02 - Bang Bang

[gdsaurus_lex]

14 minutes ago, lowfield said:

In hindsight I could have made the most of that and posted some 'one week' shenanigans. But think of it this way, a third of my posts have been directed at you

I think I'm most impressed by the fact you remembered your login info and password. I tried for a solid 15 minutes and made a new account, I was pretty bummed.

[Brooklyn Baby]

9 minutes ago, Tubbie Head said:

It definitely sounds like Mike to me but it could be Billie they sound pretty similar sometimes. 

aw I wanna hear that!

It was like "hey, I'm Billie Joe" "and I'm Mike Dirnt" "and I'm Tre Cool" "AND WE'RE GREEN DAY AND THIS IS OUR NEW SINGLE, BANG BANG." It was kind of adorable. 

[Steven Seagull]

8 minutes ago, aydge89 said:

Third listen - ok now I really, really like it. Best lead single from GD since AI, possibly even better.

Do you even X-Kid?

[JardyOfSuburbia]

8 hours ago, Bastard of 1967 said:

Prediction: It's going in the middle of the set where St. Jimmy usually fits.  But yeah if you're in the pit, better have your body armor on.  This one's gonna leave a few dents.

I could see Bang Bang opening the set with that broadcast intro bringing them out on stage. I can picture it sort of like how the AI Musical opened with TV's broadcasting a bunch of stuff and then bam, American Idiot starts.

I think it also works as a set closer. Not the encore, but just the regular set.

[Second favourite son]

3 minutes ago, JardyOfSuburbia said:

I could see Bang Bang opening the set with that broadcast intro bringing them out on stage. I can picture it sort of like how the AI Musical opened with TV's broadcasting a bunch of stuff and then bam, American Idiot starts.

I think it also works as a set closer. Not the encore, but just the regular set.

I feel like it would be a solid opener.  It's one of those songs that could go anywhere, but wherever it goes you know that a) it'll be there and b) it'll be awesome.

[Sixtrix]

The DJ just said, when announcing Bang Bang, that it is one of the better songs at the moment.

[Khaleesi.]

Yesterday, a station in Ottawa was talking about how Green Day is coming out with a new song, titled 'Bang Bang Bang' and it should be released soon.... Glad I didn't rely on these guys for the debut  

[Sixtrix]

Just now, Khaleesi. said:

Yesterday, a station in Ottawa was talking about how Green Day is coming out with a new song, titled 'Bang Bang Bang' and it should be released soon.... Glad I didn't rely on these guys for the debut  

Those poor guys are probably still waiting for the Warner e-mail to pop-up in their inbox

[Harry Potter.]

21 minutes ago, Steven Seagull said:

Do you even X-Kid?

That very unmemorable and throwaway track from a few years ago that wasn't played on the radio at all?

[_•Whatsername•_]

I can't wait for the official video to come out. I'm soooo curious to watch it.

[Semi-automatic lonely boy]

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.

 

Quote

It's about the culture of mass shooting that happens in America mixed with narcissistic social media.

 

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

Edited August 12, 2016 by Semi-automatic lonely boy

[Libertine Angel]

13 hours ago, .Holly said:

"Give me death or give me head". I interpreted that to mean the killer gets sexual pleasure from killing people.

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.

[Sixtrix]

I kind of read the "Give me death or give me head" part as an act out of sexual frustration

[JardyOfSuburbia]

The Bang Bang lyric video reminded me a bit of Franz Ferdinand's Take Me Out video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ijk4j-r7qPA

 

[DeJennsitized]

1 minute ago, JardyOfSuburbia said:

The Bang Bang lyric video reminded me a bit of Franz Ferdinand's Take Me Out video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ijk4j-r7qPA

 

That's the first thing I thought of when I saw it too!

Well, my second thought. First thought was 'BANG BANG IS FUCKING AWESOME!'

Edited August 12, 2016 by Jenn123

[Your _Enemy]

Jesus I finally managed to re-activate my old account... anyway

I absolutey love bang bang! But I don't understand why it's not on YouTube yet. They could've just put it up on Youtube and share the link on facebook, they are totally missing a good amount of views here.
I know you've been discussing this before but I simply can't get over that. I want this to be as successfull as possible - because of the message.

Edited August 12, 2016 by Your _Enemy

[Chin for a Day]

13 minutes ago, Your _Enemy said:

Jesus I finally managed to re-activate my old account... anyway

I absolutey love bang bang! But I don't understand why it's not on YouTube yet. They could've just put it up on Youtube and share the link on facebook, they are totally missing a good amount of views here.
I know you've been discussing this before but I simply can't get over that. I want this to be as successfull as possible - because of the message.

They have advertised that the lyric video is on their website, which also includes a link to pre-order the album.  They are trying to get people to the website.  If more people go, more people pre-order the album, it can spike first week sales.   

[DeJennsitized]

I know a few have said this before but maybe they're waiting to put the official video up there - maybe they don't want to split the views between the lyric video and the official video? Since the lyric video is so kickass?  

Still a bit weird. Although I don't have any other artists to compare it to since GD are the only band I'd follow with this kinda stuff!

[Jean]

Anyone checking the charts to see where the song is?

Right now it is #23 on Canadian iTunes and when I go to just Alternative, it's #4.

[Nemo.]

omg I just LOVE that song. I can't stop listening to it. It's perfect, it's brilliant. Fast, loud and catchy as hell.  

[HAPPY ZOMBIE UNICORN]

2 minutes ago, Jean said:

Anyone checking the charts to see where the song is?

Right now it is #23 on Canadian iTunes and when I go to just Alternative, it's #4.

#24 in the Italian one, #2 for Alternative. Damn you, I almost throw up looking at that chart. 

[DeJennsitized]

5 minutes ago, Jean said:

Anyone checking the charts to see where the song is?

Right now it is #23 on Canadian iTunes and when I go to just Alternative, it's #4.

#19 in the UK iTunes chart! And #3 in Alternative apparently.

[Sanity Loan]

The lyric video is now on YouTube

 

[Chin for a Day]

I don't know how often iTunes updates the charts, but it looks like it is often.  At around 5 am  it was #29, around 8 am it was #26 and right now it is #24.  Moving up the charts baby!!!

[grene cniht]

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.