Green Day musical headed to Broadway

The Green Day musical, American Idiot, will reportedly premiere on Broadway in 2010. This makes me feel unfathomably old.
Here's a preview:

Green Day on tour

If you live in a major metropolitan area, and want to see Green Day in a giant arena or amphitheater setting, July and August are your chance. The band's announced a 38-date tour starting July 3. If you don't live near a major metropolitan area and you are an insomniac, catch the band five nights in a row on Last Call with Carson Daly on NBC in June, which in my market airs around 1:30 in the morning.

Meanwhile, "Know Your Enemy," (the youtube for which was available below but has been yanked), debuted at #8 on the modern rock charts this week.

New Green Day: "Know Your Enemy"

I give it a couple of hours max before YouTube knocks this down, but here's the new Green Day single, "Know Your Enemy," bootlegged from British radio earlier this morning. The song's supposed to hit American radio today, so if you're lucky enough to still live in a town with an alternative-rock station, tune in.


In other news, Green Day's been doing secret shows in the San Francisco / Oakland area. Check out pictures of the stage setup for their 2009 tour here.

Green Day, Matthew Sweet hit the (theater) stage

The Berkeley Repertory Theater in California is presenting not one, but two '90s-related musicals in their 2009-2010 season, Variety says. If you're in the area, look for rock operas of Green Day's American Idiot (which is itself a rock opera), and Matthew Sweet's 1991 breakthrough Girlfriend (which is not).

What albums would you like to see turned into musicals? The Ben Folds Five stuff comes immediately to mind. And maybe it's just because I've been listening to the Ten reissue, but I'd like to see a Pearl Jam musical (like that'd ever happen). Post your thoughts in the comment section.

Green Day demo leaks

The title track from Green Day's forthcoming "21st Century Breakdown" leaked over the weekend. It sounds like the band built on their American Idiot sound by listening to a lot of Bruce Springsteen and Queen. I doubt this is going to be the first single off the album (which isn't due until May), as it's more than five minutes long and goes through three distinct movements.

I would post a direct link to the mp3, but I am led to believe that could get me in some legal difficulties, so I will just say if you youtube "Green Day 21st century breakdown" you can find where it's being hosted. Let me know below what you think.

The Pantheon 1: Punk revival bands

After this post on Less than Jake set off a wide-ranging discussion on the merits and ranks of various bands, it seems like a new series is needed. So here's the Pantheon: the great bands of the '90s. It's been long enough to get some critical perspective. As always, discuss and argue below:

First up, the great punk revival of 1994 and beyond:

First-tier
Green Day - uncontested champions. If Dookie's not enough, consider their triumphant return to form with American Idiot. They've collaborated with U2, covered John Lennon (with Yoko's blessing), had countless hits, and sold millions of albums while influencing every Warped Tour band that came after. Plus, I still really like "Redundant."


The Offspring - forever the Rolling Stones to Green Day's Beatles, they'll never have the same critical success even as they approach the same level of commercial success. Get extra points for Dexter Holland's tight braids back in the day, his impossible-to-imitate voice, and his Ph.D. in microbiology.

Blink-182 - Had less of an impact in the '90s than the above bands, though "Dammit" was a good single and Enema of the State did come out in '99. And now they're back.

Bad Religion - one of our posters was adamant about including this band here. I loved Recipe for Hate and Stranger than Fiction, and you have to give them props for founding Epitaph Records, which was responsible for Offspring, Rancid, etc. But I only tolerated The Gray Race, and their material after that has been fairly weak. It seems obvious that the band needed Brett Gurewitz, who ditched in '95 and came back in '02. Still, last time I was in LA, I heard them on the radio four or five times and they can still play large venues on the West Coast whenever they want.

Rancid - ...And Out Come the Wolves was a masterpiece, but our posters are right, they really didn't do that much either before or after that (I'm not counting Operation Ivy).
Man, "Ruby Soho" is a great song, though:


Second-tier
Face to Face... MxPx... NOFX ... Rocket from the Crypt (a lot more popular than you would think in the UK, to this day)... Pennywise (never quite got over the hump)... Social Distortion

Third-tier
FenixTX... Unwritten Law... (who knew they had an album on Epic in '96?)... Sprung Monkey... No Use for a Name (love their punk cover of "Fairytale of New York")...

More on that new Green Day album

The new Green Day album 21st Century Breakdown will be out in May. The album art has already been released (look to your right), Butch Vig is producing, and if you go here, you can hear a small snippet of one of the songs.
This is Green Day's first release since a 2005 live album, and only their second album proper this decade (they did put out that live album, a greatest-hits compilation, and a B-sides album). The last time they were on the radio was 2007's "Working Class Hero," off a John Lennon tribute album.
Rolling Stone has heard six of the songs, and says they continue in the same vein as 2004's American Idiot: politically-minded punk with a rock opera twist.

Green Day in the studio

Not sure how this slipped by me, but Green Day are currently recording a new album with Nirvana / Smashing Pumpkins producer (and Garbage drummer) Butch Vig.
Here's a clip of them in the studio in October:

Glen Campbell does the '90s.

I'm kinda digging this new Glen Campbell album, where the "Rhinestone Cowboy" star does covers of songs by Green Day, Travis, and the Foo Fighters. It doesn't hurt that a couple of the guys from Jellyfish are in the backing band. Listen to samples here. Buy the thing here.