Good Riddance: Time Of Your Life

The hippie aesthetic era was an important time in rock and roll during the late 60’s and on into the early 80’s. It was a time were rock had a sense of purpose. They sung about the issues that plagued the country. It was also a time where technology would play an important roll in the sound of music, with the advancement in recording and synthesizer technology (Covach, “The Hippie Aesthetic”). The hippie aesthetic was not immune to the advancement of music. This essay will go over three songs that represent the different aspects of this era. It’ll will review a song that is predominately hippie aesthetic, a song that is a little of both, and finally a song that has no trace of hippie aesthetic.

Punk rock music has been used for decades to express dissatisfaction with society, government, or any idea common in mainstream media. Yet punk rock is not simply a tangent of the mainstream, it is a dynamic and fluid genre with many distinct songs. Don Letts, a mainstay in the London punk scene during the 70’s and 80’s, went as far to say that hip-hop was essentially “black” punk. While punk and hip-hop music are stylistically different, the fundamental tone of the two genres is the same. Even throughout the decades, hip-hop has sang the same issues as punk, including the plight of the lower class, police brutality, and gang violence.

Grunge music originated in Seattle, Washington and can be described as dirty guitar, strong guitar riffs with distortion. They had dark lyrics and expressed the emotions of teenagers. Punk rock is the most popular genre with young rebellious teens that talked about they hated listening to their parents. These genres didn’t become mainstream until the world discovered the rock and roll band “Green Day” in the mid 90’s. The style of the time consisted of cut off T-shirts and tight, ripped jeans. Bands like a “Aerosmith” and “Guns and Roses” played a big fashion roll during this

Taylor Swift surprised all her public with her recent album "1989" that was release on October 24,2014.. Not a lot of musical artist would dare to reinvent their sound so drastically. Taylor Swift's new album "1989" was made in a very different way apart from the country style Swift has on her past songs. Although she is still singing about relationships and love songs, this album is a definitely the end to her country style.

Armstrong was still in highschool when he first began playing gigs but he eventually dropped out. He performed at small punk clubs with his group which included John Kiffmeyer on drums at the time. The band eventually made hits with Lookout! Records, an independent label, and Green Day put out their first EP in 1989. When Kerplunk was released, Billie Joe and his band had made an unbreakable bond of friendship. The success of the album Kerplunk helped the band get big record labels. Green Day had another hit with the album Dookie. As the popularite for Green Day’s smooth pop-punk sound grew, millions of people would come to see their concerts and always want a chance to see it again. When Green Day is live, their shows would be so upbeat. Fans would be up on stage and they would sometimes sing the songs themselves. In 2004, Armstrong wrote another hit album which lead for more success for Armstrong and his crew. Before the release of the three albums Uno, Dos, Tre, Armstrong was struggling with alcohol, pills, and sleep. The September Uno, Dos, Tre came, Green Day performed at an Music festival in Los Vegas, Armstrong had a huge burst out on stage. After this, He

Their single Smells Like Teen Spirit made Nevermind the first alternative rock album to acquire worldwide fame (“Kurt Cobain”). Cobain’s talent was record smashing and innovative, because he took a whole music genre to a never before seen worldwide level. This type of accomplishment was not because of some strange luck, but a result of Cobain’s creative approach to the sound of alternative rock. As a result of their breakthrough, many powerful companies started to publicize them like when Time announced, “‘It also launched the commercial vogue for grunge and made Seattle famous for something other than cappuccino, rain, and bad professional sports,’” (Latson, 1). Kurt Cobain’s success was remarkable because not only did the music industry change, but a whole unique business and trend was opened up. The fact that Kurt managed to leave a long lasting imprint in the constantly changing fashion industry displayed how successful he was. In the music industry Cobain changed the direction of contemporary rock and was compared to legends like Bob Dylan and John Lennon (Hilburn). People thought of Kurt as one of the rock legends because of his raw talent that made him extremely relatable and mighty. This was a huge deal, to be compared to other rock legends and to have changed the entire sound of a music genre. Talent, a strong work ethic, and a relatable character took Kurt Cobain to the top and

They dedicated their whole life to music and the underground punk scene of a small club on Gilman Street. Although neither Billie Joe or Tre finished high school, they used their abilities to their advantage, and it ended up making them world famous. They went on to make more albums and went to greater heights when American Idiot was released. This album had a different sort of vibe that their older fans weren't used to. They lost some fans and gained even more when the record sold over 14 million copies worldwide in 2004, literally making them the most successful punk band of all time. This was all made possible by a lot of hard work and perseverance, and that alone motivated many people to pick up the guitar, bass or drums by learning from the

Punk rock became popular due to the record industry’s split from the major recording companies. Smaller independent recording labels indorsed underground artists. This divided mainstream rock, like Elvis Presley, and alternative rock, like The Grateful Dead. Other hard rock groups that got there start in the 1970s were Kiss, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Rush, Journey, and Van Halen.

Nirvana created a new genre of rock, which was grunge rock. Nirvana released their album, Nevermind in 1991. “No album in recent history had such an overpowering impact on a generation-a nation of teens suddenly turned punk-and such a catastrophic effect on its main creator” (Rolling Stone 86-87). This means that the album impacted teens all over the nation. The album changed the lives of many teenagers all over the world, especially the ones who lived in America. Green Day released Dookie in 1994, it had influential songs, which made it a great album. “Even so, the first thing to note about Dookie is that it’s a remarkably good record. Go back and listen again. It’s undeniable” (Romano 5th paragraph). Their record Dookie was one of their

as well as crossover thrash, had become the predominant mode of punk rock. Musicians identifying with or inspired by punk also pursued a broad range of other variations, giving rise to post-punk and the alternative rock movement. At the end of the 20th century, punk rock had been adopted by the mainstream, as pop punk and punk rock bands such as Green Day, Rancid, Sublime, the Offspring and Blink-182 brought the genre widespread popularity. The first wave of punk rock was aggressively modern, distancing itself from the bombast and sentimentality of early 1970s rock. According to Ramones drummer Tommy Ramone, "In its initial form, a lot of stuff was innovative and exciting.

i. I’ve been listening to punk since as early as the 5th grade. “Punk” (make quote sign) is a term applied to a child or teenager who acts in an antisocial way. Punk music is a form of rebellion, and it turned against all other musical forms and influences at its time of creation. Punk music is as much cultural as it is musical. It is anarchic, against society, and against everything in established order.

Punk Rock developed sometime between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands were far from your typical mainstream 1970's rock. Punk bands typically use short or fast-paced songs, with tough and sharp melodies and singing styles, simple composition, and mostly political, anti-establishment lyrics. Punk embraces a DIY ethic. Many bands self-produced recordings and distributed them through infomercial commercials. The beginning of New York's punk scene can be traced back to the late 60's trash culture and an early 1970's underground rock movement centered on the Mercer Arts Center in Greenwich Village, where the New York Dolls

“Don’t want to be an American Idiot.” The hit musical, Green Days American Idiot, can be described as captivatingly entertaining and a show that will surely get your feet stomping to the beat of the music. The Broadway musical, American Idiot, was originally written by Billie Joe Armstrong and Michael Mayer and incorporates the music from Green Days hit album American Idiot. It is safe to say that American Idiot is different from most musicals, as the storyline is developed around a hit music album from a popular artist. A familiar musical that also does this is Mamma Mia that incorporates the music from ABBA. The story of American Idiot is centered around three friends, Jonny, Tunny, and Will. Each of these three friends has the hope of

Green Day considered itself to be punk. Infact, many people consider them to be one of the greatest punk rock bands of all time, along with Blink 182 and Sum 41. Founding members Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt grew up closely associated with the punk scene near Berkeley, and for the first 15 years of its existence the boys pumped out top-40 three-minute hits about masturbating, smoking marijuana, and being pissed off. However, in 2004, Green Day showed it had matured immensely and changed style significantly with its release of the concept album “American Idiot.” A concept album is an album that tells a story throughout. This

Green Day is a pop punk/alternative rock band formed in 1986. The band consists of three members: Billie Joe Armstrong (lead singer), Mike Dirnt (bass and backing vocals), and Tré Cool (drums and percussion). The band known as Green Day originally formed in Berkeley, California by Armstrong and Dirnt, and was initially titled Sweet Children. The two were only fourteen years old at the time they founded their band. In 1988, Lookout! Records owner, Larry Livermore, signed a deal with the group to be part of his label. Shortly after being signed, the band’s name was changed to Green Day as a result of Armstrong’s and Dirnt’s love for marijuana (also to prevent confusion with another west coast pop punk band, Sweet Baby).