Possible Death Wish VI Plot

Courage. One thing I LOVE in you guys is when I see you living courageously. Being friends with Me is a wild adventure, and if you don’t feel that, then you’re probably not really trying to be My friend. My true friends down there live it up. Being My friend is not easy because I really love it when you take risks to be My friend. Taking risks is not too common for a lot of you guys, and I think this is one of the main reasons why a lot of you don’t want to be My friend. Then you blame other stuff so it doesn’t sound like a lack of courage, which really makes Me sad. It’s cool though, I’m pretty used to you guys making Me sad, and I love you anyway.

That being said, sometimes it takes courage to stand up for something you love. For some of you, that is sharing with others that you and I are friends. For others, it takes courage to share with others some of the rock and roll bands you secretly are in love with. I recently got a comment post after an album review on this blog from a friend that said as follows:

Dear Jesus: Could you also review Greenday? I think they have immensely let us punk rockers down. Please school them in loyalty to punk and not selling out to corporate music machines. Thank you.

There are many problems on Earth because of that wretched fruit Eve ate, and “cool kid” hatred for Green Day is one of them. I know a lot of Jr. High kids. The majority HATE Green Day. HATE! They will post this on their My Space. And here’s what’s so rough about that… Green Day is an amazing band. Their last album was unbelievably good. It was smart, catchy, had pop hooks galore, loud, creative, and surprisingly… courageous. I mean, they actually had not one but two songs on that album clocking in at over 9 minutes… what were GOOD! As far as catchy punky teenybop pop rock, they sell millions because they are the best.

Now that might be where most freak out. “Since when was Green Day a ‘catchy punky teenybop pop rock’ band?!!!” Always. Since CD 1 all the way to now. From their little “1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hour”, through “Dookie”, to “American Idiot”, Green Day has always been a safe poppy punk band for kiddies. A PG-13 and mallified version of the Ramones, easy to sell to the masses of little mall kids too cool for boy bands but not cool enough for Sonic Youth. Green Day has owned this market, and they are the best at it.

Regarding their selling out… they never sold out because they never were holding back anything not for sale. These guys stayed true to who they were from day one until now. They were always for sale, and this isn’t a bad thing. Teenyboppers literally over 10 years ago were yelling “sell outs!” when “Dookie” was released, and they will be yelling it whenever their next album comes out, too. We only care when a band sells out if it’s a band we want to make fun of anyway. The Shins were in a McDonalds commercial and I don’t remember too many people trying to put them into sweaters with the scarlet letters “S” and “O” sewed to them. Didn’t The Ramones write songs for the “Pet Cemetary” soundtrack? They’ve had covers of them singing Louis Armstrong songs and the world seems to think that’s fine. Yet somehow they were able to sell more t-shirts than albums.

So the problem here is not “Green Day sucks". The problem is when music becomes fashion. When kids wear their bands on their sleeves in order to attach themselves to something they would like to be associated with. Sonic Youth concerts were filled with kids who wanted to able to say they went to the Sonic Youth concert and bought the t-shirt… but still can’t sing along to any of the songs. Kids find security and connectivity by liking and disliking certain bands, regardless if they can sing any word of that band’s songs or not. Kids are quick to mock another kid for liking a band that is considered un-hip, which makes as much since as mocking a kid for liking a lunch meat that is considered un-hip. “Ha, ha! Jimmy likes honey baked ham!”

I made each of you with different tastes, different likes and dislikes, different passions for different forms of music. Quit trying to change your tastes that I gave you just so you fit a certain mold that you wish you were. You are not that way. I made you the way you are on purpose. You are unique. You are special. You are the only you I made. Don’t act like you are not who you are because somebody might make fun of how I made you. This is REALLY HARD to do. It is what I mean when I say it is hard to follow Me. It takes courage. Want to test how courageous you are? Admit to people that the last Green Day album was good. Tell three friends today that you thought that last Green Day album was pretty loud and fun.

I mostly don’t much enjoy music that is labeled official “Christian Rock”. I usually think a lot of Christian culture limps behind normal culture, poorly mimicking it while replacing anything questionable with My name or pictures of Me. “If you like this normal band, then how about this sugar-free version of the band that isn’t quite as good?!” That being said, I did make some of you able to not only enjoy this type of music, but LOVE this type of music. It’s definitely not for everybody, but it definitely is for some. If you think it’s hard to name drop Green Day as a band you enjoy, try name dropping DC Talk with a straight face. Well, that’s what one of My favorite bloggers did this week, over at Music For Kids Can’t Read Good. You wanna see courage, check this post out. You are a brave soul, Taylor. People can learn by your courage.