Green Day co-founder Mike Dirnt reacted to the backlash over the band changing the lyrics to their 2004 protest anthem American Idiot.
During the band’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve performance, frontman Billie Joe Armstrong sang ‘I’m not part of a MAGA agenda’ instead of ‘I’m not part of a redneck agenda’.
The substitution appeared a dig at Donald Trump and his slogan during his 2016 presidential run and beyond: ‘Make America Great Again’.
‘The song’s twenty years old, and we’re Green Day. What did you expect? Come on,’ Dirnt told Rolling Stone on Friday.
He added that the ‘best part’ of the lyric change was that it ‘provoked conversation’.
Green Day co-founder Mike Dirnt (right) reacted to the backlash over the band changing the lyrics to their 2004 protest anthem American Idiot; with Tre Cool and Billie Joe Armstrong on January 17, 2024 in New York City
During the band’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve performance , frontman Billie Joe Armstrong sang ‘I’m not part of a MAGA agenda’ instead of ‘I’m not part of a redneck agenda’
‘It got people talking. First it was rhetorical, and then it got into conversation,’ he continued.
‘Anytime you can get people talking, you’re always going to have the loudest voices [heard first], and then everyone else in the room is going to figure out what it really means.’
Backers of the former president expressed outrage as the band targeted them, with some going as far as accusing the band of selling out.
‘Green Day is woke corporate fake punk. I’m old enough to remember when punks were against the establishment,’ one follower wrote online.
Montana Republican chairman Don Kaltschmidt fired off at the time: ‘Bad decision never involve politics in your music… you just p***** off half your fans.. not necessary. But the young make foolish decisions… been there’
Elon Musk also weighed in on the lyric change, posting: ‘Green Day goes from raging against the machine to milquetoastedly raging for it’
In response, Dirnt told Rolling Stone that the Tesla founder ‘actually is the machine’.
‘I can’t take anything else from that,’ the musician said. ‘He’s not shy about saying stupid sh** on the internet. Whatever.’
The substitution appeared a dig at Donald Trump and his slogan during his 2016 presidential run and beyond: ‘Make America Great Again’
‘The song’s twenty years old, and we’re Green Day. What did you expect? Come on,’ Dirnt told Rolling Stone on Friday
Elon Musk also weighed in on the lyric change, posting : ‘Green Day goes from raging against the machine to milquetoastedly raging for it’ In response, Dirnt told Rolling Stone that the Tesla founder ‘actually is the machine’
Meanwhile, Dirnt and the band put on a surprise performance on the subway in New York City on Tuesday.
They joined by Jimmy Fallon at the 47-50 Rockefeller Center station as they rocked out to their greatest hits, per BrooklynVegan, including Basketcase, Dilemma, and American Idiot.
It is unclear if the lyric change was part of that performance.
The band’s 14th studio album, titled Saviors, is due out on Friday, January 19.
