{"id":1610,"date":"2018-04-26T18:58:51","date_gmt":"2018-04-26T18:58:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/?p=1610"},"modified":"2018-04-26T18:58:51","modified_gmt":"2018-04-26T18:58:51","slug":"arachnophonia-green-day-american-idiot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/2018\/04\/arachnophonia-green-day-american-idiot\/","title":{"rendered":"Arachnophonia: Green Day “American Idiot”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note:<\/strong> Arachnophonia<\/a> is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about items in the Parsons Music Library<\/a>\u2018s collection. All links included in these posts will take you to either the library catalog record for the item in question<\/a> or to additional<\/a> relevant<\/a> information<\/a> from<\/a> around<\/a> the<\/a> web.<\/a><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s installment of Arachnophonia<\/a> is by Music Library student worker, Duncan (class of 2018) and features American rock band Green Day’s 2004 album American Idiot<\/a><\/strong>. Thanks, Duncan!<\/em><\/p>\n

Green Day<\/a><\/p>\n

American Idiot<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Green<\/p>\n

In discussions of individuals\u2019 favorite music, it is often noted how certain songs, albums, and artists have a significant amount of \u201cstaying power\u201d with those individuals. These works have managed, at numerous stages of people\u2019s lives, to maintain their resonance. For me, the album that has had this degree of prolonged impact is Green Day\u2019s 2004 album, American Idiot<\/em><\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"Green<\/p>\n

\tI was raised on \u201coldies\u201d music. Throughout my childhood, starting around the age of three or four, I would go to bed each night with the music of The Beatles<\/a>, The Monkees<\/a>, or Simon and Garfunkel<\/a> (among others) quietly playing on the boom box which rested on my bedside table. I distinctly remember my parents burying their heads in their hands in embarrassment as I sang along to The Monkees\u2019 Greatest Hits<\/a> on a crowded flight. All of this is to say that, for as long as I can remember, I had been primed for an appreciation for rock & roll.<\/p>\n

\tThen, when I was in fourth grade, I came across the song \u201cHoliday<\/a>\u201d on YouTube<\/a>, and I was immediately enamored. I am the son of a (progressive, it should be noted) North Carolina pastor, and had not yet been exposed to the bluntness, ruggedness, and vulgarity of punk music. While I certainly did not understand the political significance of the song at the time (the song is a criticism of the invasion of Iraq<\/a>), I enjoyed the edginess of the track; it seemed charged with angst and sarcasm. One YouTube spiral<\/a> later, I was begging my parents for the album for months. Eventually, my parents were worn down by my persistence, and bought me the album<\/a>.<\/p>\n