Growing up is inevitable, but it ain't always good for business.
Which makes the second-coming of California pop punkers Green Day all the more remarkable.
The trio -- performing a sold-out show tonight at the Saddledome -- is currently touring their latest CD American Idiot, which has sold more than six million copies thus far and is arguably the hottest rock record released in the past two years.
It also happens to be the band's most mature effort -- a concept record that tackles U.S. social and political issues with smarts and subtlety.
Compare that with how the band was previously known -- as a group of smarmy wisenheimers who wrote songs about masturbation and general slacker-friendly doofusery.
It worked at the time -- in the mid-'90s, when they released their massive major label debut Dookie -- basically because they offered a childish alternative to the moribund bunch of plaid-wearers such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam, who had previously been setting the tone.
For the past few years, though, as their tone changed only slightly, they ran the risk of losing both their old fans, who had, presumably grown-up, and those younger music-buyers who get what they need from the music of Simple Plan.
Green Day had to know that, and they had to know what was riding on American Idiot when they were writing and recording it, and the fact that the album doesn't sound calculated as a result also says a great deal about it and them.
It allowed them to grow up gracefully without growing old -- look at the eye makeup -- and thereby allowed them to redefine themselves without reinventing themselves.
Of course, music history is full of stories of artists and acts attempting to mature or at least appear that way in order to remain relevant to the public.
Look at the Monkees, who tried to stave off elimination by making the incredibly insane drug film Head.
Then there's David Cassidy, who, wanting to put aside his teeny bopper Partridge Family image, famously told Rolling Stone magazine tales of sex, drugs and ... well, whatever you want to call it, and ridiculously posed nude for the issue.
Of course, there's also Madonna, who's made a career of growing up and moving forward musically -- to varying degrees of success.
More recently, you can look at how it's been done right and how it's been done wrong with a pair of pop divas.
Christina Aguilera, on one hand, has gradually and successfully gone from Mouskateer to skank to something of a serious -- we use the term relatively -- artist, showing off her powerful vocals on awards shows and industry showcases.
The next time she releases an album it will actually be taken seriously.
Her counterpart, Britney Spears, on the other hand moved from Catholic schoolgirl poptart to skank to married skank to impregnated hillbilly skank with a camcorder.
The next time she releases an album, it might actually be taken out and shot.
Even in the pop punk genre, the move to maturity has been something of a trend of late, as well as a hit-or-miss proposition.
Blink-182 joined the fray with a 2003 self-titled release that also played down its goofball past, and did so effectively.
Good Charlotte on the other hand, failed miserably with the so-obviously titled The Chronicles of Life and Death.
Somehwere in the middle were Canadian boys Sum 41 who took the mature route with the more metal release Chuck and then appeared in orchestral form for this year's Junos.
The album worked partially, the performance worked not at all, and if you attended one of their concerts you would have found a predominantly pre-teen audience screaming for the old songs.
Which once again goes to show you that to grow up and grow out as well as Green Day has, is something of an accomplishment -- and not one that any idiots can achieve.
