21st Century Breakdown Single and Video Announced

[-Billiejoezee-]

i loved 21 guns. i mean i just LOVED IT!

but i just didn't like C&G.

[Katherine]

If you took out Christian and Gloria, I guess I would have liked 21 Guns more. I like the video and all...I just don't think it's their best.

[persons]

i hope this isn't as bad as the 21 guns video.

[Jesus*Of*Suburbia]

You have no idea how thrilled I am about this. It is my favorite song off the whole album. *Does happy dance*

[Sarahnade.]

But the entire 21 Guns video is based on C and G. Without them, it would just be a performance video, and those usually bore me. I don't know. I mean, I think C and G made the video epic. Without them, it would've just been them playing in a room, and the song is too epic to just do something so bland. If you were to take C and G out, you'd have to make their performance a lot more interesting than what it was.

[valeria carci]

so ejn was too much for the media...

[apocalipstick]

Whoa, I definitely didn't expect this but I'm happy about it! I thought this would've been a good first single instead of KYE.

[packers182]

I like the choice and the video should be awesome.

[Mar]

The class of 13 part will HOOK people.

I agree, and I think that's why they went with it.

I don't think anyone's brought this up, but I wonder what the B-side for 21CB will be? Drama Queen?

Don't get my hopes up, this would be so amazing!

I wonder how the song is going to be cut down for radio play. Probably the acoustic/drum swell part in the beginning will be taken out.

And this will make me oh so sad, but I think you're right

I don't think 21CB will have to be cut down at all for radio play - it's a good 10 seconds shorter than 21 Guns, and to my knowledge that song is played in it's entirety.

Actually, the first 15 seconds or so is cut (it goes straight to Billie singing), and the guitar solo is shorter.

[Mari91]

Oh now i get you. yeah thats why im called 'emo chick' at my school because thats my fave song.

thats actually sad. It isn't even a fuckin emo song.

and omg drama queen as the B-side:

wait,what was the b-side for 21 guns??

i think the b-side was that verizon studio thing. not sure exactly

i feel if this song does make it as a single, it will be butchered and shortened to the point of no meaning on the radio

i'll be really upset about that

[GreenDay808]

i'm so excited the video is coming!

i can't really picture a video, so i'm excited to see what the guys put together and how it looks

i'm sure it'll be amazing though, cause...duhh...it's green day!

[dolce]

i think the b-side was that verizon studio thing. not sure exactly

i feel if this song does make it as a single, it will be butchered and shortened to the point of no meaning on the radio

i'll be really upset about that

What was the verizon thing?

[LouLou]

Dang! I knew there was no EJN confirmation! I would have much rather of had that one, not that I don't like 21CB.

[Velocity]

WTF?? I was NOT expecting this to be the next single.

[DistilledxSpirits]

Darn I had my heart set on EJN!

Ah well...

[Bastard of 1967]

I don't really get where 21CB is a conventional sounding song at all. It has three different changes, and the lyrics are far from tame and unadventurous! People assume EJN is the strongest song in terms of risque lyrics but that's just an obvious choice. I agree with KYE and 21 Guns, but not with this one. It is an amazing song, so different from everything else you hear on the radio these days. The middle and last sections still give me goosebumps when I hear it.

I agree. Calling the entire Woodstock generation (which includes most of the world's leaders) "The Bastards of 1969" isn't exactly playing it safe. The lyrics are provocative throughout, but they're don't push the envelope to quite the same "in your face" degree that EJN does, and this I think will help make the song appeal to a broader audience than EJN will. With EJN, they'd have gotten/may yet get some airplay from the alternative and modern rock stations like they did with KYE, but the mainstream pop, rock, and adult contemporary stations won't dare touch the thing because it's WAY too much of a giant "fuck you" to a very vocal group of religious fanatics. I can almost guarantee that outside of the major East and West coast metro markets, you'll have evangelical church leaders screaming for boycotts of any station (and their advertisers) that pick it up.

Don't misunderstand me please y'all, EJN is an incredible piece of work and brings to the album a lot of the pure-punk sound that Green Day was known for pre-AI (or should I say, pre-Warning?)....but I think 21CB has a better chance for commercial success as a single. It's got a great big Who-like intro and first two verses, the Celtic punk sound they cook up for the second section is not just a head-banger but is also something that's genuinely unique (like, "nobody's done an arrangement like this before"). Then there's the closing which is so, so potent when you think about the dreadful shape our political culture is in now. Like you it gives me the chills every time I hear it.

It's a 5:09 song. They are going to have trim it, maybe.

Add another 58 seconds if they decide to tack Song of the Century on to the beginning. They'll almost certainly have to do a 4-minute-ish radio edit for the pop/contemporary stations but I'm sure the alternative and modern rock stations will play it full-length like some did with JoS.

OK, I am listening to 21st Century Breakdown right now and all I can say, is that the choice of 21CB as the next single is brilliant. I would have loved EJN, but seriously, the lyrics in this song are really needed right now. Let's hope the video to it rocks as much as this song does.

^This. It's been one of my favorites ever since the album was released last spring.

[SlappyDJ1]

on every station they will probably cut out the acoustic intro.

[Bastard of 1967]

I wonder if Marc Webb will include Song of the Century at the beginning of the music video. It would make it seem more epic and exciting, imo.

I'd love to see something along those lines. Imagine starting out with some grainy, black and white, "old 35mm movie-projector style" footage of a 1940's or 1950's era set-top radio being tuned over the initial SOTC static, then Billie's vocals kick in, the hand tuning the radio moves away as the camera slowly zooms in on the set. Then at the end of SOTC, the person who was fiddling with the radio turns the set off, cut to "now" in full color HD widescreen with Freese playing the D-A chord, and so on....

[SlappyDJ1]

I'd love to see something along those lines. Imagine starting out with some grainy, black and white, "old 35mm movie-projector style" footage of a 1940's or 1950's era set-top radio being tuned over the initial SOTC static, then Billie's vocals kick in, the hand tuning the radio moves away as the camera slowly zooms in on the set. Then at the end of SOTC, the person who was fiddling with the radio turns the set off, cut to "now" in full color HD widescreen with Freese playing the D-A chord, and so on....

I strongly doubt jason freese will be in the video.

[Bastard of 1967]

21CB is a less angry song than EJN. I would have been happy with either one, but 21CB gives me this weird sense of hope about the future while EJN just makes me want to punch someone in the face and forget about the future.

And that, my friend, is the whole Christian/Gloria concept of the album in a nutshell.

[Bastard of 1967]

I strongly doubt jason freese will be in the video.

Have faith! Jason White was in 21 Guns and doesn't even have a credit on the album like Freese does.

[Supermodel*Robot]

But...EJN.

Oh well, I'm hoping for an epic video.

[Robin105]

I'm so excited about this video. I love this song. I wonder when they're going to start filming. This weekend maybe? I can't wait for this!

[Sunshine2385]

The fans hyped up EJN too much.

[Greenday_Aussie]

Wasnt EJN CONFIRMED?

Or was Courtney talking bullshit?