In a House With Unlocked Doors… Part Nineteen
Green Day become Insomniacs
By Sharon Mitchell
Musically, this period is one of my favourite Green Day eras. Insomniac (released in October 1995) is a fabulous album to drive to, with fast, angry songs that are wonderful to scream at the top of your voice – although it is advisable to keep a good lookout for speed cameras and traffic police!
It was written at a time when the band members were getting used to the grown-up concepts of marriage and parenthood (not necessarily in that order!), and the title of this album is supposed to refer to Billie being kept awake by the cries of his infant son, Joey, born in February 1995.
Away from home, the tour, too, was stressful, the band scrapping the tail end of it because Mike was experiencing health problems relating to a congenital heart condition. He is quoted in Guitar World, August 1996, “It’s been happening for a long time now, but it’s gotten a lot worse.I’ll be standing there and all of a sudden I’ll feel like somebody’s jammed a needle into my chest. I basically drop to the ground, gasping. And then my heart’s always sore. It’s a scary problem to have with the one part of your body that they don’t know how to fix”.
The album produced four singles – Geek Stink Breath, Stuck With Me, Brain Stew/Jaded and Walking Contradiction, and has cover art commissioned from Winston Smith, a collage of images called God Told Me To Skin You Alive. The title is taken from a Dead Kennedys’ song and the phrase was later used as a part of the dialogue in the musical production of American Idiot.
The cd insert folds out to reveal the whole picture, but the vinyl features the work in its entirety on its cover.
Probably the most interesting of the single releases was Brain Stew /Jaded. Not only was this the first time the band issued two songs segued together, but the track came as a regular cd, or as a limited edition brain-shaped disc.
There were three other songs on the single – Do Da Da which did not see the light of day again until Shenanigans, a live version of Brain Stew, and a faster, acoustic version of Good Riddance.
Billie was unsure about this last song, thinking it didn’t fit their punk image, but Mike later said that including the track on Nimrod was probably the most punk thing they had ever done up to that point. Today, it is probably the best known of all of their songs. Take that as a lesson learned, Billie.
Recently, as well as the Reprise reissue of the vinyl in 2009, Hot Topic have sold a limited edition blue coloured vinyl, and I have also acquired an Australian 2 disc set, with a 6 track live bonus cd.
Unusually, the Japanese issue of the album does not include any bonus tracks, but it does have a four-fold leaflet with a translation of the lyrics, and a full colour sticker of the album art, as well as the regular obi-strip.
I also have the regular version, and a promo copy, as well as a couple of promotional versions of two of the singles.
