For fear of overexposure, I’m hesitant to add an extra edition of this music thing. But I’ve gotten such a positive response, it’s tempting to make like Catherine Zeta-Jones in all those obnoxious T-Mobile commercials from the late ’00s and start throwing out more than one post every week or so. And you people that read me and watch my videos are coming up with some good suggestions that I don’t want to put on the back burner…and I don’t want to stop firing on all cylinders myself (at least not yet, because I’ve got a few months’ worth of ideas of my own). So with no further ado, I give you Green Day, a suggestion by the esteemed Andy Cohen.
Green Day is a pop punk (some would call it ‘skate punk’) band from NorCal, in existence since ’87 and popular since about ’94. As with many other members of their genre, their music began to evolve into a platform for the group to espouse their political views as they matured and the Bush era of the 2000s polarized the country. I’ve got two songs to present here – the first is “Minority,” off the band’s 2000 album Warning (unfortunately the embed has been disabled so you’ll have to watch it at YouTube). This one kind of kicks off the beginning of an evolution from stoner alt-sports soundtrack into a more coherent message. The second is the title track to 2004’s American Idiot, marking the group’s plunge head-first into lyrical social commentary (and the source of Andy’s original suggestion). I’ve spent countless hours (actually less than two, and I’m disappointed in Green Day fans for their lack of visual creativity) sifting through different videos for each song to select the best content possible (well, mainly because I like both songs and had fun hearing them over and over). Enjoy!
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Dave- I liked it. The “new tension” circa 2004 is not quite so new anymore. In fact that new tension has become unsupportable/tedious. Who would have imagined that?
Dave, when I mentioned old style “Love Ins” a while back , pondered how to get you guys (Boomers Kids etc) to a rally or whatever. The key is music.The intergenerational/international draw that can and usually does cause people to get together. When we wetre stopping the stinking jetty, the beat was how we knew it was time to go to the lot in North OB. We were living on Longbranch and Sunset Cliffs. We would open the big double door and kick it and get buzzed until we heard the thumping coming from the beach. Some characters would turn over a couple of trash cans and beat on them(ala Woodstock) with Spinada bottles until every one got the message. This went on until we stopped the stinking jetty.
Outstanding! They were really PISSED when they wrote that album!
Another excellent cut off of “American Idiot” is “Holiday.” Pretty biting commentary on the White House and Congress at the time:
Green Day–Holiday
The most biting part of the song is the refrain. Keep in mind the Congress’ act to officially rename french fries “freedom fries” in the Congressional cafeteria:
“The representative from California has the floor
Sieg Heil to the president Gasman
Bombs away is your punishment
Pulverize the Eiffel towers
Who criticize your government
Bang bang goes the broken glass and
Kill all the fags that don’t agree
Trials by fire, setting fire
Is not a way that’s meant for me
Just cause, just cause, because we’re outlaws yeah!”