Okay, I think the Times Online is going a wee bit too far. The UK news operation kicks off a story about the MTV Video Music Awards with the very leading, “Green Day, the anti-war punk rockers, swept the MTV Video Music Awards in a sign that American popular culture is turning against US presence in Iraq”.
I’m a big Green Day fan, but I wouldn’t call their seven awards some sign anti-war sentiments are sweeping America or American popular culture. “Swept” and “turning against” are such, well, sweeping descriptions. Where are all the anti-war TV shows, movies, songs, clothes, jewlery, or (forbid) protests?
Throw a stone down Connecticut Ave. and I’m in Washington, but I haven’t seen anti-war protestors roaring down Pennsylvania Ave. The war may not sit right with a lot people, particularly as gas prices rise. But, I’m figuring Green Day’s success has more to do with good music than the war.
Photo Credit: Jackie “Sister 72”