Green Day Premiere "21 Guns" Recorded With "American Idiot" Musical Cast

Green Day's new version of "21 Guns," featuring the cast of the American Idiot musical, debuted today over on Spinner, a day before it's set to hit radio. As Rolling Stone previously reported, Billie Joe Armstrong and Co. recorded the track with the cast in an Oakland studio just days after the musical's final performance at the Berkeley Rep last month. The digital single of "21 Guns" will be available December 22nd.

Meet the cast of the American Idiot musical.

Fans who saw the show will immediately recognize the voice that starts out the song as belonging to Rebecca Naomi Jones, who plays the role of Whatsername in the musical. The new theatrical rendition, arranged by Tom Kitt (the show's music supervisor), transforms "21 Guns" — which just last night earned a Grammy nod for Best Rock Song — into a fist-pumping anthem.

On the scene at Berkeley Rep: Green Day on the American Idiot musical.

"We wanted to record '21 Guns' because it represents a pivotal moment in the show when the lead character, sung by John Gallagher, Jr., realizes he needs to get his shit together," Armstrong said in a statement. "After the show wrapped, we headed straight to Oakland with the cast to record, and they sung the hell out of it. I couldn't be happier. It's great to have something out there for people to hear who didn't get to see the show." Of course, fans who missed the Berkeley run of the musical will have another chance to see Green Day's songs brought to life: Producers are planning to bring American Idiot to Broadway next year.

Related Stories:
• Green Day Record "21 Guns" With "American Idiot" Musical Cast
• Green Day's "American Idiot" Musical Heading to Broadway
• The Birth of Green Day's "American Idiot" Musical

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Song Stories

“1999”

Prince | 1982

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.

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