Album A Day: Green Day – 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours

Yep, it is indeed going to be a week of Billie Joe, Mike, and Tre here at VLM. 7 days of albums featuring the guys from Green Day.

Before they were American Idiots, before Billie Joe Armstrong sat on a bed and strummed out what would eventually become the most frequently used graduation song ever, and before the band celebrated their own loss of motivation with “Long View”, Green Day were three guys from Berkeley that knew three chords and could bang on a drum set. Miraculously, this talent was enough to create some intense punk rock. 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours (which, to my surprise, is actually a compilation of the band’s first three releases; 1000 Hours, Slappy and 39/Smooth) set up the band’s reputation for quick, energetic punk rock that’s light on complexity and nuance, but with welcoming choruses and a rhythm section almost tailor-made for the moshpit crowd. Even before the band achieved its mainstream success, songs like “16″ and “Road to Acceptance” indicate that they were too big and too catchy to keep playing the small clubs for very long. Bille Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt have a remarkable chemistry and harmony together, and John Kiffmeyer has the sort of overcaffeinated-kid-in-a-candy-shop approach to the drum kit, putting a positively frenetic touch to Armstrong’s bouncy, electrifying riffs. It would take half a decade for Green Day to make it out of the Gilman Street scene, but the band’s future clearly shows the band doesn’t mind being patient.

Green Day – 16 [iTunes] (YSI)

==TJ==

Advertisement