The Gaslight Anthem could very well be the next Clash, the next Green Day

The bell chimed at Rolling Stone – an announcement in a daily blog back in February: The Gaslight Anthem could very well be the next Clash, the next Green Day.

“We’ve had this longstanding rule that no live band sounds good on TV,” RS said. “And then we saw N.J.’s Gaslight Anthem on Letterman and concluded that either a) our rule was wrong, b) they are, in fact, the band of our generation, or c) some combination thereof. Absolutely breathtaking.”


The band’s 2005 debut effort, Sink or Swim, was well received but it was last year’s The ’59 Sound, on indie label SideOneDummy, that made them potential superstars. The New Jersey quartet, armed with 100 percent creative control, produced a unique punk-powered record. They’re breathlessly compared to Bruce Springsteen or The Replacements’ Paul Westerberg – the trick is in catchy (if hardcore) melodies and storyboard lyrics.


“I lit a cigarette on a parking meter,” goes a typical couplet. “Corner boys told her how I was dying to meet her.”

“I think they resonate for a lot of people, for a lot of ages,” manager Anna Jacobson-Leong told Pollstar. “They sing about universal themes. … We knew the moment they were in the studio they were making a classic album.”

http://goo.gl/RoFLT

I remember when this was first published. I still find 2005's Sink Or Swim to be a chuckle-worthy line.

The Clash

Green Day

I await the broadway musical...

Klown wrote:

I await the broadway musical...

Lord knows it'll be better than American Idiot!
(thank goodness I didn't have to pay for those tickets...)

I actually like Green Day, and liked the album, but the show was awful.

Now, let's imagine what a Gaslight musical might look like. Brian does write very lyrical songs that tell stories, so it could work...

I used to love Green Day, saw them on their UK tour in 92, when they were doing the nativity play during their set. Also saw the secret show to start the American Idiot world tour, in a club show, in front of 700 people, and then saw one of the final shows on that tour...in front of over a 100,000 people...nuts.

Last time I saw them, was one of the worst gigs ever, it was the tour for the last album (whatever that was called) whenever you hear people think that Black Sabbaths 'Iron Man' is a new GD song, and no-one reacts to 'Basket-case' then you know that band isn't for you anymore.

I do get what you mean about Brian and his storytelling, that could be a great rags-to-riches love story right there.

bwahaha 2005's Sink or Swim.

I actually really really love Green Day, musical and all. I got to see them two years ago in this tiny little NYC dive bar, and I've been to a bunch of their stadium shows. They're one of the best live bands I've ever seen. But it's their fans that irritate the hell out of me. jeez. Don't get me started.
That being said, I can understand the comparisons between them and Gaslight, and maybe one day they'll have the same level of popularity, but I can't ever see them going the direction Green Day has.