Green Day Never Sold Out, You Just Got Old and Complacent

J Lee Petry

1 Like

Selling out would require a change in values or actions against their personal beliefs for capital or career gain. Alot of people get this wrong and use it out of context.I don't know what their beliefs were as of their career and where they wanted to go in the beginning, so I can't really say whether they sold out or not.

But there's one thing I DO know. The term "mainstream punk band" is the biggest oxymoron I've ever encountered in the music world. Punk rock is a counter-culture genre used to rebel against the mainstream. I mean, hell, they have a musical on broadway for christ sake. I don't think you can go any more mainstream than they have.What Green Day is is a tool that the mainstream record company has used for the past two decades to sell alternative rock to the masses under the label punk rock. Sad thing is, people sucked it up like an obese man with a Pepsi.

Pinhead

@J Lee Petry "Selling out would require a change in values or actions against their personal beliefs for capital or career gain. Alot of people get this wrong and use it out of context." Absolutely correct, and very glad you took the time to type that sentence.

As far as the rest, "Punk-Rock" is just music. It isn't anything, musically, but a style. The progression of chords, harmonies, beats, melodies, etc. blended together in a certain way. To say, "Punk-Rock" is inherently counter culture somehow is just untrue and blatantly false. It's impossible for it to be. Now the pretentious bullshit counter culture that has lived on for decades inspiring kids (and now sadly adults) to judge other people and everything through some vapid prism and exclaim, "That's not punk!", or "I'm way more punk than you are."; is another story all together. Yes, Green Day grew up and left that small-minded counter-culture behind...wisely so. That counter-culture became a pitiful parody of itself long ago, as soon as it became more about exclusion and judgmental pretentiousness. Two things that were the basis of it birth all those decades ago. It rose from the gutters to shout, "It's okay to be you!" not, 'It's not okay if you don't meet this very specific set of guidelines I have created in my head to justify my anti-social tendencies and inferiority complex.".

Rock and Roll itself was the music of rebellious youth, and Punk-Rock, like so many other of its' spawn, followed that same path...the one where it lead to "mainstream-ness". God forbid. The pretentiousness and out right hypocrisy of "hipsters" cracks me up...This band was once beloved by anyone who listened to "rock" post 1993, and now they've become one of the most despised and hated by a culture that claims to be open-minded, just because their talent lead them to a wider audience. God forbid!

To call Green Day anyone's "tool" blatantly ignores the fact that they've had control of their own destiny for quite a long time now...especially when compared to other long-staying powerhouses.

J Lee Petry

Selling out would require a change in values or actions against their personal beliefs for capital or career gain. Alot of people get this wrong and use it out of context.

I don't know what their beliefs were as of their career and where they wanted to go in the beginning, so I can't really say whether they sold out or not. But there's one thing I DO know. The term "mainstream punk band" is the biggest oxymoron I've ever encountered in the music world. Punk rock is a counter-culture genre used to rebel against the mainstream. I mean, hell, they have a musical on broadway for christ sake. I don't think you can go any more mainstream than they have.

What Green Day is is a tool that the mainstream record company has used for the past two decades to sell alternative rock to the masses under the label punk rock. Sad thing is, people sucked it up like an obese man with a Pepsi.

Matthew Ryan

you are the first person whose comment i read had a LEGITIMATE reason for Green Day not being "punk". i disagree, but i respect you point of view because you ACTUALLY gave good detail about it.

Jack Daniel Birch

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Really great article, unfortunately Green Day seem to be one of those bands that get a lot of stick just for doing what they want to do and not following what people expect them to do. In that way, I'd say Green Day is one of the truest punk bands out there. The music is high quality through and through, the lyrics are ambitious and deep, and the live show is probably the greatest you'll ever see.

To anyone who thinks Green Day aren't punk, ask yourself why you think this. Because they didn't follow the punk rules right? Figure that out for yourselves.

J Lee Petry

Then let me ask you, Jack....When you think punk rock, what do you think of?Just like if you steal on the high seas independently, you're a pirate. If you steal on the high seas under the kings flag; you're not a pirate, you're a privateer.

When a band abandons the code of ethics that makes them what they are, they are no longer such. Let it be Metal, Country, Pop, Anything. There aren't rules, it just is what it is.

The one thing I've noticed about die-hard Green Day fans is, nothing pisses them off more than when you say they aren't a punk band.Truth may hurt, but what's so bad about being Alternative Rock?

Pinhead

@J Lee Petry

So this "code of ethics", which I am guessing includes the all
important DIY model...which Green Day did a long time ago...is more
important than the music? You're confusing a musical style and
sub-culture. And that particular sub-culture has been degraded and
rotten feasting on it's own ideals and imploding. Doing what you want,
calling your own shots...those aren't ideals of the punk-rock
sub-culture? Since when? Your definition is too narrow, not to mention duplicitous, counter-intuitive, UN-productive and negates itself.

A privateer was just a fancy name for a pirate that was sponsored
by a country...they were still pirates to everyone who didn't fly that
country's flag.

Jack Daniel Birch

1 Like

In all fairness, I agree that not everything Green Day puts out is punk rock. I just admire them for always doing whatever they felt was right despite all of the naysayers and the inevitable backlash. They've always been true to their roots in that sense. I guess the reason a lot of die-hard fans would be pissed off is because Green Day are known as a punk band, their influences, their early life, their band ethics are all rooted in the punk subculture. There's nothing wrong with being Alternative Rock, it's just not what they're perceived to be.

Nicholas Pell

Green Day were on my 20 Worst Bands list. FACT. They're seriously terrible and only get worse the more they try and pretend to be "smart." You are one brave writer for defending them.

Pinhead

@Nicholas Pell Whoo-Hoo! A useless FACT! Congrats on putting them on that totally useless list of yours, and telling us about it as though it means something...and then not even having the courage to support your useless (and baseless) assertion. The "Pretend to be smart" bit was very telling, and the fact you don't even make an attempt to explain it even more so.