What is a savior? We have the literal meaning, "someone/something that saves," like The Expendables or extreme couponers who save lots of cash. We also have the religious, i.e. Jesus or Muhammad. Some might say politicians are saviors, at least until the truth is revealed. You might see Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tre Cool with spiked hair, tats, and a general look of malaise and snottiness in their male gazes. Don't get the wrong idea. The triple-layer burrito of meaning inherent within the title is not lost on the members of Green Day, essentially one of the last punk rock warhorses from the days when pop punk wasn't a name on a registry. It essentially meant freedom. It essentially meant being yourself. If you're whiny, come on in. If you're skinny and weak, come on in. If you're a wimp, come on in. But we take tough, hard men as well. Plenty of ladies too! So, pop punk was essentially this beautiful melting pot, not unlike America before industrialism and globalism gave her enough DP to wreck the whole planet in the process. Pop punk was essentially about as close as it got to something like 1776, and Billie Joe Armstrong was like John Hancock.
I'm not a fanboy. I know Green Day have dropped some stinkers here and there. Billie wouldn't want me to be a sycophant, it was essentially one of the first lessons I learned from
Nimrod when I worked at FYE and we got advance cassette tapes. I told my boss to "have the time of his life" and told him to stick my nametag where the sun don't shine. I essentially begged for my job back shortly afterwards, but it was all cool. My boss was lame but even he understood Green Day had this power over the youth at the time. It never faltered. I hear all this talk about Cobain. Well, last I checked he's worm food, essentially fertilizer. Billie Joe Armstrong gets *** on just for actually, um, what? Not dying? Owning a bunch of vacation homes? Being friends with Bill Maher? Yeah, no ***, he comes from a time when we were allowed to talk to people with whom we disagreed. Are you a jerk for winning the American Dream back when it actually freaking existed? "Basket Case" was essentially all about learning to communicate and hear people's sides, and I guess some people thought it was about leaking people's addresses on Twitter. I digress. Point is, right now in the year of our lord 2024 pop punk is essentially a burning building. With
Saviors, Green Day are essentially firefighters dousing the flames with their long hoses.
We also have to discuss the themes of faith. Reflection is essentially a part of growing old. Green Day aren't so green anymore, but there's no reason they should change their name to "Old Day." Point is, Billie Joe Armstrong is long in the tooth and he's got the wrinkles and battle scars from decades of touring to prove it. He's not gonna be singing about jerking his pecker, taking craps, skateboarding. Some of the lyrics on
Saviors display a great reverence, essentially a worldly humility and almost spiritual nature without a hint of pretension. In a sense, Billy Joe Armstrong is like a dying Norm Macdonald. Interviewers don't understand the answers because they essentially aren't even asking the right questions, so they try to pigeon hole the guy. Just shut the heck up and listen. There is essentially a Springsteenian longing and humility here. Working class themes are addressed, and it's not from the perspective of an outsider. It's from a guy who paid his dues and he's standing looking out the window shaking his head as the world burns. Yet there's not an ounce of cynicism. Some might say Armstrong's cries for unity and compassion are essentially pipe dreams, but a pipe dream is better than no dream at all.
