Tag Archives: green day

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.

My iPod #39: Green Day – Android

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One for the hardcore Green Days fans out there.
Those fans who see the album artwork and think “Ooh, what’s this?’ Well, it’s a song from Green Day’s second album, Kerplunk.
“Kerplunk? That sounds stupid, I don’t want to listen.”
Yes, I felt the same way. American Idiot was my first Green Day album, I really liked ‘Holiday’ when I was younger, I thought it was one of the best songs around. And Dookie, well that’s breakthrough album isn’t it? The major label debut, the dogs in the planes and the monkey with the poop in its hand thinking ‘Throw?’, Basket Case.
“Exactly! What makes Kerplunk so good, or even… 39/Smooth?’
I can’t really answer that. They were recorded when the band were on the independent label ‘Lookout! Records.’ Nobody knew who they were at the scale that they are recognised now, but people still ‘knew’ about them, you know? Like, people heard they were good stuff so they wanted to find out more about them.
“…. OK. I’ll have a listen.”
Away from that scenario, Kerplunk was one of the last Green Day albums I downloaded. Only for the reason that Green Day: Rock Band came out, and I thought I should download all their stuff for the hell of it. I got 1039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours’ in 2004/05 but after getting it I realised that I had no clue about the songs on the compilation.
Kerplunk has grown on me as time has gone by, and this song is one of the reasons why. It’s just a really punk, four chord sequence song with great playing by all three members.

Another song by them about time and ageing, Billie Joe asks the questions that we all want to know about our lives:“Will I grow that old, will I still be around?

The world will carry on, I’ll end up six feet underground.
Waste away.”

The song carries on at this fast pace for the first few verses and choruses, then it all slows down (with a weird sample placed in, I don’t know where it’s from), everything starts to sound quite sad and introspective especially when Billie Joe is backed up with the child-like sounding vocal during the bridge:“It seems so frightening, time passes by like lightning.
Before you know it you’re struck down.”

But then the music picks up again, and you’re head banging to the instruments again.It’s pretty much a sad lyrics but confident music song, and it’s executed brilliantly.

So check out the first two albums by GD, and I don’t mean Dookie and Insomniac.

Until next time.

Jamie.

My iPod #23: Green Day – All the Time

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Evening all.

I downloaded ‘Nimrod’ back in 2010. That was the year that the band had their own ‘Rock Band‘ game dedicated to them. No one probably plays that game anymore, seeing as you could export all the songs into the normal Rock Band games anyway. However, it was a sight to behold Billie Joe, Mike and Tré all cartoon form, showing their change in appearances from the Dookie era, to American Idiot, and finally to 21st Century Breakdown.

Again, ‘All the Time’ isn’t probably the most memorable song that people will remember from Nimrod. There’s probably one good reason for that. The album itself was the one that began their movement from three-chord punk rock songs to songs which, I guess, carried a deeper meaning to them. They were becoming mature. Eww.

Although the song wouldn’t have found itself on Dookie, nor definitely Insomniac, ‘All the Time’ seems the closest on the album that could have been written in those recording sessions. If ‘Haushinka‘ was considered for Dookie, ‘All the Time’ certainly could have been.

The song’s overall message? Time goes fast.

That’s the song for the day. Hope you enjoyed it 🙂

Until next time.

Jamie.