Punk Problems
On Green Day, using your platform and the same old bullshit.
Did anyone see the Kid Rock Halftime show performance? I was busy on Sunday night. I couldn’t tune in. I had to watch Bad Bunny. I saw a few clips. I wasn’t impressed. I don’t think anyone was. This is going to be a blip in the long history of the Super Bowl Halftime Show. In 4 years, someone will mention on a podcast, “Remember when Kid Rock did his Halftime show for republicans?” Maybe 20 years from now, some podcast in the same vein as American Hysteria or You’re Wrong About will mention that this was a thing at one point in time to drive home the point that we were divided over who would perform at the Super Bowl.
In 5-20 years, we’ll also probably forget that Green Day played a pregame kickoff for Super Bowl LX. That’s fine. While I think I could name every headline artist for the Super Bowl Halftime Show since 2000, I couldn’t name all the people that performed before the game. If I was 13, I probably would’ve eaten this up as an immortal performance. At 31, I realized that this was a performance simply for the moment, and like many others, I felt like Green Day didn’t live up to the moment.
I suppose part of growing up is realizing that in reality, Green Day probably had some contract that warned them against profanity or grand political statements. The Super Bowl doesn’t pay their Halftime performers, but I’m not sure if that same rule extends to the people who play before the game. I’m sure whenever the trio signed their contract, they didn’t know that I.C.E. would murder innocent protesters, and maybe they felt like it would be okay to skip out on the “MAGA agenda” line just one time. This was Bad Bunny’s moment, and Green Day were just the opening act.
Still, after seeing Billie Joe Armstrong speak so directly against I.C.E., Stephen Miller, and a bunch of creeps that went to Epstein’s Island, it felt so bland. It was so exciting to see Armstrong playing these intimate shows, doing his usual snarky delivery. Then, it felt like just going through the motions when they played the biggest stage. Sure “American Idiot” and “Holiday” are incredibly political, but Green Day hasn’t ever been the best about writing about politics.
It made me think about all the times that people dunk on people for being upset that Tom Morello and Rage Against The Machine “got political.” The point has come through so many times that I’m tired when people say “what machine did you think they were raging against?” I suppose the thing that people miss about RATM is that the songs aren’t always the most crystal clear. I loved those songs, but I didn’t always know all the lyrics, so even though the band have been very explicit during their onstage banter and imagery, I could also listen to “Guerilla Radio” and miss references to Mumia Abu-Jamal, because Zack de la Rocha’s enunciation isn’t always clear.
A lot of people misunderstanding what someone was saying both literally and poetically is part of why we get Republicans who think that “American Idiot” or “Killing In The Name Of” can also serve as right-wing anthems. I wish I could shake everyone that the “Another protester has crossed the line/to find the money’s on the other side” line is about capitalism fueling destructive systems, but I also know that most people aren’t going to Genius to dissect every little line.
In a similar vein, people were angry that Turnstile didn’t use their Grammy platform to speak out about Palestine or I.C.E. when they won the award. After winning, I felt like it was a nice touch for the band to include those in their statement. I suppose part of my frustration with this comes from the fact that I know many bandwagon fans that joined with Never Enough, who could care less about a band making a political statement. I’ve spent a fair amount of time watching videos of bands like Have Heart speak out about issues or hearing Inclination call out mass corruption at tiny shows.
Part of getting older is getting jaded by the powers at be. As much as we want to act like educating at a show about injustice can change the world, it’s frustrating to realize how many people just forget what’s said between songs as soon as they exit a venue.