When Dookie was released, music critics were eager to compare Green Day to all sorts of early punk bands. Billie Joe always said his inspiration were the bands in his local scene, plus some favorites like the Replacements and Husker Du. As Aaron Cometbus put it: “His influences were mostly the records of his depressed-poet older sister: Replacements and Husker Du, with The Who and a bit of East Bay stuff.” (From Gimme Something Better.) But the East Bay stuff was in turn influenced by earlier bands, so there’s a common thread that runs through them to Green Day.
Okay, so this is mostly just an excuse to post some songs that I like… All links are to videos. Arranged chronologically:
The Modern Lovers - Roadrunner (1976) (Recorded betw. 1970 - 1974)
The Modern Lovers don’t get enough credit for being one of the very earliest examples of what was later called punk, but in a more melodic vein. (If you’re interested there’s a big discussion about it on YouTube.) They weren’t an influence on Green Day, but their music helped lay the foundation for what came later.
Iggy Pop - The Passenger (1977)
Billie Joe is a fan and collaborated with Iggy Pop on two songs on Iggy’s 2003 album Skull Ring. Iggy didn’t write the music for “The Passenger,” so it’s probably not the most relevant choice, it’s just such a great song.
Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen in Love (1978)
The Buzzcocks “fused pop craftsmanship with rapid-fire punk energy.” [*] Kinda like you-know-who. After Dookie came out and Green Day were always getting compared to the Buzzcocks, Billie Joe asked Aaron Cometbus if he had any Buzzcocks records he could listen to. Aaron played them for him and Billie Joe’s reaction was: “Wow, these are great. What a compliment.” (From Gimme Something Better.)
Stiff Little Fingers - Alternative Ulster (1979)
A great Irish punk rock band. Probably my boyfriend’s favorite band ever. Jake Burns of SLF said: “Early reviewers would compare SLF to forgotten ’60s bands like Iggy and the Stooges. So then we’d check out what Iggy did. Now, Green Day and the like namecheck us.” [*]
The Clash - London Calling (1979)
I don’t think I need to say anything about the Clash. Just a fantastic band, and their influence on so much music that came after them is unarguable.
And I can’t leave out Husker Du and the Replacements:
Billie Joe on Husker Du: “For me — sitting in my bedroom in Rodeo, California, with a little weed, hanging out with my friends — that was huge. There’s no place I can see myself going, except for the trip inside my head.” And the Replacements: “In The Replacements’ ‘Answering Machine’ Paul Westerberg is just screaming at an answering machine. It’s the complete lack of connection. That’s what you’re up against — walls and air.” From Rolling Stone’s 40th Anniversary issue, 2007.
November 13, 2009 at 4:04 am
[ Category: Influences ]
~A review of the bookGimme Something Better, about the history of punk rock in the East Bay, and a mention from Larry Livermore, plus a rant about the ! after Lookout!. Also check out his new blog, with featured stories on his own history with punk rock.
It’s been a while since I’ve posted any old magazines. This article is from the August 1996 issue of Guitar World. It was a bitter time, less than a year after the release of Insomniac and after the abrupt cancellation of their European tour. Here, the guys are dealing with the stress by being completely and hilariously obnoxious, ranting about all the old-time punk bastards who have been complaining about Green Day’s success. Click on the thumbnail for the full size scan.
And here’s a bigger version of my favorite photo from the article.
When I first heard Green Day in 1994, I was fascinated by everything about them, and I was very curious about their roots. Other bands from the Gilman St. scene of the early 90s and late 80s were a tantalizing glimpse into a whole creative universe that had to be pretty special in order to be the magical cookpot that simmered and seasoned the likes of Green Day.
So, here’s a selection of songs that are some of the tasty morsels in that stew. With a couple of possible exceptions, none of them have the bright, crackling melodies that are Green Day’s trademark. The aesthetic sensibilities of the punk scene were, and are, ragged and raw. But compared to the serious lyrics and aggressiveness of hardcore punk, these bands represented something new at the time: politics and ideals, but also love, creativity, and lots of silliness.
Billie Joe (talking to Larry Livermore in 2001) said: “Everything we were doing, we were being heartfelt about it, we were singing love songs because that’s what we felt like. That’s what was in my heart…. Of course, there were always a lot of hardcore bands, I mean we were one of the only bands who were that poppy at that time, besides maybe Sweet Baby or Mr. T Experience…” Larry Livermore: “Sewer Trout…” Billie Joe: “Yeah, and maybe even Crimpshrine.” [ Source ]
Mr. T Experience - Gilman Street
This is not the best Mr. T Experience song, but I couldn’t resist the topic, and it’s from their early period, when they were playing Gilman St. with Green Day. (I really like this band, but get their later stuff…) Dr. Frank said, in 1995: “My intention was always to make a… basically a cross between the Buzzcocks and the Ramones, but it didn’t ever really come out that way, because we weren’t talented enough to accomplish it, and so it turned out to be something else…. Ironically, there are a lot of people who like the old inept band to the current, more ept.” [ Source ]
Sweet Baby - She’s From Salinas
Larry Livermore said: “Sweet Baby, along with some help from their friends in the Mr T Experience, pretty much invented East Bay pop punk.” [ Source ]
Crimpshrine - Summertime
Crimpshrine, which was formed by Aaron Cometbus and Jeff Ott, is often mentioned as a seminal band in East Bay punk. People get misty-eyed talking about them. Ben Weasel of Screeching Weasel calls them “the heart and soul of the East Bay.” [ Source ]
Isocracy - Rodeo
Isocracy, as you probably know, is the band that John Kiffmeyer was in. Their goofiness gets a mention in the Mr. T Experience song about Gilman St. (posted above): “Isocracy made a mess, we demand nothing less.”
Pinhead Gunpowder - Future Daydream
You’ve probably all heard this song, but I put it in because in this context, it sounds so similar to the other songs here: you can see (hear) the direct thread from the other bands to a project that Billie Joe was (and is still) a part of.
Blatz - Learning How To Smile
I don’t know much about Blatz beyond this song, which I think is wonderfully silly. Billie Joe played with them sometimes. Here’s a photo. Their Wikipedia entry tells a good story: lots of influential people from the scene were involved in Blatz.
Operation Ivy - Sound System
Again, everyone has probably heard this, but I couldn’t leave out Operation Ivy! Billie Joe said: “Jesse Michaels was so great on stage, so charismatic, good looking, with insanely great lyrics… that’s what I was into about him. And I always thought he had that sort of sensibility, that he could work both sides of the fence, the people who were into them because they had great music, and the people who were into them because of the things they stood for.” [ Source ]
Screeching Weasel - Hey Suburbia
Screeching Weasel are actually from Illinois, not the East Bay, but they were signed to Lookout Records and had a lot of influence in that scene, and on Green Day, though Ben Weasel modestly says otherwise: “Those guys were influenced by the Kinks and The Who, and by the heavy metal they’d listened to as teenagers (just like us), and by the bands that played Gilman in the early days, like Operation Ivy and Crimpshrine and Isocracy. I’d be shocked to learn that they’d ever heard those [Semi-Famous Old-Time Punk] bands prior to around their own third record.” [ Source ]
I’m not a completist, I’m not a record collector, and I’m certainly no expert on East Bay punk. I tend to pick out songs and bands to listen to haphazardly. I tried to keep this list short, but if you have any requests I can add them, or if people are interested I can make future posts with more songs?
For a change of pace from all the chewing-on-our-fingernails anticipation of the new album, here’s a review, and previews, of the recently released CD of string quartet renditions of all the songs on American Idiot: Vitamin String Quartet performs Green Day’s American Idiot.
I know that some fans are not fond of Green Day covers — after all, who does Green Day’s songs better than Green Day themselves? — but this is so different from the original that it’s a work of art in its own right, and it’s a real tribute to the beauty and power of American Idiot: an album with so much depth and emotion holds up exceptionally well when translated into the moody strains of violins, viola and cello. I found myself listening to this again and again.
If I have any quibble, and it’s only a very small one, it’s that this album is almost too faithful to the original. The driving beat of the electric guitars and drums is rendered with a staccato quality that’s true to the album, but I kind of wish that the grand lyricism that string instruments are so good at would be allowed to assert itself in all its emotional, dramatic, sweeping glory. I guess I wanted the classical musicians to get carried away….
You can hear “American Idiot,” “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” and “Wake Me Up When September Ends” on YouTube. (There’s also “Good Riddance” from another album.) See what you think. My favorite is “Jesus of Suburbia” but I’m afraid you’ll have to pick up the album for that one.
~Vitamin Records just came out with a CD that covers all of American Idiot, played by a classical string quartet. I love this kind of thing. I’ll look forward to hearing it.
~As you may remember, Pansy Division announced last fall that they would be releasing a cover of Green Day’s “Coming Clean” on a 7 inch record, to accompany the release of their new CD. Well, both the record and the CD are out now. Order the 7 inch here. The description quotes from, and links to, the interview Billie Joe did with The Advocate in 1995 where he discussed his feelings about homosexuality.
As you may know, Larry Livermore, the founder of Lookout Records, also used to write a zine called The Lookout and was in a band called The Lookouts, which is the band where Tre got his start as a 12 year old drummer. Loves2bang picked up some old issues of Lookout, the zine, and here’s a little history of The Lookouts, the band, from issue #31, Summer ‘88.
It’s funny how Larry starts out by saying that no one cares about the history of most bonds, but if the band goes on to become huge, then people want to read every little detail. He assumes The Lookouts is one of those obscure bands no one will ever care about as he writes that, but, lo and behold, here we are, years later, reading little details about the band because one of its members went on to superstardom! (Not that I care if Green Day are superstars. I’d still want to read about them if they weren’t, but, sadly, I probably would not have known they existed…)
And here’s some more bits from issue, #34, Winter 1990.
“Still more Green Day poop: the teen heathrobs have been making a big splash playing lunch time concerts at Sonoma County high school campuses. Their latest, at Sebastian High School, came about after the student body president saw a picture of someone wearing a Green Day t-shirt in Seventeen magazine.”
That, above, is meant to be tongue in cheek! (Even though they eventually really did become teen (and not-so-teen…) heartthrobs.)
This is by Aaron Cometbus:
“Then there are Sam I Am and Downfall, two bands made up mostly of former members of the last generation of local bands. I think both are pretty decent, but they just don’t excite me- not enough energy or something. I think it’s really necessary to drag in some new people and new energy to keep things interesting. Green Day are a good example of that, with Isocracy drummer Al teaming up with two guys who’d been playing together in a tiny hick town for years. They’re not wildly original, but they don’t need to be because they have great songs, great attitudes, and put a lot of work into the band. They are also a fucking lot of fun.”
A big thanks again to loves2bang. Sorry I’ve been under the weather and I haven’t been posting much.
~In an interview with Time magazine, Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz talks about Green Day and getting older gracefully. He says: “I’m not the kind of person who is interested in only collecting teenagers’ tears… But at the same time, the truth is that high school goes on forever in some form or fashion… There are bands like Green Day that have done it before, or the Clash, which did it before them. It’s okay to get older and its okay to be cool with it.”
An article came out about a week ago on Green Day’s relationship to 924 Gilman St., the venue that nurtured Green Day in its early years. It’s a complicated relationship, and the article does a good job of presenting nuanced points of view from various people closely involved in the club.
There’s no doubt that over the years the feelings have mellowed. At the time, back in 1994, there were many people who were genuinely angry. Back then, I used to read the zine MaximumRocknRoll, which has very close ties to Gilman St. — I read it both because I was interested in all things Green Day and because the whole concept of punk rock was completely fascinating to me — and there was some real vitriol against Green Day on its pages. Some of it was completely over-the-top and just mean (to get an idea about how high emotions ran, Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys was attacked and seriously injured at Gilman St. in 1994, by guys calling out “Sellout”), but there is a core belief about the values and purpose of a venue like Gilman St. that is valid, and that helps explain the strong feelings.
To understand why Green Day’s signing to a major label made some people so upset, you need to look at why a place like Gilman St. exists, and why it means so much to so many people, including the members of Green Day themselves. Billie Joe said, as recently as November of 2007 in Rolling Stone:
“I’m going on faith — because I was there. Gilman Street is still around. And that’s a hard task — it’s a nonprofit cooperative. It’s like a commune — this feeling of bucking the system together, surviving and thriving on art. It gives me goose bumps — punk is something that survives on its own.”
That quote, in Billie Joe’s always-eloquent way, sums up the feelings of many. It’s genuinely hard to create and sustain something truly independent, that doesn’t rely on corporate sponsorship nor is predicated on making money. Instead, Gilman St. is a shared effort by dedicated people who care about nurturing a real alternative to commercial culture, and a place where like-minded people can come together and create not only music but a community.
But in order for the community to persist, it needs the active participation and support of its members. When a band jumps ship, by signing a contract with a major label, their withdrawal weakens the DIY community that’s there to give people a voice and a venue that the corporate music world, which is interested only in bands that stand to make a lot of money, denies to so many. Because Green Day became so huge, their withdrawal from the fold of Gilman St. not only took away one of its many supporting pillars (which by itself wouldn’t have been so bad, since Gilman would continue to thrive with its remaining supporters), but it also created the added insult of opening up Gilman St. to the rapacious gaze of major labels, who suddenly saw it as the place to discover their next big moneymaker. All these people who had been building an independent community with their own sweat and dedication suddenly saw their scene overrun by the very same greedy fatcats that they had created the community in opposition to.
Some Green Day fans seem to think that Gilman St. should be grateful for the publicity that Green Day brought them — and indeed it did bring in some money — but they fail to understand that DIY clubs like Gilman St. — and there are many punk rock venues like it all over the world, including one that I volunteered at in NYC — are not after publicity. They are there for a specific purpose: to nurture an underground scene that exists outside of the mainstream. And when commercial culture intersects with them, it creates more problems than benefits.
One last note: Green Day cannot play at Gilman St. because the club has a policy of not booking major label bands. That is a longstanding policy that doesn’t have to do with Green Day in particular, nor does it affect the individual members of Green Day. Pinhead Gunpowder played there recently because the band is not signed to a major label.
This article from the East Bay Express is not new. It’s from 2001, but I only just came across it recently, and it put a smile on my face. It’s about Metal Mike Saunders, singer of the punk band the Angry Samoans, who is apparently a huge fan of Green Day and is proud to announce it to the world.
First off, you have to know about the Angry Samoans. They’ve been playing since 1978 (Metal Mike is 56), and they have a reputation for being silly and eccentric, and charmingly stupid in the best punk rock tradition. But they’re also very smart, and I think their music is pretty great, though it may not be everyone’s cup of tea.
I have to admit being a Green Day fan is sometimes embarrassing to own up to, especially being a fan who actually has uh, a website about them and is 44 years old… But hey, Metal Mike is even older than me, and he’s in an actual hardcore band, in a scene that tends to look on Green Day as mushy or too-popular for its underground tastes. But he’s happy to embrace them. As the article says, “One of the greatest things about Mike is that he is completely and totally free of music snobbery.”
‘They are the greatest band of the last thirty years,’ he says. He owns every 7, import, B-side, and alternative take the Berkeley boys have ever put out. ‘They are the greatest band since 1967; the best band since the Beatles, the Kinks, and the Beach Boys.’ To say that Mike has an almost autistic knowledge of the band is to put it lightly; he knows who owns the ’second best collection of early Green Day photos,’ what records they listened to when they were twelve, and what videos they show their kids now (Beatles cartoons, a gift from Mike himself).
Plus he actually got to play with them in the early days… Sigh! I don’t know if Metal Mike is Green Day’s number one fan. Some of you reading this may well qualify for that title. I don’t believe in ranking fans — I think we’re all one big gooey fandom — but the article is saying it jokingly anyway. Read it all here. I think it’s cute and funny, and you may see some of yourself in Mike.
For those who are unfamiliar with the Angry Samoans, here’s a couple of sample songs. These are both from 1982.
Angry Samoans - Time Has Come Today
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