What The Hell Happened To... 04.07.08: Green Day - Warning

Posted by Dan Marsicano on 04.07.2008

This week, Green Day's Warning is the subject of What The Hell Happened To. The punk-pop band tried to evolve their sound, yet didn't achieve the results they were looking for. Find out what Dan Marsicano thinks about Green Day's new sound and tries to shed some light as to why the album was the worst selling of all of the band's major label releases.

The Introduction

It's April, it's Monday, college kids have a month or so of school left, and I'm back, yet again, with another edition of What The Hell Happened To!

I want to let you all know, before I start, that I will not be here next week, as a scheduling conflict will cause me to have literally no time to write the column. I will be back in two weeks though and will go straight through into the summer. I thought I could make it to 100 straight columns too. Oh well, 22 isn't too bad, now is it?

Last week, I dove into some depressing music, so this week, I'm going to lighten things up a bit…don't worry though, I'm not turning all happy and shit. I try to look at different genres of music in this column, as I feel that just sticking with metal and hard rock music will turn off other people who aren't into these genres.

That's not to say I'm going to review Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle or Flogging Molly's Swagger or any of those other stupid drunk Irish punk songs they do (I'm Irish, so I can say that). However, I do enjoy a vacation from the death metal growls and downtuned guitars every once in a while.

Green Day is a band that hardcore punk fans love to hate. I mean, they are the reason why bands such as Sum 41 and Blink 182 became way more popular than they deserved to be. That's not to say that Green Day doesn't have any talent. They do know how to write a catchy punk song. Hell, I myself crank up Dookie and Insomniac from time to time.

The band hit it huge with 1994's Dookie and would stay in the mainstream for years after that. Once the 21st century came around, the band tried to "mature" their sound, as many countless bands have tried to do. This time, though, it didn't work as well as Green Day could have hoped.

2000's Warning sold well, don't get me wrong (about 1 million copies in the US), but compared to their other albums, it was actually a sharp decline. The band would become a mainstream hit again with 2004's American Idiot, but for a while, Green Day was seen as a band that was fading out of the spotlight of the mainstream public.

This week, I'm going to take a closer look at Warning to see why the album doesn't get the praise that some believe it deserves.




The Band

Billie Joe Armstrong-Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica, Mandolin
Tré Cool-Drums, Accordion
Mike Dirnt-Bass, Backing Vocals


The Track Listing

1. Warning-3:42
2. Blood, Sex and Booze-3:33
3. Church on Sunday-3:18
4. Fashion Victim-2:48
5. Castaway-3:52
6. Misery-5:05
7. Deadbeat Holiday-3:35
8. Hold On-2:56
9. Jackass-2:43
10. Waiting-3:13
11. Minority-2:49
12. Macy's Day Parade-3:34


The History

Green Day was formed in 1987, originally being called Sweet Children, and featuring Armstrong, Dirnt, and drummer John Kiffmeyer. Before the band released their first EP, 1,000 Hours, they officially changed their names to Green Day. The band was signed to Lookout! Records, where they released their first LP, 39/Smooth.

In late 1990, Kiffmeyer left the band to go to college. His temporary replacement was Tré Cool, drummer for punk band The Lookouts. When Kiffmeyer didn't look to be returning to the band, Cool was hired as the full time drummer for the band. This lineup is still together to this day, and their first recording was 1992's Kerplunk.

Kerplunk sold very well for a punk record on an independent record label (about 50,000 units) and got them national attention, helping to sign the band to major label Reprise Records. With producer Rob Cavallo (who would produce all the band's future albums, with the exception of, ironically, Warning), the band recorded Dookie, which would become the band's most successful album to date, selling over 15 million copies worldwide, and getting mass exposure on MTV.

Their follow up, 1995's Insomniac, would be a critically and financial success, selling over 7 million copies worldwide. However, this would become a trend for the band, as each album would sell less and less until they got to American Idiot. Anyway, the band came back in 1997 with Nimrod, which had the band adding more musical elements into their music, including ska, surf rock, and hardcore. The band would tour for a few years and return into the studio to self-produce their next record, which would be the most experimental one to date for Green Day.


The Analysis

Warning is a radically different Green Day album from any previous ones, or quite possibly, any future albums as well. First of all, the band decided to self-produce the album themselves and leaned their sound towards a more folk pop/punk hybrid that the band hadn't ever done before.

Maybe it was the record label, maybe it was their diminishing sales, maybe the band was realizing that they weren't 20 year olds anymore, or maybe they didn't give a shit anymore and wanted to do something different. Whatever the reason, Warning is the least popular album that the band has released on a mainstream label, based on album sales and critic reviews.

The biggest change to the band's sound comes mainly from one instrument: the acoustic guitar. Now, the band had used the acoustic guitar before, most famously in "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" from Nimrod, but the band employs the acoustic guitar in almost all of the songs, whether its driving the main melody or providing a brief calmness in a fast punk song. When the band is firing on all cylinders, utilizing both acoustic and electric instruments, Green Day sounds like they could get used to the more mature folky sound they let across.

A perfect example of this is the opening title track and the closing track. The title track is driven by acoustic guitars, but the electric guitars make their presence felt and turn the song into one of the catchiest songs on the album. "Macy's Day Parade," in my opinion, kicks the crap out of "Time of Your Life" and is the best ballad the band has ever written.

The first half of Warning, other than the title track, seems a bit lackluster, with Green Day sounding lifeless and drained at times. However, it is with "Misery" that the band gains a whole new life. "Misery", believe it or not, is one of my top five favorite Green Day songs of all time. Take the trademark Green Day sound, take it back to the 1940's, and give it to a local carnival, and "Misery" is the result. Accordion, mandolin, piano, farfisa, and horns are all used during its five minutes. The experimentation that the band does actually succeeds, considering who I am writing about.

The last four songs are the highlight of Warning. The big hit of the album was "Minority," which actually hit #1 on the US Modern Rock chart. The song is classic Green Day, with the "don't give a shit" attitude that the band became famous for in the mid 90's. "Waiting" is another personal favorite of mine, and I'm surprised it didn't become as big of a hit as "Minority."

I'm not going to say that Warning was a step in the right direction for the band. It would have been interesting to see what the band would have done if Warning was as successful as previous albums. I think having the band self-produce the album left for more creative freedom, where the band could experiment and try out new musical ideas. However, a producer can also tighten up the ideas and pick out flaws with any ideas. So maybe, a producer alongside the band is what is best for letting out the creative ideas or "juices" as some people call it. Warning is an underrated album in Green Day's extensive catalog and while some may call a "failed experiment," I call it a "intriguing risk."


The Conclusion

Well, that is it for me. Sorry yet again for the shorter than usual column this week (if anybody noticed the shortness in the first place). That is what happens when you have 30 hours of work a weekend and four days of classes a week.

Like I said earlier in the column, I will not be around next week. I will be back on April 21st to look at a later release from Deep Purple. Don't miss out on it and I'll see you all back here!