Greatest American Band Ever? Green Day
Last night I stayed up to watch Green Day on Letterman. I often don't make it to the band portion of the show which is typically around twelve thirty. But it was a Friday, and I really wanted to see them. I am very glad I did.
Green Day has had some amazing performances over the years on Lettermen. I saw their first way back in 1994 when they played Basket Case and blew the place away. They had just released Dookie and had taken the world by storm.
At the end of that performance the drummer immediately dropped his sticks and sprinted off stage, to the surprise of Dave and Paul, and to the amusement of his band mates. It wouldn't be his last odd performance on Letterman. Catch last night's performance on YouTube.
Last night they played a new song from their just released album 21st Century Break Down called East Jesus Nowhere. I expected Do You Know Your Enemy, but this was just as good. In fact it blew me away. It roared, it rocked, it detonated with the same force as any track from Dookie or American Idiot. Fifteen years on and Green Day hasn't lost any intensity or impact. Few bands if any I can think of rock as powerfully with NEW MATERIAL at that career stage. Maybe none.
Everyone knows of my fondness and appreciation for the Ramones and what the achieved. And I have gone on about how Springsteen is America's master poet. But both bands must yield to Green Day in absolute greatness.
To be as cool and as relevant and as dangerous and as influential as Green Day is right now after 15 years is almost unprecedented in pop music. My beloved Ramones were really only important for five years, after which they spent the next 15 years laboring in obscurity as a tribute act to themselves. Bruce I must say, hasn't be a pop icon for over 25 years. Sure he's continued to put out work, but no one really hears it or thinks about it. The "kids" aren't listening to Bruce. Born in the USA was really his swan song culturally. I don't mean to diminish his greatness (from 30 years ago...), but to clarify his importance now and over all that time.
REM could lay claim from 1983 to maybe 1991, but that's only 8 years. And they've been all but forgotten for 15 years.
But each Green Day album over the last fifteen years has been IMPORTANT. To listen to Green Day now is as if it were 1994 or 1998 or 2000 or 2004. They haven't aged as in gotten old or comfortable, or really changed who they are.
What that really means is that Green Day was as mature and polished and capable as they are now way back in 1994. In fact they were maybe 15 years ahead of themselves because there's no evidence of wear or tear. We could be looking at another 15 years of this magnificence. That would put them in company with only one other band, but no other American band comes close. They are the greatest American Band and they likely have a long way to go.
In the here and now, go buy Green Day's new CD, crank it up and enjoy every moment. Then play Dookie or Warning and ask yourself which came first or which is the debut album. Without knowing, I'm not sure I could tell.
They are the best American Band ever, and they're here right now. Consider yourself very fortunate. I do.
Green Day has had some amazing performances over the years on Lettermen. I saw their first way back in 1994 when they played Basket Case and blew the place away. They had just released Dookie and had taken the world by storm.
At the end of that performance the drummer immediately dropped his sticks and sprinted off stage, to the surprise of Dave and Paul, and to the amusement of his band mates. It wouldn't be his last odd performance on Letterman. Catch last night's performance on YouTube.
Last night they played a new song from their just released album 21st Century Break Down called East Jesus Nowhere. I expected Do You Know Your Enemy, but this was just as good. In fact it blew me away. It roared, it rocked, it detonated with the same force as any track from Dookie or American Idiot. Fifteen years on and Green Day hasn't lost any intensity or impact. Few bands if any I can think of rock as powerfully with NEW MATERIAL at that career stage. Maybe none.
Everyone knows of my fondness and appreciation for the Ramones and what the achieved. And I have gone on about how Springsteen is America's master poet. But both bands must yield to Green Day in absolute greatness.
To be as cool and as relevant and as dangerous and as influential as Green Day is right now after 15 years is almost unprecedented in pop music. My beloved Ramones were really only important for five years, after which they spent the next 15 years laboring in obscurity as a tribute act to themselves. Bruce I must say, hasn't be a pop icon for over 25 years. Sure he's continued to put out work, but no one really hears it or thinks about it. The "kids" aren't listening to Bruce. Born in the USA was really his swan song culturally. I don't mean to diminish his greatness (from 30 years ago...), but to clarify his importance now and over all that time.
REM could lay claim from 1983 to maybe 1991, but that's only 8 years. And they've been all but forgotten for 15 years.
But each Green Day album over the last fifteen years has been IMPORTANT. To listen to Green Day now is as if it were 1994 or 1998 or 2000 or 2004. They haven't aged as in gotten old or comfortable, or really changed who they are.
What that really means is that Green Day was as mature and polished and capable as they are now way back in 1994. In fact they were maybe 15 years ahead of themselves because there's no evidence of wear or tear. We could be looking at another 15 years of this magnificence. That would put them in company with only one other band, but no other American band comes close. They are the greatest American Band and they likely have a long way to go.
In the here and now, go buy Green Day's new CD, crank it up and enjoy every moment. Then play Dookie or Warning and ask yourself which came first or which is the debut album. Without knowing, I'm not sure I could tell.
They are the best American Band ever, and they're here right now. Consider yourself very fortunate. I do.
posted 5/23/2009 08:53:00 AM
1 Comments:
Agree with you totally!
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