Green Day Sucks

Did you know that if you Google "Green Day sucks" you get 26,700 hits? The other day, I heard Green Day's cover of "I Fought the Law" on the radio, which reminded me that I needed to add hit number 26,701 to the Internet.

I Fought the Law was written by Sonny Curtis of The Crickets, and made famous by The Bobby Fuller Four in 1966. However, it wasn't until the late 1970s that rock bands realized what a politically incendiary song this apparently simple tune could be. Not surprisingly, it was The Clash that figured this out first, and their 1978 version of the song brought its radical subtext to the surface. Jello Biafra and The Dead Kennedys followed suit shortly thereafter, using a modified version of the lyrics to skewer San Francisco councilman Dan White and his famous "Twinkie Defense."

Green Day entered the picture in 2003. The American Idiots lived up to their name, cluelessly wandering through the tune's lyrics in a way that I hadn't heard since the vacuous Linda Ronstadt teamed up with Nelson Riddle to produce a couple of unintentionally hilarious albums of standards back in the 1980s.

Fellas, there's a fundamental difference between The Sex Pistols and Nirvana; punk is all about alienation, while grunge is all about apathy. Do us all a favor, and figure out which one you're coating in sugar and peddling to the Clearasil crowd.