I’m used to writing a blog that no one reads, except for a handful of people, many of whom I’ve gotten to know, so the prospect of writing about a popular subject like Green Day is a bit daunting. People might actually read it! Gasp! But I’ve been kicking around the idea for a while now, and rather than posting occasionally about Green Day on the other blog, which started out as primarily political, and apologizing profusely for going so far off topic, and feeling somewhat shy and embarrassed about being such a gushing, irredeemably adoring fan, here I am, where it’s all Green Day all the time!

I was completely blown away the very first time I heard Green Day, which was on a TV appearance on the Conan O’Brien show in March of 1994. [ Video ] It was just so perfect and irresistible: no holds barred energy, but without the off-putting snarliness of a lot of punk rock — which I came to love too, mainly because listening to Green Day put it in context for me, so that I could understand what’s great about it — and candy-sweet melodies, and then there’s this unexpected and dizzying combination of aggressiveness and generosity. Somehow when Billie Joe sings at you to fuck off and die, it puts a goofy, deliriously happy smile on your face instead of making you think, “Oh yeah pal? Well you know what, fuck you too!”

So I’ve been a fan now for 13 years, though during the Nimrod and Warning periods I wasn’t paying a lot of attention. Not that those albums weren’t great — Warning is one of my favorites now — I was just thinking about other things. It was confusing being a Green Day fan back in the day. In 1994 I was 30, and people found it strange that I loved Green Day. My friends and contemporaries liked pretentious, arty music, and they thought Green Day were just loud, snotty pranksters: kid stuff. But, oh, they were so wrong!!! Green Day have always had amazing depth and honesty, from their very first album, which is both heartbreakingly sad and slap-me-up happy, and their musicianship is first rate. If anything, it’s a tribute to them that so many very young people love them: kids tend to have the most sensitive bullshit detectors, and they’ll often know instinctively when something is the real deal. Older people may want to reflect and analyze, though that’s not my particular tendency, not most of the time anyway, and there’s plenty in Green Day’s work for that too.

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