Last of the American Girls music video

[Minority_GD]

I don't like the video.

I can't really describe it, it just seems not epic enough to me.

Gloria seems way to normal and those Blondies are a pain in the ass.

When I think of 'Last of the American Girls' I always imagine Gloria walking through a hurricane, being extraordinary and something like that.

I always imagine Gloria as a mix of a normal American girl and Whatsername. A mix of the bad, wasted woman and the nice girl.

[pisquano]

Nothing that has been released. I emailed a couple radio stations and they haven't heard anything from Reprise about it.

I cannot understand why there are ALWAYS differences between radio release date, TV release date, digital-download release date...why the hell can't they have a single release date?

We get confused every time...

[OliDayyy]

Hey, I don't know if it has been already posted, but someone on youtube put an accelerated version of the song:

I find it pretty cool, like that!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_CMJQYxwtg&feature=player_embedded

[Hermione]

I feel like she's a fake in the context of the story up to that point. She's revealed two tracks later to be a junkie, and I think the video sort of reveals her inability to do anything real.

But I am in agreement with you. The video really messed up my perception of the song before the video came out.

Ahh I don't really go for this story thing. Characters and themes yeah, but I don't believe there's a proper linear storyline as such. So it's not surprising we've come to slightly different conclusions about it.

Actually looking at the video alone I can totally see where you're coming from with your intepretation. I've just watched it again and if I'd never heard the song/album before it really does look that way! Interesting way of looking at it.

[OMNatalie]

The video suprised me at first. It didn't strike me as the usual Green Day music video

After a couple of times re-watching it, it has grown on me a little bit but I still don't like it as much as their other videos. To me it seems to much of a 'mainstream' video. I like how previous video's have been a bit different and how they had some sort of dark story behind them. Plus, the blonde girls really annoyed me.

[Echo]

All I'll say is that the ending saves this video

[Boston]

Ahh I don't really go for this story thing. Characters and themes yeah, but I don't believe there's a proper linear storyline as such. So it's not surprising we've come to slightly different conclusions about it.

Actually looking at the video alone I can totally see where you're coming from with your intepretation. I've just watched it again and if I'd never heard the song/album before it really does look that way! Interesting way of looking at it.

Hooray for agreements!

[LetItBeHappy]

I think this one has better quality that the one posted before. I ripped directly from MTV

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5Y36YM1F

[Bastard of 1967]

Just for the fact that in several interviews when the album was first out the band said that Last Of The American Girls was very much inspired by Billie's wife, I can't agree . Billie saying how much he admires her as a person and for being involved in so many good causes, the character in the song really seems to be based on his description of her. I think the song is a celebration those qualities in women, of standing up for what you believe in. But it's showing both the postives and negatives that come along with that, the character is troubled and conflicted.

So I agree to the extent that the character isn't perfect, but I think overall she's at least trying to do what's right. I couldn't see her as a fake.

I think some of that's hinted at in the video by Gloria nuking the car at the end of the video, and being damn pleased with herself for doing so. There does seem to be a breakaway there from what society (represented by those annoying dancers) is trying to tell her to do since she's toasting the car (in the wonderful words of my two-year-old) "allbyself!" , for the first time in the vid without the dancers either directing her actions or otherwise being in tow with her. On the album, that breakaway would seem to actually occur in H&H, where Gloria just goes ape-shit (if you view H&H from that perspective -- on the surface Christian is the nihlist so wouldn't H&H be his anthem rather than Gloria's? Or is this the end of a plot twist/role reversal between Christian and Gloria from Act I to Act III, with the last three songs of Act II being the climactic turning point where Gloria becomes the destructive force and Christian goes back to her in 21 Guns, trying to rein her back in again?)

Fuck me, I LOVE this album!!

Whichever way you look at the album or the video, there's no doubt that Gloria is a very, very conflicted character and I think that's how Billie intended it. The concept for the Gloria character may have been inspired by Adie, but just like Adie can't possibly be perfect, neither is Gloria. The back-handed compliments in the LOTAG lyrics reinforce this, and the songs that follow -- Murder City, Little Girl, and RHS -- build on it and transform our view of her.

The more I think about it -- and the more I watch the video -- it would seem that Gloria is neither entirely the torchbearer nor entirely the destroyer. Instead, She's a mash-up of both [EDIT: with a (un)healthy dose of "Longview"-esque "talk-a-good-game-but-sit-on-my-ass-and-get-stoned" apathetic, addicted fuckup tossed in], and I think the video gives this good treatment. On that note, I'm upgrading my critique of the video from a B+ to an A-, on the ground that one hallmark of a "good" video IMO is whether it adds something to the song itself -- helps interpret it, helps explain it, or adds some other element that wasn't there (or was less clear) before. To this extent, I think Marc Webb and Billie were both on the same page and very much in tune/in sync with each others' ideas, and it shows.

[Boston]

Hey, I don't know if it has been already posted, but someone on youtube put an accelerated version of the song:

I find it pretty cool, like that!

I like it better than the original song.

[Micky]

I think this one has better quality that the one posted before. I ripped directly from MTV

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5Y36YM1F

Thanks. You should post the link in the download thread

http://www.greendaycommunity.org/Forum/index.php?showtopic=77842

[LetItBeHappy]

I think some of that's hinted at in the video by Gloria nuking the car at the end of the video, and being damn pleased with herself for doing so. There does seem to be a breakaway there from what society (represented by those annoying dancers) is trying to tell her to do since she's toasting the car (in the wonderful words of my two-year-old) "allbyself!" , for the first time in the vid without the dancers either directing her actions or otherwise being in tow with her. On the album, that breakaway would seem to actually occur in H&H, where Gloria just goes ape-shit (if you view H&H from that perspective -- on the surface Christian is the nihlist so wouldn't H&H be his anthem rather than Gloria's? Or is this the end of a plot twist/role reversal between Christian and Gloria from Act I to Act III, with the last three songs of Act II being the climactic turning point where Gloria becomes the destructive force and Christian goes back to her in 21 Guns, trying to rein her back in again?)

Fuck me, I LOVE this album!!

Whichever way you look at the album or the video, there's no doubt that Gloria is a very, very conflicted character and I think that's how Billie intended it. The concept for the Gloria character may have been inspired by Adie, but just like Adie can't possibly be perfect, neither is Gloria. The back-handed compliments in the LOTAG lyrics reinforce this, and the songs that follow -- Murder City, Little Girl, and RHS -- build on it and transform our view of her.

The more I think about it -- and the more I watch the video -- it would seem that Gloria is neither entirely the torchbearer nor entirely the destroyer. Instead, She's a mash-up of both, and I think the video gives this good treatment. On that note, I'm upgrading my critique of the video from a B+ to an A-, on the ground that one hallmark of a "good" video IMO is whether it adds something to the song itself -- helps interpret it, helps explain it, or adds some other element that wasn't there (or was less clear) before. To this extent, I think Marc Webb and Billie were both on the same page and very much in tune/in sync with each others' ideas, and it shows.

I loved your interpretation of the video... sadly, people who's not familiar with the album, will see it as "Oh, Green Day likes hot chicks and make cars explode, that's what this is video is all about!"

[Daughter.of.Rage.and.Love]

I loved your interpretation of the video... sadly, people who's not familiar with the album, will see it as "Oh, Green Day likes hot chicks and make cars explode, that's what this is video is all about!"

well at least that would make it a hit according to the standards of most hits nowadays, chicks and explosions......

and I really like the interpretation of the video. I'm still struggling with what the album exactly is and means (it's great, but still one big enigma to me - too many multiple meanings everywhere to get a straight line out of it), and videos and interpretations like that do help.

[Jacob.]

I think this one has better quality that the one posted before. I ripped directly from MTV

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5Y36YM1F

Thanks!

[LetItBeHappy]

well at least that would make it a hit according to the standards of most hits nowadays, chicks and explosions......

and I really like the interpretation of the video. I'm still struggling with what the album exactly is and means (it's great, but still one big enigma to me - too many multiple meanings everywhere to get a straight line out of it), and videos and interpretations like that do help.

... well, at least it will be something to watch on ShitTV

damn you, Billie, with your twisted and complicated mind!

Thanks!

you're welcome

[Hermione]

I think some of that's hinted at in the video by Gloria nuking the car at the end of the video, and being damn pleased with herself for doing so. There does seem to be a breakaway there from what society (represented by those annoying dancers) is trying to tell her to do since she's toasting the car (in the wonderful words of my two-year-old) "allbyself!" , for the first time in the vid without the dancers either directing her actions or otherwise being in tow with her. On the album, that breakaway would seem to actually occur in H&H, where Gloria just goes ape-shit (if you view H&H from that perspective -- on the surface Christian is the nihlist so wouldn't H&H be his anthem rather than Gloria's? Or is this the end of a plot twist/role reversal between Christian and Gloria from Act I to Act III, with the last three songs of Act II being the climactic turning point where Gloria becomes the destructive force and Christian goes back to her in 21 Guns, trying to rein her back in again?)

Fuck me, I LOVE this album!!

Whichever way you look at the album or the video, there's no doubt that Gloria is a very, very conflicted character and I think that's how Billie intended it. The concept for the Gloria character may have been inspired by Adie, but just like Adie can't possibly be perfect, neither is Gloria. The back-handed compliments in the LOTAG lyrics reinforce this, and the songs that follow -- Murder City, Little Girl, and RHS -- build on it and transform our view of her.

The more I think about it -- and the more I watch the video -- it would seem that Gloria is neither entirely the torchbearer nor entirely the destroyer. Instead, She's a mash-up of both [EDIT: with a (un)healthy dose of "Longview"-esque "talk-a-good-game-but-sit-on-my-ass-and-get-stoned" apathetic, addicted fuckup tossed in], and I think the video gives this good treatment. On that note, I'm upgrading my critique of the video from a B+ to an A-, on the ground that one hallmark of a "good" video IMO is whether it adds something to the song itself -- helps interpret it, helps explain it, or adds some other element that wasn't there (or was less clear) before. To this extent, I think Marc Webb and Billie were both on the same page and very much in tune/in sync with each others' ideas, and it shows.

I love reading everything you have to say about this band! You've just described the Gloria character absolutely down to a t for me . And I really think they nailed the song down to a t with this video too, just like they did with 21st CB. Great stuff all round

[Bastard of 1967]

I love reading everything you have to say about this band! You've just described the Gloria character absolutely down to a t for me . And I really think they nailed the song down to a t with this video too, just like they did with 21st CB. Great stuff all round

Thanks. I've had a lot of help from the rest of y'all! It's like putting a million-piece jigsaw puzzle together....and now my head hurts. Gonna go get some coffee!

Oops, screwed up and double-posted. What I meant to say is down here.

[farley drexel hatcher]

Billie said once that although the song started out about Adrienne, he ended up putting of himself in there, too.

[Isabel]

After the first time I watched it, I didn't have a clue what was going on, but after the second or third time; I kind of assumed that the whole point of the two dancers was, that they were making her conform to what was expected of her, but she defied them by blowing up the car at the end, like her own way of escaping from society.

On the MTV website it says: "At clip's end, as flames erupt from the hood of the vehicle, she cracks a satisfied smile. None of this may have actually happened, but perhaps the message here is that our minds offer us the ultimate escape from the banality of life in the 21st century, that our imaginations are the way to blast through the walls we've built around ourselves (or the cars, whatever)."

If this were an advertisement, I would classify it as a +3 or 4 because it takes that numer of times watching it to understand what's fully going on

I would still say that 21st Century Breakdown is the best video overall and I don't even consider that particularly riveting.

[Bastard of 1967]

Thanks. I've had a lot of help from the rest of y'all! It feels like a group project where we're all helping to put a million-piece jigsaw puzzle together....and now my head hurts. Gonna go get some coffee!

I would classify it as a +3 or 4 because it takes that numer of times watching it to understand what's fully going on

Heck, it took me at least that many times listening to the whole firkin' ALBUM just to begin to scratch the surface of it!

[Isabel]

^

God, I sometimes feel so dumb when I see a video/hear a song and think "shit, I don't really understand what this is supposed to mean!"

[Hermione]

Billie said once that although the song started out about Adrienne, he ended up putting of himself in there, too.

Hadn't heard that before but that definitely makes a lot of sense. The album is so personal after all, it feels like he really dug deep writing those songs. It seems the most personal of all Green Day 's albums to me, the use of characters didn't lessen that at all. In fact it probably enhances it because it allowed him to explore those thoughts and feelings even further. Billie's all over all those songs.

[LetItBeHappy]

I remember an interview...

Interviewer: Does it worries you that your mind is divided between two characters?

BJ: And one is a man and the other's a woman, what does that mean?

And I remember that he said (at some point) that he wants to be Gloria, because she's better than Christian, but he's both of them, and Gloria isn't perfect

[Maddy.]

God, I sometimes feel so dumb when I see a video/hear a song and think "shit, I don't really understand what this is supposed to mean!"

I have this. Sometimes I don't know how you all come up with these interpretations. Do you really sit and think it up like that? I mean, I just listen to it.

[Daughter.of.Rage.and.Love]

I usually sit and think and fail to come up with anything that makes any sense, or loose bits and pieces that don't string together, and give up