Green Day - Insomniac (Insomniac - Green Day)

Member Name: ManUtdBoi

Product:	Insomniac - Green Day
Date:	05/11/04 (155 review reads)
Rating:

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(excuse the re-use of the opening paragraph from a previous review)

As expressed in my review of Warning that I wrote previously, Green Day are a band that have helped me through hard times, and I say that with the true conviction that so many others lack when they make comments like that. When your life gets to a point when you simply don’t want it any more, you turn to someone or something, whether it be a loved one, a pint in the pub or whatever else, but for me it’s my music that helps me. Green Day in particular, along with Nirvana, were the two bands that made me see that I was being petty and needed to think about myself in a whole new light, and for that I thanks them immensely. Whether it be for the lyrics, the music, or simply what they stood for, but for whatever reason they turned me around and made me think how much worse I could have things, but luckily, and most importantly, I have the chance to live a life that some others simply don’t have.

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Insomniac, always seen by me to be a rush release, a quick way of cashing in on the success that Dookie brought the band, sees the guys go back to their punk roots, yet looses some of the magic that had been before. This is the critical phase where I lambaste the record company for simply cashing in and not producing a great record at that. Dookie was ‘the’ breakthrough, the answer to grunge, the end of the Cobain era (R.I.P.) and the album that put modern punk on the map. The sales said it all, the kids loved it, the adults loved it, hell even some grandmas could have bopped to Basketcase, but the idea of waiting just a year to return was lost on me from day 1. After a release of such magnitude, the only thing that can be expected is for the band to just disappear and return in 2 or 3 years time with something on a level pegging. Nirvana did it with In Utero and Pearl Jam did it with Vs, but Green Day unfortunately, didn’t do it. The band aren’t the ones to blame either, they would never have dreamed of using Insomniac as a quick buck, a way to cash in on the crest, but in the corporate world of rock - it’s not about what the band wants.

Anyway record company aside, Green Day tried their best to follow Dookie’s lead, and well, gave it a decent fist but still fell short. ‘Armatage Shanks’ for starters, is the best song on the record, as well as easily being one of the bands finest to date. Its one of the few songs that you could genuinely imagine sitting on a par with Basketcase and Longview. As I said, this release is more Green Day of old than the post-Nimrod Green Day that produce more pop-punk than anything. ‘Armatage’ talks of being your own worst enemy, being your closest enemy and most importantly not trusting yourself. One thing that can never be directed at Billie Joe Armstrong is that he doesn’t know how to pen a tune. His advantage over the influx of ‘sk8er rock’ bands is that he’s able to write the greatest songs, yet they are free of the teen angst that plagues a lot of today’s music.

“Never trusted anyone
Let alone myself
I must insist
On being a pessimist”

‘Stuck With Me’ is another of the Dookie-esque tracks, taking a step back lyrically but keeping the stock sound that has become so expected over the bands career. It’s another song of self destruction and hatred that elevates to down right inner pain. Not to say that the tracks have personal relevance to Billie, but if they do then he certainly hides it well. Relatively short in length, it leads into another of the Green Day classics, Geek Stink Breath. A song that made it’s way onto the 2000 release ‘International Superhits’, Geek is a song of self destruction, of slowly declining and wasting away. Something you will notice is the recurring theme of self hate, destruction etc, something that can be related to many of the true ‘punk’ bands of times gone by. Punk after all, is all about the rebellion, and Green Day express that through every one of their songs.

“I’m on a mission
I made my decision
To lead a path of self-destruction
A slow progression
Killing my complexion
And it’s rotting out my teeth”

‘No Pride’ is another short sharp burst of punk-rock that, from the title, is pretty easy to decipher the theme. As said previous, punk is (or was) all about the rebellion, about being different, but these days you just have to take one look around to see that so many people are attempting to be different, that in fact being normal is the rebellion. ‘Walking Contradiction’ is another of the Green Day classics, and another that appears on the greatest hits package. Again, as the title says, it speaks of being just that, a contradiction. Doing what you say you won’t, being what you say you aren’t and straight up contradicting everything you say. Preaching the rich, then opening your bulging wallet, slating the people that don’t think like you, then finding that you are just the same, it’s a song with a clear and helpful message.

“Do as I say
Not as I do because
The sh*t so deep you can’t run away
I beg to differ on the contrary
I agree with every word that you say
Talk is cheap and lies are expensive
My wallet’s fat and so is my head”

Another personal favourite would be ‘Panic Song’. Again it tells the tales of woe that are experienced in today’s world, but carries that punk edge that Green Day had been missing for the past few releases. ‘Stuart and the Ave.’ is also a great track, again going more down the punk road of old, whilst still talking of how things are ‘f*cked up’ and in need of repair, it’s a great song with the catchy riffs that are so reminiscent of early Green Day. Defying the critics has always been Green Day’s strength, and despite not agreeing with the entire idea of the quick release after Dookie, the fact remains that this is a punk-rock album that won’t fail to entertain. Not my favourite release from the band, but that’s not to say I dislike any of their music, I just see this as a step down from Dookie, Nimrod and American Idiot, but c’mon…..its Green Day !

“In the hands of bad luck
Before it might have made some sense
But now it’s all f*cked up
Seasons change as well as minds
And I’m a two footed clown”

Track listing

1 - Armatage Shanks
2 - Brat
3 - Stuck With Me
4 - Geek Stink Breath
5 - No Pride
6 - Bab’s Uvula Who ?
7 - 86
8 - Panic Song
9 - Stuart And The Ave.
10 - Brain Stew
11 - Jaded
12 - Westbound Sign
13 - Tight Wad Hill
14 - Walking Contradiction

www.greenday.com
www.greenday.co.uk

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