Hola, kids.
Yesterday I mentioned the song J.A.R. by Green Day, in light of it's forerunner status to their sophomore album. I thought about how great that song is and that it deserved just a bit more light shone on it, in hindsight.
The song, as I touched briefly on yesterday, wasn't released on any album at the time, only the soundtrack to that slice of 90s nostalgia, Angus. While it is certainly a flawed movie, it's charming in its optimism and message as a movie. The soundtrack was pretty darn good, too. Cuts from the Smoking Popes and Ash, as well as a killer song by Weezer, You Gave Your Love To Me Softly. J.A.R. was the other highlight. When it was given to radio stations, it quickly hit number 1 on the modern rock charts. Despite this, I only remember hearing it maybe once or twice at the time, having to pick up the soundtrack in order to attain repeated listens. Years later it would be compiled on their career spanning retrospective International Superhits! to give it proper chronological context with the rest of the Green Day canon.
Written as a tribute to bassist Mike Dirnt's childhood friend who passed away in an auto-accident, J.A.R. was actually tracked for Dookie but not included on the album. Sandwiched between the two and serving as a reminder to the public of the band's impending album in 1995, its a break-neck slice of pop-punk sugar. Like I said yesterday, it stands out not only for its quality but for the lack of connection to the subsequent album - Insomniac was a bleak, aggressive affair, while this single, fresh on the heels of the mega-smash Dookie, was life-affirming and almost celebratory, like a fond farewell in or wake. The lyrics are a smattering of live-your-life and give-all-you-can platitudes that see the band breaking from their wheelhouse of paranoia and disillusionment. It's actually quite refreshing for them. The structure of the song, while conventional, is an interesting choice of chords under the melody. To put this as clearly as I can, the manner in which the band constructed the song makes it impossible to properly sing the melody without two people - the chorus sounds flat or unresolved if there's no satisfying harmony. It makes it tough as a solitary musician but Green Day are a trio that work amazingly well together. Give it a listen here and see what I'm referring to.
Considering this is a rather truncated post on a single song, look out for another one later tonight. I just wanted to put a spotlight on this great if forgotten song. It's a rare piece of positivity from the band before they re-invented themselves ten years later and it deserves a wider appreciation.
Yesterday I mentioned the song J.A.R. by Green Day, in light of it's forerunner status to their sophomore album. I thought about how great that song is and that it deserved just a bit more light shone on it, in hindsight.
The song, as I touched briefly on yesterday, wasn't released on any album at the time, only the soundtrack to that slice of 90s nostalgia, Angus. While it is certainly a flawed movie, it's charming in its optimism and message as a movie. The soundtrack was pretty darn good, too. Cuts from the Smoking Popes and Ash, as well as a killer song by Weezer, You Gave Your Love To Me Softly. J.A.R. was the other highlight. When it was given to radio stations, it quickly hit number 1 on the modern rock charts. Despite this, I only remember hearing it maybe once or twice at the time, having to pick up the soundtrack in order to attain repeated listens. Years later it would be compiled on their career spanning retrospective International Superhits! to give it proper chronological context with the rest of the Green Day canon.
Considering this is a rather truncated post on a single song, look out for another one later tonight. I just wanted to put a spotlight on this great if forgotten song. It's a rare piece of positivity from the band before they re-invented themselves ten years later and it deserves a wider appreciation.
