Nah, I think Billie at times has been a good lyricist, especially pre- American Idiot where many songs were very sincere which is totally the opposite of the stuff on FOAM, for example: "Well, I've got some scattered pictures lying on my bedroom floor Reminds me of the times we've shared Makes me wish that you were here, 'cause Now it seems I've forgotten my purpose in this life Well, all the songs have been erased Guess I've learned from my mistakes, well Open the past and present now, and we are there Story to tell, and I am listening Open the past and present and the future too It's all I've got, and I'm giving it to you Well, loose ends tied in knots, leaving a lump down in my throat Well, gagging on a souvenir Lived to fill another year We'll drag it on and on until my skin is ripped to shreds Well, leaving myself open wide Living out a sacrifice, well Open the past and present now, and we are there Story to tell, and I am listening Open the past and present and the future too It's all I've got, and I'm giving it to you" - those are good!
I mean...if you're gonna point out the crappy lyrics on Dos, "Nightlife" is the biggest offender (and probably GD's worst ever song).
Nightlife has one of the best genius annotations I've ever seen: The only good thing about that song lol
Hey, you've got yourself a pretty little mouth I think I wanna rub it the wrong way Do you wanna spin the bottle, play a game of chicken? Well, it's a tongue twister 'til your lips are bleeding Ah, anyhow, anywhere Kiss me there, oh, kiss me there Ah, scream and shout, truth or dare Kiss me there, oh, kiss me there I forgot how much I hated Dos.
Thankfully I never listened to it enough to even know what song this is lol. I think Dos and Tre maybe got twenty minutes each out of me.
Those lyrics, some of the others that have been posted from the trilogy, and even some of the new Blink lyrics kinda read like something those neon Hot Topic pop punk bands from the 2010s would have written, like Metro Station, Brokencyde, etc.
I was literally just about to type this exact same thing. TOTALLY agree. It felt very thrown together, like a B-Sides album or something. I have faith that they can still put out a solid album if they put their minds to it.
The trilogy is VERY over-hated. I really and truly don't mind it. FOAM just does nothing for me. If the next album was on par with Revolution Radio or the BEST half of the songs from the trilogy I would be very happy. I'm not expecting American Idiot quality at this point
The only reason you're interpreting this badly is because of the biases you have ingrained. I'm not saying that Billie Joe is a bad lyricist. He's not. But also, give me a fucking break. One of their earliest big hits had the line "When masturbation's lost it's fun, you're fucking lazy". We don't have to pretend fun lyrics are brilliant any more than we have to pretend they're awful.
Forever Now came up on shuffle the other day and I hadn't listened to RevRad in so long that I had almost forgotten about that song. It was kinda great. Made me want to go revisit the album.
Guessing you never actually read Brokencyde lyrics? Ah, yeah, you're in need of attention Now drop that ass like your in detention Sit down girl, just shut up and sit Before I make you suck my (Oh!) Oh my God, you thought I'd say dick But I won't say dick, 'til you touch my dick So get on your knees girl, suck it bitch BC13 and we run this shit (Oh, yeah)
Haha they were just the only other band I could remember from that era/style. But yeah, I only remember their name because we all gabbed A LOT about how awful their lyrics were. Metro Station is probably the best comparison I can think of really to those Green Day lyrics. Sing those Green Day lyrics you posted in the style of Trace Cyrus and it's pretty uncanny haha.
You are young, and so am I And this is wrong, but who am I to judge? You feel like heaven when we touch I guess for me, this is enough We're one mistake from being together But let's not ask why it's not right You won't be seventeen forever And we can get away with this tonight I meannnnnnn I'll rag on bad lyrics but there's bad lyrics and there's this dreck.