Standing by My Comments on Green Day's "21 Guns" Single

Back a while ago, I wrote an article for here that was called "Green Day's 21 Guns Sucks All Around."

Basically the article explained why the song was the wrong single to be released, why it would do poor and why I hated the song.

Since then, a lot of my friends from Facebook and MySpace, as well as many other Green Day fans checked out my article. A lot of people agreed with me that the single was all around poor, but others disagreed and called me on it.

After the single was released, I personally predicted the single wouldn't even enter the top 50 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. I also predicted the song would be short lived and wouldn't stir any buzz.

Obviously, both predictions were wrong. The song did stir some buzz so far and also did break the top 50 on the Hot 100. So far, the single has charted all the way up to 26 on the Hot 100 and appears to still be climbing. The single also appears to be doing well on the Hot Alternative Chart, as well as other world single charts.

However, when it comes to my personal distaste for the single and them picking it, I still stand by my opinion. People can tell me all they want about the single and why they like it. People on the Green Day forums can express their love for the single all they want. But it is not going to change my mind.

In my last article, I said the single was whiny. I still stand by that. The single is whiny. Billie Joe Armstrong's voice in this latest single was all whining and moaning about war, after he protested it with great impact with singles such as "Holiday" and "American Idiot." Now, it appears that he was just whining. He never shouted in the song, he barely raised his vocal chords for any of the musical notes. All he did was whine.

That brings me to my next point about the single. Given the fact that Armstrong seemed angry about the Iraq War back in 2004 with the singles, such as "Holiday," makes this latest song about being anti-war a total disappointment. Where is the fire in this single? Where is the rebel in his voice for this song? Where is the life?

It appears that in "21 Guns," there is no life. There is no fire. There is no anger. There is nothing in this song that a real punk rocker would express. A real punk rocker would not whine. This reminds me of the criticism punk rockers had of Simple Plan, when they complained that all they did was whine too.

Ok, so the single is doing a good job on the charts and with radio airtime. Big deal! Yeah, I was wrong to underestimate how Green Day is performing now. But I am not wrong in my criticism of the song itself.

As long as Green Day continues to release singles such as "21 Guns," they will eventually find themselves in big trouble. The only reason fans probably like this song is because this was one of a few slow songs that were released. I was told by a couple of my friends personally who like this song that was the reason.

But they can't keep releasing whiny anti-war songs like "21 Guns" and expect to succeed with the fans. This isn't just about the charts. It is also about the sells, the fans and oh yeah, the concert ticket sales. Without them, the band would be done. With a bunch of songs like "21 Guns," they would be writing their death warrants.

Therefore, they should be done with the whining. They tried one song and this song did well for them. But they can't keep doing songs like this. Those days are over.

Their next single should be a faster song, which doesn't have whining included. I hate to say it, but I would go away from my three favorite songs for the time being. This might be the time for a "See the Light," as rumors suggested after the music video had the lyrics of the song written on the wall of the place they were performing the song in, or an "East Jesus Nowhere," as other rumors suggested they would release.

It has to be something fast and something pretty powerful. Those would be the two songs that come to mind. I have a feeling they will listen to me and release one of them next, which would be a good move. But hopefully, this "21 Guns" thing was just an experiment they will never use again.

I was deeply disappointed with Green Day for releasing that song as their second single.

To read my first article about "21 Guns," go here at this link:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1837559/green_days_21_guns_single_sucks_all.html?cat=33