Watching the video for “21st Century Breakdown,” I was struck by how it focused so often on Billie Joe. Most of the recent concert photos do the same. There’s a shot or two of Mike and Tre, and maybe even Jason. But the money shot is always Billie. It’s a strange thing about frontmen; they have a magnetic attraction that all the drum fills in the world can’t duplicate. Not that there is anything wrong with being a bassist or a drummer. They’re completely vital to a band. The leader singer just has an edge. They embody the lyrics. They are the disaffected kid banging his head against the wall, or the raging punk rock king of mayhem and madness. Done well, the crowd will eat it up.
In a lot of ways it’s the hardest job in the world. Take a bunch of people you’ve likely never seen before and make them love you. Hell, make them adore you so much that they squeal. (Did you see that mouse? It was huge and it looked just like me!) So you dig down deep into your soul, finding something they can all relate to. Then blast it so loud the whole block can hear. It takes guts to display your diagrammed heart on the big screen. Most people keep that sort of thing under lock and key. In an unlit dungeon guarded by snakes.
So yes, the frontmen get all the attention. They’re also walking the biggest tightrope. In doing so, they give us a communal experience we might not have known was possible. Night after night, across the world, on stages and computer screens everywhere, they play. It’s that moment in “Bullet in a Bible” when Billie Joe grabs the camera and starts messing with it. Or the stories he tells between songs, or the way he runs off the stage and into the thick of the crowd. Always looking for a connection, making sure everyone is involved. Bringing us all a little bit more into the gray spaces of the world, where the intangibly lovely feelings are. Funny how such a selfless thing comes off in the press coverage as selfish.
It can feel like someone is everywhere when really it’s just their words and their picture. That’s the fascination, being so close and yet so far. Giving the key to your mental code to a person you haven’t met. Trusting they will understand. Hoping they do. Waiting for a moment of magic. So I watch the video, and you can barely see my face around my smile. Hey, have you tried resisting a magnet?
October 23, 2009 at 6:27 pm [ Category: Essay, Personal ]
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