Newsgroup: it.arti.cinema
Titolo: (OT) Musica e giovani e Mcjob

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=105&ItemID=12914
ZNet May 26, 2007
[Green Day performed "Working Class Hero on the two-
hour session finale of American Idol May 23.- Portside]
Are Green Day Kicking Ass for the Working Class?
By Alexander Billet
When a band like Green Day venture into the shark-
infested waters of cover songs, there is good reason to
expect a symphony or groans.  For the past ten-plus
years, they have been the poster boys for corporate
rock.  Since their breakout, they have mostly conjured
up images of suburban teenage angst; the perfect
soundtrack for smoking cigarettes behind the gym after
school and prattling on about how mom and dad don't
understand, but not a band of much substance.  To the
deeply committed punk rock community (where I cut my
teeth), they are the ultimate heresy: 'sell outs.'
In a way, the three boys from Berkeley are still trying
to shake that label with their latest foray: a cover of
John Lennon's 'Working Class Hero' on Amnesty
International's Darfur benefit album.  If you're both a
Green Day hater and a cover-song purist (not to mention
a Lennon fan), you will already be rolling your eyes.
You would also be missing the point.
Even the most jaded of music fans has to admit there is
something to be said for the shift in the band's
material over the past few years.  The world was
rightfully surprised when American Idiot was released,
not only that they released a record that was not only
of substance, but that seemed to actually make a
statement.  In the political desert that was the 2004
elections, American Idiot's release was a welcome
oasis; one of the biggest bands in the world was
actually taking sides!
Like it or not, Green Day has the attention of millions
of listeners.  What they say matters to a very large
swath of understandably alienated youth.  Anthony
Roman, frontman for the politically charged Brooklyn
based Radio 4 pointed out 'a lot of people make fun of
Green Day, but they're the band that's getting through
to twelve and fourteen year old kids.  They're the band
that's getting to people when they're at an
impressionable age and letting them know what's wrong
with this country.'  This is what made American Idiot
important, what makes their version of 'Working Class
Hero' important too.
In a way, it is also strangely appropriate.  This song
was written not too long after Lennon had shed his
'former Beatle' image and was coming into his own as a
solo artist.  In the radical years of the late
sixties/early seventies, Lennon had identified himself
as a revolutionary.  'Working Class Hero' was a
highlight of this era in his work.  It is a calculating
yet angry story of lower class alienation.  And there
is no doubt that it reached an audience who took his
call to arms very seriously.
To be honest, Green Day's version doesn't quite measure
up.  Lennon's original was right on the mark when he
highlighted his powerful lyrics with nothing more than
a lone acoustic guitar.  Green Day's attempt to "punk
it up" with overdriven guitars and thumping drums, not
to mention Billy Joe Armstong's trademark nasal
delivery, in the end just muddles the message.
But that does not pull away from what the revival of
this song means in this troubled moment in time. 'We
wanted to do ‘Working Class Hero' because its themes of
alienation, class and social status really resonated
with us' is Armstrong's claim.  And it would be naïve
to think they're the only ones.  How much of Green
Day's ever-swelling fan base is made up of kids staring
down a life of bagging groceries for a living?  How
many of them will resonate with what Lennon's lyrics
say: 'as soon as you're born they make you feel small,'
or 'they hurt you at home and they hit you at school?'
More importantly, how many of them will hear the issue
of class talked about for perhaps the first time in
their lives?  In a country that is perpetually mis-
labeled as middle class, the blackout on the growing
ranks of the working poor is not an accident.  We hear
about a prosperous economy, rags to riches stories and
the exploits of the rich and famous.  We don't hear
about the millions without health care, the growing
amount of McJobs and the biggest wealth gap in the
industrialized world.  For a young Green Day fan, angry
and alienated at the world, this song may actually be
something to identify with.
____
Alexander Billet is a music journalist and activist
living in Washington DC.  He is a regular writer for
Znet and Dissident Voice, and has also appeared in
MRzine, Socialist Worker, and CounterPunch.  He is
currently working on his first book The Kids Are
Shouting Loud: The Music and Politics of the Clash.
His blog, Rebel Frequencies, can be viewed at
http://rebelfrequencies.blogspot.com
, and he can be
reached at 
alexb...@hotmail.com
-- 
www.iaciners.org

 By Alexander Billet
Interessante
N.