The title of this post is an odd one isn't it? The long part of the story is the other day as I was going through and creating what I dubbed my "Big Mix" in a play list. Taking my favorite songs from the nearly 60 gigabytes of music I have amassed over the years. (I still have one milk create full of CD's that hasn't made it to the land of Tron but I'm in no hurry.)
So there I was going through and listening to thousand of songs and hundreds of bands. I came to the odd conclusion that Green Day is the Clash of my generation. Okay while the music elite and intelligentsia gets their torches and pitch forks I'll try to explain.
In 1994 I was a youthful guy full of energy and anger. What was I angry about? Well like most teenagers I was angry I was young and had my whole life ahead me. That year Green Day's album "Dookie" came out and it was everywhere. Enjoyable innuendo with a solid back beat and enough cursing to make my friends mom ban us from listening to it. Thus making it even cooler to us.
Around that same time I was learning and listening to other bands. The Clash also came upon my radar. I heard "Combat Rock" and waged a war on lameness. Which I lost as you can by the end of that last sentence. The rawness, the passion, the anti-politco politics of the Clash struck me and is still with me. When I would listen to their albums in order the music kept getting better. It wasn't just three chord speed rock. It had started to grow and expand. Kept that same edge and ant-causal intensity that makes them legends. The actual technical skills of them started to bloom and I liked it. I like it a lot, still do.
Green Day followed a similar pattern. Of fast paced three chord encoded message of rock. To well having one of their albums becoming a broad way musical. I am hinting at a "London Calling" musical.
I do personally think the Clash are a bigger better band then Green Day. But I'd like to give Green Day credit where credit is due. When rock n' roll was on the way in a creative trough. Green Day climbed their way out by breaking their own mold.
If you look at any band with legs you'll see that their albums go through phases. Tom Petty (with or with out the heart breakers) pre "Southern Accents" is a far cry from "Echo". Rush has a new era every album. That is many because Geddy Lee's voice is getting more bass. Can't you tell?
I'm not a music scholar, critic or anything really. I'm just a fan. For instance I think Metallica going through their "Load" phase was in the long run a good thing. I'll write about that one day. For now let us all take a moment to enjoy the growth of bands especially ones that grow with us.
-Joe
