Saturday, August 20, 2005

Green Day and the halcyon days of adolescence

Tonight reminded me of a Friday night 11 years ago, sitting in my Alexandria, VA basement with my friend Jonathan, listening to a CD he had just bought at a very low volume level. The band was called Green Day, and I knew nothing about them except the lead singer's hair was blue. The CD was called "Dookie", and we were listening to track 4, "Longview", a song about being lazy and lacking motivation. We had retreated to the basement to listen and still kept the volume low, for fear my parents might hear the words "shit", "fuck" and "masturbation" contained in the song, as well as the reference to marijuana ("smoking my inspiration"). Yes, I was 12 years old, and I was pretty sure my parents would disapprove of such music. It was the glory of adolescence, that sense of getting away with something you knew your parents wouldn't like you doing. And in retrospect, it was something so minor, but damn, did I feel alive.

The reason this was recalled to mind this evening was that I finally got around to seeing Green Day in concert. As Aaron and I wandered to our seats, I couldn't help but notice the number of parents who were there with their children. We're talking 9- and 10-year-olds here. Now, I don't believe the claims that music or television or any of the various other methods of entertaining children cause undesirable behavior, so I'm fine with the kids listening to Green Day. I think my problem is that the parents condone it. As it turns out, my parents were actually fairly relaxed about that sort of thing, and I probably could have gotten away with more than I tried. But man oh man, when I was younger, it sure didn't seem like it.

I guess my point is, every kid when they hit the good ol' puberty needs to do something dangerous, something they think their parents would kill them if they ever found out. For me, it was listening to CDs that had bad language and blatant sex and drug references. For that former friend Jonathan who introduced me to Green Day, his parents were fine with him listening to that kind of music. It wasn't long before he moved on to something else to get away with: marijuana.

I know I'm rambling, but I think that maybe the illusion of parental strictness is the key. The more parents let their kids get away with, the farther the kids will have to go to get the rush of being naughty. Of course, there's the counterargument that the stricter parents are, the harder the kids will retaliate. It's all about balance, I guess.

As for the show itself, it was pretty damn good, though I wanted more off of "Warning" and there was one blatant absence off "Dookie" (today's song lyric). I kinda wish Billie Joe had spent a little less time getting the audience to chant too. Still, I loved the electric version of Good Riddance and the cover of We Are the Champions (though I slightly expected it after Live 8) was also well-done. Opener Jimmy Eat World ripped through a 30-minute set that hit the highlights, though they missed some songs I was hoping to hear, particularly Kill and Authority Song.

Thanks for reading this poorly organized post. I'll try and do better next time :)

Song lyric of the day (still can't believe they didn't play this):
"So go do what you like
Make sure you do it wise
You may find out that your self-doubt means nothing was ever there
You can't go forcing something if it's just not right"
- Green Day, When I Come Around

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