We beg to dream and differ.
With no disrespect to the other fine opinions voiced in this year-in-review edition of Showcase, the editors of this esteemed pamphlet would like to offer up an alternative choice for entertainer of the year:
Green Day.
That's right -- Green Day.
But, you say, their album American Idiot came out in September 2004. Allow us to retort that, yes, it has been out for more than a year, but American Idiot is still a chart mainstay, spawning hit single after hit single, in addition to a brilliant live concert DVD.
The momentum has been building ever since they unleashed this iconoclastic album -- a jagged concoction of suburban disaffection, teen alienation, anti-war outrage and furiously anti-Bush sentiment -- upon an unsuspecting populace that was, evidently, yearning for something just like it. Its refreshingly defiant message is as relevant now as it was then.
What's more, Green Day have struck a nerve with a diverse audience -- from snot-nosed punks to suburban moms -- that few other mainstream musical acts can lay claim to. They've been a constant presence on talk shows, graced the covers of numerous magazines and toured ceaselessly in support of their album and message.
Here, now, is a treatise on why 2005 should be remembered as the Green Year, in five parts (inspired by the epic five-part track Jesus Of Suburbia):
i) "Nobody likes you, everyone left you"
-- Letterbomb
Certainly, life for Green Day wasn't always this good. As so many other bands have discovered, it's hard to top your breakthrough album -- in Green Day's case, 1994's Dookie. Their subsequent discs were met with increasingly middling reviews. Sure, they could still churn out some terrifically catchy tunes -- Minority, Hitchin' A Ride -- but they seemed destined to be forever pegged with all those juvenile, three-chord punk bands that were crowding the musical horizon. They also seemed on the verge of flameout: Each member of the band -- frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike "The coolest man in rock and roll" Dirnt and drummer Tre Cool -- was going through personal problems, the nadir being Armstrong's arrest in 2003 for drunk driving.
On their recent concert DVD Bullet In A Bible, Dirnt recounts how the band was this close to breaking up after a series of indifferent practices.
But boy, did everything change with American Idiot.
ii) "I'm the son of rage and love"
-- Jesus Of Suburbia
Who would have thought Green Day had an album of this magnitude in them? After all, as has been pointed out so often by far better pundits than ourselves, these were the guys who made their name on songs about masturbation and slacking off.
But American Idiot revealed an astonishing new maturity in their work. The title track is a middle finger salute to conformity and ignorance, American-style; Jesus Of Suburbia gives voice to the rage and emptiness so many youths feel while trapped in their soulless suburban existences; Boulevard Of Broken Dreams is the band's most haunting ballad of loneliness and despair; St. Jimmy is a fast, sharp jolt of good old fashioned punk attitude; and the list goes on.
American Idiot demonstrates an artistic growth and maturity that doesn't evoke the same cynicism as, say, Blink-182's and Sum-41's recent "serious" works. And with the release of hit single after hit single -- the album's so good it could easily deliver several more -- American Idiot is fast becoming this generation's Dark Side Of The Moon. Sorry, NSYNC.
iii) "Sieg heil to the President Gasman"
-- Holiday
At a time when so many artists have been cowed by supporters of George W. Bush's war against Iraq -- the Dixie Chicks spring most readily to mind as having been browbeaten by the public for daring to speak out against the president -- Green Day stand out like a gob of spit in the face of the establishment.
The band hasn't been shy about its disdain of the Bush administration -- Holiday is one of the great anti-war anthems, with its blistering guitar and Bush-savaging lyrics. Meanwhile, Armstrong regularly introduces himself as Bush at his concerts. Other entertainers may have made a stand against the war and the president, but none have done it as vocally, vociferously and effectively as these nice California boys.
Anti-authoritarianism has never sounded so good.
iv) "Geeeez (heavy sigh)"
-- Rock And Roll Girlfriend
Hey Green Day: Less crappy dialogue in your videos, more footage of you singing the songs.
v) "Do you dream too much?"
-- The Death Of St. Jimmy
So what's next for the world's best rock band? They're reportedly set to begin work on their latest album in the New Year. Fair or not, everything they do will be measured against American Idiot -- the anticipation that followed Dookie will seem ridiculously minuscule now. That's what all the great artists do -- they set the bar high and then try to leap over it. But, for now, let's just enjoy the ride while it lasts. And let's hope there will be more Green Years to come.
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HONOURABLE MENTION
STEPHEN COLBERT
When it was announced The Daily Show would be launching its own spinoff with correspondent Stephen Colbert anchoring The Colbert Report, we felt a knot in our stomachs. Sure, Colbert was great in five-minute segments, but could he pull off a whole half-hour? Today, we hang our heads in shame. The Colbert Report is the perfect complement to The Daily Show -- Colbert's acidic mix of smarm, wit and irony make The Comedy Network's 11 p.m.-midnight block a must-see every Monday to Thursday.
