"Last of the American Girls" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Green Day | ||||
from the album 21st Century Breakdown | ||||
Released | March 22, 2010 | |||
Recorded | 2008 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:51 | |||
Label | Reprise | |||
Composer(s) | Green Day | |||
Lyricist(s) | Billie Joe Armstrong | |||
Producer(s) |
| |||
Green Day singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Music video | ||||
"Last of the American Girls" on YouTube | ||||
Audio sample | ||||
"Last of the American Girls" is a song by American rock band Green Day. The song is the tenth track from their eighth studio album 21st Century Breakdown (2009) Written by the band and produced by Butch Vig,the song was released as the album's fifth and final single on March 22,2010.
A music video for the track was released on April 1,2010. The song peaked at number 26 on the US Alternative Airplay chart.
The band premiered "Last of the American Girls" during a secret show at the Fox Oakland Theatre on April 14,2009,alongside other songs which would appear on 21st Century Breakdown. [1] [2]
"Last of the American Girls" is a pop-punk song in the key of B major, [3] described as being reminiscent of songs from Dookie (1994) [4] and American Idiot (2004). [5] The song is considered by critics to be similar to the college rock-style of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers,especially to their song "American Girl". [6] [7] The song also contains harmonies reminiscent of the Beach Boys. [8] According to Armstrong,"Last of the American Girls" was initially inspired by his wife,before he incorporated his own beliefs into the lyrics. [9] Lyrically,the song describes a female rebel who is paranoid and partakes in conspiracy theories. [6] The song advances the story of 21st Century Breakdown through expanding on the idealistic and politically-driven personality of the character Gloria. [10]
The music video for "Last of the American Girls" was directed by Marc Webb,who also directed other music videos from 21st Century Breakdown. It stars Lisa Stelly reprising her role as Gloria from the music video for "21 Guns". [12] The video shows a bored Gloria in a desert landscape strewn with furniture performing mundane activities like watching television and washing dishes while being followed by a pair of dancing blond twins. [13] Towards the end,Gloria causes a shooting target to burst and a car to explode by "firing" a finger gun. Shots of the band performing the song in the desert are interspersed throughout the video. [14]
The music video has been commended for its theatrical nature,with Daniel Kreps of Rolling Stone comparing the video to that of "Telephone". [14]
"Last of the American Girls" received mostly positive reception from critics. Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone wrote that the song "comes on as a fabulous left-wing love song to a rebel girl," [10] while Chad Childers of Loudwire commented that the song was "among the album's better deeper cuts". [15]
"Last of the American Girls" appears in American Idiot,a jukebox musical based on songs by Green Day,combined with the song "She's a Rebel". It is one of the few songs in the musical to originate from 21st Century Breakdown,as opposed to being from the album American Idiot itself. [16]
The song was released as downloadable content for the Rock Band series. [17]
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Last of the American Girls" | 3:51 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Last of the American Girls" | 3:53 |
2. | "Know Your Enemy" (Live at the Fox Theatre, Oakland, California on April 14, 2009) | 4:49 |
3. | "21st Century Breakdown" (Studio 880 Sessions) | 5:06 |
Total length: | 13:08 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Last of the American Girls" | 3:51 |
Chart (2010) | Peak position |
---|---|
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40) [20] | 29 |
Germany (Official German Charts) [21] | 45 |
Hungary (Mahasz) [22] | 16 |
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40 Tipparade) [23] | 4 |
U.S. Billboard Rock Songs [24] | 34 |
U.S. Billboard Alternative Songs [25] | 26 |
Green Day is an American rock band formed in Rodeo, California in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong and bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, with drummer Tré Cool joining in 1990. In 1994, their major-label debut Dookie, released through Reprise Records, became a breakout success and eventually shipped over 10 million copies in the U.S. Alongside fellow California punk bands Bad Religion, the Offspring, Rancid, NOFX, Pennywise and Social Distortion, Green Day is credited with popularizing mainstream interest in punk rock in the U.S.
Billie Joe Armstrong is an American musician and actor. He is best known for being the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the rock band Green Day, which he co-founded with Mike Dirnt in 1987. He is also a guitarist and vocalist for the punk rock band Pinhead Gunpowder, and provides lead vocals for Green Day's side projects Foxboro Hot Tubs, the Network, the Longshot and the Coverups. Armstrong has been considered by critics as one of the greatest punk rock guitarists of all time.
Michael Ryan Pritchard, better known by his stage name Mike Dirnt, is an American rock musician who is the co-founder, bassist, backing vocalist, and occasional lead vocalist of Green Day. He has also played in several other bands, including the Frustrators. His stage name Dirnt was originally a nickname that his friends from grade school gave him, as he constantly played "air bass/guitar" and made a "dirnt, dirnt, dirnt" noise while pretending to pluck the strings.
American Idiot is the seventh studio album by the American rock band Green Day, released on September 21, 2004, by Reprise Records. As with their previous four albums, it was produced by Rob Cavallo in collaboration with the group. Recording sessions for American Idiot took place at Studio 880 in Oakland and Ocean Way Recording in Hollywood, both in California, between 2003 and 2004. A concept album, dubbed a "punk rock opera" by the band members, American Idiot follows the story of Jesus of Suburbia, a lower-middle-class American adolescent anti-hero. The album expresses the disillusionment and dissent of a generation that came of age in a period shaped by tumultuous events such as 9/11 and the Iraq War. In order to accomplish this, the band used unconventional techniques for themselves, including transitions between connected songs and some long, chaptered, creative compositions presenting the album themes.
"American Idiot" is a protest song by the American rock band Green Day. The first single released from the album American Idiot, the song received positive reviews by critics and was nominated for four 2005 Grammy Awards: Record of the Year, Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, Best Rock Song, and Best Music Video.
"Jesus of Suburbia" is a song by American rock band Green Day. It was released as the fifth and final single from the group's seventh studio album, American Idiot, and the second song on the album. With the song running for 9 minutes and 8 seconds, it is Green Day's second longest song and the group's longest song to be released as a single. The studio version of the song was considered to be unfriendly for radio, so it was cut down to 6½ minutes for the radio edit. The long version was still played on many album rock and alternative rock radio stations. The single has sold 205,000 copies as of July 2010. Despite its commercial success, the song is the only hit single from the American Idiot album not to be included on the band's greatest hits album God's Favorite Band.
The American rock band Green Day has released 14 studio albums, four live albums, four compilation albums, one soundtrack album, four video albums, 12 extended plays, 4 box sets, 48 singles, 10 promotional singles, 3 anniversaries, and 56 music videos. The band has sold over 75 million records worldwide, including more than 24 million in certified album sales in the United States. Green Day released their first two studio albums, 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours (1991) and Kerplunk (1991), through the independent label Lookout! Records before signing to major label Reprise Records. Dookie, the band's first album on the label and third studio album overall, was released in February 1994. It was a breakout success, selling over 10 million copies in the United States and 20 million copies worldwide. Dookie spawned five singles, including the international hits "Longview", "Basket Case" and "When I Come Around". The album placed Green Day at the forefront of the 1990s punk rock revival.
Cigarettes and Valentines is an unreleased studio album by American rock band Green Day. The album would have been the follow-up to Warning (2000). In 2003, the album was nearly finished when the master tapes were mysteriously stolen from the band's studio. Instead of re-recording the album, the band decided to start from scratch, leading to the creation of American Idiot (2004). To date, only the title track has been released in full form, although American Idiot track "Homecoming" contains elements of the album. In an interview the band did on the New York radio station Q104.3 on March 28, 2010, Green Day confirmed "Too Much Too Soon" was a song recorded during the Cigarettes and Valentines sessions. On February 26, 2011, bassist Mike Dirnt confirmed three other song titles that were originally recorded for the album: "Dropout", "Sleepyhead", and "Walk Away". Notably, "Walk Away" is also the title of a song on the band's eleventh studio album, ¡Tré! (2012).
Foxboro Hot Tubs is the garage rock side project of Green Day, formed in 2007. The band includes all members of Green Day, as well as their touring members Jason White, Jason Freese, and Kevin Preston, who is also in Prima Donna. Their first and currently only album Stop Drop and Roll!!! was released on April 22, 2008. The name "Foxboro Hot Tubs" is the alias Green Day uses to book secret shows. When performing as Foxboro Hot Tubs, Billie Joe Armstrong and Jason White go by the names Reverend Strychnine Twitch and Frosco Lee respectively.
21st Century Breakdown is the eighth studio album by the American rock band Green Day, released on May 15, 2009, through Reprise Records. Green Day commenced work on the record in January 2006 and forty-five songs were written by vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong by October 2007, but the band members did not enter studio work until January 2008.
"Know Your Enemy" is a protest song by American rock band Green Day. It is the third track on their eighth album, 21st Century Breakdown, and it was released as the lead single through Reprise Records on April 16, 2009, and the group's first single since "Jesus of Suburbia", released 4 years earlier. Billboard described the song as being lyrically "just as politically charged as last time ", having a "Modern Rock radio-ready chorus", whilst the song's producer Butch Vig "brings enough punk sheen for mass appeal." It was the first, and one of only three songs, to top the Rock Songs, Alternative Songs and Mainstream Rock Tracks Billboard charts at the same time. "Know Your Enemy" has been certified Gold by the RIAA and has sold 798,000 copies as of August 2010.
21st Century Breakdown World Tour was a headlining concert tour by American rock band Green Day in support of the group's eighth studio album, 21st Century Breakdown, which was released in May 2009.
"21 Guns" is a song by American rock band Green Day. It was released as the second single from their eighth studio album, 21st Century Breakdown (2009), and serves as the sixteenth track from the album. The single was released through Reprise Records on May 25, 2009 as a digital download and July 14, 2009 as a CD single.
Green Day: Rock Band is a 2010 rhythm game developed by Harmonix, published by MTV Games, and distributed by Electronic Arts. It is the sixth console installment in the Rock Band series and the second band-centric game, following The Beatles: Rock Band (2009). It allows players to simulate rock music by using controllers shaped like musical instruments. The game's setlist consists of songs by American rock band Green Day. Rock Band features virtual depictions of the three band members performing the songs in new venues designed for the game.
"21st Century Breakdown" is a song by American rock band Green Day from their album of the same name. Billie Joe Armstrong composed the song, which is mainly based on his personal life and musical influences. The song was released as the fourth single from the album on December 21, 2009.
"When It's Time" is a song by the American rock band Green Day from American Idiot: The Original Broadway Cast Recording, a cast recording to the musical production American Idiot, a stage adaptation of the band's 2004 concept album. The song was released as a single in the United Kingdom, where it reached no. 68 on the UK Singles Chart.
Chris Dugan is an American audio engineer, cinematographer, record producer, musician, and singer, best known as the drummer of the Effection and as an audio engineer for Green Day. In 2018, along with Green Day members Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt, guitarist Jason White, and tour manager Bill Schneider, he formed the Coverups, for which he plays drums.
Awesome as Fuck is a live album by American rock band Green Day, released on March 22, 2011, by Reprise Records. The album is composed of tracks recorded during Green Day's 2009–10 21st Century Breakdown World Tour in support of their eighth studio album 21st Century Breakdown (2009). It includes a DVD of a concert recorded at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. It is also available in Blu-ray.
"Oh Love" is a song by American rock band Green Day. It was released as the lead single from their ninth studio album, ¡Uno!, through Reprise Records on July 16, 2012, and is the album's closing track. It is also the first single overall from the ¡Uno!, ¡Dos! & ¡Tré! trilogy. An EP of the song was released on August 14, 2012, the same day Kill the DJ was released as a single. It was recorded at Jingletown Studios from February 14 to June 26, 2012; however, it was also played at a secret show held by the band in 2011.