Each day in November, I’m revisiting a song from the 90’s — a decade that was a sorta coming of age for me. In that span, I experienced high school, college and my time as a young single guy in New York City. It was a decade of ups and downs, and the music never stopped playing during that span. It was always there with me. #30DaysOf90sSongs
Green Day is a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine. Many serious music listeners have written them off citing over-simplistic instrumentation and chord progressions. But I don’t mind so much that they’re simple. They are, after all, a punk rock band. No one ever gave The Ramones any grief despite them being guilty of the same musical “infractions”. What may actually be overlooked is the fact that Billy Joe Armstrong is quite a talented and underrated storyteller. For proof, just listen to Green Day’s rock operas American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown. And then there was also that one anomaly of a song, “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)”.
“Good Riddance” was written about an old girlfriend of Armstrong’s who left the country. But, over the years, it has become a song for all of us. It’s a graduation song, a breakup song, a wedding slide show song, a college reunion song, the list goes on. It’s also usually the last song played at a Green Day concert. It’s a song that ushers us back in time. Not just in a purely sugarcoated nostalgic way, but in a way that takes all the good with all the bad. Somehow this song has helped me put all of it in its proper perspective.
“So take the photographs and still frames in your mind. Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time. Tattoos of memories, and dead skin on trial. For what it's worth, it was worth all the while.”