At the time I kind of liked American Idiot by Green Day but the band put me off…but in the years since I”ve realised how talented Billie-Joe Armstrong is and how it’s a very clever song.
On the 6th of January this year, Alex Melton did a ‘Bro Country’ version of American Idiot as a protest – the Bro Country being usually the soundtrack to Trumpers and the people who were part of the Capitol Insurrection. Now it might be the distance here in the UK, but I LOVE this cover, it’s actually really good and a stealth way to get those messages in a country song that these people might hear!
Especially strange is the ‘I’m not a part of a redneck agenda’ part, siince a lot of the songs in this genre revel in being a redneck.
Only bit I was ??? about was changing the word faggot. Now I’ve written about how much I fucking HATE Fairy Tale of New York‘s use as an insult as a queer man – but given Billie-Joe is LGBTQ* and it’s not an insult to stand with us and say ‘Well, maybe I’m the faggot, America’ and confront the homophobia of the ‘redneck agenda’ from the right wing..
Totally different use. I get why Alex changed it – not his word to use, but in that case, it’s actually the reverse of using it as a slur – directed at yourself, basically saying ‘so what if I am, that’s not bad?’ and very punk. Believe me, I am VERY sensitive of uses of that word, but both uses on that album are 100% on point and 100% fine. I actually didn’t know Bille-Joe is bisexual, til a few minutes ago, but even before that knowledge, I knew what he was doing with those uses, and approved the message.
Which, as we sadly now know, American Idiot the song and album is as timely as ever and never went away, just got worse 🙁
Video via @hinoirocks
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