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A bad day for Austrlalia. Riots have been reported all over Australia, Churches burned to the ground, sacred surfers beaches violated , general violence & mayhem + Green Day concert.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/co ... 02,00.html

GREAT article!



Broken dreams for animated Green Day
Iain Shedden
December 15, 2005

GREEN Day are a cartoon. They are The Simpsons of rock – a band you can safely let your kids watch even if it is a bit risque, because in the end it all boils down to repeated choruses of "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie – oi, oi, oi", a few fireworks and a bit of jumping around in a paddock.

Perhaps that is a simplistic view, but then, pretty much everything Green Day do is simplistic.

They are a three-piece Californian pseudo-punk band with a handful of chords and a similar amount of gestures about youth and, just lately, about the way their country, the US, is going about its business.

That is what has caused their latest album, American Idiot, to sell more that 10 million copies, and what initially sets this crowd in Sydney alight as the band runs through the title track of that album and the Jesus of Suburbia song that acts as the album's American culture motif.

There's a full moon tonight hanging over the SCG, but the stadium is anything but full. Indeed the atmosphere of the edgy punk music coming from the stage is easily undermined by the expanses of space in the seats and on the hallowed turf of the Sydney Cricket Ground.

For all that this has been the American band's most successful tour of their career, perhaps it was a bit ambitious to end it with stadium concerts in Sydney and Melbourne, especially since the group played here on the same tour as recently as March.

The set is pretty similar to the one they played then, with the bulk of American Idiot getting an airing. Boulevard of Broken Dreams is a highlight, with the song's anthemic chorus and singer-guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong's crowd-pleasing gestures turning it into a main event.

There's also the entertainment interlude of getting people from the audience up on stage to take the band's place.

Somehow the experience falls short of greatness, however. It's significant that one of their encores is a cover of the Bobby Fuller Four's I Fought the Law, which was covered most significantly by The Clash.

That gesture alone amplifies the level of so-called punk greatness to which Green Day aspires – and yet will never achieve.

THANK YOU!!!!!

Ever listened to the Germs, Annie?? Now THAT is simplistic three cord punk...I don't give a flying fuck that there is a resurgance in Germ's music and a film due to come out....

It was simplistic and nobody really knew what the fuck they were doing...but you know what? The kids liked it...I was never much of a Germs fan, (I always did and do prefer a beach punk sound, which would explain my disdain for bands like GBH and Anti Nowhere League as well) it was a sad day when Darby died, but everything that this article said about Green Day could be said of many other bands that are held in high esteem by many....

Take it from an old old punk...Green Day has done alot for bringing back punk..and many of the old bands out there touring nowadays, including the aforementioned Germs, owe a big debt of gratitude to them...


~rant off~

Green Day is whatever Green Day is, people get thrown off by the bubblegum basslines and the highlevel of sound production. Just because they dont record on some crappy 4 track anymore.

Listen to 1039/Smooth and tell me they arent punk rock, dude!

maybe...but still...

Kroq is really hyping up Coldplay with a weeklong ticket give away.

I'd rather poke my eyes out with dull sticks...blik...

Great article, Annie. Where'd you find it, Pitchfork? Tom, hurry up and post some anti-Strokes articles ASAP!

It's the article from the link Glenn posted.

teabaggin'strokes, on October 8, 2004 09:29 AM:

I don't understand how a group of Manhattan hyper-elitists can be so popular with younger males in this country. It's painfully obvious why women like them so much: extremely glossy, processed, manufactured rock with facile melodies that lose their appeal after a couple of listens has always been appealing to females, not to mention the fact that every dumb bitch on the planet gushes and exclaims "They're so hot!" whenever the Strokes appear before their eyes. Women (the gender of which I am a member) have always had a taste for the meritricious; our pussies get wet. The Strokes' music doesn't strike me as being very original when each time I hear one of their songs I immediately think of Television, The Velvet Underground, or The Cars. I can't wait for this band to fall off the map. Tea bag 'em while you can, you stupid fucking bitches!

http://coollame.org/archives/000385.html

OUCH!

The "Strokes" sound was pretty original as far as mainstream radio play was concerned. I remember when "Last Nite" came out, it didnt sound like anything else KROQ was playing. Kind of like when Nirvana came out of Seattle, the sound was fresh and raw to most of us LA people but to people in Seattle it would have sounded somewhat less original.

I disagree. I think that the Strokes had a very similar sound to their precursors, The Buzzcocks, IMHO. To me they sounded very much like a recycled band. But with that said, I still think the boys are cute....