A Lesson In... 07.28.09: Green Day (Part One)

Posted by Alistair McGeorge on 07.28.2009

Undeniably one of the modern greats of music, Green Day have had a fantastic career spanning 22 years. With the release of their latest album in May this year, the next stage in the constant evolution of the band continues with their most ambitious work. In the first of a two-part special, Alistair McGeorge looks at the career of Green Day up until the release of Warning in 2000.

Hello everybody, welcome to A Lesson In... once again, this week shining the spotlight on California punk-rock trio Green Day. We'll get to them soon enough, but first a bit of a ramble before we really get going. I just want to apologize in advance and say there won't be a column from me next week (August 4). Without boring everyone, this past Sunday I went to do a week's volunteering (I'm writing this before I left, but we'll just pretend it's as you're reading it), and I won't be back until August 3 (my birthday). So, I won't be getting any kind of column done in the few hours I'll have, with it being my birthday and not being here for the week before. We'll be back to normal the week after, which will include the second and final part of this Lesson In…Green Day. For now...

STOP...it's banner time.



This week's band was formed 22 years ago, and have been with drummer Tré Cool since 1990. Despite this, October later this year will be the first time I'll get to see the band live, and I couldn't be more excited. I first got into the band around the time they released International Superhits in 2001/02, and with the airplay "Basket Case" was still receiving here in the UK. From there, I bought almost everything the band released before and after. They're one of my favorite bands (both current and of all time), and I've loved most of their releases.

I was going to save this column for a bit later on in my 411mania career, because it'd give me almost a "go-to column" that would be highly enjoyable to write if I was struggling for a topic. However, I decided to go with it this week, because if I left it too long their latest release wouldn't really be relevant. Anyway, they're undeniably one of the modern greats of rock, and Billie Joe Armstrong's progress as a songwriter has been a pleasure to experience album by album.

We'll get to looking at the band's illustrious career soon, after I take a look at some of the comments sent in during the week. A reminder to Derek J (who guessed this week's topic) and anyone else who's guessed any subjects so far, you can still e-mail in to suggest a future column. Before we get to the feedback, a musical interlude. This is a cover my band did of "When I Come Around" at Nottingham's Oxjam 2009 (the charity gig I mentioned in the last column, I have the black guitar):



Feedback

I don't know if there were any comments after Saturday night, but if so they won't be included here because I won't have read them yet. Also, from now on some comments will have the grammar edited slightly to make them more…correct. Out of the comments I did get before I left, we'll start off with Tony Danza:

Rise Against are by far my favorite band. i love every album by them but i have to say Appeal to Reason is the weakest of the bunch. It's just a big change from RPM, Siren Songs and Sufferer. Too much of a mainstream sound too it, but i still enjoy the album. I am jealous you got to see em live the last 2 times they came around Baltimore they sold out before I could get my hands on em.

Thanks for reading, and I'm glad such a big fan enjoyed the column. Appeal To Reason is a big departure from their other material, but I wouldn't call it the weakest if I'm honest. It's more of a mainstream sound, but I still really enjoy pretty much every track on the album. Moving on, Ruiner shared a similar opinion to Danza. Quite long, but here's the comment:

I got into Rise Against in early 2003, and they have been one of my absolute favorite bands ever since. Revolutions Per Minute got me into punk music, and to this day, is the single best CD I have ever listened to.

None of Rise Against's CDs are bad. I really am not a huge fan of Appeal to Reason, as it is much poppier and lacks any really hard hitting songs outside of Collapse. I do like Hero of War quite a bit, much like Swing Life Away before it, as Rise Against is really good at accustics actually.

Personally, I rank the CDs in this order: Revolutions Per Minute ( This is the point I feel they really peaked with their sound and message ), Sufferer and the Witness, The Unraveling, Siren Song of the Counter Culture, and than finally Appeal to Reason. I feel lyrically that the newest release is the best, but musically its a bit...tame. If your looking for fantastic punk CDs, get The Unraveling and RPM. If your looking for fantastic alternative/rock CDs, get any of their other ones. I love all 5, but my musical taste sways much more to the punkier side of their releases.

Again, thanks for reading and again it's great that someone who loves the band that much didn't seem to hate the column too much. I agree that they haven't really made a bad album, but I disagree that Appeal to Reason is a tame album. Songs like "The Dirt Whispered" are constantly blasted out of my speakers, and I think the albums full of energy. I'll concede that it's not their best punk CD, but it's one of my favorite albums of theirs so far. Moving on now to this week's lesson, it's a story beginning twenty two years ago in California…



Best Thing in Town…

So, 22 years ago Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt (at age 15) formed Sweet Children alongside drummer John Kiffmeyer. After gaining a live reputation doing local gigs, Lookout! Records gave the band their first record deal, and the newly renamed Green Day released their debut E.P. in 1989, entitled 1,000 Hours. All the tracks were released as part of a collection a couple of years later, and the E.P. contains one of my favorite early Green Day tracks "Dry Ice". I'm not sure exactly what it is about the song, but I've loved it since I heard it. Also, according to Billie Joe it was apparently recorded in 18 takes because Kiffmeyer made mistakes on the drumming.

Early 1990, Green Day released their debut album 39/Smooth, and to say it didn't really make any waves was a slight understatement. It was seen by critics as largely inconsistent, and both the singles and album went largely unnoticed. I'll admit there's not a great deal to recommend on here unless you're a hardcore fan, although I'm tapping my foot to "At the Library" as I write this, so it's not all bad. "Disappearing Boy" is also worth a listen, but essentially this a rough, raw punk album serving as a draft of what was to come in later years.

E.P.s Slappy and Sweet Children were released later the same year. The latter is fairly unremarkable, but Slappy is notable for including "Why Do You Want Him?", which was the first song Billie Joe wrote at the age of 14. Another song off the E.P. ("409 In Your Coffee Maker") was re-recorded during the later Dookie sessions but failed to make the cut. Take a break, sit back and have a listen…



The following year, all of the previous records (with the exception of Sweet Children) were released as 1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours. By the end of 2006, the album had reached Gold, and at the time of its release it saw success particularly in the band's home state. I own this rather than the original releases, and I'm glad they're here in their entirety. Kiffmeyer (nicknamed Al Sobrante) moved away from the local area to go to college shortly after Green Day's first nationwide tour. Tré Cool joined the band at this time, and they released their second album in 1992…



Welcome to Paradise…

Kerplunk!, like I said, came out in '92, and would be the band's last album on Lookout! Records. It's also the first to feature Tré Cool on drums, and he lent his vocals and guitar skills to almost country-esque track "Dominated Love Slave", which is one of the stand-out tracks on the album (and severely underrated regardless of its silliness). The album really laid the foundations for their success, gaining them a lot of major-label attention.

While the official album contains 12 tracks, the CD and cassette versions include the Sweet Children E.P. at the end of it, including a cover of "My Generation", the first of two songs by The Who that the band would cover (they later covered "A Quick One While He's Away" as a bonus track of 21st Century Breakdown). Also notable is "Welcome To Paradise", which would be re-recorded for the band's next effort, their major label debut on Reprise Records…



I'm just burning out…

While the move to a major label may have alienated some of the original fans of the band (although 10 years later, it got a whole lot worse), it made Green Day stars, and launched them into the public eye. Dookie took only three weeks to recorded, and was released on February 1, 1994, spawning five Top 10 singles in the US Modern Rock Tracks chart, and all 5 reached at least the Top 30 in the UK.

Dookie was the first album I got into of my own accord (with the possible exception of Permission To Land by The Darkness…but that's another column) without the influence of family or friends, after seeing the video for "Basket Case" almost a decade after its release. The fact that this album has stood the test of time gives it, in my opinion, a strong case to be called a modern great. One notable thing about my copy of the album is that it has Elmo on the back cover, which was removed off later copies because of a fear of litigation from Sesame Street.

Many earlier fans of the band saw it as selling out, but like I said…a decade later they had much more of a reason to say they sold out. I felt it stuck fairly well to their pop-punk rock roots, with songs like "Having A Blast" and "Coming Clean" summing up the genre well. It also features one of my favorite album openers, but I can't put my finger on exactly why. For whatever reason, from the moment the drums lead into the power chord-driven "Burnout", I fell in love with this album. Here it is…



Album sales definitely agree with my opinion of the album; it has been certified Diamond, the only Green Day album to do so (reaching sales of over 10 million). In 1995, it gave the band the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album. It also peaked at #2 in the U.S. Billboard 200, and at #13 in the UK Albums Chart. In terms of singles, "Basket Case", "Longview" and "When I Come Around" all topped the Modern Rock Tracks chart, and "She" and "Welcome to Paradise" peaked at #5 and 7 respectively.

It provided Green Day with a great launch for their next tour, which was not without controversy. The highlight of the controversy was their infamous Woodstock '94 performance, during which the band started a mud fight (leading to the festival that year being referred to by some people as Mudstock). During the mud-slinging, Mike Dirnt was apparently mistaken for a fan running on stage, and a security guard punched him, knocking out some of his teeth. Despite it obviously not being an ideal event, it was on pay-per-view and so was watched by millions of people, giving the band some more publicity.

Later in 1995, Green Day got another #1, when "J.A.R." was released on the Angus soundtrack. It reached the top of the Modern Rock Tracks chart, and was later included on International Superhits. In the fall of the same year, the band's second major label album was released…



You better swallow your pride, or you're gonna choke on it…

Insomniac was released in October 1995, and although it didn't reach the success of Dookie, it did sell very well and was well-received by critics. It peaked at #2 in the U.S. Billboard 200, and lead single "Geek Stink Breath" peaked at #16 and #3 in the UK and U.S. Modern Rock Tracks charts. "Brain Stew" and "Jaded" were released together as a single, as they faded into each other in the running order of the album. It became one of the band's more successful singles, and was arguably more popular than the other singles off the album.

The album art for the album is actually a piece by Winston Smith entitled God Told Me to Skin You Alive. The version used as the cover for Insomniac differs slightly from the original, in that what was originally an acoustic guitar has been replaced by Billie Joe's Fernandes imitation Stratocaster.

A notable b-side from these sessions was an original demo for what would become one of Green Day's most popular songs, almost an acoustic anthem for a generation (excuse the hyperbole). Whilst I couldn't find the demo version on youtube, here's the version that would later appear on their next record…



I got Insomniac along with Dookie for the same birthday, and I think for me at least it suffered because of being compared to what came before it. Initially, I wasn't a fan of the darker sound, being more interested in the upbeat pop-punk that got me into the band in the first place. Over the last few years I've properly given this a chance, and there's a lot of the songs I enjoy blasting out and singing along to. "Brain Stew" was the first riff I learned when I got my first guitar (incidentally, in a complete contrast the first solo I learned was "Bohemian Rhapsody") and tracks like "Brat" and "Stuart and the Ave." are two of my favorite Green Day songs of all time.

A two year break followed Insomniac, when both the band and Rob Cavallo (who would also go on to work with My Chemical Romance on The Black Parade) agreed that the next album should be something different to what the band had done before.



Scattered...

The resulting release was Nimrod, the band's most ambitious album so far at that point. Whilst it is a very strong album, and quite experimental (with genres ranging from ska, pop-punk and acoustic all getting showcased), it didn't live up to the standards set by its major-label predecessors, at least sales-wise. It entered the U.S. Billboard 200 at a respectable #10, and has been certified Double Platinum in the U.S., but it was a commercial disappointment compared to Dookie and Insomniac.

What it did achieve, however, was providing us with some solid singles that had moderate-to-good success on the charts. "Hitchin' a Ride" reached #25 in the UK, and peaked at #5 and 9 in the U.S. Modern and Mainstream Rock Tracks charts respectively. The following single can be heard a few paragraphs up, and was of course "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)", which had considerably more success in the three charts mentioned above, peaking at #11, 2 and 7 respectively.

In 1998, "Redundant" made it to #27 in the UK, failed to get into the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart altogether, but peaked at #16 in the Modern Rock chart. The next, and final, single to be released off Nimrod was the high-energy, by-the-numbers (but nevertheless great) punk track "Nice Guys Finish Last", which only made it to #31 in the Modern Rock Tracks chart. A highlight off the album, in my opinion, was the ska-punk track that formed one of the clues for this week's column. I am, of course, referring to this…



While this album marked the beginning of a slight decline in popularity for Green Day, I think it contains some of the stronger "earlier" material, and some lost "classics" of their back catalog. It's a shame that songs like "Uptight" and "Worry Rock" are extremely unlikely to be played live again, being skipped over for the likes of "Holiday" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams".

Three years later, Green Day followed Nimrod up with another release, and another step away from their pop-punk roots…



When your home is your headstone…

Warning was released on October 3 2000, and to blunt right of the mark…it didn't sell well. It was the first Green Day album (besides their debut) not to go platinum, but still managed to peak at #4 in the U.S. Billboard 200. It was a big departure musically from their pop-punk, teenage-angst driven style that they'd become known for, featuring a lot of acoustic guitars and varying styles.

That said, it's one of the few albums in general I can happily sit and listen to in one sitting, start to finish. From the catchy riff of the title track to the fantastic acoustic ballad "Macy's Day Parade", it's a fantastic album by a band that was (and still is) constantly evolving.

The leading single from the album was the anti-mainstream anthem "Minority", which was the most successful single to be released from Warning. It reached the UK Top 20, peaking at #18, peaked at #15 in the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart and reached the top of the Modern Rock Tracks chart. Subsequent singles were steadily less successful, with "Warning" just creeping inside the Top 30 in the UK at #27, and then in the charts mentioned above, reaching #24 and 3 respectively.

Following that, "Waiting" (which is actually a brilliantly catchy song) failed to chart in the Mainstream Rock chart, and peaked at #34 and 26 in the UK and Modern Rock charts. Anyway, for those who felt that Green Day had lost their touch as far as pop-punk goes…take a listen to this…



It was a new direction, and it did mark the lowest commercial point of the band's career since their debut. However, it was, and still is, a brilliant album at a different stage in Green Day's progression into different styles. As was the case with the last few releases, they were constantly trying something new and evolving their sound into something entirely different…

The cliffhanger…

Sadly, we'll have to wait for the second part of this look at the career of Green Day. As I said, there unfortunately won't be a column next Tuesday. So, service will resume as usual in two weeks (August 11) with part two of A Lesson In…Green Day, where we'll look at their career from International Superhits until their latest album, 21st Century Breakdown. I hope you've enjoyed the first part, and I look forward to seeing you all in two week's time. I'll leave you with this to look forward to…