Tag Archives: green day

My iPod #130: Green Day – Brain Stew

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Wha-hey. Another Green Day song in a matter of days. What a song too. Let me tell you alllll about it.

So the year is 2005. I get “American Idiot” for my birthday, I look at every Green Day fan site to gather as much information as I can about the three guys and their music. Green Day were my favourite band ever. What better place to find stuff about them then their offical website?

Circa 2005, the Green Day website had an “American Idiot” theme about it. Colours of red, black and white, with a lot of heart-hand grenades too. The website also put up all of their official music videos. YouTube was just about just getting started, so the only way to watch them was through RealPlayer and Windows Media Player; it was a real pain if you didn’t have the top speed needed to let the videos play at maximum quality. They always needed to buffer and all that nonsense. Being a single, “Brain Stew” was able to be viewed.

“Brain Stew” was released from the band’s fourth album “Insomniac”. Not just by itself, but with its companion “Jaded” which comes right after it.

The song is the ravings of a man who cannot get to sleep at night. One who suffers from insomnia, if you will. Although I can’t remember a time where I’ve felt so restless that I thought my eyes were going to be bleed whilst they were bulging out of my skull. I felt nervous during the night before my exam results day, and I had a bit of a tummy problem. That was about it though.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

My iPod #126: Green Day – Boulevard of Broken Dreams

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Can you believe it? It has been almost ten years since “American Idiot” was released.

It seems like a few days ago I got the album as a present for my tenth birthday, listened to the story of the son of rage and love and never looked back as Green Day started to become one of my favourite artists ever.

Those of you who have the album should definitely understand what I mean when I mention ‘the son of rage and love’. To those of you who don’t, I can try and explain it to you but it would be better if you listened to “American Idiot” yourselves.

The album itself has a concept. To put it very short the story of a boy named Jimmy, who leaves his hometown to look for better things, but realises the things out there aren’t so great and returns home. That is very basic, but you can search it up.

“Boulevard of Broken Dreams” comes in after Jimmy gets a real adrenaline rush of being away from home and wakes up the next morning to find that everything around him is morose and bleak. He is alone. He walks alone too. He walks alone, he walks alone.

How did “BoBD” become so important to me that it’s had a place on my portable device? I don’t know. I remember liking “Holiday” a lot more. I think it was the time that I realised that the video for “Broken Dreams” is set straight after the “Holiday” video, just like the two songs are on the album. The music videos for the song were shot in the same studio too. That was quite cool to know.

“Dreams” is a proper Green Day anthem. If you are to go to one of their shows, you better be prepared to know all the words to this. You don’t want to be the one mumbling the words and then singing “I walk alone, I walk alone”. That’s not the title of the song. There are other lyrics, people.

Personally, my favourite part of the song is the last minute when Billie Joe sings the last words and the band just rocks out, because the chord progression and the notes are so awesome. It sounds like it comes from out of nowhere.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

My iPod #116: Green Day – Blood, Sex and Booze + GREAT NEWS

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I HAVE A UNI TO GO TO!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY.

I’m so happy.

I don’t know if I can write enough for today’s song. I might not be able to concentrate. Let’s do it.

 

Well, well, well. It’s Green Day.

It’s the year 2000. I am five years old. I have no clue who Green Day are at this point. The band on the other hand have their fair share of fans after gaining a lot of success during the nineties.

Then comes the twenty first century, and the rise of boybands. Everyone begins to love boy bands again. What can Green Day do to regain their status? Nothing much to be honest. They release their sixth album “Warning” which – however bleak the album cover may be – captures the band at their most sophisticated point, mixing their original punk style with more accessible melodies and a wider use of instruments.

That’s not apparent in “Blood, Sex and Booze”, which is probably the band’s sleaziest song to date. Well, the song’s not sleazy. The narrator describes their love for being dominated in the bed. That’s all. It’s not my favourite from the album, but it rocks pretty hard. It deserves its place on my iPod.

I can’t write any more. I can’t think of anything to say.

If I have any British followers who also got their results today and got their places… CONGRATULATIONS. I’m happy for you.

Celebrate good times.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

My iPod #84: Green Day – Before the Lobotomy

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To this day, I am still not sure what the concept of “21st Century Breakdown” is. I know that it includes two characters, Christian and Gloria, and I also believe that those are the same characters that are embracing on the album cover. So is it like a love story? Is it supposed to be some sort of survival of two lovers in a shitty period of time? That’s really all I can deduce from it.

“21st Century Breakdown” was somewhat the “Relapse” for Green Day. It was released in 2009 – five years after releasing “American Idiot” in 2004. It was an exciting time for Green Day fans, including myself. I wasn’t really impressed with “Know Your Enemy” though, it was a bit repetitive and it didn’t strike me as much as “American Idiot” did as a first single.

That didn’t stop me from eventually downloading the album though. It is a straight-forward punk rock album: Guitars in full force in both ears with the bass and drums in the centre, a few overdubs here and there and guitar solos. Yeah, it’s good.

“Before the Lobotomy” starts off quietly for the first minute or so, describing how people feel down and how there seems to be no signs of hope, “Laughter, there is no more laughter. Songs of yesterday now live in the underground” But the song then picks up, turning into more of a rocker in the middle alternating between 7/4 and 4/4 in time signature. I can’t remember the last time Green Day used that in a song. It’s nice though, it keeps things going quickly. The end reprises the first verses of the song though, reminding everyone that society still sucks.

I like this song. Listen to it, you may like it too.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

My iPod #50: Green Day – Armatage Shanks

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Good evening.

Today, it is Green Day again. This time, it’s the opening track from their fourth album ‘Insomniac.’I listened to ‘Armatage Shanks’ quite a while ago on one of Green Day’s fan sites. This was when I was Green Day crazy, ‘American Idiot’ was my favourite album and gradually I became more and more interested in the band.

I was probably about ten when I first heard ‘Armatage’, and I didn’t think about it so much. It wasn’t really a special song, the title is named after a company that makes bathroom sinks, man. Bathroom sinks. As a title of a song, it’s really cool though. There is something really angst and sharp about it.

Anyone who owns ‘Insomniac’ will recognise the massive difference there is between it and its predecessor ‘Dookie’. Whilst still containing two-three minutes of memorable tracks, ‘Insomniac’ took more of a darker and edgier approach. Look at the difference between the album covers, for goodness sake. The overdubbed guitars are more distorted and crunchy, Mike Dirnt really cranks it up on his bass playing on this album, Tré is as good as ever on the drums and Billie Joe is a lot more snotty in his vocal delivery.

All of that is really summed up in this track, and as the first one on the album it sets the tone that you will hear for the next thirteen songs straight away.

Can anyone tell me what is being said in the bridge, because I still have no clue.

Until next time.

Jamie.