Green Day

I had only been nominally aware of Green Day prior to "American Idiot." Songs like "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)," "Minority," and "Longview" I had heard and always loved, but it never hit me what the band was named. When Green Day emerged, I was in the middle of graduate school, and didn't really listen to music for the next six years due to never having a damned bit of time, or money, to purchase music.

"American Idiot," my first real exposure to the band, came at an intense point of anger and gave me a channel to funnel that anger, musically. Even if the songs were upwards to 10 minutes long in some spots. I don't need to articulate the intense point of anger that I felt as it's easily traceable through the path of this blog, so no need to go there right now, eh?

I'm not sure if I've ever said this here, but I'm a bit of a mosh pit punk, albeit a lightweight one, but I have been known to throw it on occasion. I've long been attracted to bands like Nirvana, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane's Addiction, the Pixies, the Pogues, you know, those 90's bands. I like dissonant music, with a deep base line and loud, crashing lyrics.

Call me crazy, what can I say?

Anyway, the new Green Day album may sound a bit like American Idiot, but the more you listen to it, the more the lyrics start to creep out and go deep. These guys are only a bit more mellow now that Obama is President, but they still have some bones to pick, mostly with the religious factors of America.

I'm going to see them at Madison Square Garden in July. I'm bummed that I'll miss them at the smaller venue of Webster Hall. I saw Jane's Addition there back in the day and most recently, The Presidents of the United States. It would have been nice to be in a good old 90s mosh pit. I guess I'll just have to find some way hurt myself at the Garden.