Green Day Address Gun Violence on Hurtling New Song ‘Bang Bang’
Green Day‘s new single “Bang Bang” is a grim, high-speed dive into the mind of a potential mass shooter. The track opens with recordings of newscasters discussing executions before the band enters with maximum intensity. “Bang, bang, give me fame,” Billie Joe Armstrong sings. “Shoot me up to entertain.”
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Armstrong said the song examines “the culture of mass shooting that happens in America mixed with narcissistic social media.” “There’s this sort of rage happening, but it’s also now being filmed and we all have ourselves under surveillance,” Armstrong notes. “To me, that is so twisted.
“To get into the brain of someone like that was freaky,” he continues. “It freaked me out. After I wrote it, all I wanted to do was get that out of my brain because it just freaked me out.”
In October, Green Day will release Revolution Radio — the band’s first new album since 2012. According to Armstrong, “Bang Bang” was the song that kickstarted the writing process: “the first song where I was like, ‘OK, I’m onto something.'” Green Day self-produced the new record.
Revolution Radio is due October 7th.
Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong discusses the band’s turbulent past four years and topical new LP. Watch here.