Green Day Let the Bullets Fly in Marc Webb's "21 Guns" Video

Green Day's video for "21 Guns," the second single off the band's acclaimed 21st Century Breakdown, premiered last night on MySpace Music. The video was directed by music video vet Marc Webb, who previously helmed clips for Weezer and My Chemical Romance and will make his feature film debut later this summer with (500) Days of Summer.

Like the "Know Your Enemy" video, "21 Guns" is a performance-heavy clip that has the band — including touring guitarist Jason White — rocking inside a bleak single room where a young couple are barricaded. Newspaper clippings and the lyrics to the song (as well as other Green Day songs, including "See the Light") cover the walls, and before long bullets riddle the room, smashing glasses and everything else in sight. But the pair suddenly lose their fear and walk proudly to the middle of the room, where they kiss in a scene that echos 21st Century Breakdown's cover art.

Drummer Tre Cool recently told Spinner the clip does indeed mirror the album art, and he thinks "It's the perfect video for the song." What's more, "There's a hot girl and a hot guy in it." Cool said the video was filmed on a two-day shoot and promised a "lot of explosions, good times and gunpowder."

"21 Guns" will be among the songs on Rock Band's Breakdown download three-pack along with "Know Your Enemy" and "East Jesus Nowhere." Fans will able to see "21 Guns" live this summer when Green Day embark on their full tour starting July 3rd in Seattle. For more on the San Fran trio, including exclusive Q&As and photos from their recent Rolling Stone cover, check out our Green Day hub.

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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