A little over a year ago, Marky Ramone came to speak at my school. He gave an enjoyable and informative talk about his life in the Ramones, his former alcohol addiction, and of course Joey, who had just passed away. Afterwards he opened the floor to questions. One person asked which bands of today he enjoys. He listed many popular acts, mostly punk ones. With each mention, every head in the crowd nodded in approval. The biggest nods came from the front row, where a group of 15-year-olds decked out in dyed hair, black makeup, and mesh gloves up to their elbows sat. They were relieved that their favorite bands were considered cool by this punk icon. But what Ramone said next was completely unexpected.
“I really like that acoustic Green Day song, Time of Your Life,” he said.
Every jaw dropped. The fastest drops came from the front row, where a group of teens had just heard a punk icon praise a song that they had spent the past four years making fun of. Their minds had clearly been blown to bits.
I simply chuckled to myself.
When Green Day released Nimrod, their fifth album, they were taking a huge risk with that slow, sentimental song. You can tell they were afraid of what that song would do to their reputation. After all, Time of Your Life is the parenthetical part of the title; the full name is Good Riddance (Time of Your Life). Personally, I think they could have done without the Good Riddance part, but I can understand why they did it. They were scared of being labeled as sellouts. Unfortunately, they were anyway.
This song, as well as the entire album, marked a change in Green Day’s style. They seemed to be trading in some of their punk attitude for more serious music. I, for one, don’t see this change as serious – it’s still fun music. I also don’t see it as selling out. OK, maybe some money is talking. They are still very popular, they have songs on commercials, and they are touring with Blink 182. But I’m not talking about what they do with their music here – I’m talking about the music itself. I think that instead of aiming to make more mainstream music, they’ve been looking to make more mature music. Billie Joe, Mike, and Tre are getting up there (in punk years). How much longer could they have kept making the same music? For every good band, experimentation and change is important in keeping your style fresh. So what if they’re writing love songs instead of songs about dynamite? This is what their lives are about now – why shouldn’t they write about their feelings?
Damn, that was quite a rant. Time to discuss the album. If you’re shying away from Nimrod because you think it’s all acoustic, shy no more. There is one acoustic song. Granted, some of the songs are slower than what Green Day fans were used to pre-1997. Track 4 is a love ballad called Redundant, which laments about not being able to find the right words to tell someone you love them: “’I love you’ is not enough/ I’m at a loss for words.” But there actually are a lot of fast and loud ones that would fit just as nicely on Dookie. Platypus is fast, angry, and vulgar and reminds me of Insomniac’s Jaded in terms of speed. Nimrod begins with Nice Guys Finish Last, which is not only fast-paced, but it also has some great lines like, “Don’t pat yourself on the back/ You might break your spine.” Now that’s the same old attitude we were introduced to years ago.
Green Day also maintains its sense of humor on this album with songs like The Grouch and King For a Day. The Grouch is hilarious, as Billie Joe sings from the perspective of a grumpy old man complaining about his life: “I was a young boy that had big plans/ Now I’m just another sh*tty old man/ I don’t have fun and I hate everything/ The world owes me, so f*ck you.” King For a Day has some clever lines in support of cross dressing: “Sugar and spice and everything nice wasn’t made for only girls.” My father admitted to enjoying the song until I told him what it was about. Then he left the room and hasn’t complimented my music since.
What really shows signs of Green Day’s growing up here is the experimentation with some new sounds. They use trumpets and harmonicas, and they even have one slow instrumental that sounds like it could come from one of those soothing “sounds of the ocean” CDs. They also mesh two songs together so smoothly that after all these listens, I still have trouble pinpointing the spot where track 11 ends and track 12 begins. This album has some truly creative musicianship, which deserves some credit. One of the band’s best songs, Uptight, is on Nimrod and is a definite must-hear for even those who refuse to pick up this album.
I really consider this to be a masterpiece from a great band who has unfortunately been thrown into the bubblegum punk category. They may not be as hard as punk is “supposed” to be, but they are excellent rock musicians, and Nimrod is a classic.
You don't have to take my word for it, but don't you think you should listen to Marky Ramone?
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