When did Jon Bon Jovi start ghostwriting for Green Day? Or maybe it was Sammy Hagar who penned the utterly awful “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”.
Btw, I happened across a video clip when searching around to see if GD had actually written this drek. All 3 members of the band are walking down the road while Billie Joe sings “I walk alone…”
Is this song a joke? (Serious question.)
I always change the radio station when I hear this song come on.
Holy CRAP. I have been meaning to ask the same question. Compared to the rest of the album, that song is dreck. You’re telling me Billie Joe can’t fill up a chorus with anything better than synonyms for “alone” over and over? “I’m the only one, and I walk alone!” RIGHT.
My current theory is that someone told them the album needed two singles, one fast, one slow. Billie Joe asked why, some marketroid said “slow songs are in again” or “it worked for Nickelback” and Billie laughed and decided to show off his song-writing talent by penning a song that he knew would become a Top-40 single, in a voice that he had absolutely no respect for. It’s so over-the-top about its loneliness that I’m sure he’s satirizing something – possibly the American Teenager’s perception that every teenager is totally miserably alone?
I can’t quite figure it out, but there’s no way the guy who wrote American Idiot willingly picked that song to be the single from that album, unless he really did want to laugh all the way to the bank.
I like it - guess there’s no accounting for taste. I take it within the context of the whole album, and I love the guitar with with vibrato/tremolo on the amp at the beginning.
FWIW, I think “Extraordinary Girl” is the pure pop song on the album and should’ve been the next single.
It doesn’t sound anything like any Bon Jovi song I’ve ever heard. Admitedly, I don’t listen to Bon Jovi intentionally so I may have missed their one angst filled piece.
I like “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” so 
Well, I love Boulevard of Broken Dreams! It’s a powerful song with a great intro, a fantastic, soaring chorus, and a killer, tempo-changing ending.
I think Billie Joe has really matured as a songwriter.
Oh, and the video is great too. For some reason, the way Tre Cool walks in that video is hypnotic. 
I like the song, but I’ve always thought Green Day was a joke.
A joke?
They redefined the Punk-Pop genre. They opened the doors for a flood of American neo-punk, punk metal, and third wave ska revivalists. Their debut album sold over 8 million units. They have had over 15 radio hits. Their latest album is on virtually everyones Top 10 list. They are a great live band, with some legendary performances.
They have been on the major scene for over 10 years now.
A joke? No way!
Oh, come on. That song is great to sing while washing dishes. It bothered my mother quite a bit. Not sure if that was the song or my singing, though.
Of course there are some of us who think that punk and pop don’t belong in the same descriptor. Whatever the band may have had got sold out a long time ago.
I thought it was an ok song, personally. Then again, I’ve always kind of liked Green Day.
The other day on XM, I heard a Green Day/Oasis mashup of “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” with “Wonderwall.” That was kinda interesting.
yawn Good music is good music. Get over the labels. You are welcome to not like that track, but that album is solidly excellent.
Joey Ramone and the rest of the band - the alpha and omega of punk - spent their entire careers trying to “make it.”
And Captain Crunchy Crunchy - minor nit: Dooky was their major label debut. They had two indie releases - 39 Kerplunk and one other - before that. Not that it matters - I completely agree with your post.
Ahaa. I heard this song on the radio for the first time the other day, and I wondered what the fuck Green Day were thinking. Awful, awful song, and the Bon Jovie comparison is apt.
If Billie Joe’s voice wasn’t so distinctive, I would have thought I was listening to a Good Charlotte song. They certainly have the faux-angsty garbage down.
Well, since we are only 5 days in, I will call this the overstatement of the year. The Ramones? The alpha and omega of punk? Are you serious?
Umm…Buzzcocks, Stooges, The Clash, The Velvet Underground? How you or anyone can call simplistic mediocrity like the Ramones the be-all-end-all of punk is simply mind-boggling.
I just don’t understand the Ramones worship at all.
Read Please Kill Me: An Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil - the guy who coined the term “punk.” Yes, it starts with the Stooges and the Velvets - and the Doors even - but acknowledges that the Ramones are pretty much it. Sorry - be mind-boggled.
It doesn’t really matter if he made up the word or not (which I’m having a hard time believing) it does not make him the absolute authority on the merits of every band he decided to catalog under his “new musical genre.”
I hereby declare that The Shins, Modest Mouse, Bright Eyes, Sufjan Stevens, and Linkin Park are what I call “neo-folk.” With that said, Linkin Park are the greatest neo-folk band ever. Nevermind the fact that they lack the talent or songwriting ability of any of the other artists I mentioned, they are clearly the greatest neo-folk band. Doesn’t really matter what anyone else thinks, I gave the genre a name. A NAME damn you!
Now of course I’m not saying the Ramones are as bad as Linkin Park, but I needed to put a band in that list that stood out. I meant no offense. Unless you like Linkin Park.
Ramones kick ass. Nearly everybody, even their contemporaries, cites them as an influence. They are seminal East Coast US punk, at least for my generation.
Stooges gotta be the daddies, though. Hard to believe that “I Wanna Be Your Dog” came out in the 60’s!
He didn’t make up the word, he started a magazine with two friends called “Punk” that was covering the scene that the Ramones, Television, Suicide, the New York Dolls and the Dead Boys and a number of other bands were making happen in the Lower East Side of New York. It led to that word becoming synonomous with the music. Read the book. Or any book on the history of punk, there are plenty.
Beyond that, frankly, do your homework - you are welcome to not like the Ramones all you want, but not understanding or acknowledging their place as an influence is…silly. Your attempt at an analogy with neo-folk implies that what we are discussing is purely subjective and your opinion is just as relevant. It isn’t - as Sample states, many many respected bands - including the Clash - cite the Ramones as a seminal influence. Do your homework. (and the Stooges are clearly hugely influential, too - Iggy’s nickname of “The Godfather of Punk” is there for a reason…).
Let it go Soapbox - you’re in over your head.
You can be better and more important than who you are influenced by.
If this song isn’t a joke, why steal the title from a Tony Bennett record? And why come so close to the chorus of Whitesnake’s “Here I Go Again”:
Why throw in this phrase:
Why make a cheesy-as-hell video with Billie Joe singing “I walk alone” while walking with Tre and Mike?
I think Jurph may actually be right. They had pressure to put a hit on the record, so they did, and they’re laughing their asses off. Other artists have done it.