No, it isn't April Fools, you're reading that correctly. Apparently this is actually happening-- Davey Havok, frontman of hardcore/feline-core band AFI, is joining the cast of the American Idiot musical.
According to Yahoo News (which may not be the most reputable source, because I once read an article from them saying that the deceased Andy Kauffman had returned to life after an elaborate multiple-decade-spanning death hoax, which prompted me to in turn tell all my friends about it, only to be mocked for not realizing that Yahoo News has the journalistic integrity of The Weekly World News) Davey Havok will be playing the role of St. Jimmy after Billie Joe's departure. Get ready for some heavy "oh!"s.
Apparently St. Jimmy is a malleable enough role that it can be played by an anorexic gothic actor, Billie Joe, Melissa Etheridge, Davey Havok, or Clifford The Big Red Dog. Personally, I'm hoping Tim Armstrong or Lars Frederiksen from Rancid take on the role next, either so that we can hear Tim add his own personal linguistic approach to some simple lines, or so that Lars can demand a circle pit before the bridge of the song. Maybe there will be a shout out to Ben Zanatto too.
Remember how in the actual record of American Idiot it was ambiguous whether or not Jesus Of Suburbia and St. Jimmy were the same person, different characters, or all different parts of Billie Joe's subconscious? Not here. They're actually all parts of Billie Joe's cash cow.
Now I'm not here to say this entire thing is for money. When I first heard that American Idiot was being turned into a musical, I decided to reserve my judgements until I saw it for myself. As a Green Day fan, I owed them at least that. Plus, I respected that they were trying to be creative and pushing boundaries of punk and pop music.
But let me tell you, I saw the musical, and it was a huge steaming pile. It sucked, but in a way that I couldn't really quantify. At first it was somewhat cool it see a live band and people singing an album that meant a lot to me, with the same passion that I felt towards it. But somehow, it all just felt like an act (which shouldn't really be surprising, since it IS acting). The faux choreographed headbanging, the leather jacket costumes mixed with 90's replicas of Green Day's own actual outfits, the skirts with random zippers, the vague plot lines involving liquor and drugs, or uh, the people flying (yes, people fly) it all just felt really trivial. It was like someone looked at what they thought punk rock was, and then included every cliché possible. It would be like if I made a musical about black people and the entire thing was people singing hip hop songs to a setting of fubu jeans, stealing stereos, and doing crack. Trivializes the culture a bit, don't you think?
This brings us to a weird point in our culture, where the art of musical theater (which, when done well, I totally respect) has crossed paths and bred with pop music, creating a new kind of monster unto its own. I mean, think about the point we've reached, where AFI, Green Day, American Idol, and musical can all be uttered in the same breath? American Idol culture has made everything to the point where it needs to be as theatrical as possible. Pop music almost isn't pop music unless it's being featured on American Idol on Broadway. Where will it end? Consider Glee, which now has the title of "more top 20 singles than the Beatles". Shit, I don't even like the Beatles, but that's pretty insulting to music, isn't it? What next, the cast of Glee singing American Idiot in their cheerleading outfits? Or worse, Billie Joe joining them?
Yeah, chew on that for a while. Okay, my "sky is falling" rant is over. Here's some videos of Billie Joe as St. Jimmy, and AFI-- from their former greatness to now.
Billie Joe as St Jimmy:
AFI back in the day:
AFI now:
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