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 knowing-
ly allow adolescent or pre-adolescent children to listen to, sing along with, or sub-
liminally 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 hold-
ing 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 cov-
er — 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 girl-
friend.
"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 psychologi-
cal 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 de-
sires 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.