Your Whole World

Ok, so I want to compare some bands for my blog today. No, not two different bands [although some people might argue that]; the same band, just more grown up. I really love listening to older bands and seeing how they mature through the years. There are, of course, a whole fucking lot of bands I could talk about. But, I'm going to limit it to two because I don't think my attention span will allow more than that.

So, the first band is Green Day. Of course. I mean, they are world famous and have been a band for almost 20 years. And they are only in their early 30s. So, Green Day. I have all of their CDs [minus Kerplunk, I really need to buy that...] and can obviously tell a difference from album to album. Although their sound changes immensly from album to album, I'm only going to elaborate on a few. Their first CD, 1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours is amazing. Raw, punk, naive. They made these songs when they were only 16, in 1989. This is Green Day in it's rawest [is that even a fucking word?] form.

As they get older, like all bands, they get more mature. Their next great hit was Dookie. Yes, I know, I missed a few years, but this is a pivot point in Green Day's career. They were famous before, but this skyrocketed them up the popularity scale and into the lime light. This album, still has its obvious punk roots, but shows the maturity level of the rock trio has increased greatly. This album not only has lyrics that are more in tune with the writers emotions, the instruments are more in tune [haha, pun] with the lyrics and the emotions that are being potrayed in each song.

Next up is Nimrod. Personally, my favourite Green Day album. It is mature, yet is still very amusing. This CD has the perfect balance of maturity and craziness. From their hit Time of Your Life to their concert tradition King for a Day, this CD is just amazing. Great lyrics; yet again, more mature and tapping into the writers' emotions. This album also really shows the length that Green Day went with the instruments, using more than just drums, guitar, vocals, and bass.

Warning. Great CD, but its lacking. Lacking emotions, great lyrics, great...Green Day. It has some great, catchy songs, but lets face it: this album isn't one of their finer moments. So, you ask why I bothered talking about it? Because, every band has that point where they are like 'I have no idea if we should do this anymore so lets give it one more go'. And in this album, it really showed. Too much. Good CD, but not Green Day great.

And finally American Idiot. You really can't compare Dookie Green Day to American Idiot Green Day. They sound totally different. AI is a Green Day that has been through so much and is finally figuring out that they are more mature than the boys who wrote Basket Case. They are now men who are writing songs such as Jesus of Suburbia and actually have a concept to their entire album. I mean, I love old Green Day much better, but their new stuff isn't bad, like what some people say. It's just different.

Now, its okay for a band to change a whole lot over the course of about eighteen years. But only four is insane. My next example is Aiden. I mean, their newest album Conviction is nothing, and I mean nothing, like their previous two albums, Our Gang's Dark oath and Nightmare Anatomy. Quite frankly, their new album is horrible. They have a few good songs. Wait. Scratch that. They have one good song. And I barely like Son of Lies.

Their first album Our Gang's Dark Oath is amazing. Punk, goth, emotional, catchy, hardcore. That's only some of the adjectives I think of when listening to this album. They have the perfect mix of emotional and truthful lyrics and insanely hardcore and catchy tunes. I love the start of their career, but as they went on, it got worse.

Their second CD, Nightmare Anatomy, isn't as good as the first, but still amazing. Still riding on the theme of setting friends on fire and wiL's tragic life story, this CD has more of a gothcore edge and isn't has hard as the first. I still love Aiden's lyrics and they always happen to match the perfect guitar, bass, and drums with the entire feel of the song.

And now: Conviction. I have tried to make myself like this CD, just a little bit. But I can't. It's so fucking soft. How can a self-proclaimed 'horror rock' and 'spookycore' band go that fucking soft? I don't get it. I'm sorry, but, honestly I cried when I first got the album. Yes, I cried. My boys are gone! That's the first thing I thought when I heard just the first song. They have turned into pussies, but their live shows are just as great as they were two years ago.

SO THERE YOU HAVE IT. Comparing the same band. Insane, I know.