One of Green Day’s most popular songs was the subject of a controversial lyric change during the band’s televised New Year’s Eve performance on Sunday night. Singer Billie Joe Armstrong attacked former President Donald Trump and his supporters, quickly sparking a backlash on social media that caught the attention of Elon Musk.
Article by Mary Whitfill Roeloffs for Forbes USA – translated by Flora Lucas
Elon Musk accused Green Day of going “from rage against the machine to unfiltered rage for the machine” after frontman Billie Joe Armstrong changed a line in the song “American Idiot”. instead of singing” I am not part of the workers’ agenda (literally, “I’m not part of the blue-collar program”), with the term “redneck” being used to refer to a white person considered poor and uneducated, especially someone living in the rural southern United States. in prejudice, the Green Day leader edited the lyrics: ” I am not part of the MAGA agenda » (literally “I am not part of the MAGA program”). The change caused fury in the networks of supporters of former US President Donald Trump, who coined the term ” Make America Great Again » (MAGA) during his 2016 presidential campaign.
Green Day performed in Los Angeles during a concert broadcast on ABC as part of the show Dick Clark is New Year’s Eve Rockin’ Eve. This is the group’s latest demonstration against the Republican Party. The title “American Idiot” was intended to criticize the “confusion” of the world during the 2004 administration of George W. Bush.
A period of paranoia
So, quite naturally, Green Day found themselves in the top tweet on X on Monday morning. Some users have defendant group to “sell out” to “comply with the DNC” and the right-wing news website Citizen Free Press, estimated that Billie Joe Armstrong “is not a punk, but simply a tired and apathetic tool for a grand political agenda”. However, this political demonstration is far from the first for the group. Green Day used a performance at the American Music Awards, held days after Donald Trump won the 2016 election, to chant ” No Trump! No KKK! No Fascist USA! » (literally: “No to Trump! No to the KKK! No to Fascist America!”) on stage. In 2020, Billie Joe Armstrong accused Donald Trump of “holding half the country hostage”, and in August of that year the band released limited edition merchandise featuring the former president’s mug, calling it “the ultimate Nimrod”, a callback to the album cover. hunter group in 1997.
Green Day first rose to prominence in the 1990s with albums such as Dookie, Insomnia AND hunter before the albums conquer a younger audience American idiot (a critique of the “age of paranoia” created by the American media that inspired Billie Joe Armstrong’s one-sided media coverage of the invasion of Iraq) and The collapse of the 21st centuryboth released in early 2000. Theatrical adaptationAmerican idiot it opened on Broadway in 2010 and was nominated for three Tony Awards. The group was introduced to Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015 and has received 20 Grammy nominations over the past few decades. American idiot earned the group a Grammy for Best Rock Album. Green Day released an album in 2020 titled Father of all Motherf**kers and said Steve Baltin, associate Forbes, that while the album isn’t overtly political, it evokes the idea that “Trump is deliberately trying to divide the country.” Overall album American idiot it has reached 12 million sales worldwide.
“I hate Donald Trump so much,” Billie Joe Armstrong told the crowd during an appearance at Cannes Lions in 2018. “I used to shout that I hated George Bush. But (Donald Trump) is a little different. It’s bad, like acid gone bad.”
Elon Musk, who founded Tesla and SpaceX, is the richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $251.3 billion (as of January 1, 2018).ahem January 2024). He also owns Platform X, formerly known as Twitter, which he bought in April 2022 for $44 million.
In the American art world, members of Green Day are not alone in adapting their song lyrics to reflect contemporary society. Taylor Swift made headlines this summer after changing the lyrics to her song “Better Than Revenge,” which was criticized for being misogynistic and “disgraceful” (she also changed a line from her song “Picture to Burn” from 2008, which was labeled as homophobic). In 2022, Elvis Costello said he would never play the song “Oliver’s Army”, a political anthem inspired by the conflict in Northern Ireland, which contains the following phrase: ” It only takes one itchy trigger; One widow more, one white negro less » (literally: “One itchy trigger is enough; One widow more, one white negro less”). Lil Wayne has promised the family of Emmett Till that he will get rid of the controversial catchphrase “Beat that cunt like Emmett Till.” (literally “Lynch pussy like Emmett Till”) remixed Future’s “Karate Chop” and the Black-Eyed Peas changed the popular 2004 single “Let’s Get Retarted” to “Let’s Get It Started”.
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