BERKELEY BAND MAKES GOOD
By Will Seeley

Well, we here at the Manifesto decided to put Green Day on the cover. Why now, you may ask? Isn't the Bullet in a Bible DVD out already? Isn't American Idiot almost a year old? Haven't Green Day gotten enough press, fer chrissakes?!!!

Yes, yes, and yes. But you hard-hearted villain, why begrudge a band like Green Day all the press it can get? Super heros of the concert stage, one of those bands that almost no-one can dislike (in that way, they are the R.E.M. of the modern day). Isn't it better that it go to Green Day than to Ashlee Simpson? We honestly did think about doing Kelly Osbourne, just for the hell of it, but thought that would leave quite a hangover.

Getting back to Green Day, though, the real reason is this: local band made good. I think we can finally say it. When Dookie came out, there was the possibility that it was all just too cute, "overnight sensation" and all that. I mean, the guy really isn't English, right? Punk can't really go pop, right? But here we are, five studio albums later, a greatest hits and a b-sides, a live dvd, and what's more, their most recent album was hailed as a masterpiece by critics and fans and record buyers alike. The boys from Berkeley have certainly made good.

So I for one, have decided to let the ghost of Gilman days not prevent me from liking Green Day. That was the other big thing: "they used to be good back when they played Gilman". And they were. But they're still good, just in a more rock star and less indie-punk way. Back in those days, there was a guy who worked at Rasputins named Eric Yee, and Green Day was his favorite band. Skankin' Pickle even had a seven inch with Eric's face on the cover, and a balloon that had him saying "Green Day is my favorite band". So even then, Green Day was a little too pop for the hard core punks (I guess). But what could be more punk than actually liking a band and saying it? Hating everything? That's so cliché! Even Sid Vicious actually liked things (heroin, for example).

In the dawn of the Manifesto, which was right around the time that Insomniac, their second major label album, came out, Eric got us our first big interview and cover story and that was, you guessed it, Green Day. Somewhere in the archives, we have a cover photo of them reading the Manifesto upside down, and looking confused. We tried to get them to talk to us for this issue too, but since Eric doesn't work here any more, they decided not too (what they actually said was that they were done talking to the press for now, try back later). But seriously, Billie Joe, Tre and Mike, drop by any time!

Getting back to cliché, I think we're all seriously happy for the guys. Counting Crows bailed and the guy moved to LA. American Music Club never really hit the big time, and Eitzel even headed to NY for a while, and they're SF anyway, not Berkeley. Charlie Hunter did OK for himself. The Lovemakers are doing well, Devendra Banhardt is doing OK for himself, and there's some East Bay rappers that are repping Oakland and Vallejo. So, I guess Green Day is it for us Berkeley-ites, on the grand scale.

What I'm leading up to is: let's put up a statue. Marin, you guys have got Santana and Joan Baez and Bonnie Raitt and Neil Young and everyone. SF, you've got the Dead and Jefferson Airplane and Moby Grape. Oakland, you've got Tower of Power. Berkeley, we've got Green Day. Have we given them the key to city? Can we rename Shattuck Avenue? Ten years from now, I think we'll be ready to elect Billie Joe for mayor. You think I'm joking, but I'm not.