WATCH: Green Day’s Video For “Troubled Times”
It didn’t take Green Day long to further address the recent events in Charlottesville, Va.
A few days after frontman Billie Joe Armstrong issued a heartfelt statement decrying racism and the racist demonstration in the city that led to violence last week, Green Day has released a new video for “Troubled Times,” using footage from the clash between alt-right demonstrators and counter protestors, and of President Donald Trump‘s attempts to address it along with other world events, with close-ups of an emotional Armstrong singing the track from last year’s Revolution Radio album.
In his message Armstrong says that the incident “goes beyond the point of anger. It makes me sad and desperate, shocked. I f***ing hate racism more than anything. music and social justice have always gone hand in hand with me. we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for ‘the time they are a changing”…some people don’t agree. the spirit of green day has always been about rising above oppression and sticking up for what you believe in and singing at the top of your lungs…Nazi punks f*** off.”
Green Day is on the road in North America through September 23 and also plays the Corona Capital Festival on November 19 in Mexico City.
Gary Graff is an award-winning music journalist who not only covers music but has written books on Bob Seger, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen.
