Stoakes’ Song of the Week
Well, here we are, yet another week has passed and it is time for yet another Stoakes’ Song of the Week!
With cities across the globe celebrating Pride this weekend, marking the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Inn uprising. The uprising in New York was against police persecution and was a turning point in the modern gay rights movement.
So, that got me thinking. Pride Weekend, there are lots of LGBTQ musical icons in pop. Lady Gaga, Cher, Madonna… But what about in the rock and metal world? Well, there’s Rob Halford of Judas Priest, Freddie Mercury, Elton John… but they’re all too obvious, as much as I’d love to bang on about ‘Hell Bent For Leather’ or ‘I want to Break Free’!
And then it hit me…. Greenday! Openly bisexual Billie Joe Armstrong, who in countless interviews has said he thinks “people are born bisexual, and it’s just that our parents and society kind of veer us off into this feeling of ‘Oh, I can’t.’ They say it’s taboo. It’s ingrained in our heads that it’s bad, when it’s not bad at all. It’s a very beautiful thing.”
So, we have the band, Green Day, but now, which song? Well, how about ‘Coming Clean’ – one of Green Day’s most concise songs. The song features on the bands third album, ‘Dookie’. An album which Billie Joe Armstrong confesses touches on bisexuality a lot.
Dookie was released on the 1st February 1994 and was recorded at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California. The first collaboration with producer Rob Cavallo it was a roaring success, credited for bringing Green Day and Punk Rock to mainstream popularity.
The album won a Grammy award for the best Alternative Album in 1995 and to date has sold over 20 million copies, making it Green Days best selling album.
The song Coming Clean is about the struggle an apprehension Billie faced coming to terms with his bisexuality as a teen. The result is one and a half minutes of punk rock teenage confusion! But it all resolves in the end….
“I finally figured out myself for the first time “
