I don't need your authority
Down with the moral majority
'Cause I want to be the minority.
Warning: is the sixth studio album by American punk rock band Green Day, released in October 2000.
Their previous effort, nimrod. (1997), saw a break from the band's regular formula to create more diverse music. This experimentation was built upon by Warning:, which almost entirely eschewed the band's established punk rock sound to combine acoustic elements with influences of genres like folk alongside lyrics with more optimistic and inspirational thematic material.
Considering this drastic style change, critics were fairly polarized between commending the new direction and being blindsided by one of the most proudly apathetic bands of their time now making accessible songs of faith and hope. However, in the years following, Warning: has received its share of the Vindicated by History treatment, with many concurring that the album was unfairly overlooked.
The album was the band's first major-label release to not receive platinum status; it was certified gold by the RIAA and has sold 1.2 million copies as of December 2012.
Tracklist:
- "Warning" (3:42)
- "Blood, Sex and Booze" (3:33)
- "Church on Sunday" (3:18)
- "Fashion Victim" (2:48)
- "Castaway" (3:52)
- "Misery" (5:05)
- "Deadbeat Holiday" (3:35)
- "Hold On" (2:56)
- "Jackass" (2:43)
- "Waiting" (3:13)
- "Minority" (2:49)
- "Macy's Day Parade" (3:34)
Will you trope with me on Friday night?
- Capitalism Is Bad: "Macy's Day Parade" condemns the said parade and its associated consumerism, likening it to the "night of the living dead" and insisting that adults know they don't need the stuff the parade advertises.
- Cool People Rebel Against Authority: "Minority" is one of the first and straighest uses of this theme from Green Day, proudly rejecting the "moral majority" and proclaiming a desire to be a social "minority."
- Deliberately Monochrome: The album cover, minus the colored text displaying the artist and album name.
- Gratuitous Panning: The opening guitar in "Minority" and "Castaway" is panned to the right side.
- Lighter and Softer: Compared to all previous albums, yes.
- Lyrical Dissonance: The music in "Macy's Day Parade" sounds almost like a lullaby, but the lyrics contain a vicious attack on American consumerism.
- New Sound Album: Warning: was much more upbeat and poppy than their previous albums, especially when compared to Insomniac, their darkest output.
- Obligatory Bondage Song: "Blood, Sex and Booze"
- Precision F-Strike: Warning: was Green Day's cleanest mainstream release, with only two F-bombs in "Minority" in this repeated line:"A free-for-all, FUCK 'em all"
- Subdued Section: "Macy's Day Parade" is a very gentle song.
- Take That!: In the first of many political attacks by Green Day, "Minority" contains the line "Down with the moral majority," a clear attack on Ronald Reagan and the conservative Christian social movement started his supporters during the eighties.
- Unplugged Version: Most of the album is acoustic.
