album in the broader sense but Insomniac is the one I revisit more as it just boots the fuckin barn doors in from start to finish. Hugely satisfying sound, amazing energy.

Bab's Uvula Who? is SUCH a tune. Ram raids your heart with its one riff then fucks straight off leaving you wanting to play it again.

[The Mollusk]

Also mind the version of Brain Stew that was on the Godzilla soundtrack which I'm pretty sure was exactly the same but with some roaring sfx

They got Zilla in the booth for those fire vocals, geezer slammed it down in the first take then bounced to grab some spicy wings. Total pro.

[Spiteface]

I'd disagree on the grounds that it can't be a punk album on a major label.

One of the greatest rock albums though? Yes, absolutely.

Most of the "original"  Punk bands were on major labels. So that distinction is a bit silly.

[El Unicornio, mang]

My favourite band when I was about 16 (until I got into grunge and then Britpop came along), had the Dookie t-shirt and everything. Had all the videos from that time on tape and would watch them on repeat constantly. Got me into a lot of older punk stuff too.

Kerplunk was probably my favourite album though and 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours was decent. Didn't listen to anything past Dookie but most of my younger friends got into them around the time of American Idiot.

Hadn't listened to them (aside from whatever the radio played) since about 1995 but went to see a Geordie Green Day tribute band play at my local rock pub last year and was quite nostalgic. They even played my favourite song, "2000 Light Years Away" which I don't think most of the people there had heard before.

[Dr M1nx PhD]

Most of the "original"  Punk bands were on major labels. So that distinction is a bit silly.

And all of the "actual" punk bands weren't.

[dontpaintyourteeth]

SPEWS TRUTH

[The Mollusk]

People are seriously still pendantic about what's punk in 2024

[Dr M1nx PhD]

#BillieJoeMustDie

[curiousoranges]

Stadium rock punk.

[Goldentony]

someone on the tour had clearly played them Vic Reeve's Big Night Out when crashing at their house, as after the gig when they were packing up, Billie Joe slowly collapsed at my feet and shouted out 'Oh, I've fallen'. I helped him back up and said 'You wouldn't let it lie' or something and he gave me a big grin and said: 'Hahaaa! Yeeeah, man!'

love this

[Goldentony]

it's to be commended that we got to halfway down page 2 on a thread about Green Day before even a hint of cryarsing

[mrpupkin]

Spent my mid-teens thrashing out GD songs with my bro, we basically learned our instruments that way. Green Day (the song), Welcome to Paradise and Christie Road were probably our main ones. Good times. Then Warning came out and my mum got it for us from Sainsbury's but it was rubbish and so is everything they've done since. Oh well. Thanks for the memories green day lads.

[tom_exorcisto]

Dookie came out when I was 13 so perfect age to get into them and liked everything up until Insomniac. The Lookout! records especially have a great energy, probably my favourite stuff of theirs, amazing how many catchy infectious pop tunes they wrote. Also thrashed out bad versions with my school band.

By the time Nimrod came out I was really not into it, seemed a damp fart after Insomniac and an attempt to diversify which just didn't work (for me). It was a popular record at college though. This guy used to bring his acoustic in and sing Good Riddance over and over in the canteen.

Never listened to them after that apart from the inescapable radio hits. Just been on the youtubes and heard "Living in the '20s" and "Fancy Sauce" off the new one. Fucking hell! Almost depressingly bad. Boring slow riffing and nursery rhyme lyrics about "modern life bad". Almost as shit as whatever the hell Smashing Pumpkins are up to these days.

[non capisco]

I love a handful of tunes off Nimrod. Redundant, Uptight, Scattered, Prosthetic Head and especially Haushinka are as good as anything they ever did. There's a lot of bloat on it for the first time though, and Green Day up to then were the opposite of bloat. Big hit Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) was bizarrely a tarted up re-record of an Insomniac b-side. Speaking of b-sides, some of the Nimrod ones like Desensitised and Suffocate were stronger than a lot of what went on the album, certainly better than the Shakin' Stray Cats lead off single Hitchin' A Ride. Their pre-Warning b-side comp Shenanigans is the other great Green Day album I reckon. Always thought Do Da Da should have been on Insomniac, it's catchy as hell.

Warning wasn't for me and then they turned into what they turned into. Boulevard Of Broken Dreams is possibly one of the dreariest songs I've ever heard in my life that isn't Mr. Writer by The Stereophonics but, hey, they were mint for a while and exactly what I needed when I needed them.

[touchingcloth]

I think it's wrong to see Boulevard of Broken Dreams as an outlier, and they've always had that mawkish shite side mixed in with the skate punk bangers. When I Come Around -> Time of Your Life -> Boulevard.

Terrible vocalist, idd'n he. It tumtin unpreditable buh in de enddah righ, iyope you hadde time of yuhr live

[Goldentony]

always had a thing for this Mike song on Dookie - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWq5TbRa7Ro

[Goldentony]

literally every cunt i know growing up claims to have been at that gig

I know the guy who videod that gig.

yeah I started going to gigs properly 2002 ish I think and met and still know a few people who went to one or both, good/funny that you can see the Jailcell Recipes backdrop in the video 

[The Mollusk]

mawkish shite ... When I Come Around

Nah

[timahall]

They had a similar career trajectory to the RHCP. Ballad becomes biggest hit to date (Under The Bridge) causing them to move into more mawkish territory for (I assume) commercial reasons.

[madhair60]

Nah

yeah what the fuck. jesus christ

[Goldentony]

fucking absolutely love When I Come Around, love how remote and quiet the video feels with these three weird looking tits wandering about like its their job and when I was young id go THIS IS WHAT I DESIRE, TO DRESS LIKE A TRAMP AND WALK ABOUT

[Al Tha Funkee Homosapien]

Excellent band with some great albums but why the fuck are they still releasing music. No need.