worst / most washed-up / weakest link band in the HELLA MEGA TOUR (Green Day / Fall Out Boy / Weezer)

prob evidence for the foreigner state fair comparison tho

I barely have any sense of Fallout Boy but it remains very weird to me that Green Day and Weezer ever grew past 'played the mainstage at Lollapalooza one time before returning to moderately-sized venues' status. Like this tour would seem equally odd to me if it was Gin Blossoms and Primitive Radio Gods and Enigma playing arenas in 2021

And yes, for the record, that does say more about me than anything to do with constituent reality.

has any band/artist that broke through for being angsty juvenile outsiders ever really solved the conundrum of what to do when they're no longer outsiders, maybe still angsty and juvenile but at an age where that's no considered cool? you either have to maintain your brand and get less convincing with it, or you change so much you lose what people liked about you. or you awkwardly try to do both things at once, or alternate between them. or you retire. along with these bands blink-182 and eminem have also very clearly been struggling with this problem. somehow boomer legacy acts seem to be less susceptible to this - maybe because they predate punk and all its baggage?

i hear everybody screaming about Green Day but guys Weezer is really bad like dung stuck to a rhino's asshair bad and they came from good so they are worst.

xp better to burn out than to fade away?

I think Radiohead might be an answer to your question, Left, though angsty juvenile outsiders didn't ever exactly define them. But I think their model of "keep swimming forward, don't be afraid to alienate your audience by following your creative muse" is the best answer to the question. Radiohead might be huge but I'm sure there's still plenty of people out there who like that Creep song and maybe dug OK Computer for a bit but that's about it.

nirvana is a worst case scenario for this. but neil young is maybe one of the best? irony

i know the stones have been getting shit for being too old for this since before i was born but at this point they seem to get less of that than respect and gratitude for still being around. so maybe you just have to keep going until that happens. green day and weezer at least are already being welcomed into the classic rock canon so they must be doing something right

as much as i hate to give radiohead credit they have probably handled this better - from "artistic credibility" more than or as well as a commercial point of view, something that probably needs unpacking but whatever - than any others of their generation. it helps that they're perceived as trend setters rather than chasers (although they're both) unlike when one of these bands tries to incorporate trap or IDM or imagine dragons or whatever

I meant EDM

Nobody did it better imo

https://live.staticflickr.com/3423/3799253353_5a0e68e5f0_b.jpg

left i know you love cancelling everyone so i thought id tell you that when i was 15 years old and waiting for a ride home after a green day show from some older kids who were friends with the big brother of the friend i was with, tre cool, the drummer of green day exposed himself in front of me, other minors, and a girl he was trying to pickup (couldn't have been older than 17). he would have been in his late 20s at this stage

boone actually got cancelled by a lot of conservative christians for doing that. probably done enough racism since then to be forgiven though

xp i don't see how the preamble is necessary but that's gross and i'm sorry

Tre Cool's gabbagool

is the implication supposed to be that this *isn't* cancellable behaviour? or that it *is* and [other thing] isn't?

I've seen some version of Foreigner (dunno how many original members, definitely the singer) play at a county fair and I gotta tell you guys they absolutely smoked, would 100% go see Foreigner in 2021 in an agricultural setting

wait Lou Gramm is back?

when I saw them it was still Kelly Hansen, but that was many years ago

lmao this list

Current members

Mick Jones – lead and rhythm guitars, keyboards, backing and lead vocals (1976–present)
Jeff Pilson – bass, keyboards, backing vocals (2004–present)
Kelly Hansen – lead vocals, percussion (2005–present)
Michael Bluestein – keyboards, backing vocals (2008–present)
Bruce Watson – rhythm and lead guitars, backing vocals (2011–present)
Chris Frazier – drums, percussion (2012–present)
Luis Maldonado - rhythm guitar, bass, backing vocals (2021-present)

Former members

Lou Gramm – lead vocals, percussion (1976–1990, 1992–2003; occasional special guest, 2017 and 2018)
Dennis Elliott – drums, percussion, occasional backing vocals (1976–1993, 1991–93; occasional special guest, 2017 and 2018)
Ian McDonald – rhythm and lead guitars, keyboards, saxophone, flute, backing vocals (1976–1980; occasional special guest, 2017, 2018 and 2019)
Al Greenwood – keyboards, synthesizers (1976–1980; occasional special guest 2017, 2018 and 2019)
Ed Gagliardi – bass, backing vocals (1976–1979; died 2014)
Rick Wills – bass, backing vocals (1979–1991; occasional special guest 2017, 2018 and 2019)
Johnny Edwards – lead vocals, rhythm and lead guitars (1990–1992)
Jeff Jacobs – keyboards, backing vocals (1991–2007)
Thom Gimbel – rhythm guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, saxophone, flute (1992–1993, 1995–2021)[36]
Mark Schulman – drums, backing vocals (1992–1995, 2000–2002, 2011–2012)
Bruce Turgon – bass, backing vocals (1992–2003)
Scott Gilman – rhythm and lead guitars, saxophone, backing vocals (1993–1995)
Ron Wikso – drums (1995–1998)
Brian Tichy – drums (1998–2000, 2008–2010; touring 2007, 2011 and 2012)
Denny Carmassi – drums (2002–2003)
Jason Bonham – drums (2004–2008)
Chas West – lead vocals (2004-2005)
Paul Mirkovich – keyboards (2007–2008)
Bryan Head – drums (2008)
Jason Sutter – drums (2010–2011)

still can't believe "hired guns" version of Foreigner recorded a studio album in 2009 and they stole the title of a Lionel Richie album for it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Can%27t_Slow_Down_(Foreigner_album)

This thread has really advanced the state of my Foreigner studies over the past half hour, thank u

(Frankly surprised Furriner doesn't get rotten produce thrown at them when they play rural venues tbrr)

careful u don't stare at the screen too long, you might get.....

three guitars but no flute? fuck that

I assume at this point Mick Jones basically stands onstage while stagehands move his hands for him

current worst & most washed up is clearly green day by quite a margin

but also i never had much fondness for them overall - dookie is good & that's about it? i would probably take the most recent weezer album (which is actually ok) over 90% of green day's discog lol

Smashing Pumpkins worse than any of these.

well yes obv

I bet live Green Day is going to kick the shit out of the other two

honestly I think live Green Day would be a lot of fun, they would play a lot of classics, it'd be energetic, upbeat, and I could go get high during the new boring songs.

Weezer I'd maybe be entertained for 5 songs in the set and then feel like setting the stage on fire during "Beverly Hills" or "hash Pipe"

FAllout Boy could be aight but I don't know much beyond the huge singles.

i will never forgive any cunt who wrote a song called "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"

still better than Weezer, obv

What peak Alt-Rock bands are on the state fair circuit? I saw recently that Saliva (celebrating the 20th-!-anniversary of their debut) played a date around here at a suburban biker bar, a fate that seems a level below fairs.

"Peak-era Alt-Rock" I mean...

I also think ILX has a bit of an blind spot to how big American Idiot was in the larger world, I that's the record a lot of people think of not Dookie

god Saliva, lmao....

imagining 10 kids in Puma outfits dancing to Click Click Boom and slipping on the wet grass

xpost yeah, Green Day has a lot of second generation fans who came into them in the mid-2000s, so that's the Green Day they know first. just like all the Jay-Z fans who consider The Black Album their starting point.

American Idiot is the last album of theirs I like, but it's where the wheels started coming off.

tbh i dunno if it's a blind spot as far as "American Idiot" is concerned, that's probably their moment - this is about suckiness rather than breakthru tho?

and the title track is perfectly ok yes

"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" is definitely fuckin' dire though. and all the other songs they wrote that sound like it.

I just meant I think GD exists more as a classic rock legacy band than a "washed" early 90s band

i feel like maybe Hanoi Rocks used that shit title so i'd like to withdraw my total generalization but ffs

imagining 10 kids in Puma outfits dancing to Click Click Boom and slipping on the wet grass

Probably not that far off. I looked up the venue on Maps, and it's just off the interstate in the rural part of its town (one road in and out), with an outdoor stage and picnic table seating.

i was too much of a fake real punk to give american idiot a chance at the time but it was clearly a massive deal for so many people - billie joe even became kind of a pin-up for a while for girls and boys of a certain age and inclination. it was weird because i thought of them as that old band from the 90s who'd had already had their moment but now they were suddenly huge again, maybe huger. the album has its its charms i suppose but people were also clearly starved for anti-bush content and that year and a half old black eyed peas / JT track wasn't cutting it by that point

weezer - not my cup of tea really but i can’t front, the early stuff has great guitar sounds/hooks/vocals

green day - dookie singles are good, “time of your life” is good. the “wake me when september ends” song i hear in the supermarket is atrocious, i’m sure the vast majority of their music is awful

fall out boy - I don’t know this band

I feel like Clear Channel-backed Alt-Radio fests are the state fair equivalent for these bands. Here's Houston's...

https://www.buzzfest2021.com/

Offspring!
Chevelle!
P.O.D.!
CANDLEBOX!!!!

For comparison's sake, these bands are as far away from their respective heydays as Classic Rock bands (Styx, Speedwagon, Fabulous Thunderbirds etc.) playing Classic Rock Radio fests 20 years ago.

now i see more clearly that AI was the commercial and frankly probably artistic peak of a phenomenon that included rock against bush and NOFX and other punk-adjecent bands (you weren't supposed to call the indie label ones pop-punk for some reason) becoming "political" in various mostly hamfisted ways. but it was also the start of green day's classic-rockification which is a dreary thing

i never want to hear "good riddance" again

i will always love good riddance tbh

the anomalu here is what Left just described, the high tide mark is actually AI and y'know ffs

i don't think anyone is denying that AI was their commercial peak

riding in on the big wave that brought us Kings of Leon oh ffs let's do the planet from orbit

need some kind of micro measurements about when "original" punk acts turned into classic rock vs every ripple afterwards i.e. nothing turned out worser than The Clash idk

_"Boulevard of Broken Dreams"_


Pretty sure we've done a side-by-side comparison of the lyrics of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" with those of Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again."

What sort of road am I on? Behold: you can see that is a lonely one.

In what fashion am I walking on this road? Alone. That is how I am walking on this road which is lonely.

Who is with me on this road? No one. I am the only one who is walking alone upon this lonely road. To put it another way, I am on my own.

Am I aware of any other type of road? Why, no. This is the only sort of road with which I am familiar: a lonely one.

Aimee Interrupter is very late 2010s appropriate because she was on the Alex Jones show multiple times.

It's mostly a question of a) who's still out there doin' it after all these years and b) who among those still doing it are finding ways to keep it fresh.

Not getting too big seems like a key here. PJ and the Breeders and Dino Jr. all had hits and big records and have plenty of money but having a plotline on One Tree Hill or a Broadway musical were never options.

The thread has moved on, but reconstructing when I saw Foreigner, it was definitely not Lou Gramm but the other guy, but goddamn if it didn't sound just like Foreigner

Would u say it felt like the first time

Hey, at this point they're all jukebox heroes.

So many dirty white boys...

it’s an urgent emergency

Nine Inch Nails got pretty big and they’re still good and win Oscars and stuff

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Correct

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgEPJRWfP7c

only one of these bands has done a feature with godzilla

Give Weezer time, they'll get there eventually.

Weezer is definitely the one I dislike the most but I think by any measure Green Day is way more "washed up", I get the feeling that Weezer could still crank up decent material if they wanted to but they're more interested in doing stupid viral shit

This thread made me wonder what Everclear were up to, looking at some recent videos they are definitely very bad and washed up. clicked around on their new album and every song sounded like it was generated by AI. even Art's voice feels weirdly autotuned and fake now, like that shit they did with Michael Jackson after he died. then I watched some old videos and found out they sucked pretty bad back in the day too. but they had some good tunes at least

i thought the last two everclear albums were pretty ok for what they are. art alexakis' voice has definitely lost a lot of the (minimal) range it used to have, weird seeing them during summerland in 2013(?) and noticing that all of the hits were being played a step down

Everclear's playing here next week as part of a package tour with Living Colour, Hoobastank, and Wheatus.

jfc Living Colour is going to kill the other bands on that bill

Well, yeah.

Looking deeper, that package tour (Summerland) dates back to 2012, and is the brainchild of Alexakis and Mark McGrath. Other washed-up bands featured in prior lineups include:

Sugar Ray (duh)
Marcy Playground
Lit
Sponge
Filter
Live
Gin Blossoms
Eve 6
Spacehog
Soul Asylum
Fuel
Toadies
American HiFi
Local H

UMS has a Spacehog tattoo

Should mention the Summerland-participating version of Live was the sans Kowalczyk lineup.

Summerland bands minus Living Colour would be a good poll

Soul Asylum & Gin Blossoms don’t seem to quite fit with the theme…

only one of these bands has done a feature with godzilla

Wish Godzilla had guested on more tracks, tbh. His rhymes were always the freshest.

― Hi My father very Rusted Root with me what can I do? (Old Lunch), Wednesday, July 25, 2018 5:45 AM

Fall Out Boy have pulled out of their New York and Boston "Hella Mega" dates due to an "individual on the band's team" testing positive for COVID-19: https://t.co/U5lDOhqwxo @FallOutBoy pic.twitter.com/Lbq9Rfw6m4

— Consequence (@consequence) August 4, 2021

Sugar, We're Going Down (With Covid-19)

Thus calling into question the integrity of this epic lineup? Say it ain't so!