I bought and read the biography the month it came out. It's a decent overview, with balanced coverage of both Green Day and the early punk rock scene in San Francisco, but I remember there were a few inaccuracies. I'm mainly posting this because I just learned how to Hyperlink! And, I wanted to post this picture of the cover of Billie Joe Armstrong's first single:
I've had a chance to listen to 21st Century Breakdown numerous times now, and I've finally read all the lyrics. There's a few phrases I wish Armstrong hadn't included, but no one said he was writing the album for kids. Unlike American Idiot, I've seen no sign 21st Century Breakdown will be marketed to pre-teens, and Armstrong and Green Day are conspicuously absent from the young teen fan magazines (as they should be for this album), even though they won two well deserved 2006 Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards for Favorite Music Group and for Favorite Song: Wake Me Up When September Ends.
I'm waiting for the day when Billie Joe Armstrong finds peace, but that's the happy ending, and we only find that in fiction, sometimes. As in fiction or in poems, if Armstrong wrote of happiness, there'd be no conflict, no pathos, no plot. Peace and harmony, what we all crave, is considered boring. Why is that? Sometimes I think we should give ourselves the respite. But, as a character in one of my plays says: "A song is a poem. It's a fragment. It fixes a moment in time. It's not all of me." We only see the one side of Armstrong, the conflicted man. If he wrote only happy thoughts, we'd probably stop listening. (I would listen. I listen still.)
For my other articles about Billie Joe Armstrong, Green Day, or 21st Century Breakdown, just click on the labels below this post.
Very cool. He's a solid guy.
ReplyDeleteI also find it disturbing that most of the greatest works of art seem to come from the most tortured souls that have ever been on this planet. I don't know why suffering seems to be such a perfect muse.
ReplyDeleteAnother great post! I love the picture. Isn't that gorgeous? I like what you say about the pathos. It's what drives the story. It can be a great catharsis, too. Thanks, Annie:)
ReplyDeleteHi Julie,
DeleteI like what you say about the catharsis aspect. I hadn't thought of that, and I'm sure that's part of it. We work through our "issues" when we write, and it feels good and necessary, to express joy, or to let out anger, or to process pain.