The Playlist is my Sisyphean attempt to review every song in an artist’s catalog.
THE ALBUM: In 1990, Green Day released a pair of EPs: “1,000 Hours” and “Slappy”. Later the following year, Lookout Records re-released these as a compilation along with the band’s official debut album, “39/Smooth”. (A third EP, “Sweet Children”, was released on a different label so it didn’t make the cut.) The resulting album, “1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours” has the honor of being maybe the worst album title in rock history. At any rate, this is where we’re beginning.
The cover, courtesy of Operation Ivy frontman Jesse Michaels, has a very “80s goth rock” kinda vibe, which is the last thing anyone would associate with Green Day. It’s the same image as the “39/Smooth” cover: A black and white image of a girl standing beneath a blossoming cherry tree. It seems to promise a different kind of band than the one you’ll hear on the album. On the other hand, it’s also the sort of off-kilter romanticism that a lot of Green Day music traffics in even today, so in that regard I guess it makes sense.
“AT THE LIBRARY“
With a crunching opening riff and some slapdash harmonics, it’s no wonder these guys became one of the biggest bands of the 90s. How could they not? “At The Library” is such a strong opener for this album that I’m tempted to say there’s nowhere to go but down. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Right away, it’s clear Green Day have a sound in mind and the talent to see it through. Billie Joe’s guitars have this harsh, metallic vibe, chugging along with every palm-muted downstroke. The chorus sung in harmony with bassist Mike Dirnt, dynamic drum work from John Kiffmeyer, lyrics about romantic longing… The formula is pretty much all there from the word go.
Lyrically, “At The Library” is a pretty typical song about a guy falling in love with someone he’s never gonna get. A girl across the room has caught his eye, he becomes smitten and gets so lost in his own thoughts about her that he misses his chance to talk to her, and as she gets up to leave he realizes she’s already attached to someone else.
That’s a story pretty much every rock song has followed since the beginning of time. It’s the title that provides the last piece of context. This encounter isn’t happening at a bar, or a club, or any old place. It’s happening at the library, presumably at a high school. This is a high school crush playing itself out in real time. It’s happened before, and it’s sure as hell gonna happen again. But all isn’t lost. As Billie Joe says at the end of the song, “Maybe we’ll meet again someday”.
This kind of song will become Green Day’s bread and butter, and hearing it already codified so early, it’s like witnessing an immutable law of nature. It was always meant to be this way. And it fuckin’ rips.
“DON’T LEAVE ME“
Here’s a song that sounds a little more standard than the album opener. It’s got that circular three-chord structure that so many punk songs seem to operate on. It also situates Green Day in a tradition of SoCal punk music, borrowing bits and pieces from fellow SoCal outfits Operation Ivy and Bad Religion.
“Don’t Leave Me” is simpler in its construction than “At The Library”, but it treads on similar ground. Instead of longing for a relationship that’ll never come, this song laments one that’s just ended. Billie Joe sings about someone who waffles on whether or not to leave him, and when they finally do, the band joins him in wailing the titlular line over the chorus.
It’s simple, but effective. Maybe not as ambitious as “At The Library”, but then they don’t all need to be.
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