Reflecting Pool: Green Day - Insomniac

Consider this a different kind of Listening Post and more like a Reflections Column. With Reflecting Pool I will be going back through the catalog of bands that I love and have been following for years. I will try to be as impartial as possible, but I admit that I am biased. This is a little more loosey than the LPs.




Green Day - Insomniac - 1995 (iTunes - Amazon)

Who turned up the guitars?
Seriously? What's with the gargantuan guitar sound? Dirnt is buried so far in the mix he's barely audible. And Armstrong's fighting against his own playing just to be heard.
Which is a shame, because there is a LOT to love on this record. The first half dozen songs clock in at under 2.5 minutes. The punk aesthetic isin full bloom. Say what you have to say, say it with force, get the fuck out. And they do just that. Before you have a chance to latch onto a theme or chorus they're off to the next salvo. It's about 4 songs in, on Geek Stink Breath, that any sing-a-longability can be found. If you can get past those fucking guitars. Why are they so LOUD?????
And it's frustrating, you know? Because the songs are fantastic. They better be because they are mired in the wash of GUITARS. Pound for pound I would put these tracks up against Dookie's and they would measure up. In some cases they are better. if you can hear them. (Is that horse dead yet?)
The record is relentless and I mean that in a good way. It has that, as I said, Punk Quality. Like teens/young 20somethings afraid they won't ever find someone else to love them so they marry the first girl that gives them a blowjob. Or like they are so worried that they aren't supposed to be in the club that they play as fast as they can before you figure out that they aren't worth their hype. The CD acts the same way. Before you can get bored and turn it off there's another track blistering through the speakers. Like when Panic Attack rumbles through with it's nervosa bassline, you have already forgotten the previous track, 86 and keep the record spinning, which it's doing just to avoid being discarded like some piece of used jet trash with no self esteem.
Brain Stew is another example of what this record sounds like. There is no air in that opening guitar section. Just the chords. Loud, brash and powerful. This is punk as metal. And it works. It works hard and it builds upon itself and offers a brain melting guitar solo while evoking some real lennonesque songwriting.
Oh, by now I've accepted the guitars and I'm perfectly happy with it. My only complaint is that I can't get my ipod to go any louder. Why doesn't this go to "11"?
My favorite song on this album is Walking Contradiction. Just a great track.

Grade A
A Side: Geek Stink Breath, Brain Stew
BlindSide: No Pride, Bab's Uvula Who?, Stuart & the Ave., Westbound Sign
DownSide: Panic Attack (It's more theme than substance)