Day 0961 - American Idiot

Green Day "American Idiot" (2004) - got it

The story goes that Green Day had recorded an album which was to continue the expansion of their musical palette that had been going on in their previous album "Warning".  The recordings were stolen and the band decided started from scratch.   Realistically they had backups and could have recreated the music.  It was more likely it just wasn't quite up to scratch, but it makes a for better story to say the theft led to reinvention.

The band took the opportunity to try something different; a punk-rock opera.   There does seem to be a lyrical connection, and the album's two medley pieces "Jesus of Surburbia" and "Homecoming" feed into that conceit.   I've never really paid too much attention to that side of things but the album does have a certain cohesion to it, even as it mashes punk rock (the title track and "Saint Jimmy") with an almost 1950s sound on the verses of "Give Me Novocaine" and stadium-sized sound on songs like "We are the Waiting" or ballad "Wake Me When September Ends".

The song that seized me pretty early on was "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"  with it's tremolo-drenched alt-rock balladry. I hate the radio would often play a version where they shave off the instrumental outro, as though it was unworthy because it didn't have a human voice on it (probably just considered too long for the radio) it's one of my favourite parts of the song.   

The album was also seemingly one of the few mainstream releases making any effort to criticise the US invasion of Iraq (the sequel).  Definitely throwing a title like "American Idiot" at a highly patriotic nation like the US was a reasonably punk-rock thing to do.

American Idiot ended up being a shot in the arm for Green Day, setting their direction for the next few years, leading to a live album, a documentary, and even a stage musical. 

Day 0831 - Now I Got Worry

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion "Now I got Worry"

Spencer had started off with noise rock band Shithaus and garagey/noise/punk rock band Pussy Galore.   He stated that those bands were about him kicking against rock music but that JSBE was was him accepting and even celebrating the sound a bit more.

It's been mentioned by critics that the bands sound was not very 'bluesy'... I guess you could argue that maybe their sound is not supposed to be blues but rather the aftermath of the titular explosion.   "Now I got Worry" was recorded while the band were also working on the "A Ass Pocket of Whiskey" album with bluesmen R L Burnside and Kenny Brown and it seems to have injected a little more blues to 'Now I got Worry' which features another blues singer Rufus Thomas on song "Chicken Dog".

There is more of a blues vibe but it's still buried amongst a raft of other noisy, off-the-wall sytles.  "F*ck Sh*t up" has a noisy, beat-backed bit of drawling street poetry with miscellaneous noises jumping out at you.   "2kindsa Love" has almost a funk-metal Janes Addictiony vibe to it.  "Get Over Here" has an aggressive alt-rock groove similar to Mark of Cain or Helmet.  "Cool Vee" has a laidback, cruisy vibe with vocal samples being scratched over the top of it.

Day 0785 - Dookie

Green Day "Dookie" (1994) - got it

 

The band signed to a major label after their second album “Kerplunk” attracted attention from a number of labels and put the group at the centre of a minor bidding war.   This move away from independent release led to some of their punk fans labelling them “sellouts”.  I find that a bit odd really because I don’t entirely view Green Day as a pure punk band to begin with.   It’s kind of like, if punk is a shot of espresso, Green Day are a cappuccino.  You get a taste and a bit of a zing, but not the full hit.

The group produce pop-punk, in places it delves into jazzy territory, with the bass-driven "Longview"; there's more 'pure' punk with "In the End"; and an almost early-Beatles vibe (but with more distortion) in "Pulling Teeth".   Loud guitars and vocal harmonies abound throughout, with singer Billie Joe Armstrong affecting a sneery vocal that almost sounds like he's doing a British accent to give it a bit more of a Sex Pistols vibe or something.

While the band would arguably go through a period of being more focussed around Armstrong, this sounds like a band effort, with Mike Dirnt's bass often being boosted in the mix to shove it in your face.   Even hit "When I come around", Dirnt isn't just following the guitar line, he's weaving in and out of it with busy basslines.   

Drummer Tre Cool is also given plenty of space to shine, whether it's his jazzy shuffle on Longview, his speedy snare rolls and flanges on album opener "Burnout" or his bouncing, almost Cuban interlude in the middle of "In the End" (the album also closes with a secret track penned and performed by Cool).

It's not 'really' punk, but I like it.

Day 0679 - Mama Said Knock You Out

LL Cool J "Mama Said Knock You Out" (1990)

LL's brand of brag-rap had been starting to wane in the face of socially conscious rap and the violent, occasionally misogynistic gangsta rap styles.  LL's 1989 album "Walking With a Panther" had attempted to change things up stylistically, and was a commercial success, but led to some derision from the rap community.

LL swung back into action, helped by producer Marley Marl, as the title suggests, he was ready for a fight.  Sparse beats and booming bass dominate with occasional samples adding a nice bit of flavour.   LL is a skilled wordsmith, agile, powerful and interesting.

Day 0432 - Movies

Holger Czukay "Movies" (1979)

I love the genesis of this album: Following the breakup of Can, Czukay would sit at home with his bass and play along to TV shows, ads, and films on his TV, which inspired him to produce this rather soundtrack-esque album.

Czukay had studied under modern composer Karlheinz Stockhausen and followed his lead with various tape loops and musique concrete ideas, including sampling an Iranian singer (who he heard on the radio by chance) and using it in his track "Persian Love".