Album: American Idiot
Artist: Green Day
Genre: "Alternative/Punk"
I've always been in love with the punky, whiny, extremely gifted vocals of Billie Joe Armstrong, and the quick tempo of the drums and guitars that Green Day is known for.
I saw them live once at Edgefest about four summers ago, and they proceeded to trash the stage, lighting their drum set on fire, and having one solid guitar note whine for about 20 minutes, and then watching Billie Joe proceed to smash the shit out of his guitar. While thinking it was rather juvenile, and "If he doesn't want his goddamned guitar, I'd take the bloody thing," I was secretly thrilled to bits at the "badassness" of it all. It was a very "Rock and Fuckin' Roll" moment. Though the whining guitar note got on my nerves after 15 minutes or so. They must have run through their set relatively quickly that night.
Obviously it was a stellar performance, seeing as I still remember it like yesterday.
I've always had a soft spot for those punk rockers. They're always smart boys, masked in shit disturber motives.
I picked up the newest Green Day release a few days ago. Wow. That's what I've got to say about this album.
Well, wow, and a whole fuck-of-a-lot more.
It's amazingly tight. These boys got it together and then some. I haven't noticed any sloppy rhythm, vocals or guitars through the whole album.
Politically savvy, poking fun at right-wing politics, homophobia, religion, and everything in between, it's quite simply amazing. Imagine a Punk-Rock musical. It's kind of in the style of "Jesus Christ Superstar," "Hair,"(to a degree) the "Rocky Horror Picture Show" and half a dozen other musicals that I could name off the top of my head.
Technically this album is only 13 tracks, but there are sub-sets for each track, sectioning it off into about five pieces on two tracks, plus the remaining 11. That's a helluva lot of Green Day, displaying versatility you would NEVER expect.
My particular favourites, being the introductory "American Idiot," the first and fourth part of "Jesus Of Suburbia,"("Jesus of Suburbia" and "Dearly Beloved.")
"Dearly Beloved" is only about 45 seconds long, typical for some punk songs, and is fantastic. My favourite line from it is:
The absolutely STELLAR "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" (I think I listened to it about nine times today alone.) Which starts off with of all things, the guitar run through a Hurdy Gurdy machine, giving it a slightly melencholy, underwater feeling. Beautifully composed, and simple lyrically, "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" is something I easily sympathize with. It's a mixture of ballad and punk. Go figure that shit out.
This song is stunning, perhaps because of it's simplicity. I'm going to go so far as to call it epic sounding. (That's ballsy for me.)
I love the way Billie Joe's vocals flip all over the place in "She's A Rebel." He's all over his vocal range like a fat kid on a smartie.
The same goes for "Extraordinary Girl" vocal range wise, but sounds East Indian influenced. What a fucking trip.
"Wake Me Up When September Ends" is another relatively sweet ballad, much like "Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)" from the album "Nimrod," released in 1997.
I was always so jealous that Elizabeth got that song as her Grad song, and I got stuck with the gawdawful Celine Dion -- "My Heart Will Go On" shite.
Out of a Glamazon shoe rating of 5, "Green Day -- American Idiot" gets 5/5 Shoes.
Let's just say that these guys made one friggin' AMAZING album. I highly recommend it.
I saw them live once at Edgefest about four summers ago, and they proceeded to trash the stage, lighting their drum set on fire, and having one solid guitar note whine for about 20 minutes, and then watching Billie Joe proceed to smash the shit out of his guitar. While thinking it was rather juvenile, and "If he doesn't want his goddamned guitar, I'd take the bloody thing," I was secretly thrilled to bits at the "badassness" of it all. It was a very "Rock and Fuckin' Roll" moment. Though the whining guitar note got on my nerves after 15 minutes or so. They must have run through their set relatively quickly that night.
Obviously it was a stellar performance, seeing as I still remember it like yesterday.
I've always had a soft spot for those punk rockers. They're always smart boys, masked in shit disturber motives.
I picked up the newest Green Day release a few days ago. Wow. That's what I've got to say about this album.
Well, wow, and a whole fuck-of-a-lot more.
It's amazingly tight. These boys got it together and then some. I haven't noticed any sloppy rhythm, vocals or guitars through the whole album.
Politically savvy, poking fun at right-wing politics, homophobia, religion, and everything in between, it's quite simply amazing. Imagine a Punk-Rock musical. It's kind of in the style of "Jesus Christ Superstar," "Hair,"(to a degree) the "Rocky Horror Picture Show" and half a dozen other musicals that I could name off the top of my head.
Technically this album is only 13 tracks, but there are sub-sets for each track, sectioning it off into about five pieces on two tracks, plus the remaining 11. That's a helluva lot of Green Day, displaying versatility you would NEVER expect.
My particular favourites, being the introductory "American Idiot," the first and fourth part of "Jesus Of Suburbia,"("Jesus of Suburbia" and "Dearly Beloved.")
"Dearly Beloved" is only about 45 seconds long, typical for some punk songs, and is fantastic. My favourite line from it is:
"Am I retarded, or am I just overjoyed?"I actually started laughing on the Skytrain when I heard it this morning. Brilliant.
The absolutely STELLAR "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" (I think I listened to it about nine times today alone.) Which starts off with of all things, the guitar run through a Hurdy Gurdy machine, giving it a slightly melencholy, underwater feeling. Beautifully composed, and simple lyrically, "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" is something I easily sympathize with. It's a mixture of ballad and punk. Go figure that shit out.
This song is stunning, perhaps because of it's simplicity. I'm going to go so far as to call it epic sounding. (That's ballsy for me.)
I love the way Billie Joe's vocals flip all over the place in "She's A Rebel." He's all over his vocal range like a fat kid on a smartie.
The same goes for "Extraordinary Girl" vocal range wise, but sounds East Indian influenced. What a fucking trip.
"Wake Me Up When September Ends" is another relatively sweet ballad, much like "Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)" from the album "Nimrod," released in 1997.
I was always so jealous that Elizabeth got that song as her Grad song, and I got stuck with the gawdawful Celine Dion -- "My Heart Will Go On" shite.
Out of a Glamazon shoe rating of 5, "Green Day -- American Idiot" gets 5/5 Shoes.
Let's just say that these guys made one friggin' AMAZING album. I highly recommend it.
1 comment:
There's nothing on the market from the last two decades that compares to Idiot. It's in a class by itself.
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