TheTux, I disagree completely with your assessment that Green Day has become radio-trash. On the contrary, I believe that they have finally been able to correct a mistake they made so many years ago. As a devoted Green Day fan as yourself must remember, the band made big news when it strayed from the East Bay scene and fellow punk rockers Rancid and NOFX to sign with Reprise Records. By signing a major record deal, they were forced to censor themselves and play to an audience of music consumers, not music listeners. Many thought that Warning, especially "Macy's Day Parade", was a change in their style and the death of the Green Day we all grew up loving. In hindsight, that album was sort of the last depressed push of a group sick and tired of producing radio-ready crap. "Macy's Day Parade" was Billie Joe saying he's done pushing out all this commercialized crap and he wants to do what he wants to do. He's saying Reprise promised him all these dreams of stardom and hope but he did not get it. He's saying he's going back to a time when he was happier. Green Day now has the fanbase, the capital, and the wherewithal to produce what they want to produce under Reprise without too much editing. They have produced for Reprise and now they wanted some of their own artistic license. Billie Joe wrote his heart out about issues he was truly moved about. Then American Idiot was an explosion of repressed rage at the obvious shortcomings of the first term of the Bush Presidency. No one, especially not a devoted patriot like myself, can deny that Bush was a terrible president who will always be remembered as setting back Civil Rights, Economic Progress, and our International reputation. With 21st Century Breakdown, Billie Joe is trying to capture the feeling of a generation. They're not Anti-American. They're anti-idiot. We don't want to destroy this country, we want to make it better. After all, that's what punk is about. We don't believe the union of states or the collection of the American people should be disrupted, we just want what we were promised--a government that cares about its people, does what is in the best interest of the population, and allows us to have life, liberty, and pursue happiness. Billie Joe is upset that, since the Presidency of Richard Nixon, there have been too few presidents keeping this ideal in mind. Now it's time to realize this and push for change.
TheTux, I disagree completely with your assessment that Green Day has become radio-trash. On the contrary, I believe that they have finally been able to correct a mistake they made so many years ago. As a devoted Green Day fan as yourself must remember, the band made big news when it strayed from the East Bay scene and fellow punk rockers Rancid and NOFX to sign with Reprise Records. By signing a major record deal, they were forced to censor themselves and play to an audience of music consumers, not music listeners. Many thought that Warning, especially "Macy's Day Parade", was a change in their style and the death of the Green Day we all grew up loving. In hindsight, that album was sort of the last depressed push of a group sick and tired of producing radio-ready crap. "Macy's Day Parade" was Billie Joe saying he's done pushing out all this commercialized crap and he wants to do what he wants to do. He's saying Reprise promised him all these dreams of stardom and hope but he did not get it. He's saying he's going back to a time when he was happier. Green Day now has the fanbase, the capital, and the wherewithal to produce what they want to produce under Reprise without too much editing. They have produced for Reprise and now they wanted some of their own artistic license. Billie Joe wrote his heart out about issues he was truly moved about. Then American Idiot was an explosion of repressed rage at the obvious shortcomings of the first term of the Bush Presidency. No one, especially not a devoted patriot like myself, can deny that Bush was a terrible president who will always be remembered as setting back Civil Rights, Economic Progress, and our International reputation. With 21st Century Breakdown, Billie Joe is trying to capture the feeling of a generation. They're not Anti-American. They're anti-idiot. We don't want to destroy this country, we want to make it better. After all, that's what punk is about. We don't believe the union of states or the collection of the American people should be disrupted, we just want what we were promised--a government that cares about its people, does what is in the best interest of the population, and allows us to have life, liberty, and pursue happiness. Billie Joe is upset that, since the Presidency of Richard Nixon, there have been too few presidents keeping this ideal in mind. Now it's time to realize this and push for change.