No Fun Mondays

by Billie Joe Armstrong

Overview

Like the rest of the world, Billie Joe Armstrong needed to find some way to busy himself during the global pandemic of 2020. He opted for a series of covers he dubbed "No Fun Mondays," its name nodding at the glum realities of quarantine as well as the day he debuted his versions on the Internet. The project got off to a slow start. A version of Tommy James & the Shondells' "I Think We're Alone Now" went up in April and a cover of Prince's "Manic Monday" featuring a cameo from Susanna Hoffs was unveiled in May, but it wasn't until he posted Adam Schlesinger's "That Thing You Do!" in late August that the series gained momentum. From there, he posted covers on a weekly basis, all leading up to the late-November release of No Fun Mondays. As a collected album, No Fun Mondays is a bit of a lark, unexpected in its energy but not its contents. With two notable exceptions, Billie Joe Armstrong chose tunes that stay well within his punk-pop and power pop wheelhouse, balancing standards by Johnny Thunders ("You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory") and Wreckless Eric ("Whole Wide World") with slightly cultish selections from Avengers ("Corpus Christi"), Stiv Bators ("Not That Way Anymore"), and the Starjets ("War Stories"). There are a couple of fun ringers like Eric Carmen's sugar-coated "That's Rock 'n' Roll" and "Amico" by the Italian singer Don Backy, but the album's heart lies in the fuzzy, hooky three-chord pop that's been Armstrong's stock-in-trade since the early days of Green Day. The two exceptions -- John Lennon's "Gimme Some Truth" and Billy Bragg's "A New England" -- aren't remade as power pop so much as bent a bit in that direction, so they fit in while still sounding a little bit different than the rest of the crowd. They're also the only moments that make a passing nod to the turmoil of 2020, which is fine: sometimes, it's better to have an album attempting to conjure some fun in isolation than to wallow in the darkness. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	11/27/2020
Label:	Reprise
UPC:	0093624888604

Tracks

1. I Think We're Alone Now
2. War Stories
3. Manic Monday
4. Corpus Christi
5. That Thing You Do!
6. Amico
7. You Can't Put Your Arms Round a Memory
8. Kids in America
9. Not That Way Anymore
10. That's Rock 'n' Roll
11. Gimme Some Truth
12. Whole Wide World
13. Police on My Back
14. A New England

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Billie Joe Armstrong   Primary Artist,Bass,Drums,Guitar,Vocals
Chris Dugan   Drums
Bill Schneider   Bass
Jason White   Guitar

Technical Credits

Bob Hilliard   Composer
Billie Joe Armstrong   Mixing,Engineer,Producer,Recording,Cover Photo
Billy Bragg   Composer
Chris Dugan   Mixing,Engineer,Mastering,Recording
Frank Secich   Composer
Don Backy   Composer
Ritchie Cordell   Composer
Eric Carmen   Composer
John Lennon   Composer
Johnny Thunders   Composer
Penelope Houston   Composer
Prince   Composer
Marty Wilde   Composer
Moon Martin   Composer
Adam Schlesinger   Composer
Brad Kent   Composer
Stiv Bators   Composer
Burt Bacharach   Composer
Eddy Grant   Composer
Eric Goulden   Composer,Lyricist
Liam L'Estrange   Composer
Daniel O'Brien   Composer
Stephen Walker   Design
James Calvin Wilsey   Composer
Giulio Rapetti   Composer
Chris Bilheimer   Design
Terence Sharpe   Composer
Ricky Wilde   Composer
Daniel J. O'Brien   Composer
Greg Sehneider   Design