Green Day - International Supervideos! (2001) RESTORED

Another day, another Green Day review. I’m on a bit of a Green Day kick at the moment so you’ll have to bear with me. For today’s reading pleasure, I give International Supervideos. This is Green Day’s ‘best of’ album, International Superhits in DVD form. Some of the songs from the album are missing from the DVD. Maria, Poprocks and Coke, She, J.A.R. (Jason Andrew Revla Macy’s Day Parade are the missing tracks. Last Ride In, which isn’t on the album, has been added to the DVD.
I’m going to treat this review like an album review by going through each song but this time I’ll tell you about the video which goes along with each song.

LONGVIEW
An excellent song with a good video. To put it none too politely, it’s about lethargy, dope and masturbation. You don’t get to see the dope or the self abuse in the video. It probably would have been banned. The verses to this song are carried on a lazy sounding bass and drum. When the guys reach the chorus though, they have a sudden burst of energy which soon depletes into the next verse.

The video is basically Billie Joe Armstrong sitting on the couch in his bed-sit, watching the telly. Tre Cool and Mike Dirnt are in the cupboard for some reason. The video only leaves the bed-sit during the chorus when we move to the three guys playing their instruments.
Fave Lyric – I’m so damn bored I’m going blind, and I smell like sh*t.

BASKET CASE

This is the song which brought them to international prominence. It’s another song about dope and sex. I’m beginning to sense a theme here. The video is fairly simple and mirror’s its title perfectly. The guys are all patients in a mental health hospital and they are gently guided to their instruments. The song starts off carefully as though they’re not entirely certain. It doesn’t last long though as they soon pound into a fairly frantic rhythm.
Fave lyric – Do you have the time, to listen to me whine, about nothing and everything all at once.

WHEN I COME AROUND
This song has a fantastic laid back feel to it. It’s fairly bass heavy. It also has a quite clever video attached to it. The song is basically about a guy whose girlfriend is waiting for him to arrive but he’s not particularly in any hurry. The video is set in a city neighbour where everyone is staring at someone else. The first guy is looking at a woman getting ready to out, she in turn is watching a young girl dressed for a fancy dress party and so on and so forth until gets to the last guy who is looking up at the first.

Fave lyric – You can’t go forcing something if it’s just not right.
GEEK STINK BREATH

I hate the video for this song but I love the song itself. The music is very heavy with a pounding drum beat. The song itself is an anthem to drug induced self destruction. The video is set in a dentist’s office with some poor bloke having a rotten tooth removed in graphic detail. That’s why I don’t like it. I have a huge fear of dentists. There is a less graphic more sanitized version which is usually shown on the music channels
Fave lyric – Wish in one hand and sh*t in the other, and see which one gets filled first.

STUCK WITH ME
The video for Stuck with me is actually quite boring and I’ve never been a huge fan of the song. That’s not to say I hate it. I can listen to it quite easily. It’s basically the guys playing their instruments and singing in black and white. The song itself is about being from the gutter but not wanting to join the elite. The music is heavy and bouncy. You can jump around to it.

Fave lyric – Not subservient to you, I’m just alright.
BRAIN STEW/JADED

These two songs are technically separate but merge into one another so are classed as one, if you get my meaning. Brain Stew has one of the greatest openings ever. A rhythmic hacking guitar and bass which is joined by Billie Joe’s voice. They are soon joined by a simple drum beat. Half way through it sounds as though Billie Joe is playing the guitar with a bow and it sounds amazing. Once again we have a song about being wasted. I think I might just know what these guys were getting up to in the earlier years.
The video is slightly odd. It has the guys sitting on a couch being dragged through a quarry by a tractor. It gets slightly surreal when the three hula dancers turn up. The whole thing is filmed in monochrome.

Fave lyric – I’m having trouble trying to sleep. I’m counting sheep but running out.
Jaded is a bit apocalyptic. It does, after all, reference the end of the human race. Musically it’s fast and frantic, with Tre Cool just about killing himself on the drums.

Fave lyric – Count down from 9 – 5, Hooray! We’re gonna die.

WALKING CONTRADICTION
This is one of my favourite songs and has a brilliantly funny video. As the title says it’s all about contradiction. For example, ‘losers winning big on the lottery’. Another heavy one but not fast paced. Once again it is quite bass heavy which suits me perfectly.

The video has the three guys walking through the streets to meet up with each other. All of unwittingly cause a series of accidents on the way, but don’t notice. Billie Joe throws a stick over his shoulder which jams in someone’s bike wheels. The bike is then hit and dragged off by a car. Mike presses the button at the pedestrian crossing, despite the sign telling him not to, and electrocutes the repair guy. Tre leans against a van to tie his shoelace. The van unfortunately is being held up on a jack and Tre pushes it off. All of these actions somehow come together at the end of the video.
Fave lyric – Constant refutation with myself, I’m a victim of Catch 22.

HITCHIN’ A RIDE

This song is basically about falling off the wagon. The music is phenomenal. It starts off with a mournful sounding violin but turns into an incredibly heavy drum with a fantastic bass. How Tre hasn’t broken his drum skins playing this I’ll never know.
The video has a 1930’s theme complete with flappers. It is set in a bar with Green Day as the dance band. Billie Joe wears a very scary looking chequered jacket. Fortunately the colours in the video are muted so we don’t get the full force of the jacket.

Fave lyric – There’s a drought at the fountain of youth, and I’m dehydrated.

GOOD RIDDANCE (TIME OF YOUR LIFE)
This is a very beautiful and sad song. It’s about the end of a relationship and the music can almost break your heart. Tre and Mike don’t do much in this song except appear in the video. The music is carried by Billie Joe with an acoustic guitar and an orchestra.

The video has Billie Joe sitting playing his guitar and singing interspersed with images of ordinary people getting on with their lives. Mike is seen filling his car with petrol while Tre is being seen to by paramedics after coming of his cycle.
Fave lyric – It’s not a question, but a lesson learned in time.


REDUNDANT
I think we can all relate to this song. It’s about seemingly living the same day repeatedly but it’s also about not having the right words to convey love. The music is quite drum heavy but this time features Billie Joes lead guitar more than mike’s bass. It is slightly repetitive which is in keeping with the theme of the song and doesn’t make it bad. I love it because I can relate to it so much.

The video is very clever. It has the three guys doing there playing thing in someone’s living room. The scene is gradually filled with various people repeating the same action over and over again. Actions such as hanging a picture or picking up the newspaper. Halfway through the people slowly leave the scene leaving the three guys and the woman with the newspaper. Billie upsets the routine by getting to the paper before the woman.
Fave lyric – We’re living in repetition, content in the same old shtick again.

NICE GUYS FINISH LAST
Another of my favourites with heavy bass and pounding drums. An excellent song which teaches us not to suck up and be too nice. The video has the guys doing a gig at a football stadium and treating like a football game. (American football, not the proper one). Billie Joe is tackled on stage, the stage manager relays instructions from the side and mike has to have his ankle strapped up at the side before hobbling back on.

Fave lyric – Your sympathy will get you left behind.

LAST RIDE IN
An instrumental which truly showcases Green Days talent as musicians. In keeping with the title, the music has a slight cowboy riding into town at sunset sound to it. It’s slow and mellow. I love it.

The video is basically a montage of Green Day backstage and in rehearsal.

The final three songs have already been reviewed in my Green Day – Warning review so I won’t go over old ground. I’ll just tell you about the videos.

MINORITY
The guys are playing on a carnival float travelling down a deserted street. In front of them are four punk girls with batons and some guys with giant balloons of the three fellers.

WARNING
Warning has a bloke who spends his day ignoring all the warnings. He takes sweets from strangers. runs at night wearing black, swims after eating, crosses a police line, stares into the microwave and many, many more.

WAITING
It’s a party. Simple as that. The interesting thing is different parts of the party a\re running at different speeds. I love the bit where a bloke is pouring a drink form a height, in slow motion. Tre comes along at normal speed and carefully laces a glass ready to catch the drink.


International Supervideos is a must for all Green Day. Those of you who have never seen them should get it too. I’m here to convert you all. If you don’t want the DVD, then get the album, International Superhits. Go on, you know you want to.
The DVD has no features other than a menu which allows you to choose videos from a particular album. It runs for 50 minutes.

Thanks for reading.

DVD5, MPEG-2 720x576, PAL, 25 fps
Nominal bitrate 8000 Kbps
Aspect Ratio: Full Screen
AC3 - Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
(Stereo) 256 Kbps. English language
English Subtitles (Song lyrics)
Animated Menus and Instant Song Access.
Region code free. Covers included.

Released along with the CD International Superhits!, this official DVD contains all Green Day TV music videos until 2001. It has absolutely awesome animated menus, and optional subtitles with the lyrics. Regrettably, "bad" words are censored in the audio track, like when they play on TV, but the subtitles aren't censored :)