Guitar Gear

What to expect from the newest release from arena punk rockers Green Day

March 22nd,2011 will mark the release date for Green Day’s upcoming live album/dvd titled “Awesome As Fuck”. The video for the album was recorded at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan in 2009 and the live album will consist of 17 tracks from 16 different places across the world where Green Day toured in 2009 and 2010. When it comes to Green Day there are always mixed reviews about them. Billie Joe had once stated in one of his tweets that there are “Three eras of Green Day” and that is where the controversy begins.

Green Day has been a band since 1987. Between 1987 and 1990 they had released several E.Ps and full length albums which are now all featured on Green Day’s “1039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours”. The original album contained the first 10 songs of that compilation and was titled “39/Smooth”. Shortly after the release of 39/Smooth the original drummer known as Al Sobrante mysteriously left the band without a trace. This is where Tre Cool joins the band. The owner of Lookout Records! at the time was Larry Livermore a former bandmate of Tre in their band The Lookouts and he had set Green Day up with Tre. Tre had been a East Bay punk veteran (he was playing with The Lookouts at the age of 11!). They toured with Tre as the drummer in 1991 and early 1992. They released a new album featuring Tre titled “Kerplunk”. Kerplunk became the highest selling album on Lookout Records (eventually reaching Platinum status certified by the RIAA) beating Operation Ivy’s Energy. They continued touring in support of the album later on in ’92 and as well in ’93 catching the attention of Rob Cavallo from Reprise Records. In 1993 Green Day signed to Reprise Records and were thrown out of the East Bay Punk Scene as well as being labelled “Sell Outs”. This era (1987-1993) would be the first generation Green Day.

In 1994 Green Day shocked the world with their groundbreaking mainstream debut titled “Dookie”. Dookie went on to sell over 10 million copies in the U.S alone. A year later they released Insomniac but it failed to achieve the success of Dookie. In ’97 Green Day released their album Nimrod. Nimrod didnt achieve the highest sales out of their albums but it still managed multi-platinum status. This is the album that showed signs of musical maturity. Green Day had experimented with this album. They had instrumental songs, slower songs,acoustic songs as well as harder songs than the previous albums. They continued touring for the rest of the 90′s and eventually dropped off yet another album in ’99 titled “Warning”. Warning was Green Day’s first major label album that did not reach platinum or multi-platinum status. Warning was certified Gold by the RIAA. Although Warning was considered a failure it is still a favourite amongst many of their fans. After Warning Green Day had reached a slump in their career. In the early 2000′s they released two compilation albums and took part in the Pop Disaster Tour. It was admitted by the band many times that they were on the verge of ending Green Day. 1994-2003 is the second generation Green Day

In 2003 Green Day began working on a new album called “Cigarettes and Valentines”. It was set to be released sometime in the same year but it was put on hold after the master recordings of the album were stolen. Instead of re-recording the whole album Billie Joe and the crew decided to work on a whole new project instead. This new project is what is now known as Green Day’s 21st century masterpiece, American Idiot. American Idiot introduced Green Day to a whole new generation of fans. American Idiot went 5X platinum and Green Day was awarded 2 grammies from the album. In 2005 Green Day released their first live album/dvd ”Bullet In A Bible” from their American Idiot supporting tour. The dvd was footage from Green Day’s biggest headlining concerts at The National Bowl in England.

2005 seemed to be the comeback of Green Day although they were criticized over their new sound, look and popularity. After American Idiot Green Day collaborated with U2, performed a cover of John Lennon’s “Working Class Hero” for charity and were also featured in The Simpson’s movie. After all of that they had dissappeared for a few years. In 2007 Green Day came back under the name Foxboro Hottubs and released an album in 2008 called Stop Drop and Roll. They went on a mini tour in support of the Hottubs album and once again disappeared until 2009.

In early 2009 Green Day announced the upcoming release of a new album titled “21st Century Breakdown”. It was released May 15th and the first single was the much criticized “Know Your Enemy”. The album’s second single was proven to be succsessful. 21 Guns allowed Green Day to take the world by storm for a second time. It also proved they werent one trick ponies. Although 21st Century Breakdown is often criticized by fans, it still reached platinum status and is praised highly by critics. The supporting tour for the album proved to be the biggest tour Green Day has ever been on. They toured from early 2009 right into late 2010. Now we are in present day, one day before the release of the new live album/dvd “Awesome As Fuck”. From 2004 to Present Day is what we’d call the third generation Green Day.

On this tour Green Day had started to touch tracks from all three generations and they prove this with the tracklists on the cd and dvd. Although the tracklist on this cd/dvd is more diverse the video lacks the energy that Bullet In A Bible had. Dont get me wrong, there is still alot of energy but they’re only playing to 17 000 people. In England they were in front of 65 000 people and I believe the footage shot at that event is something untouchable. It’s something legendary in modern music.

We are now going to focus on the tracklist that was released this month by the band:

DVD:

1.21st Century Breakdown

-There is no better way to start the DVD than the first track of the concert. This is also one of the better songs off of the latest album. It is also one of the more energetic of the new songs and the band always comes out with a bang when opening with this tune.

2.Know Your Enemy

-Despite all the criticism against this song, it was still a successful single on the U.S Rock Charts as well as many Rock Charts across Europe. It is also an energetic track and it follows the last track perfectly.

3.East Jesus Nowhere

-East Jesus Nowhere is a decent track off the latest album but now the newest songs are getting repetetive. I do agree that this song should be here but there could have been a better place for the song when they created the setlist.

4.Holiday

-Holiday is the first track on the dvd that they touched off of American Idiot. I’ve watched the video of this performance and they perform this song better on this DVD than they did on the last. This is an obvious classic by Green Day. It would be disappointing if it wasnt included on the DVD.

5.The Static Age

-This is yet another great and underrated song off of Green Day’s latest release. It’ll be an interesting performance to see but now its starting to get a little uneven. This an example of them trying to sell the music from the latest album.

6.Viva La Gloria

-Yet again Green Day including a newer song on the dvd. It is a good song though. The piano intro shows the maturity in Green Day’s music. It is also a sentimental moment for Billie Joe. He likes to tell stories over the piano intro. We’ll find out tomorrow if he does that on the dvd.

7.Boulevard Of Broken Dreams

-Boulevard of Broken Dreams was the most successful single from the American Idiot album. I’m not suprised they included it but I am disappointed. The track was included on the last dvd so it isnt exactly Green Day featuring anything new. This song is taking up space for songs that have never been featured on a live release yet.

8.Burnout

-This is when the old songs start coming into play. There’s no better way to kick into second generation Green Day than starting off with burnout. Green Day always perform this song with alot of energy. This is an example of how Green Day expanded their tracklist from the last dvd.

9.Geek Stink Breath

-I’m glad Green Day touched another track off of Insomniac besides Brain Stew. Geek Stink Breath is another second generation masterpiece. Fans from all Green Day eras should be able to enjoy this.

10.Welcome To Paradise

-This song was originally featured on Green Day’s Kerplunk album. 2 years later it was included on their major label debut. This was another old song brought back by Green Day on this tour. Im glad to see it make the dvd.

11.When I Come Around

-When I Come Around was much ignored during the American Idiot tour. Green Day brought the song back into the main setlist during their first European Tour for 21st Century Breakdown. During the release of Bullet In A Bible it made me wonder why it wasnt on the dvd so im happy about this track being added to the dvd.

12.She

-She was a song that Green Day never stopped playing. It was played at the National Bowl both nights but it was not included on the 2005 release. Well it is now featured on this release and im sure many fans will be happy about it.

13.21 Guns

-21 Guns was the most successful single on the latest album. I’m sure everyone knew the song would be included on the dvd. The song has a unique light show which will be interesting to see in high quality on our LCD screens.

14. American Euology

-American Eulogy is a great energetic track but this also an example of how uneven the tracklisting is on the dvd. It is the last song from their set at this show.

15. Jesus Of Suburbia

-Although it was featured on bullet in a bible im still glad to see it make its way to the newest dvd. Jesus Of Suburbia is the best third generation Green Day song. It’s 9 minutes of pure epicness.

16.Good Riddance

-Green Day’s famous exit from every show since 1997. Some call it redundant but to Green Day fans its tradition. Good Riddance on this dvd is a different version played with an Acoustic Guitar (bullet in a bible was electric). This song is one of the Green Day classics and I think its fair to say it will always make its place on the dvds to come.

 

In conclusion: Although I criticize a few songs in the tracklist I’m still generally happy that this tracklist was better than Bullet In A Bible’s. At the time (when i was new to Green Day), the 2005 tracklist was right for me. I was new to all those classic Green Day songs such as Minority, Brain Stew and Basket Case. After 7 years of listening to them, watching them,seeing them live it was time for Green Day to pull out new classics and put away with the old. I believe we can all say that it was well done on this dvd.

About the Author

I’m originally a musician/songwriter from Canada. I’ve been in recording and touring with various punk bands across Canada. I’m 18 years old (19 this August) and I’ve always had a love for writing. I’m currently writing a short novel as well as working on 2 albums at this very moment. I’m practicing for an upcoming summer tour as well.

I’m here to work on articles that have to do with music and video games mostly. Once in a while I will take something else on.

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