MY VIEW

I wonder how many parents, when they buy their children Green Day CD's or concert tickets, are actually aware of what their kids are listening to. This immensely popular alternative punk band seems to have a widespread appeal to the under-15 crowd and is often marketed specifically to that group.
Personally I am convinced that no moral parent in the world would knowingly allow adolescent or pre-adolescent children to listen to, sing along with, or subliminally absorb the sort of lyrics, messages and images contained in songs sung by Green Day and successfully promoted by their super-mega-buck corporate sponsors Time-Warner. Most parents, I believe actually don't know, despite warning stickers that may appear on the albums.
I've done some research.
The cover of a recent Green Day CD, "Kerplunk," depicts a teen-age girl holding a gun with smoke coming out of its barrel.
The liner notes are particularly interesting. "My Adventures with Green Day" by Laurie L??? is a 1,300-word article written in the style of what one hopes is a fictionalized diary entry.
It was included prominently in the liner notes but did not appear on either cover — apparently it was meant to be read only after the CD had been purchased.
To synopsize briefly, it seems that Lauric L. has won a chance to go on tour with the band Green Day for four days but her parents won't let her. She says:
"For once I decided not to put up with (my parents') crap. I'd die to go on tour with Green Day ... but (a friend) asked 'would you kill'? ... and I said 'yeah, I guess I would'... That night I offered to help my mother with dinner. Then, when she wasn't looking, I emptied all of Claude's (poison) capsules into the mashed potatoes. Then I said I didn't feel like eating and went upstairs and listened to all of my Green Day records five or six times. After awhile I stuck my head out the door.
"'Yuck!' I heard my father saying.
"These are the worst mashed potatoes I've ever tasted in my life!'
"But my mother yelled at him, 'You eat those potatoes or I'll dump them over your head and shove the plate up your —'
"I went downstairs and they were both flopped out on the floor like totally dead
. . . Luckily we have a brand-new garbage disposal, so I took a butcher knife and cut mom and dad into pieces and put them down the garbage. It took a long time, and it was kind of messy, but I kept singing all my favorite Green Day songs and it made the work easier."
Later, Laurie tells Green Day's Billy Joe she killed her parents to be with the band. Billy Joe laughs. "Killed your parents, huh? That's pretty cool."
Kerplunk has a track entitled "Dominated Love Slave":
"I want to be your dominated love slave/I want to be the one that takes the pain/You can spank me when I do not behave/I want you to slap me and call me naughty/Put a belt sander against my skin."
Green Day's most popular disc to date, "Dookie" was backed by Time-Warner and sold 8 million copies. There's much to choose from in this sick, warped and successful disc, but here is a selection.
(The tape is available at every music store and probably almost any child between 10 and 15 can sing the lyrics to you.)
The song "Pulling Teeth" is about a boy who is repeatedly beaten by his girlfriend.
"Basket Case" includes the lines: "I went to a shrink to analyze my dreams/SHE said it's lack of sex that's bringing you down/I went to a whore HE said my life's a bore/And quit my whining 'cause its bringing HER down."
By no means are Billy Joe Armstrong or Green Day the sole or worst offenders in the category of corporate-produced trash. The band's earliest recordings, though no less controversial, seem to be more of an exploration of the psychological damage suffered by one sick individual and, possibly, his attempts to heal himself through music.
But between the prodding of corporate sponsors and perhaps the band's own desires to pander to perverse tastes, Billy Joe and the boys from Green Day have become unfit for children. Parents be warned.

FRANK PARLATO JR., a real estate developer and social activist, lives in Tonawanda.

The following is a response to the above article, 10 years after it was written

January 12, 2007

I just finished reading your highly amusing article "Parents should check out punk band's lyrics". First off, you try and come off all clever, as though you have done your homework into the subject matter, when in fact, you can't even spell the "psychologically damaged" persons name correctly.
Shows how much you researched your information. This concerns me as I no longer believe what I read as it all could all just be.....made up. It especially worries me that other will believe that everything your writing is fact.

 You listed the lyrcis of 'Basket Case', capitalising the 'SHE' and 'HE' sections. To me, its as though your saying its appaling because its a male whore. Are you saying if it was a female whore that I'd be ok? Sounds a bit homophobic to me....

 Why do you pick on Green Day and Punk Rock in general? You think its wrong to have a cartoon gun on the front of an album cover (which can easily be viewed in cartoons such as Tom and Jerry) but be ok with black gangsters with real guns on the front? Almost every rap song includes something about killing and prostitutes and is still bought by people of thesame age. Which is why it confuses me that you chose Punk Rock to pick on for the hell of it.

 So basically, I don't understand what your article means..... you've
 decided to choose a genre just because you don't like that style of music and criticise every aspect of it when other genres are worse on the topics you brought up.

 Parents be warned.....don't believe everything you read on the internet as they probably haven't done thier research.

Jam

 

Here is Frank Parlato's rebuttal to his letter

Dear Jam

 I published that green day article about ten years ago, (April 10th, 1996) inspired by my then eight year old son's interest in that particular band.
 What I found interesting at the time was the way the promoters of the band marketed the band to pre-adolescent kids.
 A few points you made might be worth clarifying

 You wrote "You listed the lyrics of 'Basket Case', capitalizing the 'SHE' and 'HE'  sections. To me, it's as though you're saying it's appalling because it's a male whore. Are you saying if it was a female whore that I'd be ok? Sounds a bit homophobic to me...."
 I think that a singer singing songs for children - going to a whore - male or female is perverse. Not so much for going to the whore, but for singing about it. Next, whereas I am not afraid of homosexuality, I do not like to see it promoted to children. And while I believe that it is the right of every individual to choose their own lifestyle, I personally believe that some of the practices normally employed by male homosexuals are not conducive to good health."


>>" Why do you pick on Green Day and Punk Rock in general? You think it's wrong  to have a cartoon gun on the front of an album cover (which can easily be  viewed in cartoons such as Tom and Jerry) but be ok with black gangsters with real guns on the front? Almost every rap song includes something about  killing and prostitutes and is still bought by people of the same age. Which is why it confuses me that you chose Punk Rock to pick on for the hell of it."<<


I am not of course picking on Punk for the hell of it. I am currently writing a series of article on Gangster Rap - which is far more hideous than Green Day.... At that time, 10 years ago, my eight year old son asked me about "what being stoned" meant? That's when I started looking into their lyrics. I found it pretty convincing when I observed that their concerts had mainly early teens and pre-teens in the audience, and at one concert, they had an adults area- where they served the parents alcohol and provided entertainment - while their children were inside listening to lyrics about going to whores, getting stoned, having your girlfriend beat you up, and masturbation.

 I asked a number of parents about these lyrics and none of them even had a clue until it was brought to their attention.... Is that picking on Punk, I don't know.... It deserves to be mentioned that parents are not always aware of the hidden messages that media foists upon their children. That
 was the point of the article. Ten years later, I know the problem is worse- and there are worse genres than punk- but I stand by what I wrote...

Thanks for your comments...