Are Green Day Still Punk?
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Green Day
With an operatic approach that references classic rock kings like Queen and the Who, there's no doubt that Green Day's new album, 21st Century Breakdown, continues the epic reach of 2004 masterwork American Idiot. Which has some asking: Are Green Day still punk? According to frontman Billie Joe Armstrong -- yes!
"Punk is ground zero for us," Armstrong told MTV.com. "Coming from [Berkeley, CA's] Gilman Street, we saw the most creative people I've ever seen in my life. There was a band called Schlong, and they did 'West Side Story,' and they called it 'Punk Side Story.' And then there's bands like NoMeansNo, [who made] a record like Wrong that's completely insane. None of those are conventional -- what we call 'punk-rock bands' -- but they are, in their own right, the most creative, the most punk."
"It's about being creative," Armstrong continued. "Anytime we write something that's kind of scary and we feel a bit vulnerable, we always just say, 'Just go there.'"
Catch Green Day on their 38-date summer tour, kicking off in Seattle July 3. The band recently previewed their set and elaborate stage design at a secret performance in Oakland, CA. Check out photos here.
4 Comments
Click here to comment- Posted By Alisa
10.20.09 8:37 PM
Greenday certainly isn't punk any longer, in their underground days they probably were from what I can tell, but now they are just sell out, pop, corporate garbage. They have become exactly what they used to despise. As for what "theurge14" said about punk: No, punk didn't start out as a hollow fashion statement, it began as a legitimate movement. It was a mindset, a revolution. Now days, with only a few acceptions, it has been made into nothing more than a simple way for big corporations to target teenagers and sell things to them. And Greenday has joined this machine.
- Posted By Daria
11.10.09 11:31 PM
Every person on earth which is listening Green Day have own opinion to these statment , it's becous we are different. We are living in many placess and thinking in different categories. Also we dont sit in band members heads , and dont know what exacly they wonna to say by theirs music .Everyone have own feelings. We cant just say its pop or punk. If we do that we present our subiective opinion and it'll never be true. So we can keep saing all these opinions but it's just bullshit .Offcours we can say whatever we want but people sometimes think . :)
PS: sorry fof grammar and else mistakes.
2PS:http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/green_day/signatures/100 many opinions (if you wanna to read it all your brain will explode , and in the end dont know what to think)
05.01.09 5:15 PM
In the months that followed Dookie all I ever heard from everyone over 21 years old was that "Green Day would be done and forgotten in a year" as if they were just some annoyance on their radio. Even with that said, I'm still amazed that they've managed to not only stick around past that time but to pick up a whole new generation of fans with American Idiot.
Are they punk? Well, "punk" has always been nothing but a fashion trend since day one so if there are still kids out there dressing and acting like them and jamming to their songs then the answer is yes.