Green Day: A Guilty Pleasure

It began 10 years ago in the winter of 2004.

Actually, it began the summer of 1994.
Lollapalooza.
I was eighteen.
A road trip across the state of Washington.
A first real taste of freedom.
… but not the story I’m telling today.

20 years… so many memories.

In 2004 I was reintroduced to Green Day.
I used to listen to American Idiot on Napster.
Napster…

Although the album Dookie introduced me to Green Day, American Idiot spoke to me on a personal level.
I’m not going to do a song by song analysis.
It’s silly and everyone interprets lyrics differently.
I have memories attached to them all.

Wake Me Up When September Ends always makes me think of my father.

Broadway Idiot

Are We the Waiting is always fun to belt out alone while driving.

Music can be an escape.
… cathartic.
We identify with the lyrics.
… or get lost in the music.

I recently watched Broadway Idiot on Netflix.
I loved it!
It was emotional for me.
… and it has led to pondering.

Happiness is fleeting.
This I know.

I think as humans, we get the idea if we go somewhere else, we will be someone else.
I can’t explain this.
… this need to escape one’s self.

I try to live with no regrets.
To not dwell.
To be in the present moment.

I struggle…

I am no stranger to loss.
I can make believe it doesn’t bother me.
… it hurts.
I am angry.
I am bitter.
I am lonely.

I have listened to the song Jesus of Suburbia obsessively.
… for ten years.
I feel this song could be my life anthem.
… loss of faith.
… self-doubt.
… detachment.
… avoidance.
… self-destruction.
… the need to belong.

The emotion expressed in Broadway Idiot would have been amazing to see in person.
I imagine I would have cried.

Nathan and I went to NYC for his birthday in 2011.
… a whole different story.
… perhaps to be told at some other time.
After watching Broadway Idiot, I’m a little sad I missed the opportunity to see it live in NYC.

American Idiot on Broadway, February 2011, NYC

I’ve always enjoyed the simplicity and forwardness of Green Day.
I think even if you were never a fan, there’s a memory attached to at least one of their songs.