21 Guns (song)

Background and composition

"21 Guns" addresses the topic of patriotism. Frontman and chief songwriter Billie Joe Armstrong told Q magazine, in May 2009: "It brings up 21st Century Breakdown in a lot of ways, and the 21-gun salute for someone that's fallen, but done in an arena rock 'n' roll sort of way."

According to Q, the song is "a mammoth power ballad with a chorus like Mott the Hoople's All the Young Dudes." William Goodman from Spin agreed, also comparing the song to All The Young Dudes. Entertainment Weekly's Simon Vozick-Levinson described it as a "sensitive arena rock cut that made us think of Toto's 'Africa'. While the chorus sounded more like ELO's 'Telephone Line.' A Rolling Stone article commented that it "has a dash of 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams' to it." Spin's Goodman agreed, writing: "This track covers a lot of territory in its five minutes, from a solo acoustic guitar (reminiscent of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams") to Brian May-worthy electric riffage. But the chorus holds the killer hook, as Armstrong hits highs with his voice in a thrilling moment."

Critical reception

The song has received critical acclaim. Chris Fallon writing for AbsolutePunk commented that "it is arguably the album's highlight, presenting an anti-war ballad that is both monumentally enduring and also sophisticated protest." James Montgomery of MTV News described it as "a cell-phones-in-the-air anthem, starting with more sharply strummed acoustic guitars." Colin Moriarty from IGN wrote that the track is "perhaps the best song on the album as a whole, is a multi-faceted song with a pretty poignant message to boot." Jordan Richardson of Blogcritics commented: "It's the album’s anti-war hymn, reaching heroic heights with a sleek sort of sappiness that fits flawlessly. The range and sentiment may dishearten those looking for a little more Dookie from their Green Day, but I’ve never heard Billie Joe sound so good and so earnest as he pulls his frail voice upwards to knock out some stunning high notes." Mayer Nissim gave the song 3 out of 5 stars, writing: "It combines verses reminiscent of Neil Young's 'Heart of Gold' with big power-pop chord changes and choruses that soar in all the right places. The jerky charm of the band's earlier work may be missing, but there's still lots to enjoy here."

However, Adam Downer from Sputnikmusic gave a negative review, commenting that "it sounds like a terrible rewrite of something John Lennon never released."

Release and media appearance

"21 Guns" was released to modern punk radio stations on May 25, 2009, although it had already been played on some radio stations, such as KROQ in Los Angeles and 101.9 in New York City. In the radio edit, the song is over forty seconds shorter than the album version due to the bridge being shortened and the intro being taken out. The CD single and clear 7" single were released on July 14, 2009.

The song is featured heavily in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and appears on the soundtrack, which was released on June 12, 2009. It became available for download on the music video game series Rock Band on July 7, 2009, along with the songs "East Jesus Nowhere" and "Know Your Enemy.

The song was featured in episode 6 of The Vampire Diaries. The song is featured in the video game Green Day: Rock Band and is downloadable content for the Rock Band series.

A live version was also released on 21 Guns Live EP in September 2009.

Music video

A music video was directed by Marc Webb and filmed in Los Angeles on June 6, 2009. It premiered on MySpace on Monday, June 22, 2009 at midnight EDT. A shorter version of the video also exists, which is set to the radio edit of the song.

It is the third Green Day video to feature touring guitarist Jason White performing with the band, following "Wake Me Up When September Ends" and "Working Class Hero". He is also seen briefly in the music videos for "When I Come Around" and "Jesus of Suburbia" but he is not performing with the band.

After spending the previous week at number 3, the video peaked at number one on VH1 Top 20 Countdown on August 22, 2009 and again on September 19, 2009. It also won "Best Rock Video", "Best Direction in a Video" and "Best Cinematography in a Video" for the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.

The video takes place with the band and the album's two protagonists Christian (Josh Boswell) and Gloria (Lisa Stelly) taking refuge in a white room after robbing a bank. The police arrive outside the room and open fire through the window, to the couple's terror. As bullets rain through the room, the band continues playing. Gloria picks up the phone and throws it into a fish tank. As the bullets continue to fly and tear apart the room, Christian and Gloria become calm and walk toward each other, unharmed by the bullets. They embrace and kiss as the room goes dark, recreating the 21st Century Breakdown cover art. As the song ends, the room lights up again, and they are still uninjured. After the room lights up, there are various shots of destruction in the room, including a shot of some of the writing on the walls. The writing that they show is an excerpt of the lyrics of the song "See The Light" which also appears on "21st Century Breakdown". The video may represent the meaning of the song in the 21st Century Breakdown story.

Musical cast version

Green Day has recorded two versions of "21 Guns" with the cast of American Idiot. The recording was produced by Billie Joe Armstrong. The recording with Armstrong singing the male solo parts was released on December 3 to Spinner.com and also released for digital download on December 22. The video was released February 1.

The second version of the song with the cast of American Idiot features Stark Sands, John Gallagher Jr., and Michael Esper singing their respective solos instead of Armstrong.

It was performed with Armstrong singing lead male vocals at the 52nd Grammy Awards.

Live EP

Green Day released a live EP for the song including live performances of "Welcome To Paradise", "Brain Stew/Jaded" and "F.O.D." recorded live in New York.

Track listing

Chart positions

The song debuted at No. 55 on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 22 (becoming their highest peaking song since the 2005 hit "Wake Me Up When September Ends"), and No. 81 on the Canadian Hot 100, reaching #15. It reached No. 3 on the Alternative Songs chart and No. 17 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. Also, on the Billboard Pop Songs it reached #30. On the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, the song peaked at #14. On the UK Singles Chart, it debuted at No. 100 and rose to #36. In New Zealand, the song debuted at No. 23 and peaked at No. 3 in its seventh week on the chart. In New Zealand, it was certified Gold after 13 weeks on the chart, selling over 7,500 copies. It is Green Day's third single to be certified Platinum by the RIAA. The single was also certified Platinum in Italy.

Personnel