[img=112211_pinole.jpg]This is a guest editorial by my brother, Carl. You might know him better as the one of us who held his shit somewhat together in our part in a Bullet In A Bible! He is also the person who introduced me to Green Day's music back in 1994, in Hong Kong of all places! So thanks to him for that... and this:

For sometime now I've wanted to look at each Green Day song, the effect it had on me and what it is about particular tracks that stand out on a personal level. If I can whack a little bit of Green Day knowledge or snippets that seem relevant to that then I say "hey (ho)... who's going to stop me?!"

Where better to start than with the album 1039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours?

This was an album I remember getting for the first time very clearly. I think I was about 11 or 12 and it would have been around 1996 or so when I woke up Christmas Day to pull the album out of a gigantic 2 foot Christmas Stocking. Talk about your all-time great stocking filler - a feckin' immense Green Day album!

So first up...

At The Library

My favourite part...


Personally a big Green Day favourite of mine, not just off the album but of all time. From the first moment that guitar kicks in I'm hooked. It's a song that's easy to relate to and one that has always made a previous experience in my life stand out.

Not one to frequent libraries, as they kind of give me the willies and there's something so eerily silent about them. On a rare occasion, I found myself in one at Chelmsford college in 2001. As a 17 year old, I was 'busy' reading a book (something pretty rare for me as I've always thought they're better acting as a door stop or if it's the bible - rizzla paper!) when an unknown girl leant over her chair from the table in front of me and asked my name and what I was doing. From there, the conversation lasted about 20 seconds before she left on a charming note of... "You look moody and miserable".

From that day, "At The Library" will forever remind me of that girl and that Billie Joe was probably better off not having the courage to come up to her as I certainly didn't find any words I could use.