Music Blog

Things don’t get banned as often these days, probably because we see murder on the news, and what would have been considered pornography a couple of generations ago on daily soap operas. That’s why I was somewhat surprised when Green Day’s “American Idiot” was not allowed to be sold in Wal-Mart stores. It had nothing to do with bad language, as they sell ’sanitized’ versions of CDs with expletives deleted all the time there. Which can only mean the decision to keep it off the shelves in Wal-Mart had to do with the not altogether complimentary messages it sent about our current world situation in general and US government in particular. And that, my darklings, annoys me much more than banning something because it’s got a couple of rude words or some heavy breathing in it.

One of his favourite bands is Green Day, and he’s also a Springsteen fan.

In the mean time, I’m listening to Green Day right now, and way too drunk to start another incoherent rant…

I called him because Screeching Weasel’s “How To Make Enemies And Irritate People” cd was in the car cd player. Angelica bought four of the Screeching Weasel cds that I didn’t have from Asian Man Records recently. I got into Screeching Weasel right before graduating from high school. A friend and I actually gave each other copies of their excellent cd “Wiggle” as birthday gifts (our birthdays are very close to each other, it was funny when we opened up the presents. When I met Brian I got him into Screeching Weasel, and he got me into Sludgeworth, and we started a band. I later lost interest in that stuff, and was kind of an uptight depressive jerk, and our band gradually fell apart. I remember when Brian got “How To Make Enemies…” though. It was a great record. Mike Dirnt from Green Day played bass and sang some back up vocals on it.

I’m constantly shocked at the level of selection they have for music, they have absolutely brand new music. They had the entire American Idiot CD (by Green Day) on there already as well as odd American bands like Hoobastank or Trapt. They even had the Darkness (I believe in a thing called love). Very funny. My shock didn’t end there however, they also had Incubus. Now if you know me, you know I LOVE incubus and I’ve been trying to find a karaoke CD with their music on it for a while to no avail. Of course in japan probably every karaoke place in the country has it.

Hey, hey we're the Monkees! I'm on an oldies kick, listening to the Monkees, the Mamas and Papas, Bob Dylan, Three Dog Night, etc. I guess I finally turned into my dad, because I think the old stuff is better than the new stuff, at least what would/could be called pop. The Monkees ARE BETTER than Britney Spears. There is good stuff today; Green Day, Nine Inch Nails, Foo Fighters, Mindless Self Indulgence, Modest Mouse. I'm no music critic, but I know what I hate, and I don't hate that stuff.

Also, if you missed Live 8 (like me), you can see all the performances here. I was surprised at some of the bands that played..like A-HA… there’s a trip down memory lane right there. Green Day completely rocked, of course. And Rachel got to fulfill her desire for really old guys by watching Bruce Cockburn (pronounced COCK BURN) play in Canada.

GREEN DAY IS A VERY COOL PUNK BAND THERE NEWIST CD IS AMERICAN IDIOT THERE A REALLY FUN BAND AND IF U DONT LIKE THEM I THINK UR AN IDIOT

Damn the last few days have been rediculous. I drove around forever. But had a ton of fun. Visited Ken Mike and Co in Cape May, crashed their senior week. Then saw Ted Leo & The Pharmacists. Ted Leo’s really cool, and his music is great. And Radio 4 takes it for best opener. Although the concert just wasn’t as crazy as, say, Green Day or Jimmy Eat World. But still a blast. Now I’m enjoying a day off. Oh, and for Jeff…

Coolz0r wants me to pass the musical baton, continuing the meme where we let everyone know about our musical tastes. Sorry I can’t be much help, since I don’t listen to a lot of music. I don’t like a whole lot of new music, choosing to search among classic rock to make me happy. Big fan of The Who, Zeppelin, Steppenwold, AC/DC, Skynyrd, Blue Oyster Cult, and the few modern bands that have a nice sound, like Fuel and Green Day. I also have a perverse attraction to 80’s pop rock, and can be sometimes obsessed with pissed-off...

Most of my younger students are into the Post-Punk bands like Blink 182, Bowling for Soup, Sum 41, All American Rejects, Good Charlotte, and of course, Green Day. Unfortunately, most require power chords, which are easy to play after a few months of practice, but what do you do in the mean time? Most easy songs sound like Mary Had a Little Lamb to these kids’ ears. Thank goodness for Good Riddance–a four-chord acoustic song that, when slowed down and strummed using the folk strum, is easy but still rocks

Green Day vs. Oasis: Boulevard of Broken Dreams (check out the comments here -- unbelievable)

It was an early birthday present for MoonChild: her first rock concert. As soon as tickets were on sale for last night’s Green Day concert, I nabbed three. One for Moon, one for her best friend and one for a parental chaperone (me). The concert was sold out, and it was general admission, so we arrived a half hour before the doors opened. After we were searched and all that jazz, we went into the coliseum where I grabbed a few seats while the girls went to talk to a friend in the mosh pit.

After the doors opened, we waited for another half hour to get down to the floor, where we grabbed our spot about 20 feet from the stage. By the time the lights dimmed for the opening act, the crowd had pushed us up another 5, and when Green Day took the stage we got close enough to see inside Billie Joe's nostrils. I'm still not sure how I feel about that.

And as I was sitting there in a traffic jam that stretched from the Cesar Chavez exit all the way to the Bay Bridge (I don't know how far that actually is but it took an hour and a half), I realized several things:

a. one can only listen to Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" so many times before suicidal tendencies are trumped by an extreme desire to smash one's car radio

b. there is nothing more depressingly American than sitting alone in your car listening to Green Day, among hundreds of other cars in which people are sitting alone listening to Green Day, spewing exhaust into the fresh air on their way to the suburbs

Last Friday (April 15), Green Day gave high school senior Adam Agnew the time of his life at the band’s sold-out show at the University of Miami campus in Coral Gables, Florida.

There are some days where playing drums is more beneficial than any amount of meditation. Today is one of those days. I was dragging, simply due to lack of sleep and the sugar low from dark chocolate star wars m&m's (they're evil!) but a half hour of playing drums and I'm ready to go again! Tonight I played the first couple of songs off Winger - Pull and then the first songs off Green Day - American Idiot. I have to play more punk stuff so I get the style in my head so I don't play rock when I have my own punk band. They're similar, but there...

American acts Green Day, Snoop Dogg and James Brown will descend on the tiny Irish town of Naas for this year's (05) Oxegen Festival.

He found himself in cuffs, arrested briefly by sheriff's deputies, after allegedly stopping his car in a no-stopping zone in front of the protesters while blasting Green Day's tune "Idiot America" on his car stereo.

When I was at school I remember thinking that Green day were really grungy and only tomboys listened to them (it was an all girl school). A turning point came when I heard “Time of Your Life” and I was so moved by this song that I went out and bought the single and spent some time over the years attempting to memorise the chord sequence so as I could play it on my guitar. Since then I’ve discovered more and more songs I like by them, the kinds of songs I liked but never really knew who was responsible for them. “Minority”...

“Holiday” is another typically bouncy Green Day track. I can’t say there’s anything very outstanding about it apart from the phrasing of the lyrics and the melody they follow. “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” the other single from the album so far breaks the bouncy trend of the album so far. I really love this track. It’s on a par with “Time of Your Life". It’s a little mournful but has a chorus that introduces more guitars and lyrics that any self respecting teenager would be happy to smudge their...

“Are We the Waiting” is about as close to a ballad as you’d get on a Green Day album. It’s quite beautiful. It sounds as though they got some rather tuneful football fans in to help out with some of the choruses. It works. It’s like a choir but more edgy. Unfortunately it leads very awkwardly into track six. It’s like being tipped out of a wheelbarrow onto some rather sharp rocks. And track six isn’t even very good.

- A song by Green Day

After I left the office I did a rare thing, and drove through a fast food place and got a chocolate shake. I had Green Day playing on the CD player in Becky's Mountaineer so the stereo sounded nice (in my Mustang the speakers are pretty shot). I pulled up into our driveway at home and sat there for about 10 minutes drinking the shake and listening to Green Day.

The longer I sat there, the more I realized that the combination of a chocolate shake and Green Day were really a pretty perfect one. They sort of felt very natural together. I had a few minutes a restful joy as I sat there at 1:15 AM, the moon shining through the sun roof and enjoyed the excellent mixture of Green Day and a chocolate shake.

I never did disagree with Zenarchery's last reply to my previous article, but it needed to be noted that comparing the music of Green Day to that of Bob Dylan wasn't exactly fair. They are two different styles of music, both "good" or "bad" in different ways, even if both might be found under the "Rock" section at your local Best Buy. I like them both, but for different reasons. My original intention was not to compare old to new, but rather to point out that there should be an acceptance of new music.

The rest of the Top 10 may be trite, but at least they're trying. Green Day, despite their faux cockney accents and deep derivativeness, have excellent politics, and the songs actually have chords; they are trying to put forth an actual notion. "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" is just Em G D A (like about twelve other pop songs I could name, including, basically, "Wonderwall" by Oasis) but they are attempting something - and, I believe, succeeding.

Meanwhile, Beck is back at the top of Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks list, where he ends Green Day's run at number one with Boulevard Of Broken Dreams. Beck's new tune E-Pro is his first number one on that chart for over a decade.

The channel has also launched a flashy new Web site at MTV2.com and has introduced a series of arty short clips ("interstitials," in TV-speak) that play between shows and videos. And as execs tweak MTV2's image, they are carefully choosing rock acts they think will connect with its target audience. "The Green Day model works for us," says MTV/MTV2 programming chief Tom Calderone, who also cites the Killers and My Chemical Romance as key MTV2 bands. "I want MTV2 to still be the Green Day channel when the next album comes out."

Green Day had come to a crossroads. The pop punk trio from Berkeley, Calif., were not getting along, they hadn't released a studio album since 2000's Warning, and the music they had almost singlehandedly brought into the mainstream had become irrelevant.

So what did they do? Instead of packing it in, they went ahead and put out what was arguably the most important rock album of 2004, and one that will probably be the defining release of their career. Not only is the Grammy-winning American Idiot genre bending, cathartic, and fun, it also dares to be what most other U.S. releases have not--a criticism of U.S. President George W. Bush, the war on Iraq, and a media that so willingly went along with it.

Many artists have tackled the issue of post-9/11 America, but few have done so in such an honest and outspoken manner.

yeah we say making changes starts
in the little things you do
revolution begins at home
but for most of us it ends there too

we're doing something
we're making changes
like changing the brand of crap we buy
we say it makes a difference
but that's just another lie

it used to be us and them
and you and me
and now we can't reach our potential
without a common enemy

a real war to fight against
instead of our petty disagreements
how can i rationalize
my life during wartime lie

a call to action
and a reaction
taking our lives in our own hands
instead of sitting around and talking bout
the same old shitty bands

the war's going on right now
and i'm not doing anything about it
without a crowd I'm not so loud
i can't do anything by myself
but that's just another lie