Customer Reviews

Green Day: American Idiots & The New Punk Explosion

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

well personaly i think that green day are the best band ever and i would recomend this book to any of thier fans i gave it 5 stars but there is something else i want to say as well. the person who wrote the reveiw saying that green day cant sing and are rubbish is very stupid and rather annoying to me because i am only 12 and im sure they must be older than that but even i know that a review is where you REVEIW the product and im sure that judging by that persons hatrid towards green day that they didnt even buy it so therfore dont really have any right to reveiw it

I think this is an amazing book, I have been a big fan of green day for most of my life, though I know that it doesn't mean much seeing as im only 14... but green day are an amazing band and I stongely dissagree with the review that says that green day can't sing, he clearly hasn't even read the book, so is in no place to say anything about the item.

Green Day is a good band, and this biography is okay. However, there are many typos that can't be ignored (Green Day are bringing punk rick to the masses?) and the average person who flips through the book would think that the singer's name is "Billy Joe".

Most of the information is good, though, and most Green Day fans will enjoy it. The author makes references to his experiences with Green Day, which would've been cooler if it hadn't sounded like he was trying too hard to show how big of a fan he was.

The chapter about American Idiot was also poor, because it tried too hard to make Green Day sound like saviors for enlightening the world about the evils of George Bush.

It's alright. I'd give it 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Green Day is a good band, and this biography is okay. However, there are many typos that can't be ignored (Green Day are bringing punk rick to the masses?) and the average person who flips through the book would think that the singer's name is "Billy Joe".

Most of the information is good, though, and most Green Day fans will enjoy it. The author makes references to his experiences with Green Day, which would've been cooler if it hadn't sounded like he was trying too hard to show how big of a fan he was.

The chapter about American Idiot was also poor, because it tried too hard to make Green Day sound like saviors for enlightening the world about the evils of George Bush.

It's alright. I'd give it 2.5 out of 5 stars.

A good book, but not the Best Book, on Green Day. Lots of tie-ins with other bands and local history from the times. Definitely add it to your Green Day library.

I'm talking to the Rock N' Roll Ninja and all those just like him/ her...here's a tip, in case you all are hearing this for the first time: Green Day is a pop-punk band. If you don't like pop-punk, then you will not like Green Day. I personally do like Green Day, as will anyone else searching for these products. And I want to read an honest review on the product before I make a purchase, and not the biased opinion of a nostalgic Ozzy fan who doesn't even appreciate the music of Green Day. You are wasting space on the page, so please save us the "Green Day Wussies" rant and let everyone like whatever music they want to. Stop the hate already.

And P.S. if you don't know the message and the meaning behind American Idiot, perhaps buying this book would do you some good...that way you wouldn't actually have to listen to the songs.

This is an unauthorized, but very favorable, biography of Green Day, one of the world's biggest punk music bands.

The trio that became Green Day grew up in small towns near San Francisco. Each coming from difficult family circumstances, they fell in love with punk music (the Dead Kennedys, the Sex Pistols, the Buzzcocks, among many others). They formed a band, and soon became mainstays at a place called 924 Gilman. It was little more than a vacant building, but it quickly became a West Coast punk rock mecca. On any given night, veteran punk bands and bands playing their first gig would share the bill.

In the early days, Green Day was constantly on tour. They played basements, squats, anywhere they could plug in their instruments. Some nights, their audience might reach double digits, and other nights they might actually get paid for their efforts. They were living the punk rock lifestyle, fueled by large amounts of alcohol. They were loose and slacker-like about many things, but they were totally serious about their music.

Slowly but surely, they were building a fan base. Their first two albums, on a small punk label, did really well, eventually selling in the hundreds of thousands. Their first major label release, Dookie, in 1994, was a blockbuster, eventually selling 10 million copies. Marriage, fatherhood and burnout became a part of their lives, so they cut back on the incessant touring. But they were now filling major arenas. While some punk music can be indistinguishable from very loud, random noise, a big influence for Green Day was 1960s British bands, so there was actual music in their songs. In 2004, they released a concept album called American Idiot, another blockbuster and Grammy winner, giving their view of present-day America.

I really enjoyed reading this book. Of course, this book is highly recommended for those who own any of the band's musical output. It is also recommended for anyone, yours truly included, who has seen a video or two of theirs on TV, but who knows little or nothing about punk music in general, or Green Day in particular.

I like this becausetheir cd's are awsome & this discribes their cd very well

They've already ruined the music industry enough through sound, now they have to ruin it by literary material. Here's my perspective of all Green Day products: horrible, worthless, and wasted effort. One reason I hate Green Day the most is because of the way they portray Americans in they're new album, entitled American Idiot. Aren't they Americans themselves? To tell you the truth, I really don't know what their music is about, it's just the fact that Green Day has a horrible singer and an attitude that the band has (trying to act like magical fairy princesses when they aren't) that bothers me. I stand for the classic Rock n' Roll bands, like Dio, Ozzy, Ac/dc, Motley Crue, and so on. Not this pretty boy stuff, for as ugly as this band is! If I wanted to listen to punk rock, I'd listen to the Sex Pistols, not this junk!

Either way, this book is a Green Day product and that means that it deserves no credit, it's unfortunate that I can't give it a 0.