Green Day- American Idiot

Hey, y'all! It's time for me to talk about another CD on my shelf! As always, I put my iTunes on shuffle, and the CD containing the first song that played is the one I'll be talking about!

Release Date: September 20, 2004

Genre: Pop Punk, Punk Rock, Alternative

Track Listing

1. American Idiot
2. Jesus of Suburbia
3. Holiday
4. Boulevard of Broken Dreams
5. Are We The Waiting
6. St. Jimmy
7. Give Me Novocaine
8. She's a Rebel
9. Extraordinary Girl
10. Letterbomb
11. Wake Me Up When September Ends
12. Homecoming
13. Whatsername

Green Day lineup:
Billie Joe Armstrong- vocals, guitar, piano, harmonica
Mike Dirnt- bass guitar
Tre Cool- drums, percussion

L-R: Mike, Billie Joe, Tre

About Green Day: 
I'm sure I don't have to tell you too much about Green Day, since they're pretty famous. They have released 11 studio albums to date. And that's not even including compilations and live CDs. They've sold millions and millions of CDs. Fun fact that you may not know: Dookie, their first big success, has actually sold 10 million copies in the US, while American Idiot, which is often considered to be their most well known and commercially successful album, has only sold 6 million in the US!

My Opinion about Green Day:
I really like Green Day, but they don't quite make my top 10 bands. They'd definitely make my top 20, and probably my top 15, but they don't quite get up there. I've found that of all the bands I like, the ones that are super commercially successful (like Green Day, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, and Panic! At The Disco), while I do really like those bands, they're almost never the ones that end up as my absolute favorites. IDK if I subconsciously like really popular bands less, or if the ones that are popular only among alternative fans just make better music. Although I would say that among the alternative bands, Green Day is definitely one of the most talented ones. 

About the CD:  

What could I say about this CD that you may not already know? I'm thinking NOTHING. One fun fact about the CD is that the band originally recorded an entire album, before the master tracks were stolen and they decided to start from scratch, writing new songs, which would go on to become American Idiot, which is possibly their most commercially successful album

IMHO: 
I hate to be "that" Green Day fan, but I would be lying if I said that this wasn't my favorite CD by them. Even the songs that I don't like as much are really great. Green Day created a masterpiece with this CD, and I honestly don't think they'll ever be able to outdo themselves.

As always, I'm going to give each song a rating out of 10 and then give a brief explanation of why it got that rating. 

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American Idiot- 10/10. There's a reason that this song is one of Green Day's most well-known songs. It's so true to Green Day's whole vibe and so in your face that it's hard to dislike it. Plus, it's just so fun to jam to.

Jesus of Suburbia- 10/10. Generally, I have trouble making it all the way through songs that are nearly 10 minutes long, but I could listen to this one on repeat. Granted, it is a 5 act song, a la Bohemian Rhapsody, but it's just so great, and each section is just as strong as the last.

Holiday- 9.5/10. The guitar part is just really great and recognizable. And I really love the bridge. I don't know what else to say, I just really enjoy this song! Also, the way it seamlessly transitions to Boulevard is great. 

Boulevard of Broken Dreams- 9/10. This is a really great song. It would have a higher rating, but I'm just incredibly burnt out from hearing it as many times as I've heard it. 

Are We The Waiting- 8.5/10. It's a good song, but it's not one of my favorites on the CD. I can never seem to enjoy the slower Green Day songs as much as the fast ones.

St. Jimmy- 9.5/10. This is what Green Day does best, heavy guitar, fast tempo, gritty vocals. It just works so well, and it shows off all of their strongest skills.

Give Me Novocaine- 9/10. I really like the contrast between the relaxed verses and the heavy chorus. This is one of Green Day's strongest slower songs, in my opinion. And once again, the transition into the next song is really great.

She's a Rebel- 10/10. Possibly my favorite song on the whole CD. Although it's really short, it embodies Green Day's vibe almost perfectly. It's so loud and jam-worthy. Any time it comes on, I crank up the volume. 

Extraordinary Girl- 8.5/10. Good, but not one of my favorites on the CD. I actually tend to forget that it's on the CD, so that shows how much I really pay attention to it! But when I actually listen to it, I enjoy it. 

Letterbomb- 9/10.  Surprisingly, I don't like this one quite as much as some of their other fast songs. Although, I do really like the line "It's not over 'til you're underground" as well as the tie-ins to all the other songs.

Wake Me Up When September Ends- 9.5/10. If you'd asked me a year or two ago, this probably would've gotten a 10. But like Boulevard, this one has just been played far too many times. It's a great song, I just need some distance from it, after how much I used to listen to it. 

Homecoming- 8/10. This is one of the long songs I have more trouble making it through. This is probably my least favorite song on the CD, just because it keeps going and going. Obviously, I still like it since I gave it 8, but it takes some patience for me to get through the entire song.

Whatsername- 9/10. I love the simplicity of all of the instruments' parts, and how although they're playing basically the same thing over and over, it creates a really good song.

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Favorite Songs: She's A Rebel, American Idiot, Jesus of Suburbia, and Holiday.

Least Favorite Songs: Homecoming, Are We The Waiting, and Extraordinary Girl.

Video! 

American Idiot music video

Jesus of Suburbia music video

Rating: 9.5/10. I'd say that this CD is probably one of my favorites of all-time. It's not perfect, but it's pretty close. If I were giving 1/4 points, this would get a 9.75, but since I'm not, and since 10 is getting reserved for the best best of the best, this one loses out a bit. But it's such a great CD and it is an extremely cohesive CD, which gives it major brownie points

Hope you liked my newest "The CDs on my Shelf" post! Have any questions? What are your opinions on Green Day? Let me know in the comments. If you like my posts, I'd really appreciate if you'd subscribe/follow, because it lets me know y'all are liking them! Hope you enjoyed! Comment, comment, comment! I love feedback! Thanks for reading!

Green Day- Nimrod

Well, I'm giving you a brief little behind the scenes snippet right now. When I started writing this blog, I gave myself a rule that if an album came up that I didn't want to talk about so much, I wouldn't skip it, because I'm going to have to write about it at some point. So, even though I wasn't sure about this one, I'm writing it anyway! So here we go!!!

Release Date: October 14, 1997

Genre: punk rock, alternative rock, pop punk

Track Listing

1. Nice Guys Finish Last
2. Hitchin' A Ride
3. The Grouch
4. Redundant
5. Scattered
6. All The Time
7. Worry Rock
8. Platypus (I Hate You)
9. Uptight
10. Last Ride In
11. Jinx
12. Haushinka
13. Walking Alone
14. Reject
15. Take Back
16. King For A Day
17. Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)
18. Prosthetic Head

Green Day is:
Billie Joe Armstrong- lead vocals, guitars, piano, harmonica
Mike Dirnt- bass guitar, backing vocals
Tre Cool- drums, percussion, backing vocals
(Jason White, touring guitarist, was added to the official lineup in 2012, but this has been the only lineup change since Tre Cool joined in 1990. John Kiffmeyer did percussion until 1990)

Green Day, L-R: Mike, Billie Joe, Tre. But you already knew that, right?

About Green Day: I'm sure I don't have to tell you too much about Green Day, since they're pretty famous. They have released 11 studio albums to date. And that's not even including compilations and live CDs. They've sold millions and millions of CDs. Fun fact that you may not know: Dookie, their first big success, has actually sold 10 million copies in the US, while American Idiot, which is often considered to be their most well known and successful album, has only sold 6 million in the US!

My Opinion about Green Day: Although I do really like Green Day, they definitely don't fall among my top 10 bands. I've found that of all the bands I like, the ones that are super commercially successful (like Green Day, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, and Panic! At The Disco), while I do really like those bands, they're almost never the ones that end up as my absolute favorites. IDK if I subconsciously like really popular bands less, or if the ones that are popular only among alternative fans just make better music. 

About the CD:  It's gone double platinum in the US, which is more than most of the CDs On My Shelf can say... with the exception of other Green Day albums, and a couple other scattered ones.

IMHO: It's definitely not my favorite Green Day CD. I don't listen to it a lot, and am not familiar with a lot of the songs on it, hence why I was a bit hesitant to talk about it. I don't want to come off as a fake Green Day fan, because I'm not. I just haven't listened to EVERYTHING. I'm a big fan of American Idiot. I love Dookie, the singles off of Insomniac & Nimrod, Warning, and most of 21st Century Breakdown. I own almost all of their CDs, but I'm just not a superfan. And this CD just wasn't as good, IMHO.

Favorite songs: Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) is definitely my favorite. I tried to convince my mom to allow me to use it for my graduation slideshow at church last year, but that got vetoed (I ended up using Time Of My Life by David Cook). I like the acoustic, chill side of Green Day. And I'm a sucker for strings, cause I play in an orchestra.

Other gems: Nice Guys Finish Last and Hitchin' A Ride. And I didn't even know that they were singles until recently. Honestly, I know all of the songs on the album are good, because I've listened to all of them, I just haven't gotten to the stage where I can distinguish them.

Video!

Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) music video

Nice Guys Finish Last music video 

Rating: 5/10. Definitely not my favorite Green Day CD. But it's Green Day, so it's at least good enough to get 5/10 just by being by Green Day.

Hope you liked my newest "The CDs on my Shelf" post! What did you think? Want to know more information about the CD? Less? or just different info? Or is what I put good? You were just waiting for Green Day to pop up, weren't you? I'm sure my previous posts made me seem like I would listen to GD. Let me know all of this in the comments. If you like my posts, I'd really appreciate if you'd subscribe, because it lets me know y'all are liking them! Still taking comments on the time they're posted, because if you haven't noticed, I schedule them to post at the same time, as I'm either asleep or at work at noon! Hope you enjoyed! Check back at noon tomorrow, because might possibly be a new post. Not totally sure. Probably depends on how exciting or random of a CD I get next! Comment, comment, comment! I love feedback! Thanks for reading!

The Jonas Brothers- Jonas Brothers

Release Date: August 7, 2007

Genre: pop, pop rock

Track Listing

1. S.O.S.
2. Hold On
3. Goodnight and Goodbye
4. That's Just The Way We Roll
5. Hello Beautiful
6. Still In Love With You
7. Australia
8. Games
9. When You Look Me In The Eyes
10. Inseparable
11. Just Friends
12. Hollywood
13. Year 3000
14. Kids of The Future

The Jonas Brothers are:
Nick Jonas
Joe Jonas
Kevin Jonas

About The Jonas Brothers: Ok, you all already know about the Jonas Brothers. I'm pretty sure I don't need to tell you much about them.

My Opinion about The Jonas Brothers: They first became popular when I was like 12/13, and they were my favorite musicians. I was really in love with Nick more than anything else, but I really did like their music. This was, of course, before my taste in music changed to be more slanted towards alternative music rather than pop music.

About the CD: It's the Jonas Brothers' 2nd CD. I would definitely say that their CDs diminished in quality as they went along, so this one is one of their better ones. I actually woke up early the day that this CD came out, and I bought it as soon as the music store in town opened in the morning.  

IMHO: I actually still like a lot of the music on this, even though it's not the genre I would really seek out now. I guess it's a nostalgia thing. 

Favorite songs: My favorite son on the CD is probably Just Friends. 

Other gems: SOS, Goodnight And Goodbye, That's Just The Way We Roll, Hello Beautiful, When You Look Me In The Eyes, and Hollywood. Fun fact, Year 3000 is NOT originally by the Jonas Brothers! It was written and performed by a British band named Busted. They released it circa 2002. The lyrics are a bit different as well. The Jonas Brothers had to make the lyrics more tame for Disney. Either way, I love Busted too much to actually enjoy the Jonas Brothers' one!

Video!

Just Friends by the Jonas Brothers

Rating: 7/10. I still like this CD and enjoy the music for some reason, even though it's definitely not what I would seek out at this point in my life, or even think that it's very good quality. Heavy dose of childhood.

Hope you liked my newest "The CDs on my Shelf" post! I'm hoping that soon, I'll get one of my favorite CDs or something I listen to a lot, so I can have more to say about it! What did you think? Want to know more information about the CD? Less? or just different info? Or is what I put good? Did you expect me to have music by the JoBros? Let me know all of this in the comments. Also, any opinion on the time? I have them automatically set to post at 12. Unless I get any other preferences or info, they'll be posted at 12- maybe not every day, but many days. Hope you enjoyed! Check back at noon tomorrow to see if there's a new post! Thanks for reading!