Green Day, MTV Video Music Awards, and Raunch

Green Day's energized performance at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards rescued the broadcast. I’ve written before about how I identify with the emotion in Billie Joe Armstrong’s songs, even though the details of my life bear no relation. He doesn’t celebrate drug use; he chronicles its devastating effects. He uses the “f” word as an expletive, not as a euphemism for sex. In his songs, he respects women, and he idolizes the concepts of idealism, political awareness, and romantic love. His songs ask questions more than they offer solutions. He doesn’t tell you what to do; he just wants to make you aware there’s a problem, and that not everyone thinks or believes the same thing.

Thus, he’s written songs like East Jesus Nowhere, in which he indicts organized religion and tele-evangelism (as he would probably say, the song is not anti-God, it’s anti-hypocrisy), and yes, the lyrics are rough, but the song is actually fun. All of his songs are pop punk rock driven, drawing more than ever from classic rock and stadium rock traditions, best appreciated after repeated plays, when the melodies, vocals, instrumentation, and rhythm changes are drummed into your head.

(In case I’ve given the impression I recommend Green Day and Billie Joe Armstrong’s songs to every listener, I want to make it clear, I don’t blindly recommend their songs or their concerts for children or preteens, not without parental guidance.** I don’t necessarily recommend them for younger to mid teens, unless they already became aware of Green Day as ten year olds with the release of American Idiot and songs like Boulevard of Broken Dreams, in which case there’s no stopping them. I also don’t recommend Green Day for adults who are sensitive to strong lyrics, or for adults who don’t agree that George Bush and his ilk were the worst thing that ever happened to our country, and that to be an American is to be an individual and to question authority. )

Green Day performed East Jesus Nowhere at the MTV VMA awards. It was an inspired performance. For anyone who caught the North American leg of their 21st Century Breakdown concert tour, you know its intent was to capture the energy of a concert performance, and it mostly succeeded, culminating with bringing hundreds of people up on stage. My husband and I called my son in from his homework to watch it, and we thoroughly enjoyed the antics: Armstrong going out into the audience and Security chasing him back, Armstrong playing his guitar behind his head…

The rest of the MTV VMA awards? We don’t ordinarily watch them. I know we are not a part of the target audience, but still, doesn’t anybody out there agree, the British MC (and I won’t even bother looking up his name or giving him the credit) was crude, tasteless, sexist, and above all- not funny. Whenever cameras panned to the crowd, after yet another, and another, and another lewd joke, at Lady Gaga’s expense, and later, even Beyonce and Taylor Swift, not a single celebrity was smiling. If I were Lady Gaga, I’d have considered stomping the man’s head and crushing his skull with a spiked heel. (Sorry- I digress.) I’m just glad, for the rest of the show, my son was out of the room. So, he missed the MC’s total disregard for women and their feelings. He missed Kanye West stealing the moment from nineteen year old Taylor Swift.

Back to Green Day. In the 8-20-09 issue of Rolling Stone, Billie Joe Armstrong is quoted as making a crude joke about a dog, telling it to the band and crew an hour before a concert. But that joke is not derogatory toward women, and what it’s really saying (if you want to analyze something so silly) is: Give them what they want, make sure they leave satisfied. In his concerts, his “on-stage” patter can be unusual, and his antics during Shout and King for a Day are designed to be raunchy. He must get some kind of exhibitionist thrill from mooning every audience (actually a partial moon, or a "moon peek" during King for a Day) or he wouldn’t still be doing it. But I realize now, why, as a parent, I “forgive him.” None of it is meant to hurt anybody, and none of it is degrading. (As a parent, my biggest concern is Armstrong and his band mates references to drinking.) His concerts are a celebration and an inspiration, and his songs, despite the anguish and the sometimes horrifying lyrics (as he has termed them), are predominantly about hope and courage and love, and those are good themes for everybody.

** So, can I recommend Billie Joe Armstrong’s songs for younger children, after all? If you pre-select the songs (and there are many that are beautiful and inspiring), and you explain a whole lot of things before and after a concert, Green Day (according to band mythology, named when they were seventeen years old after a “good day” of smoking marijuana and/or a reference to a Sesame Street episode with Ernie), has something to offer everybody. Choose wisely.

Billie Joe Armstrong

5 Years Old in 1979

32 Years Old in 2004

"Fair Use" Image

from: Nobody Likes You

by Marc Spitz

(Hyperion, 2006)

(What were they named before they became Green Day? Sweet Children. Where did Billie Joe Armstrong perform, singing songs from musicals, when he was still a young teen, wearing a white shirt, black pants and a tie? At nursing homes, for elderly residents. Who scolded him about his Woodstock 1994 performance, after he ate the mud clods slung at him by an energized crowd, and dropped his pants? His mother. How many times did they have to bleep Billie Joe Armstrong at the VMA when he sang East Jesus Nowhere? Twice. How many times did they bleep Jay-Z? Every fourth word. What does Armstrong say he regrets most about his life? Not demanding from his teachers a good education.)

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For another delightful perspective about the Gwinnett Arena Green Day concert, there's a blog entry from Access Atlanta's Atlanta Music Scene: Green Day Party Bridges Generations. It did feel like a party, and from what I observed, every "kid" from child to grandparent, had a great time. I know it's something my husband, son and I will always remember as an amazing event, and we experienced it together. Is Green Day for kids? (At every concert, there are kids everywhere!) Let's leave it up to parental guidance.

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Click on the labels below this post for more about Billie Joe Armstrong, Green Day, the Song Writing Process, 21st Century Breakdown, and Green Day at Gwinnett Arena.