Okay, I just read through this whole thread and felt more than obligated to bump this.
First of all, I've been playing for about a year and play I'd say 90% of Green Day's songs. (And please don't use that as an argument. I've put more time and effort into this project than anything I've done in my life.) Some REALLY early stuff cause I just don't want to, and some stuff (Homecoming, Haushinka, Holden Caulfield) because I just can't pull it off. It will surely come with time though, as I've been told mastering the drums comes with practice, but even more experience. And yes, I used the word "mastering" on purpose because I KNOW Tre Cool has mastered the drums.
A few things that made my teeth grind when reading though this thread. These are just random quotes I'm pulling out, I'm sure more than one person has said something like it through the thread.
Did I say anything about him not playing his parts perfectly?
What he plays any grade 5 primary school drum student could play.
Green Day is a little kids try hard band beause they think they're all hard core listening to them. The band is ridiculous and never has any good drumming in it. Maybe they come up with good riffs which make it onto the charts every now and then but Tre Cool could be replaced with ease. And to keep on beat requires only a small mind and possibly a little ticking metronome in the background. Your point isn't valid, he still sucks.
This is one of the stupidest things I've ever read in my life. First of all, a fifth grader doesn't have the ARM MUSCLE to pull off what Tre does, even if they COULD wrap their minds around beats like Longview, the bridge in Welcome to Paradise, Jesus of Suburbia solo, Novacaine, ETC. The list goes on and on.
Tre' cool plays only simple stuff, but he makes it sound really good and he really does play with the music. I think he gives people what they just want to hear.
You're probably not here to read this but for anyone who is, try figuring out this beat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c87TKWgRyCE
Or this, when the chorus comes in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFsWqweo2eA
2:35 in here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9Y-r-rs9W8
And lastly, go listen to the Homecoming fills. I get the feeling people in the thread have been talking out of TOTAL ignorance and have only heard their obvious mainstream stuff.
Not all of his stuff is simple like you guys are saying. No doubt about that.
And a general statement, it's totally wrong to be saying he isn't "good" judging from the stuff he puts out. Watch Bullet in a Bible. He was in the band as a kid and he KNOWS jazz. And he's pretty damn good at it too. Like someone else said in this thread, he NEVER messes up. Only time I've ever seen him screw up is when he just lost track of the song in WMUWSE when his snare got messed up and some guy was down there working on it while he was playing. NEVER messes up fills or anything. And that's not easy to do when you play fast like him.
Go to 1:07 in this video and look at his face.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRey0SR1At4
Are you kidding me? You have to be EXTREMELY good and comfortable to do that kind of crap when playing in front of 120k people and making a live DVD. To me, perfection in drums is one of the hardest things to achieve. And he is certainly perfect.
Someone mentioned anti-American. Out of everything in this thread that has annoyed me, that was the worst part. GREEN DAY IS NOT ANTI-AMERICAN. I swear I don't know how many times I have to tell people this. It's not even a matter of opinion. People ignorantly look at the title of the 2004 Grammy Award winning album and think "Anti-American". Anyone who does that is just plain stupid. Read the lyrics. They're not anti-American, and once again, that's not up for dispute.
To finish this off, I just went to their concert last week. They are the greatest entertainers (yes, I use that word on purpose---they're MORE than musicians) I've ever seen in my life. And more importantly, people...Tre is NOT slowing down. He's just as nuts as he's ever been.