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Flowers disapproves of Green Day
Who would have pegged Brandon Flowers as part of the Fox News demographic?
He's not happy with Green Day for American Idiot. He doesn't think it's "nice":
Flowers claimed he was "offended" by the song and he also had a go at Green Day for filming their 'Bullet In A Bible' DVD in England.
Flowers told The Word: "You have Green Day and 'American Idiot'. Where do they film their DVD? In England. A bunch of kids screaming 'I don't want to be an American idiot'. I saw it as a very negative thing towards Americans. It really lit a fire in me."
The singer continued: "You have the right to say what you want to say and what you want to write about, and I'm sure they meant it in the same way that Bruce Springsteen meant 'Born In The USA' and it was taken wrongly, but I was really offended when I saw them do that."
Um... Brandon, not only have you appeared to miss that American Idiot is a political song, however basic, and that there's something perhaps appropriate in getting British kids to sing it while our troops are off fighting a war ordained by an American president; not only do you actually appear to be part of the subliminal mindfuck America in the song, but the way the kids at the Milton Keynes bowl "took" the Green Day song is precisely the way you're meant to take Born In The USA? Don't you realise that - just as American Idiot was cast in the Iraq war - Bruce's song was built on disgust with the Vietnam war? Can you hear lyrics like Down in the shadow of the penitentiary/ Out by the gas fires of the refinery/ I'm ten years down the road/ Nowhere to run, ain't got nowhere to go" and think "that's a nice positive song about the US"?
Brandon, though, has got an album which he believes might be a corrective - presumably he wants it to be like Shiny Happy People:
"People need to see that, really, there are the nicest people in the world here! I don't know if our album makes you realise that. But I hope it's from a more positive place."
Brandon, while he objects to British youngsters singing along with a critique of US foreign policy, had no problems pretending to be the mother of a murdered British child. That, we guess, is his idea of a more positive place.
11 comments:
I wonder if people from Las Vegas come to London and say "What goes on in London stays in London?" Maybe they thought Green Day should have made sure that the DVD (like the local groupies) should not have been taken past Heathrow customs.
Or maybe he spent too much time reading the Daily Mail while he was over here.
Anyone know of a Hot Fuss remix project like American Edit (surely one of the best indie albums of the last decade?)?
"and I'm sure they meant it in the same way that Bruce Springsteen meant 'Born In The USA'"
er...i hate the killers, but surely this proves flowers does understand that broooce wrote a protest song in 'born...', therefore slightly disproving youre point, xrrf?!
The following two sentences are completely unintelligible. I can't decipher them from any angle, and care even less about this "story" after having attempted to read it.
"Brandon, not only have you appeared to miss that American Idiot is a political song, however basic, and that there's something perhaps appropriate in getting British kids to sing it while our troops are off fighting a war ordained by an American president, nor that you actually appear to be part of the subliminal mindfuck America in the song, but the way the kids at the Milton Keynes bowl 'took' the Green Day song is precisely the way you're meant to take Born In The USA?"
"Brandon, though, has got to be a corrective which might be a corrective - presumably he wants it to be like Shiny Happy People:"
Anon #2:
Fair point. I mangled my own post. I've fixed it back to the way it was meant to be before I got too tricksy. It probably still sucks.
Anon #1:
Yes, Flowers might have got that Born in the USA was a protest song, but he doesn't seem to have got that it was written with the acrid smell of disgust in Brooce's nostrils: Born In The USA isn't a "nice" song, which is the complaint he's hurling at Green Day.
What I think is most funny is that Flowers is all "Yay America! How dare Green Day film their DVD in Britain" when he created a whole faux-British persona on Hot Fuss, complete with fake accent.
I get what Brandon means. He's upset at the fact that British kids would take the whole meaning of American Idiot the wrong way, because it DOES mean something different in other countries.
dude green day isnt anti american they just hate george bush and they were just saying u dont need to be pushed around by some 1 and u can do wut u want and dont be afriad to be the minority and maybe i hate george bush but im american and they were just randomly in england
ok dude u r sooooooooo wrong the song american idiot is not about george bush ok!and billie joe (lead singer)is not some emo mean person thing he is the best dad ever and he is so nice n funny and he would ever offend american but he would offend george bush but ya know
What's with the fake British accent? Never understood that. Damn mockney.
Dear Brandon, there are more Brits who know not all Americans are idiots than there are Americans who know Scotland is not in England.
I'm guessing Green Day filmed their video in England [and/or Scotland] because they were in England [and/or Scotland] at the time it had to be done and only an idiot would demand they mess loyal fans about for the sake of a video shoot.
This is an old post, but the author of this post doesn't understand Flowers' comment. Flowers understands that Born in the USA is a protest song. The irony is obvious to anyone who's intimate with a Vietnam vet. It appears he understands that better than the rest of you. It's a song about betrayal and sacrifice but still veterans can't be anything other than that which they were born. They are Americans. It's inevitable that most European kids singing American Idiot have a more simplistic idea of what the song means than that intended by Armstrong--a fact acknowledged by Armstrong's practice of prefacing the song (and others from the album) with "this song is not anti-American" etc.
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