December 10, 2004

Green Day : Boulevard Of Broken Dreams

Green Day are Track Of The Week! Not laughing now, eh, George?

OK, so thinking that Green Day’s loony emo-snot rock epic ‘American Idiot’ was gonna help dislodge Dubya from his presidential perch was a bit like expecting the next Selfish Cunt album to see Blair bushwhacked in 2005, but hey, like RP McMurphy once said, at least they tried, goddammit. More worrying, as the sediment settles on the US elekkktion, was the absence of the young rock’n’roll hairballs from the Vote For Change shindigs, while the likes of Billie Joe, Broooce and bleedin’ Bon Jovi put their (guitar) necks on the line in a bid to prevent Arnie-geddon.

An overdue fanfare, then, for Green Day’s first Track Of the Week since ‘Basket Case’ (probably), with the suitably-titled ‘Boulevard Of Broken Dreams’. As anyone who witnessed their apocalyptic performance on Later... the other week will testify, this is a band moving beyond the self-imposed stupidity of ‘Geek Stink Breath’ and turning into a raging force for good instead. “My shadow’s the only one that walks beside me/My shallow heart’s the only thing that’s beating/Sometimes I wish someone out here will find me” croons Billie Joe in a manner which will have even The Dears’ Murray Lightburn reaching for the Kleenex.

The dream, temporarily, is over but, as serious musicians for serious times, Green Day need to be saluted.

Paul Moody