August 5th is Green Peppers Day! Before you all at me, yes, green peppers are botanically a fruit. They are “the seed-bearing product that grows from the ovary of a flowering plant” (EUFIC, 2020). Now that that’s been settled, today’s #songoftheday is Green Peppers by Goon.
Goon was formed by Kenny Becker in 2013 while he was attending Biola, a Christian university (Yu, 2017). His songs reflect an inner struggle with faith and illness. Becker has sinus polyps that have decimated his sense of smell and can temporarily deafen him – the pain can be crippling. He takes full advantage of his good days by painting and writing. “I would really feel shitty, have these sad, inspired sort of moments, and write a song maybe, and then when I would feel really good again, it would just amplify that feeling of ‘I know this door is going to close again, so white it’s open, I have to capitalize on this.’” Their debut EP, Dusk of Punk was released in 2016, on which ‘Green Peppers’ can be heard. Their latest album, Heaven is Humming was released in 2019. He also paints the artwork used for the album covers.
Initially, Becker wrote ‘Green Peppers’ about Taylor Swift and the brief manic obsession he had with her, but evolved to be a reflection on unhealthy desire in general (Mandel, 2016). You can see them perform it in their entry for NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert Contest here.
Photo credit: Spotify
Links:
EUFIC. (2020, March 4). Is A Pepper A Fruit Or A Vegetable And Why? EUFIC. https://www.eufic.org/en/healthy-living/article/is-a-pepper-a-fruit-or-a-vegetable-and-why
Mandel, L. (2016, August 29). Goon Makes Obsession Sound Sweet On “Green Peppers.” The FADER. https://www.thefader.com/2016/08/29/goon-green-peppers-stream-dusk-of-punk
Yu, B. (2017, June 28). Goon Emerges From Lost Faith And Impaired Hearing. San Francisco Chronicle. https://www.sfchronicle.com/music/article/Goon-emerges-from-lost-faith-and-impaired-hearing-11253452.php
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