so how do i begin?  i guess let’s just start from the beginning.

1994:

in my younger years, my dad played a huge part in developing my taste of music.  for those who know him, you’ll also know that he gets in these moods where he just needs to update everything…come to think about it, i do that now too -_-  anyway, i was in 4th grade, still listening to the beatles and chicago…basically stealing records from my dad.  one day, he decides he wants to get some “hip” music for me, so i wouldn’t have to grow up listening to stuff that was made before i was born.  we drove to tower records and looked at the top 10 cassette tapes (remember those?) and that was when i picked up my very first copy of dookie.

now let’s rewind a bit before going to tower records.  back then, our parents didn’t allow us to watch MTV alone. i guess it was to preserve our innocence or whatever, but all i knew was that EVERYONE’S parents were like that, even mine.  anyway, i remember always going down to rommel’s house to watch mtv “secretly” while his parents were out.  remember, back then, mtv used to play music videos around the clock.  i think we only really watched mtv because we knew we weren’t allowed to.  we weren’t really that into the music…well that was until we saw “basket case” for the first time.  i just remember thinking these guys were so damn cool…lead singer with the crazy green eyes and not to mention an awesome song. i think we started watching the video about a quarter in, so i had absolutely no idea who these guys were.  i remember we would watch mtv until the video would come on again, but it never did.

not only was dookie the first album i ever bought on my own, but it happened to be the band who’s video i fell in love with months earlier.  i was one happy kid.  i would listen to it front to back, non stop, every day.  every chance i got, you would find me in my room with headphones on, playing airdrums.  at the time, i only played the piano. the ultimate geek instrument.  it was because of billie joe, that i wanted to play guitar.

since my parents invested so much with me and my piano lessons, my dad was pretty reluctant in teaching me how to play the guitar.  when they weren’t home, i would sneak into their bedroom, take his guitar and pretend to play along with the songs.  i would copy exactly what he did in the videos and everything.  since my dad wasn’t going to teach me how to play the guitar, i decided i wanted to learn myself.  i told him this and he gave me one of his guitar handbooks for me to look at.

1995:

before i knew it, a new green day album was around the corner. i was SO excited.  i remember i couldn’t sleep the night before the release.  what really made me angry was that i had to go to school the next day…so being the coolest mom in the world, she got the album for me while i was at school so i could listen to it the minute i got home.  this album was exactly what i needed, more green day.  i was sick of all the offspring, blink 182 etc…i just wanted more green day.

brain stew – the infamous 5 chord song that almost EVERYONE knew.  remember how i was learning how to play guitar? well i sort of quit, because reading from that book was too damn hard.  well one day while i was listening to this song, i had a guitar in my hand and mistakenly figured out the bass notes for this song.  for some reason, i remember calling rommel super excited that i had figured out a song by myself, when in reality i only figured out the bass notes.  i told my dad and he finally taught me the power/bar chord.  after that, i never put down a guitar.  no longer would i pretend play along with green day, i would play with them for real!  THE EXCITEMENT.

1996:

1996 wasn’t a big year or anything…you see the album art above for angus? many of you might not remember this movie so much but god damn did it have an awesome soundtrack.  hell, i don’t even remember much about the movie itself but i do remember the soundtrack.  J.A.R was the name of the green day track, and i remembered they played it during a preview for the movie which was more than enough for me to shell out $5 for a movie ticket.  off topic, but my favorite weezer track is off this soundtrack too.

1997:

so sometime after insomniac was released, i decided to go to the record store and see if green day had mysteriously released any new material.  i remember the jerky boys soundtrack had a song called “2000 light years away” on it, but i couldn’t find the track on any cd.  i stumbled upon kerplunk a little late it seemed.  awesome album with a lot of memorable tracks.  there was even an early version of “welcome to paradise” on their which i thought was cool.

i also picked up 1039 smooth out/slappy hours, which was released even earlier than kerplunk. it wasn’t really an album, it was more a compilation of their super early vinyl’s and demos in cd form.  this album spawned my 2nd most favorite green day song “going so pasalacqua.” i even came across a recording called “radio daze” which was a radio recording of them from before dookie was released.  apparently it’s extremely rare so it feels pretty good to know i have it!

once i had finally caught up with everything that was green day, i was just in time for their new release, nimrod.  remember how i was really mad that i couldn’t get insomniac because i had school?  well, instead of having my mom pick it up for me, she bailed me out of school so we could go together to buy it!  i remember leaving around 9am to get the record, getting home at 9:30, and listening until i went to bed at around 10pm.  it was THAT good.

2000:

3 years = a very painful wait for a new green day record.  this album was a huge departure from their original sound. at the time, i didn’t really know what to think of it.  i mean, i really liked it, but then again they could release the worlds worst album, and i’d still love it.  i guess i was going through a lot of changes in life…i blame all the indie/emo i started listening to.  but when i think about it, green day and all the dashboards and saves the days are the core of my musical influence.  anyway, this album sticks out as when i got my freedom aka my drivers license. as of recently, i probably listen to this album the 2nd or 3rd most times out of all of them.  i guess it just took me a while to mature with the band.

2004:

talk about another painful wait. i really can’t say too much about this album.  it won a grammy or something i believe, and it damn well deserved it.  it had that great green day sound along with a new sound that i truley loved.  i went to 2 american idiot shows.  saw them in 2004 in long beach then again in 2005 in la.  they are well under the most memorable shows i’ve ever been to.  there are only a miniscule amount of shows i can talk about where i actually think about crying.  i remember before seeing them in 2004, i took it upon myself to memorize the whole album so that when i saw them, i could sing along with every word.  ugh, i’m starting to tear up just writing about it…ok, moving on.

2009

well it seems that as i get older, green day tends to wait longer and longer between album releases.  the way i look at it, they can take as long as they want if they make records like this.  but wow, almos 5 years? to tell you the truth, i had almost accepted the fact that they weren’t going to release anything else after american idiot.  i mean, how could they possibly top the perfection that was american idol?  ok well, they did.

i even lowered my expectations for this album.  i distinctly remember saying to annie,”hey, there’s a new green day record coming out and honestly, i’m not too excited for it.”  in previous releases, i had heard their singles on the radio or on tv, but for this album i knew absolutely NOTHING.  apparently there had been a single on the radio for a while, but i never knew.

well in good tradition, i picked up the album on release day.  normally i would have popped the cd in right away, but for some reason i held it off for a while…come to think about it, i updated my blog first, haha.  you can call this my review or whatnot, but it’s really more of just a giant praise for this record.  every song, from start to finish, i thouroughly enjoy.  i’m going to have to say this album is better than american idiot.  my favorite song is “¡viva la gloria!” it’s been on repeat while i’ve been writing this entry. i love how they’re going with the whole story approach to song writing.

anyway, for those who actually read through this whole entry, i hope it gives you guys a little more insight as to why i’m so emotionally attached to this band.  out of all the entries i’ve written on here, i think this one was by far my most favorite to write.  there is no other band that will out-influence these guys for me.  if it weren’t for billie joe, i wouldn’t be playing guitar, singing or even writing music. you can say that they’ve sold out or they’re generic, but i dont’ care. they are what the word inspiration means to me.

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