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Longview: The New And Old Green Days
08/19/2009 Once upon a time there was a band called Green Day. They had a singer named Billie Joe, a bassist named Mike, and a drummer named Tré . They made music, they grew up, and then they made more. Sounds like something with a happy ending, doesn’t it? From the beginning Billie Joe Armstrong had what Jack Kerouac called “the tremendous energy of a new kind of American saint.” His music was anti- authority, anti- establishment, and totally anti-depressant. And it was all incredibly simple. If you listen to anything by Green Day (or any other pop-punk band) from the early 1990’s through 2003, every song has the same chord formations on guitar, similar chord progressions, and pretty straightforward bass lines and drum beats. Verses were backed with muted power chords, and there were two verses and three choruses per song. The choruses were catchy, though, and if you ask most guitarists from today’s up-and-coming generation the first song they learned on guitar, they’re going to tell you something written by Billy Joe Armstrong or (Blink-182’s) Tom DeLonge. What's more, anyone listening to any area of punk critically can’t ignore the idea that a distinct cultural meaning has become infused in the music – that the sloppy, energetic sound is anti-virtuosity in its finest, part of the anti- sound. Green Day used to fit into a group of bands that was open to musical criticism, but keeping the genre in mind, it’s not fair to say that the band’s early work was any less valid because of anything having to do with instrumental composition. The fact is Green Day, along with Blink-182, Sum 41, and a few others, defined 90’s pop-punk. But something’s changed; Green Day plays pop-rock now, and they don’t define their area in this century, at least not with that same dominance. In recent years the band’s sound has changed, but saying (in a general sense) that Green Day’s sound improved between Warning in 2000 (or even Dookie in 1994) and American Idiot in 2004 wouldn’t be anything more than an opinion. The individuals in the band might be capable of playing more difficult parts on their instruments today, Billie Joe’s vocals might have more of a range to work in, but Green Day’s new sound is simply that; new, not necessarily more successful in its area. Since 2004 with American Idiot, Green Day has been fighting politicians with trendy music, tiptoeing the line between rebellious and mainstream. And as a fan of the band’s earlier albums would argue, Green Day hasn’t stayed true to their original sound and message. Their lyrics are more cultured and critical, their sound is cleaner and more refined, but this has to be weighed against the raw energy and essence given to the band’s message in their early albums by pure emotion. And playing on American Idol just isn’t punk. The band is reaching a wider audience, but not an attentive one, not a critical one. Almost everyone who enjoyed Dookie knew and appreciated its rebellious lyrics, but how many people listening to the title track on American Idiot are even aware that it’s about George W. Bush? Idiot won a Grammy for best rock album just like Dookie won best alternative album, but a political album in particular isn’t successful if the majority of people listening aren’t aware of or otherwise interested in its content. Older music from Green Day (and similar bands) failed to reach as large of an audience, but didn’t fail to connect with its audience and communicate its message. The new music probably has what’s considered a more pertinent message, but again, this message gets lost along the way. And to continue where American Idiot left off, this year the band released the follow-up: Rolling Stone Magazine’s review of Green Day’s newest album said that “21st Century Breakdown is even better, so masterful and confident it makes Idiot seem like a warm-up.” This album is already selling well, and is already liked and disliked by the divided audience for the same reasons as the one before it. But the format keeps changing. And for better or worse? While the writers at Rolling Stone saw the fact that only two songs from the album are over five minutes in length as a sort of testament to the band's focus, it's hard to deny that musically the two strongest pieces on American Idiot were both over nine minutes in length. Green Day’s early songs were shorter also, but they were made in a punk format that functions better with short tracks than mainstream rock. If you listen to Green Day side projects like 2007’s Foxboro Hot Tubs it’s easy to see that the band is still very capable of making progressive music, and the fact that 21st Century Breakdown features piano, an instrument that hardly appears on any previous albums, shows that the band has grown musically. What this all comes down to, though, is that Green Day is choosing to move towards a mainstreamed sound. Maybe it’s ambition, trying to take punk to a sort of global audience, but just because they’re capable of making the same sound as Fall Out Boy (try Breakdown’s “¿Viva La Gloria?”) doesn’t mean they should. Between the fame and fortune it’s hard to say that Green Day isn’t a successful band, but it’s also hard to say that they haven’t become a part of the system they’ve been out to fight from the start. So what is achievement in this situation, who decides if the group is a success? That’s up to the band, really. Looking back, Billie Joe Armstrong once said, “A guy walks up to me and asks 'What's Punk?'. So I kick over a garbage can and say 'That's punk!' So he kicks over the garbage can and says 'That's Punk?' and I say 'No that's trendy!'” Somewhere along the way Green Day stopped creating, and simply started making music, losing that angst and imagination. For better or worse, even Billie Joe grew up. Comments [post a comment]
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