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Posted: 9/5/06
August Green Day Report
There's Something Happening Here, What it is ain't Exactly Clear
Attention students! Summer is over! That means no more lazy days, motherfuckers. No more sunny afternoons lounging by the Xbox. No more endless nights on moonlit beaches, spying on the assholes that didn't invite you to their bonfire party. And no more listening to your narrator soliloquize endlessly on Green Day hypotheticals that have about as much to do with reality as your last internet girlfriend.
Nope, it's now officially time to get your shit together and head back to Green Day University once more, because the professors of post-angst political punk are back in the office, sweating hand grenades to rip the secrets of the cosmos out of the fabric of space and time.
That's right, word has come down from on high that Green Day is officially done with the unwinding and finding themselves, holy pilgrimages and drunken binges. We've been hearing rumors all summer, but now those rumors, like so many wishes tumbling end over end through the ether, have come true.
Green Day is back in the studio!
Holed up in a secret location in California's East Bay, the guys are hard at work on their next project. PROJECT, not album, because as the boys hinted in June, this is going to be more than just an album, it is going to be an EVENT.
Although people close to the band say that they have not yet decided on a producer, album title, or official release date, the guys ARE writing, and - if you're one of those types that likes to believe in rumors (believe in them hard enough and they will come true!) - they might also be recording some demos. Woot!
Big News on the Horizon
So not only are the boys back at it, but things are getting more interesting every day. Recently, the guys posted on their website that "things are about to get LOUD!" which means that kickass news is on the way. And then just the other day, another post confirmed that something very spectaculoso is going to happen within the next week. A week! That's no time at all, which is good, because the end of summer definitely requires a little bit of loud to make it bearable.
Fans are nipple-deep in speculation as to what next week's big news is going to be. We pray to the Spaghetti Monster for a demo, of course, but it could be anything: news of an American Idiot movie, the first phase of the multimedia assault that will comprise the next album project, joyous tidings that Jesus of Suburbia has risen and will be appearing at a shopping mall near you…
Fear not! As soon as Green Day has revealed what the big news is, you will hear about it here on G--D. (Unless the news is really lame and boring. In that case, we'll just gloss over the whole thing like it never happened, Rumsfeld-style.)
But since we do know and love our punk heroes so well, there's no harm in doing a little casual speculation as to what the scoop will be. This speculation will be based, of course, or factual evidence pertaining to other things going on in the Green Day multiverse as of late.
Heart Like a Hand Grenade Waiting to Go Off
According to director John Roecker, the documentary he made of the making of American Idiot will be coming out in early 2007. At last! He told GDA that it is the greatest documentary masterpiece ever, and they've just been holding back on releasing it so that it can do the film festival circuit this winter. But with this big Green Day news coming up, who knows? Maybe Heart Like a Hand Grenade will be released early. Can you imagine the American Idiot documentary coming out next week? OMFG!
The Best Live Band on the Planet
The latest issue of Spin magazine named Green Day the seventh Best Live Band on the scene right now. They were beat out by some solid-gold live acts like Radiohead, the Chili Peppers, and U2 (who came in first), but the neat thing about the list is that it's actually full of relative unknowns. There are 25 great acts on the list, but few besides those mentioned even come close to being as famous and successful as Green Day.
And why is this cool? Because all those music mavens over there at Spin clearly bent over backwards to create a list that wasn't just an exercise in namedropping flashy popstars. They chose unique, often underground acts, and they clearly didn't give a shit if anybody had ever heard of them or not. And then they picked Green Day.
No matter how mainstream Green Day has become, even an elitist, cabalistic mag like Spin couldn't ignore their killer live steez, which proves two things:
1- The guys in Green Day are awesome performers.
2- Even though they're super mainstream now, they've still got tons of integrity.
Which in turn means that whatever those sneaky dudes are up to, it's going to be hugely entertaining, and 100% quality all the way through. No doubt.
Present Moon Men!
Also this month, Green Day have been in the midst of the whirlwind that will probably be the last hurrah of American Idiot. As you probably already know, the guys scored a nomination for Best Rock Video at the VMAs for Wake Me Up When September Ends. And surprisingly enough, they have actually been picked by Rolling Stone magazine as most likely to be the big wieners.
Surprisingly enough because, although we all love Green Day, American Idiot IS practically two years old, which makes it fairly radical for a single off the album to beat out shit that was released over the last year. But hey, I guess with Green Day fans, that's just how we rooooooooll!
So who knows, maybe the big newzo will come when Green Day goes up onstage at the VMAs to accept their award. "Ladies and gentlemen, we would like to announce our intention to run for Presidents of these United States!"
Well, okay, maybe that's a little, TINY bit unlikely, but not really as crazy as you might think. After all, why would a video like WMUWSE get nominated for an VMA by the voice of the people and way past the time when the album came out? Hmm, maybe because the ever-ponderous popular consensus in the great states of Americlandia is finally, finally, FINALLY swinging away from loving the war, and now they need some war protest songs, and vids, of course, and maybe even some war protest leaders.
Stop, Hey, What's that Sound, Everybody Look What's Going Down
The huge fan-based and critical response to WMUWSE is interesting, because when American Idiot first came out, it's not like the military-industrial machine really rose up against all the criticisms of its regime found on the album. This was probably because no one took Green Day seriously at the time, not Dixie Chicks seriously, anyway (gag, gag). But now all of a sudden, all the critics are saying how Green Day's so political, and this is protest music blah blah blah.
And so now Green Day's big anti- war video is up for a VMA. Which is good, because the song and the video deserve to be carefully considered. But it's bad too, because maybe it means that the idea of losing a loved one to this war is not such a far-out concept as it was even two years ago.
Anyway, the point is that whatever Green Day is up to now, it's definitely going to be political. Hopefully, it will be so intensely, aggressively political that no one can ignore it, and the revolution can at last begin.
Stay Tuned!
So that's what Green Day has been up to over the last month. Now settle into your seats, and find a comfortable way to sleep with your eyes open - it's going to be a long year. But don't worry, even though the summer's over, it's clear that there are many Green Days ahead. And check back for updates on the big news and ALL the gory details you can't find anywhere else but right here on G--D.
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