Boulevard of Broken Dreams (Green Day song)
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| "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Single by Green Day | ||
| from the album American Idiot | ||
| B-side(s) | American Idiot (Live, Sep 21 2004 Irving Plaza, Nyc) She's A Rebel (Live, Sep 21 2004 Irving Plaza, Nyc) |
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| Released | 2005 | |
| Format | Digital download Compact Disc |
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| Genre | Pop punk, Alternative rock | |
| Length | 04:20 | |
| Label | Reprise | |
| Writer(s) | Green Day, Billie Joe Armstrong | |
| Producer(s) | Green Day, Rob Cavallo | |
| Certification | 3x Platinum | |
| Chart positions | ||
| Green Day singles chronology | ||
| "American Idiot" (2004) |
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" (2005) |
"Holiday" (2005) |
| American Idiot track listing | ||
| "Holiday" (3) |
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" (4) |
"Are We the Waiting" (5) |
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" was the second single from Green Day's seventh studio album, American Idiot. Released in 2005, the single peaked at number two in the United States, becoming Green Day's first and only top-five single, and their most successful single to date. This song was named Record of the Year at the Grammy Awards of 2006. The song's broad appeal was demonstrated by its performance on several less-publicized Billboard singles charts. It became one of only two songs to ever reach #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks, Modern Rock Tracks, and Adult Top 40 charts.
The song was written by Green Day (lyrics by lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong), and was co-produced by Green Day and Rob Cavallo. In this moderate midtempo song characterized by moody and depressing lyrics, Green Day speaks from the point of view of the character Jesus of Suburbia from their American Idiot "rock opera". The song preceding this track on the album, Holiday, is supposed to be the character's "high" of being in The City and Boulevard of Broken Dreams is his loneliness after the fun stops. As described in the MTV's Green Day Makes a Video, Holiday is the party, and Boulevard of Broken Dreams is the hangover.
In the 2005 VH1 Storytellers program featuring Green Day, Billie Joe Armstrong has stated that the title of the song was "nicked" from the famous Gottfried Helnwein painting (of the same title) that features James Dean. [1].
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[edit] Oasis Controversy
The riff and chord sequence of the song has been closely compared to that of Wonderwall by Oasis. Indeed, Noel Gallagher angrily hit out at Green Day in late 2006, saying; "They should have the decency to wait until I am dead (before stealing my songs). I, at least, pay the people I steal from that courtesy."
Gallagher's reaction may have partly been due to the emergence of Boulevard of Broken Songs, a popular mash-up mixed by San Francisco, California, DJ and producer Party Ben in late 2004. The mix consisted of elements from "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", "Wonderwall", Travis' "Writing to Reach You" and Aerosmith's "Dream On".
Interestingly, the song also shares lyrics from the White Snake song Here I Go Again.
[edit] Popularity
The band chose to use the popularity of this song to provide some charity to the victims of the Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans, LA. All of the iTunes proceeds from this song for the year were donated to the American Red Cross for Katrina aid efforts. JPOP (Japanese Pop) Idol Utada Hikaru also did a cover of this song.
A live version of this song can be found on Bullet in a Bible, a live album of Green Day performing at the Milton Keynes National Bowl.
[edit] Music video
The award-winning music video for Boulevard of Broken Dreams directed by Samuel Bayer depicts the band members after their car has stalled in the desert, and they begin a melancholy walk down a dusty road. Scenes are interspersed from video footage taken from around L.A. of homeless people and other miserable sights. The video also features performance footage of the band playing the song.
The videos for Boulevard of Broken Dreams and Holiday were filmed simultaneously as a continuous storyline. Thus, the video starts where "Holiday" left off. However, the video for Boulevard of Broken Dreams was released before the Holiday music video, making the "Holiday" video a prequel.
The video features a 1968 green Mercury Monterey convertible that was modified for filming in the Holiday and Boulevard of Broken Dreams videos. The car features a hood ornament in the shape of the hand holding a heart grenade from the album cover of American Idiot as well as the band's name on the front of the hood. The band rode the car to the 2005 MTV Video Music Award ceremony and the car is now linked to the band's image.
As shown in an MTV Making the Video special, director Samuel Bayer used unorthodox techniques to achieve the aged look to the Boulevard of Broken Dreams video. He damaged the physical film various ways, including scratching the film with razor blades and extinguishing cigarettes on it.
The video of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" won six awards at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2005, most notably for Video of the Year. It also won Best Group Video, Best Rock Video, Best Direction, Best Editing, and Best Cinematography.
[edit] Trivia
- Boulevard of Broken Dreams's popularity was featured in the trailer/commercial to Lords of Dogtown, a biographical movie of the story of the skateboarding group the Zephyr Boys.
- Four earlier songs have the same title: an old Harry Warren song[2], a Hanoi Rocks song, a Marianne Faithfull song, and a song by Brian Setzer from his 1986 album The Knife Feels Like Justice. Also, the song's name shares the lyrics of the Elvis Costello song "Brilliant Mistake", the Allman Brothers Band song "End of the Line", and the Deadsy song "The Key To Gramercy Park".
- The song has also reached some publicity over a mash-up that was created that used this song. As the song has the same guitar chords from as several other songs, a popular mash-up was made and named "Boulevard of Broken Songs". The mash-up mixed the song with other songs including Oasis' "Wonderwall" and Travis's "Writing to Reach You".
- This song was covered by Japanese pop singer Utada Hikaru acoustically with a guitar during an internet broadcast in December 2005. A video of it can be found. Boulevard of Broken Dreams is sung first and then fades into Passion (After the Battle version) from the Kingdom Hearts II original soundtrack.
- This song has made an appearance in Smallville, Season 4: Episode 7, or episode 73, called "Jinx".
- Billie Joe wrote this song in company of his son. The boy was playing drums, then Billie picked up an acoustic guitar and began writing the piece.
- During the first few seconds of the video, the end of the song "Holiday" can be heard.
[edit] Charts
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[edit] See also
[edit] External links
| Preceded by "Pain" by Jimmy Eat World |
Billboard Modern Rock Tracks number-one single December 11, 2004 |
Succeeded by "E-Pro" by Beck |
| Preceded by "Lose My Breath" by Destiny's Child |
United World Chart number one single February 5, 2005 - March 5, 2005 |
Succeeded by "Get Right" by Jennifer Lopez |
| Preceded by "Get Right" by Jennifer Lopez |
United World Chart number one single March 26, 2005 - April 2, 2005 |
Succeeded by "Let Me Love You" by Mario |
