From the Archive: "Bobby Sox"- Green Day
On Getting Political
Good morning! I want to extend a warm welcome to all of my new subscribers. This publication has had the support of an amazing community here on Substack for the past year and a half and I’m so grateful that you’re here and enjoying the ride as I uncover the queer history of rock & roll. Last week, I did a deep dive into punk rock’s queer beginnings, writing both an article and dedicating a radio episode to the topic. It felt like a good through line to reach into the archive and re-share my post about Green Day, who carry on the queer legacy of punk music today. My radio episode will be shared tomorrow and will include great music by bands like Hüsker Dü, Stiff Little Fingers, The Jam, Buzzcocks, Pansy Division, and The Replacements. Be on the lookout for that tomorrow.
Maybe Green Day isn’t for you, Elon.
The world’s richest man led the vitriol on social media after Green Day’s appearance on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, just before the ball dropped on 2023. People who’d never bothered to listen to the band’s lyrics throughout their 30-year career finally took notice as they performed the 2004 hit, “American Idiot.” Singer Billie Joe Armstrong altered the lyrics from the original line, “I’m not a part of a redneck agenda” to “I’m not a part of the MAGA agenda.” MAGA enthusiasts including Elon Musk came to the surprising realization that Green Day didn’t play for their team.
Inserting politics into the music wasn’t some 2024 “new year, new me” resolution for Green Day. It wasn’t even the first time they’d targeted Trump. Armstrong led a chant during their 2016 American Music Awards performance: “No Trump, no KKK, no fascist U.S.A.” If Musk had listened more closely to the original lyrics to “American Idiot,” he’d know that the “machine” Green Day rages against has always been the same. In fact, Musk might recognize it in the mirror — corporate greed, fascist leadership, and bigotry against the queer community.
Well maybe I’m the faggot America
I’m not a part of a redneck agenda.
Green Day’s explosion from California’s punk scene to mainstream superstardom happened almost exactly 30 years ago with the release of their breakout 1994 album, Dookie. They picked up where Nirvana left off after the death of Kurt Cobain that same year. Like Nirvana, Green Day’s music championed the bored, anxiety-riddled teen trapped by suburbia. Another similarity: Green Day's aggro image might’ve deceived fans who didn’t listen carefully to their lyrics. Plus, Cobain and Armstrong both spoke publicly about their bisexuality and wrote songs from that experience. "Talking about his sexuality, Kurt was doing something good," Armstrong told The Advocate in 1995. “People think you have to be so macho. People get attacked just because someone insinuates something about their sexuality. I think that's gruesome."
Green Day’s first single from Dookie, “Longview,” introduces Armstrong as an unmotivated, un-showered loser drowning in his own apathy.
Call me pathetic, call me what you will
My mother says to get a job
But she don't like the one she's got
When masturbation's lost its fun, you're fuckin' lazy
It’s their second single, “Basket Case,” when we learn that the reason partly for Armstrong’s suffering is his confusion about his sexuality. In therapy, a psychologist suggests getting laid might break his dour mood. So he goes in search of a prostitute.
I went to a whore
He said my life's a bore
So quit my whining 'cause it's bringing her down
Armstrong purposefully uses both “he” and “she” pronouns to nod to his bisexuality. He solicited both a man and a woman — and was insulted by both.
The hints get more overt in “Coming Clean.”
I finally figured out myself for the first time
Now mom and dad will never understand
What’s happening to me.
In the 1995 interview with The Advocate, Armstrong confirms that “Coming Clean” is a song about realizing as a teen that he’s bisexual. Armstrong would again tackle the theme of heteronormative limitations in the band’s 1997 album, Nimrod. “King For a Day” celebrates queerness and gender expression as an act of defiance.
My daddy threw me in therapy
He thinks I'm not a real man
Who put the drag in the drag queen?
Don't knock it until you've tried it
Sugar and spice and everything nice wasn't made for only girls
GI Joe in panty hose
Is making room for the one and only
King for a day, princess by dawn
King for a day in a leather thong
King for a day, princess by dawn
Just wait 'til all the guys get a load of me
If the songs weren’t a clear enough message about the type of audience Green Day courted, the band also made a powerful statement by inviting out queer punk group Pansy Division as the opening act on their first tour. Armstrong told OUT magazine that bigots weren’t welcome at his shows. “When our crowds were getting more mainstream, we didn’t want to represent the typical Mohawk stereotype. I got letters from teenagers saying, after seeing Pansy Division, they had the courage to come out. I saw certain idiots in the crowd yelling ‘faggots’ or throwing shit but I also saw people dancing and having a good time. Homophobia has no place in the punk scene or the mainstream. I think we share that belief with Pansy Division. Punk rock has been rather queer since the beginning.”
Green Day turned their spotlight to politics with the release of 2004’s American Idiot. Dismayed by the events surrounding 9/11 and the Iraq War, Armstrong mocked the Bush presidency and America’s growing culture wars. Guitar World magazine summed up the album’s themes: “American Idiot draws a casual connection between contemporary social dysfunction and the Bush ascendancy.” The band was often booed while doing shows in conservative states including Tennessee and Texas. During performances, Armstrong would chant, “Fuck George W. Bush.” He admitted in a 2005 interview with Rolling Stone that they did “everything to piss people off,” including wearing masks onstage that resembled Bush. Despite angering conservatives, American Idiot became Green Day’s first No. 1 album in the United States, staying on the charts over 100 weeks.
Green Day has always been a progressive band, so it’s no surprise to anyone paying attention that they wouldn’t be fans of former president Donald Trump. The “MAGA Agenda” includes demagoguing immigrants, banning gender-affirming care, and banning simple things like “diversity, equity, and inclusion.” When TMZ asked for Armstrong’s response to the backlash over changing the lyrics to “American Idiot,” he simply responded by blowing them a kiss. The next day, Green Day released their queerest music video to date. In the video for “Bobby Sox,” Armstrong hosts the greatest backyard concert of all time with a diverse guest list from all walks of life dancing and hugging and having a great fucking time together. Armstrong screams joyfully, “Do you wanna be my girlfriend? Do you wanna be my boyfriend?” This is the “machine” that, according to Elon Musk, Green Day is “milquetoastedly raging for.”
Ten bucks says Musk’s trans daughter just went out and bought a Green Day T-shirt.
I remember the furor over American Idiot when it came out. Listen to the lyrics, always, people! Good for Green Day!