Have you got the time
To listen to me whine
About nothing and everything all at once
So asked Billy Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Al Sobrante – aka Green Day – in their 1994 song “Basket Case”. Although preceding the advent of blogging in its current form by a good four or five years, Green Day’s song can more or less be said to have been written about the majority of bloggers, especially those who use LiveJournal, any one of which can be described as
…one of those melodramatic fools
Neurotic to the bone
No doubt about it
Green Day were never one of my favourite bands – they were a bit too neo-punk and too “sk8er boi” for my liking. I saw them perform live once at V98 in Leeds and found that their on-stage antics of smashing their guitars and burning their drumkits to be a bit meaningless considering that they did exactly the same at the other venue and that they were, in fact, all proud responsible parents.
I also realised that I didn’t particularly care for many of their songs apart from Basket Case. Whenever it’s played in a club and invariably find myself rushing to the dance floor with everyone else. It’s only recently that I’ve become aware that it is truly a bloggers anthem. To wit, the song could be a blog post itself. Take the second verse:
I went to a shrink
To analyze my dreams
She says it’s lack of sex
that’s bringing me down
I went to a whore
He said my life’s a bore
So quit my whining cause
it’s bringing her down
These are exactly the sort of words you’d expect to find in a lot of blogs out there.
So I suggest including this song on the UborMix as it is only appropriate that a CD put together by bloggers should contain a song that is about bloggers.
No doubt about it!
God.
No.
Please.
Dr Pockless is right, why not have Happy Mondays instead, a much more cheerful view of blogging –
I wrote for luck, and they sent me you
Or the mighty Glen Campbell with
Ah, the Happy Mondays. I can think of no more perfect antidote to the horrible whine that constitutes Green Day and their turgid sea shanties.
If I had the time to listen to them I’d sooner clean the oven.
Can we have Enjoy The Silence by Depeche Mode for all those bloggers on hiatus?
Can we not have any Happy Mondays, please? None. Not at all. Thank you.
I’m with Vaughan on the Happy Monday’s front. I may also side with Dr. P. in that I’d rather jam bamboo splinters under my fingernails than listen to Green Day. Except for this song and that’s only on the condition that I’m in a good club, caught up in the mood, lashed on Stella and everyone else is dancing.
It’s the only time I can pretend I’m young and naive!
The Mondays have a special place in my heart on account of the fact that Bez taught me everything I know about dancing. But don’t worry yourself, Vaughan, nobody’s going to pick them.
How about some black Grape?
Enjoy The Silence would be an excellent choice for those of us who are currently hiating. Great choice.