I'd be interested to hear folks take on Green Day.
For what it's worth here's my take.
I was probably too old when they made their commercial breakthrough in the mid 90's for them to make much of an impression on me.. I think their music is ok but it is nothing that we haven't heard before and often better.
They put me in mind of a poor man's Sugar or even Husker Du. I suppose if their success brought such bands to the attention of a new audience then that's a good thing.
By all accounts frontman Billy Joe Armstrong is a bit of a plonker. However it could be argued that he is something of a visionary given that he at an early stage identified the qualities of his country's current President.
Green Day - Chump
Green Day - American Idiot
Basket Case remains a great single, and I quite like some of their other stuff, but I can largely take or leave them. TheMadster likes them, but she's young.
ReplyDeleteDookie had some good songs on it. They have their roots in the San Fran punk scene but have gone a very long way from it. Stadium punk for the masses.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your age-related comment, to me they're nothing new, nothing special, mundane, and I prefer listening to that Minnie Driver track you put up yesterday
ReplyDeleteThey never did anything for me. Even back then I was probably the wrong demographic
ReplyDeleteI quite liked "American Idiot" but, since I'm probably older than the other posters on here, I'd agree that old age had something to do with not liking the rest of their stuff.
ReplyDeleteI was a mere teen during the original Summer Of Love you know................"Yes, you made your own amusements then" (copyright Robin Williamson circa July 1967)
Too late, too young and too stadium for me but I do have a soft spot for American Idiot. Lyrically great of course but also has all the ingredients needed for the perfect short spiky pop song and after seeing them play it on Later some years back, I have to hand it to them for a fantastically energetic and incredibly tight live performance.
ReplyDeleteSwiss Adam nailed it - 'Stadium punk for the masses.'
ReplyDeleteGreen Day were something of a fresh air when I first heard them ("Basket Case was, and remains, a corking track).
ReplyDeleteThe album Dookie was OK, but nothing special - same could be said for the rest of their catalogue up to then.
American Idiot is still (nearly?) a masterpiece - best played loud.
But after that, it was all a bit "trading on past glories"
I loved Dookie. It was 1994. Senior year of high school. Dumbed down pop-punk was what i needed after the heavy shit (Cobain) that went down in music around the time. After that i wasnt interested. I came back around ten years later in the Bush era (American Idiot). Then I wasnt interested. They dont move me anymore.
ReplyDeleteGreen Day is dookie.
ReplyDeleteMy missus loves them and so I've been exposed to a fair bit of their material. Have never taken to them to the extent that they are one of the few bands I have no time for at all.
ReplyDeleteClash imitators fronted by an angry Billy Joel look and sound alike.
Bwahahaha! He neither looks nor sounds anything like Billy Joel, JC, but I still love that comment.
DeleteBeing a bit younger than you, I was probably the right age for their earlier stuff, which I loved, right up to American Idiot. Then it all became a bit too much, they lost their sense of goofy fun and started trying to be a pop-punk U2... which is never a good idea for anybody.
ReplyDelete