Web Editor, ZOO (www.zooweekly.co.uk). And they changed my photo. Splendid.
Web Editor, ZOO (www.zooweekly.co.uk). And they changed my photo. Splendid.
Member since:04.12.2000
Reviews:147
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It was in late 1993 that three angsty, Acne-ridden 20-nothings from California walked away from their small fry record label to take a crack at the big time. With Nirvana’s chugging riffs being emulated on six strings across the world, Warner wanted to cash in on the explosion of alternative punk-rock by unleashing their own smell of teen spirit on an unsuspecting public. Green Day were their answer. The band’s first major label offering, Dookie – a 40 minute journey through whores, headcases, and masturbation – smashed all sales predictions within weeks; Warner’s gamble had hit jackpot.
Twelve years later, Billie Jo Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool have demonstrated that their credentials stretch way beyond poo gags and songs about wanking. 1997’s Nimrod album served up two wistful love songs – Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)and Redundant – that sounded suspiciously like Willie Nelson for Generation MTV. The Day, it seemed, were mellowing. So much so that 2000 release Warning had more in common with the pop ponderings of Barenaked Ladies than the Nirvana-style thrusting guitars and cracked vocals which originally delivered them to the world.
Armstrong and pals went through the motions on their seventh studio album. Written and recorded on autopilot, it wasn’t until the finished master tapes mysteriously vanished that the band realised they weren’t happy with their work anyway. It was back to basics time. And so the pensive, powerful, serene-yet-shatterproof experience that is American Idiot was born.
Contrary to popular misconception, this isn’t a record aimed straight at George Bush’s jugular. Rather, it’s the story of a character, Jimmy, who is content living in his own bubble, away from the real world suppression of Dubya’s regime. On the album opener and title track – a three minute thrashathon ripped straight from the Green-Day-by-numbers Annual – Jimmy expresses his concern about being “controlled by new media”. Eleven songs later, he’s fallen for everything he stood against, himself becoming a false idol. It’s a role that drives him to take his own life during Homecoming, the album’s penultimate track.
But beneath the simmering storyline, Green Day’s heart remains more Redundant than Dookie. Sure, there are nods to the full on rawk that started it all – the foot-stomping strains of Letterbomb, or Holiday’s almost rap-like middle eight. But it’s when Armstrong gets sentimental that the Day really hit home. Are We The Waiting is a slow-marching anthem for life’s lost losers; Give Me Novacaine an acoustic, tragic plea for escape into a better (though narcotically induced) world; forthcoming single Wake Me Up When September Ends a deliberate, poignant, outstanding response to 9/11. It’s at these points that Green Day show they haven’t forgotten from whence they came; more they’ve refined their teenage rage into real, pure adult emotion.
Nowhere is this more evident than on Jesus of Suburbia, a nine minute epic which encompasses tragedy (City of the damned/ lost children with dirty faces today/ no-one really seems to care), spite (Everyone’s so full of shit/ born and raised by hypocrites), and apathy (I don’t care if you don’t care). It’s Bohemian Rhapsody for a million embittered souls, Freddie Mercury without the camp coating. And it’s one of those insanely addictive pieces of music which pulls you in and never lets you go; the centrepiece of Green Day’s finest hour. The toilet humour has been flushed away, but in its wake this tormented trio can lay claim to being the best band in the world right now. Idiot behaviour never felt so good.
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Brilliant review. Love your style. I love this band, they're brilliant. Interesting to see how much they've changed over the years. Also, to make the album sound this good, which it definitely does, takes a lot of talent.
x majiggy x
Jen599 25.04.2005 23:09
Love this album!
marylou2u 09.04.2005 19:33
I have recently bought this album after liking a few of their songs - I think it is great.
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