After nearly 40 years, Green Day is still using their music as a megaphone to protest the world’s injustices.
While headlining Saturday at Coachella, the punk band used their 2004 single ‘Jesus of Suburbia’ to call attention to the suffering of Palestinian children amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
“Runnin’ away from pain, like the kids from Palestine / Tales from another broken home,” sang frontman Billie Joe Armstrong in the lyric that was originally, “Runnin’ away from pain when you’ve been victimized.”
Last month, he altered the same track, singing, “Am I retarded, or am I just J.D. Vance?” Instead of the vice president’s name, the original lyric asks “am I just overjoyed?”
The American Idiot artists are not new to making a statement with their music, using the title track from their 2004 album to call out Donald Trump during a 2023 New Year’s Eve broadcast.
“I’m not a part of the MAGA agenda,” sang Armstrong on the ‘American Idiot’ lyric, which actually goes, “I’m not a part of a redneck agenda.”
The band’s Bush-era angst from their seventh studio album rang true during their Coachella set, which ended in flames when a rogue firework shot into the crowd and ignited a palm tree, according to TMZ. It’s unclear if there were any injuries.
In addition to Green Day, headliners for Coachella 2025 include Lady Gaga and Post Malone, also featuring performances by Missy Elliott, Charli XCX, Megan Thee Stallion, Benson Boone, Zedd, Shaboozey, Ty Dolla Sign, Misfits, Prodigy, FKA Twigs and Jimmy Eat World.
