Is Green Day the Iron Maiden for thier Generation
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Prisoner Of Maiden
Trooper
Weird, I was thinking the same thing earlier today when I herd one of there songs on the radio. Style wise there not even close but they have been putting out music for a while(22 years or something) and have stayed some what true to there style. I'm not to sure about there global success either, just that there probably more popular then Maiden in North America. I'm sure Iron Maiden is recognized way more around the globe especially in less westernized country's and maiden have probably toured to alot more places then Green Day. There are probably many other bands that could be considered the Iron Maiden of there generation, its just the way you look at it.
I'll say that their last album impressed the hell out of me, and the new one is rumored to be just as good. I'm glad to see them doing another concept album, and creating a self-contradictory genre: progressive punk.
Ardius
Trooper
I don't think there is an "Iron Maiden" for each seperate generation nor do I think there is a "next" Iron Maiden. Iron Maiden is great because it is like no other. I do not expect to see a band repeat what Maiden have done and what they are precisely.
Green Day....I see no connections at all. I won't even bother with my criticism of that band, I'll just leave it as I don't enjoy them at all.
Green Day....I see no connections at all. I won't even bother with my criticism of that band, I'll just leave it as I don't enjoy them at all.
Doctor Doctor
Prowler
Agree, there is only one Iron Maiden.
Plus when you look at maiden's history, it took them a while to really break out in the states. and they still aren't mainstream i think every 2 months I get someone else addicted to maiden but it takes some pestering to get them to listen.
they aren't ACDC.
Which is probably what Green Day is closer to. They made their version of punk mainstream. and I don't see diehard Green Day fans. I don't see Green Day t-shirts every where I go. I don't see green day merchandise, the way i see Iron Maiden. The only merchandising over Maiden is Star Wars. but no one could have as much as star wars.
For me Green Day came out at the right time, but I haven't enjoyed anything they've done, or even listening to the old stuff since I was in 7th grade. It was cool then because my parents hated it and they talked about dirty things. I do always give them a listen but haven't heard the latest yet, aside from the terrible commercials online with the clips.
as much as i hate to say this My Chemical Romance might be the closest, just because of all the tie ins in merchandising and fan following. but maybe if we're lucky they won't be around in 20 years?
Plus when you look at maiden's history, it took them a while to really break out in the states. and they still aren't mainstream i think every 2 months I get someone else addicted to maiden but it takes some pestering to get them to listen.
they aren't ACDC.
Which is probably what Green Day is closer to. They made their version of punk mainstream. and I don't see diehard Green Day fans. I don't see Green Day t-shirts every where I go. I don't see green day merchandise, the way i see Iron Maiden. The only merchandising over Maiden is Star Wars. but no one could have as much as star wars.
For me Green Day came out at the right time, but I haven't enjoyed anything they've done, or even listening to the old stuff since I was in 7th grade. It was cool then because my parents hated it and they talked about dirty things. I do always give them a listen but haven't heard the latest yet, aside from the terrible commercials online with the clips.
as much as i hate to say this My Chemical Romance might be the closest, just because of all the tie ins in merchandising and fan following. but maybe if we're lucky they won't be around in 20 years?
Cornfed Hick
Ancient Mariner
The punk equivalent of Iron Maiden (if there is any) is really The Clash. Like Black Sabbath with metal, The Ramones started a whole movement. Then, like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, a second wave of punk bands (the Sex Pistols and, later, The Clash) came along, took the ball and ran with it. The Clash distinguished itself from its predecessors by making music that was more complex and intellectual, taking its art more seriously and generally being a bit better, just as Iron Maiden did, and had just enough commercial success in the U.S. (Rock the Casbah) to vault them to superstar status within the genre. They sound completely different, sure, but I'd say The Clash is the closest analog to Maiden. And, not for nothing, The Clash still sells merchandise and still attracts younger fans, just like Maiden. Sadly, due to Joe Strummer's death, we won't get any more music from them, which is an unfortunate difference from Iron Maiden.
As for Green Day, they are a remarkable phenomenon. A commercially successful but artistically inconsequential band for much of its career, its music pretty much sucked. Then, after a decade and a half, it up and created a masterpiece in American Idiot, one of the best five albums of the last five years, in my view. It's great. The new one tries to recreate that magic, but falls short. If Green Day were a baseball player, we'd accuse it of taking steroids for one dream 50-homer season, like Brady Anderson.
Edit: Is Pearl Jam the Iron Maiden of the "grunge" generation?
As for Green Day, they are a remarkable phenomenon. A commercially successful but artistically inconsequential band for much of its career, its music pretty much sucked. Then, after a decade and a half, it up and created a masterpiece in American Idiot, one of the best five albums of the last five years, in my view. It's great. The new one tries to recreate that magic, but falls short. If Green Day were a baseball player, we'd accuse it of taking steroids for one dream 50-homer season, like Brady Anderson.
Edit: Is Pearl Jam the Iron Maiden of the "grunge" generation?
Onhell
Infinite Dreamer
cornfedhick said:
So what's the closest digital?
Edit: Is Pearl Jam the Iron Maiden of the "grunge" generation?
No. That I know of Pearl Jam is the only bad of any genre to purposefully shun mainstream attention by boycotting the main medium at the time (MTV) and the monopoly giant of ticket vendors (Ticketmaster), among othe things.
Some artists do that EVENTUALLY (Cindy Laupard to name one), but not at the beginning of their careers. Musicians would kill to have the type of initial attention Pearl Jam got.
Forostar
Ancient Mariner
cornfedhick said:
Don't know cornfed, but I think you skip an important band:
Bad Religion
- Indeed, musically different (same goes for The Clash) but they've made fast and energetic songs like Maiden
- They have intelligent lyrics
- They have the best vocalist from the punk(rock) genre (Bruce is for me the best in metal).
- I admit their music is not that complex, still not less complex than their American predecessors
- Like Maiden, they still kick ass (indeed The Clash died 23 years ago)
- Like Maiden, they still attract lots of young fans
- Like Maiden, at their height of their popularity, they didn't sound as commercial as any of the other "candidates" in this topic.
- Like Maiden, they led a revival (in this case of punk rock in the late 1980s), and influenced a large number of other punk and rock musicians throughout their career (Green Day among many others!). The Clash's debut album came out only one year later than The Ramones first album, so to call them a part of a second wave seems a bit misplaced?
All above just my 2 cents. I can imagine you like and know The Clash better than Bad Religion and for me it's the other way around.
cornfedhick said:
To answer this question, it helps to know a bit about Pearl Jam's history.
Around 1985, a band called Green River was formed. Most grunge aficionados (including me) agree that Green River was the first grunge band. Their mix of metal, punk and experimentation was the blueprint for grunge.
Members of Green River included Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament - both founders of Pearl Jam, both still in PJ to this day. When Green River broke up, two of the guys went on to form Mudhoney (another seminal grunge band). Gossard, Ament and fellow Green River alum Bruce Fairweather went on to form Mother Love Bone.
Mother Love Bone was the precursor to Pearl Jam. They got signed to a major label around the same time as Soundgarden and Nirvana. But their lead singer died (heroin overdose) and the band broke up.
After that breakup, Gossard and Ament started writing songs without a band. Their demo (purely instrumental) was given to Eddie Vedder, who wrote lyrics... and Pearl Jam was formed soon after.
So what's the point of all this?
Green River is to grunge as Sabbath is to metal. They were the first band to exemplify their genre.
Since the explosion of grunge was similar to the NWOBHM (a local scene, focusing on one genre, affecting the rest of the world), and since Pearl Jam is the biggest band to come out of that scene... Pearl Jam is unquestionably the Iron Maiden of grunge.
Arguably, Nirvana is to grunge as Def Leppard is to the NWOBHM. They made the style world-famous, but didn't last long (Nirvana broke up, Leppard switched to more pop-influenced music).
Forostar
Ancient Mariner
SinisterMinisterX said:
The first band, yes.
But did they have the same influence on that scene as Sabbath had on metal?
Well, I could be wrong, but at least we can say Green River wasn't as known as Pearl Jam/Nirvana etc.
I guess they are still completely unknown to many people (at least outside the US) who listened to grunge bands in the early nineties.
I know Mother Love Bone. I remember that "This Is Shangrila" is an excellent song.
Forostar said:
Absolutely, yes. Their influence on their local scene was tremendous. They never became world-famous, but it's hard to imagine Nirvana without the precedent of Green River.
Cornfed Hick
Ancient Mariner
Forostar said:
I do like Bad Religion (though among long-running Southern California punk bands, I prefer Social Distortion). But influential as Bad Religion may have been, they simply can't match Iron Maiden in terms of fan base and influence. In contrast, The Clash are, like Maiden, giants. Plus, Iron Maiden are so proudly British that I suppose I was biased toward British punk bands.
Of course, the topic is more based on Iron Maiden's closest counterpart in later "generations" rather than any particular genre (indeed, the punk movement was contemporaneous with, if not preceded, the NWOBWHM). I really can't think of any comparable band that has come along since -- other than, perhaps, Pearl Jam. Pains me to say it, as I don't really like Pearl Jam. Nevertheless, there are parallels. One big difference, however, is that Pearl Jam had, at least initially, FAR more mainstream radio and MTV exposure than Iron Maiden has ever had. Another big difference is that Steve Harris and Bruce Dickinson are intelligent, and Eddie Vedder is a cretin.
SMX, didn't the guys from Mother Love Bone get together with Chris Cornell for a tribute album, called themselves 'Temple Of The Dog'? I think it was a one off album for the dead singer.
It was actually an embryonic Pearl Jam, more than Mother Love Bone...
Chris Cornell (lead singer and guitarist of Soundgarden) had been the roommate of Andrew Wood (the MLB singer who died). He wrote the songs for Temple Of The Dog, and brought in Stone Gossard / Jeff Ament for the tribute album. Gossard/Ament brought in two more guys who had joined Pearl Jam: guitarist Mike McCready and singer Eddie Vedder. (At this time, Pearl Jam still had no drummer, and no official band name.) Cornell brought in Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron (who became Pearl Jam's drummer around 2000).
Eddie Vedder was brought in very late in the recording process, and only contributed backing vocals to the song "Hunger Strike". Because this song was the album's biggest hit, many people made the mistake of thinking he was a big part of Temple Of The Dog (he wasn't).
The TOTD album flopped initially. It only became popular after Pearl Jam became popular - a year after TOTD was released. At that time, a video for "Hunger Strike" was made, heavily featuring Eddie Vedder.
Edit: a little personal side note: my band Supergenius plays a kick-ass cover of the TOTD song "Say Hello 2 Heaven".
Chris Cornell (lead singer and guitarist of Soundgarden) had been the roommate of Andrew Wood (the MLB singer who died). He wrote the songs for Temple Of The Dog, and brought in Stone Gossard / Jeff Ament for the tribute album. Gossard/Ament brought in two more guys who had joined Pearl Jam: guitarist Mike McCready and singer Eddie Vedder. (At this time, Pearl Jam still had no drummer, and no official band name.) Cornell brought in Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron (who became Pearl Jam's drummer around 2000).
Eddie Vedder was brought in very late in the recording process, and only contributed backing vocals to the song "Hunger Strike". Because this song was the album's biggest hit, many people made the mistake of thinking he was a big part of Temple Of The Dog (he wasn't).
The TOTD album flopped initially. It only became popular after Pearl Jam became popular - a year after TOTD was released. At that time, a video for "Hunger Strike" was made, heavily featuring Eddie Vedder.
Edit: a little personal side note: my band Supergenius plays a kick-ass cover of the TOTD song "Say Hello 2 Heaven".
That song, 'Say Hello To Heaven', is the song I remember mostly. Thanks for the info, I knew some of that; I had always thought of that as mainly a Cornell project.
Onhell
Infinite Dreamer
SinisterMinisterX said:
you are officially full of it. Pearl Jam is nowhere near the biggest band out of that. After their initial success with Ten, countless fans (more than they have gained) have been put off by their "folky" direction. Maiden never shuned mainstream attention, in fact they imbrace it with the amount of merchandise and promotions (flight 666? when has Pearl Jam done anything remotely like that?)... I still say no, I am not convinced in the slightest.