Still Breathing
Song of the Day 06.03.2022
Oh. Mike Dirnt. Tre Cool. Billy Joe Armstrong, my first great musical love.
It’s no secret that ever since American Idiot, Green Day’s music has been absolute garbage — almost two decades now with a sad, disheartening, and steady stream of terrible music. Aside from the off-putting string of recent releases, there may not be one band that’s less hip to be a fan of. There hasn’t been a second, third, or fourth-degree moment for Green Day, a surprising fact in our umpteenth-degree culture of nostalgia and pastiche.
Their pre-2004 music, everything leading up to American Idiot, the culmination of the trio’s careers, might be so fucking good that it doesn’t matter how bad their recent endless run of E.P.s, albums, and singles have been. They’ve written and performed some of the greatest songs of all time: Macy’s Day Parade, Jesus of Suburbia, Homecoming, Redundant, Brain Stew, Longview, Minority, Ha Ha You’re Dead, Whatsername, Blood, Sex, and Booze(!!). I could go on forever, and there’s not a chance in the world that listening to any of these songs at any given moment wouldn't plunge me into a long, intractable state of melancholy, perhaps even tears, a sense of longing for an adolescent sensibility I barely have anymore. A lot of Green Day’s music makes me feel like an energetic 7-year-old in the best of ways. I still, no matter what, love Green Day. I always will, ever since I used to listen to them on my CD player while trying to fall asleep, watching their tour videos over and over again, Bullet in a Bible was my favorite.
(It’d be a shame not to mention that, like any great band, Green Day has some great covers —Manic Monday, Working Class Hero, My Generation, I Think We’re Alone Now.)
Somehow, I’ve never seen them live. I don’t know if I even care to. The possible pitfalls and disappointments of seeing your favorite musicians live, I’ll get into that another day. But yea, Green Day is supposed to be pretty good, maybe I’ll finally go and see them in New Jersey in September. It’ll be a fun reference to the countless videos I’ve spent time watching; the strange faces Tre Cool makes when he drums, Mike White, the cucked fourth member who just stands still nodding his head lamely, Billy Joe Armstrong’s earnest passion, Mike Dirnt’s Gen X sense of cool, a bizarrely dated, generationally mixed crowd around me, the general shitty feeling of being in Asbury Park, New Jersey. I can picture it so well I don’t even have to go.
Well, anyway, there have been some diamonds in the rough over the past several years: Amy, Before the Lobotomy, Murder City, and this one, Still Breathing. I’m not sure if the reason I enjoy Still Breathing lies in an unconscious allegiance to this kind of sad-boy, emotionally driven Green Day track. Enjoy might not even be the right word. You can respond to the email and let me know if it is indeed a good song, or if, unfortunately, it is just my poor taste.