Punk rock bands, like the rest of us, get older. Dookie, Insomniac, Nimrod, Warning.....the songs with raucous downbeats and unabashed lyrics began to slow down as the years went by. When American Idiot was released in 2004, many called them a sell-out. You can't really compare 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams' to 'Basket Case'. Was it really the same band? For me and many others though, the album was a revelation. When the band was working on a follow-up album to Warning, all of their material went missing. Instead of whining about their stolen art and attempting to recreate what they had lost, they started with a clean slate. There had been much in-fighting between the three of them. Let's do something bold, they said. Let's do something original, they pondered. Let's challenge each other to be the best artists we can be.
To quote lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong - "We decided we were going to be the biggest band in the world or fall flat on our faces".
That's what the album meant to me - go hard or go home.
American Idiot was born - an album of revolution. An anti-war album. An album about broken homes. An album about Jesus of Suburbia - a typical American teen raised on 'soda pop and Ritalin'. An album about St. Jimmy - a punk rock freedom fighter.
An album about Whatshername: the female mother revolution figure.
And now we get to 2017.
In the days since the inauguration of our 45th president, I've been listening to this album on repeat. Beginning to end. In 2004 I blew out the speakers in my Sequoia, listening to this album, carting my kids to soccer and softball. Here we are again, Billie Joe, Mike, and Tre. We are in the midst of a revolution. It will be lead, as well-evidenced on January 21st, by Whatshername.
Remember back in the 80's when a few moms got together and formed MADD - Mothers Against Drunk Driving? I'll tell you now, my children are much more conscious of this than I ever was. Credit mothers who were tired of the carnage on the streets. Gun violence in our schools and in our homes? An organization called Every Town for Gun Safety is reshaping the narrative and pushing gun legislation agendas. Who started it? Moms.
Take away our health care? Take away a woman's right to choose. Defund Planned Parenthood? Think climate change isn't real? Make Muslims register? Think Black Lives don't matter? Think sexual orientation can be changed?
Think again.
The woman's march. It's not a moment. It's not one day. It's a movement.
Be warned. Be ready. We are woke. We are coming together. You pissed us off. We took some things for granted. We won't make that mistake again.
So contemplate this about Whatshername:
She's a rebel
She's a saint
She's salt of the earth
And she's dangerous
She's a rebel
Vigilante
Missing link on the brink
Of destruction
The revolution is here
Led by those of us in pink hats
Led by Whatshername
