Bono: Saint or Dickhead?

[King Bob]

I just don't see that much growth in Green Day. I'm thinking about the sound and the playing. Of course I have to base my opinion on my memory of the songs I've heard on the radio. But I don't see the song American Idiot being that far advanced from Welcome to Paradise, especially considering that they are twelve years apart. Or from Live Without Warning for a later song. (Consider that the Clash went from White Riot to Magnificent Seven in three years. XTC went from White Music to Black Sea in two.) I think of it as the neo-punk curse of not having any roots other than punk - there's nothing to draw on. (Which is, in my opinion, why all those pop-punk bands a few years ago all sounded so similar.) And I have to admit that I think trying to be punk is about as artistically significant as trying to be rockabilly.

BACK TO BONO - I think that some of the tunes on "How to Dismantle" are good. City of Blinding Light I really liked. Musically I think they are doing some interesting things. But I don't think that any song can burn into our consciousness the way the songs of our youth did, and to expect that is unrealistic. So the later work is doomed to never measure up to expectations. Similarly, the work itself will lack that youthful energy or engagement, but it may have other virtues.

I think that U2 working with Green Day shows more interest in breaking into a new market than making music. Like they need the money - they don't even have to pay income tax!