"Bang Bang" is the second track off of Revolution Radio. For other uses please see Bang Bang. The song starts off with sound clips from the media discussing shooters with a touch of an Insomniac era bass line which eventually leads to:

[quote]Bang bang give me fame
Shoot me up to entertain
I am a semi-automatic lonely boy
You're dead, I'm well fed
Give me death or give me head
Broadcasting from my room
And playing with my toys[/quote]

The song has a catchy chorus, that sounds a little like of "East Jesus Nowhere", and a solid drum solo which are great elements to have in a single (in my opinion). Here's what Billie Joe had to say about the song in a Rolling Stone interview

[quote]It's about the culture of mass shooting that happens in America mixed with narcissistic social media. There's this sort of rage happening, but it's also now being filmed and we all have ourselves under surveillance. To me, that is so twisted. To get into the brain of someone like that was freaky. It freaked me out. After I wrote it, all I wanted to do was get that out of my brain because it just freaked me out.[/quote]

Check out one of their more notable performance of the song from last year's American Music Awards.

[youtube=eSZ0KzA9e1s]

We asked our staff what their thoughts were on the song:

Andres
[quote]I was so excited when we finally got to hear this song. Fast. Great sound. Catchy music. It's everything I wanted in a Green Day song. I loved that the lyrics had some depth to them with the meaning. It really was a perfect single to debut Revolution Radio. Everyone was buzzing the day we finally heard it. I think it's my favorite debut single they've release since Warning.[/quote]

Jack
[quote]Bang Bang" is Green Day's way of showing that they can still write acidic, fierce (and, most importantly, meaningful) punk songs about edgy topics. Billie Joe's "I am a semiautomatic lonely boy" lyric is a haunting one, and sets a tone on par with some of his most epic past works.[/quote]

Matt
[quote]Bang Bang" marks a return to the gnarly, in-your-face, "pump ass" Green Day that caused a lot of people to latch on to the band in the first place, including myself. It's that type of song that needs to be released as the lead single for every Green Day album (something they desperately needed help with prior to RevRad).

I remember listening to it the morning it premiered and thinking "holy shit, here we go." I was blown away by the production value and the total change of pace during the breakdown. Kudos to Chris Dugan, Andrew Scheps, and Eric Boulanger for the incredible engineering work to make it sound so good.

Unfortunately, "Bang Bang," along with "Revolution Radio," feel out of place on the album. Both are big, energetic songs that nothing else matches. What happened Billie Joe and co.? I could listen to an entire album of songs like this.

Overall, a fantastic start to the RevRad era and is fun as hell to hear and sing along to live.[/quote]

What are your thoughts on the song? How well did it serve as the first single? Leave us your thoughts below!

If you're looking for more information on the song, check out its song page. This song has a lyric video, music video, and behind the scenes of the music video. Looking to discuss the song a little deeper? Check out the song topic on GDC.

Previous "Year of #RevRad" posts:
Part 1: "Somewhere Now"