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Sorry, I couldn't resist

Im getting stupid excited when I think about seeing them perform this on some television program... I NEED THAT.

The lyric video is now on YouTube

So I've only been in my car for two short drives today and each time I heard BANG BANG on the radio! After the song finished the second time, the DJ said that 65% of listeners were saying that Green Day's new song was a "smash hit" and requesting the crap out of it. He said he was going to play it regardless because "it's Green Day!"

This part is awesome.

Playing at Zuckerberg's wedding

i'm obsessed with the "i am a semi-automatic lonely boy" line ahhhhh. so fucking good for some reason. i'm really not a trilogy hater at all (for the most part) but THIS is green day. this is exactly what i wanted.

Does anything make you happy?

Ok, a personal comment on the lyrics, sorry if it's too long but I have these thoughts I need to share them. I understand why you'll skip this, don't worry . So, I honestly believe this is one of the best Billie's work so far, and I'll try to explain why. I think the best Green Day's tracks, from a lyrics point of view, are those that are capable to create a connection with world and the time where they're born, and I believe every Green Day album has at least some of these songs. From the 90's records, immersed in that decade, apparently idyllic, light hearted but still drowned by contradictions and rage, passing by Warning and that pre-9/11 intake of conscience. And arriving to the 00's albums, with the mass hysteria, the fear, the homologation, with people understanding that the dream sold during the previous twenty years was mostly an unfulfilled and unfulfillable promise. In my opinion even the Trilogy somehow follows this path, and not thanks to the only political track, but indeed for the desire of escape from reality, the desire of something that is gone and will never come back, and that eventually brings you down, which I think surrounds the three records. Now, this is just one song, I know, but I think that until now, in this decade, we missed a track capable to create this kind of real connection with the contemporarity surrounding us. Listening to the song over and over again, reading that lyrics, at some certain point I got chills. Because I understand again what Billie is talking about, through that fictional mind, and is something scary, beautiful and deep at the same time. Something that for a US guy and of course even for Billie is directly connected with the sad mass shooting tradition that affects your country. For a 24 years old boy from Europe is inevitably related to the season of terror that is surrounding us since years. Listening to that song it's for me impossible to don't think about the Bataclan, Nice, Charlie Ebdo and sadly so on and so on. I study strategy and security issues and believe me, during the umpteenth reproduction of Bang Bang I stopped the song and I thought "Fuck, he's describing the sick mind of those assholes, from their point of view, better than most of these genii on TV". Until now I've not been able to think and rationalize this events, the time that is surrounding me, through music, dancing, singing, moshing. Thanks to this song now I can do that, and it's beautiful. And it's again that almost unique Billie's ability, that he owns since 39/Smooth: to write songs charged with social meanings and still be able to let them interiorize by crowds with very different backgrounds. Yes, I fucking love this song.

I think whoever had the idea to make Oh Love the first single of the Trilogy has been fired.

Blink-182, Weezer, and Red Hot Chili Peppers, to name a few, have their singles playing on the radio and at the first listen they seemed alright. After a while these songs eventually grew on me. It feels like this has been the case for a lot of the songs I have been hearing on the radio lately. Fast forward to a few seconds before Aug 11th 7am PDT when all of us are waiting with excitement for the single to come out. We were talking in the group chat, viewing the topic for the song, and listening to a live streams (a non-US one might I add) for any hints of the new song. @Andres had sent us a Spotify link to us in the chat and I was thinking "here we go". I pressed play and had no clue what was coming next since I tried my best to avoid reading any comments about the song. The moment the intro started I already knew I was hooked. The face paced guitars and drums took me back to the pace of St. Jimmy. Hell yeah, a fast first single. Then you have the catchy hurrahs and the chorus. Aspects of 21st Century Breakdown returns in the bridge of the song. Lastly, that drum fill from Mr. Tré Cool. All these different elements packed into this song. It's great. Welcome back Green Day. This single leaves me thinking, if this is the first single off of the album, I cannot wait to hear the rest of the album.

This is pretty cool... The 404 Show, a podcast on CNET, began their show with a good talk about Green Day and "Bang Bang." The hosts quickly reflected on their past experiences with the band and when they got in to them. The hosts mentioned they really haven't paid much attention to the band the past decade or so but they are in love with the new song. I just thought it was pretty neat that the song was brought up on a pop culture show and that the hosts, who admittedly haven't listened to them much recently, are digging it. http://www.cnet.com/news/the-404-show-1672-suicide-squad-no-mans-sky-green-day-tech-support-scammers-podcast/

Me during Tre's drum solo:

70.244 I've still not got it either, and was expecting it to be as instant here as in the US. I've emailed the store, hopefully they'll come back to me soon.

For me the celebrity martyr line is the shooter saying 'I want to be famous for dying for what I believed in', rather than 'I want to die for what I believe in'. It's showing the selfish/insecure/ego-centric motivations of the mass shooter and the insincerity of their declared cause. 'Shoot me up to entertain' seems like it could be a dig at 24-hour news channels who'll often broadcast these events live with millions of people watching and, to an extent, being entertained by the unfolding drama.

I wonder if any of them were listening to Virgin Radio yesterday when they cut off Blink in the middle of the song to play Bang Bang

If you don't stop with the off topic comments you're going to be suspended. People don't want to hear your random personal comments directed at them. Consider this your final warning.

Going to say it again after a long day of working, sneaking listens, and processing. Bang Bang is insanely good, and if the rest of the record is like this it's going to be great. Sounds different, angry, powerful, and like a new Green Day. They should be proud.

It's also crazy to hear iHeartRadio promos for the song on commercial radio stations. It's so fucking refreshing to hear Green Day get the promotion on the radio again.

Finally back home after what was an eventful day of adulting dealing with my car accident, insurance, etc. Bang Bang is fucking brilliant. I love it. It's everything I could have hoped for. Reminds me a bit of Hammerhead by The Offspring. Not sure if it's been mentioned or not, but does anyone else here the St. Jimmy verse in Bang Bang? It's the line of "I got my Photobomb, I got my Vietnam" it sounds just like "Light of the silhouette, he's insubordinate"

I've found myself singing it at random points all day. Gonna get arrested if I keep talking about a desire for martyrdom in public

it's been a while i'v been on here, so i forgot the PW of my old account. anyway, i wanted to add something to the common interpretations of the lyrics. kinda long post, but here you go. while the mass shooter theme is obvious (although there are people on youtube and facebook not getting it at all, however that is possible), i think it has more meaning than that. first of all there is the critique of media making those shooters heroes. it's been talked about on here. but another one hasn't been touched. billie joe hints it in the RS interview. billie links mass shooting to the youtube vlog generation ("Broadcasting from my room/ And playing with my toys") where people are making a fortune by a new way of dumbing down young people. ("you're dead (dead mind), i'm well fed (making money))". how does this relate to mass shootings? you can't look away from the context in which mass shootings happen. if you take elliot rodger (the guy who killed people and rationalized it with rejection by girls - it was his rationalization, not the reason. that is important.), he was like a twisted version of modern american mass culture. things that mattered to him: sex, good looks, status symbols, money, approval. his mental issues in combination with his upbringing didn't allow him to process or filter those ideals. he was basically a distorted version of millions of young people, longing for their superfical and narcistic satisfaction of their manipulated needs. several lines have this double meaning, e.g.: "I want to be a celebrity martyr/ The leading man in my own private drama". talk about "narcistic social media"... it's represented here, too. young people growing up and want nothing more than to be famous. because this is what they believe to be important, fed to them by social- and mass media. mass shootings are obviously not the norm when it comes to this wish of fame ("Bang bang!Gimme fame!"). but they all want to be "like the soldiers on the screen" - in case of the mass shooters the literal soldiers, but also those social media soldiers on the screen, influencing the thoughts of millions of young kids. "the heroe of the hour". so what we see is people sharing their whole lifes on facebook and instagram, so they can simulate to be "the leading man" in their "own private drama"... giving them a feeling of fame, too, so that they are like their heroes, while being nothing more than "semi-automatic lonely boy(s)". whis is the best line for me. the link from mass shooting (semi-automatic weapon) to the minds of a generation - brilliant: semi automatic here is also referring to the dependency and addiction to modern technology that is occupying the minds of millions of kids out there, making them often seem like people without individuality, zombie like - or "semi-automatic". of course this is not the obvious and main theme in the lyrics. but it is in there. just read the chorus with this interpretation in mind. what makes the lyrics so great is, that it has this double or even tripple meaning in many lines, of topics that are interconnected with each other. and this interconnection is where the social commentary and critique comes in, while the lyrics seem to be more descriptive of the thoughts of a mass shooter at first. the great video underlines that. (Bang bang!) (Gimme fame!) Shoot me up to entertain I am a semi-automatic lonely boy (You're dead!) (I'm well fed!) Give me death or give me head Broadcasting from my room And playing with my toys I want to be a celebrity martyr The leading man in my own private drama Hurrah! Hurrah! The hero of the hour Daddy's little psycho And mommy's little soldier

This is Billie's writing at its finest. There are so many meanings/interpretations of the lyrics. I swear every time I listen to this song it gets better. I have like a 4 hour drive today, wonder how many times I can play the track during that time

First it was "Can you believe that the band who made Dookie just released American Idiot?" Now it's "Can you believe that the band who made the Trilogy just released this song?"

I can't stop listening to this song. I honestly thought it would be a song I had to listen to sparingly so I didn't get burned out on hearing before the album drops but the honest to god truth is the only people getting sick of this will be the ones that have no taste in music and are forced to hear it on repeat wherever I go. This is honestly one of the very best songs I think they have ever created and it just seems to keep getting better with every listen. I can't fucking wait to learn this baby on guitar. If this album does not explode worldwide I have officially lost all faith in humanity.

Well I love it, but I'm not convinced it will take off the way AI and BOBD did though. Its so damn catchy, the drums and base are awesome as well. And dat bridge.... if I had to compare it, it reminds me of East jesus nowhere and St Jimmy with Knights of Cydonia by Muse thrown in at the bridge. I really hope they continue to explore that different sound on the rest if the record. The lyrics were not what I was expecting. I was expecting some kind of commentary on gun control since Billie has been outspoken about that in the past. But I love them! I think this is the darkest song that Green Day have ever done. Listening to the lyrics properly gave me the creeps. I didn't think any of it was that light hearted. "Give me death or give me head". I interpreted that to mean the killer gets sexual pleasure from killing people. Just woah, that's dark as fuck. But full marks for going there, i like anything (TV, books etc) that explores serious issues in that kind of way. It gets you thinking. So psyched for the rest of the record!

This is how you fucking do a lead single.

I woke up singing it

This song really is so dark, with those clips at the beginning (couldn't make them out properly until I listened on headphones earlier) and Billie actually singing from the POV of the shooter, like holy shit. And that contrasted with the catchy melody and "hurrah" and fun little phrases just adds to it. Classic Green Day combo of dark subject matter and catchy tune but it seems more extreme than ever. So impressed with it!

Can we take a moment to realize how fucking good Bang Bang is going to sound live. After seeing the rehearsal set list with songs like Scattered, Armitage Shanks, and Murder city. You can really tell that they are aiming for energetic, fast paced, shows. That is exciting.

They edited the video! Now the final choruses have "the LEADING man" instead of "little", which makes more sense and is actually what he's singing. Those parts are also a bit different from the previous video. EDIT: No, actually the video is exactly the same, that word is the only thing that's changed.

Yeah man, I fully agree with your whole story. I was just listening to the song again and going through the lyrics and out of nowhere suddenly I get this sudden shiver and teary eyes. It's just freaking me out but giving me a sense of being able to find some kind of peace in it as well. I will never understand why people would ever do such a horrific thing, but it sure is crazy that the media turn those events in a wicked entertainment for the viewers. Those two things make the lyrics very strong for me. It's like gunshots being fired

Now that I can finally post in here! The song is fucking amazing. Completely blew me away with my expectations, they're really outdone them selves. The song fits the "revolution" theme so well, makes me think of an actually revolution. I've had the song on repeat since I got home from work and I think it will stay like that.

Can't wait to witness this live!

How much Bang Bang is too much Bang Bang? That is the question my ears (and my neighbours ) want to know... Better keep listening until I find an answer

Tre Cool was a clue on Jeopardy today the category was "artist's main instrument" and clue for 800 was Tre Cool so answer was of course drums

Billie has never been known for his grammatical prowess Also, the Daddy's little psycho and Mommy's little soldier might actually be a reference to Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook shooter. I've already said this but his father left because he could not deal with him or his mother and his mother taught him to shoot.

Bang Bang is the only thing I can listen to right now. I had it on repeat at work, and around lunchtime I thought 'perhaps I should play something else' but I literally didn't want to listen to anything else. I still don't.

I read that as expressing a general desire to be venerated without caring how or why, be it by being a celebrity martyr or being a killer or just getting sex, any kind of ego boost.

Shut up, he has a beautiful manly chin!!! Hubby must never be right.

Yeah I know.. I mean imagine the bands reaction to seeing this after they worked so hard for us, putting out this song, hoping people love it and then they get emailed this crap? I feel like vomiting from the thought of lots of people signing it? like wtf? It's their art and they clearly made the single great for us and most likely the entire album too. I don't know if I'm being too much of a downer but it does break my heart just thinking about it.

Dude, stop with all your off topic posts.

Has anyone seen Billie's new little video of him demonstrating cutting a single on a record engraver? Does this mean physical singles!!!!!!!!

Been a long time, y'all....too long, too much life getting in the way and too little happening with Green Day to post much here. Til today. I want to say hi again to my old friends here and, to all the new folks who've joined the crew here since my last visit -- looking forward to meeting you in the weeks ahead. Anyway, seems that Green Day reinvents themselves every chance they get, and they came screaming out of the damn gate today. Bang Bang's on repeat and I'm hungry for more.

What a long day of work. Can finally catch up and listen to the song over and over now.

Hmmm...this song is pretty diverse on its own, I don't know what more people want- epic Tre solo, blistering Billie vocals, scalding guitars, time changes, upsetting then totally fitting bridge, blindingly fast, and tied together all so well...if this is a representation of the album, I don't know how we can be disappointed. I also played this back to back with a lot of my faves (Scattered/ Westbound/ Jinx/ Letterbomb) all day and maybe it's the newness but I think they hit a new high water mark with this one. Couldn't be happier, can't listen to it enough.

fuck this song is good.

To me it sounds like the best combination of Dos and American Idiot. And that's perfect for me.