It’s safe to say I’m the biggest Green Day fan among the Alternative Nation reporters. Green Day has been at the top of my list for over 20 years. I have defended them numerous times against people saying they are not punk, they have no punk influences and so on. This is why it pains me to have to say what I’m about to say about the single Green Day released as a surprise on Christmas Eve. My excitement when I saw the announcement immediately disappeared when I listened.
Had I not recognised Billie Joe Armstrong’s vocals I wouldn’t have guessed this was Green Day. That’s saying a lot considering how much I listen to them. What I hear is his voice, filtered almost beyond recognition and almost drowned by background noise. It’s hard to distinguish the instruments, apart from a jingle bell sounding hi hat. I hear almost none of the characteristic drums, and not even a hint of bass. This isn’t punk. It isn’t even pop punk. It’s plain and simple uninteresting overproduced pop. And I won’t even mention the Christmas cliché lyrics.
I’m spending a lot of time and energy on reviewing just one little Christmas single, but that’s also because it’s the first new material from Green Day in a long time, and I expected more. I’ve heard rumours that they have a new album coming out next year and if this is how it’s going to sound from now on… God help me. I hope and pray though that I can come back and give you a review of an album that actually sounds like Green Day, preferably pre-American Idiot.
Nonetheless: Merry Christmas everyone!
