Every morning before going to middle school, I would eat my Frosted Flakes and watch music videos on MTV. One particular morning, I stopped dead in my tracks, spoon in one hand, backpack in the other. There was this dark haired, tattooed man on my television screen singing something about walking alone and a boulevard. I was immediately drawn in to this band, who looked so unlike anything that I was listening to at the time *insert cute, blonde boy band members here.* Thus began my love of Green Day.
Fast forward 12 years and a few albums later, I'm driving in torrential rain after working from 4:00am on a Saturday to pick up their newest release in several years, Revolution Radio. Did I feel like getting drenched? No. Did I know it would be completely worth it? Yup.
Revolution Radio is everything that I could've asked and more for new Green Day music. It has that 21st Century Breakdown political, angsty vibe, but with a more punk feel, much like their early work on Dookie.
While the whole album is freaking amazing, there's a select few songs that I've been listening to about 20 times a day since the release on October 7th:
"Bouncing Off The Wall"
This song......SO CATCHY! It's been a little while since I've gotten so excited over a song, but when I heard the first verse, I literally squealed like a teen girl because it was just SO good. While the lyrics talk about Satan, bombs, and idle threats, the melody makes you want to blast it in your car on a sunny day with the windows down, which is simply genius on their part.
"Ordinary World"
Two weeks ago, I saw Green Day live at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia as part of their small venue tour. After the supposed encore of "American Idiot," only Billie Joe walked back on stage with his acoustic guitar. With no introduction, he starts singing this song, and it was such a perfect and intimate moment with the crowd. Fans were screaming and carrying on around me, but I was so entranced by his performance and delivery of the lyrics, it was like they weren't even there. "What would you wish if you saw a shooting star in an ordinary world?" Ugh, perfect.
"Still Breathing"
This is one of the few songs that I heard before the full album when they released a lyric video for it. Much like "Ordinary World," the lyrics are extremely inspiring and something that I can relate to at this point in my life. "Just shine a light into the wreckage, so far away..." Even though we may be going through some difficult times and hardships, we're still alive and there's always a light trying to break through the darkness. When it comes to life struggles, Green Day gets it.
As if this wonderful masterpiece of an album wasn't enough of a treat, Billie Joe is starring in a movie called "Ordinary World" (I'm going to assume the song is in the soundtrack...) which hits theaters Friday, October 14th. Unlike his extremely cool and still attractive true self, Billie Joe will be playing a washed up rocker trying to get his life back together. If his acting is even 1/5 as good as his musical talent, we're in for a treat.
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