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Longview (song)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Longview" | |||||
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| Single by Green Day from the album Dookie |
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| Released | 1994 | ||||
| Format | CD | ||||
| Recorded | 1993 | ||||
| Genre | Punk Rock | ||||
| Length | 3:59 | ||||
| Label | Wea International/ Reprise Records | ||||
| Producer | Rob Cavallo | ||||
| Green Day singles chronology | |||||
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"Longview" is the first major-label single released by rock band Green Day, from their hit 1994 album, Dookie. The music video for this song received intense airplay on MTV, which is largely credited for breaking Green Day into mainstream popularity. The lyrics describe intense boredom and are about a day spent sitting around the house, doing absolutely nothing of importance, masturbating until it is no longer fun, having no job, no life, and eating waffles. The song captured the attention of many youth at the time with its overt allusions to masturbation. Bassist Mike Dirnt has stated that the famous bass line intro to this song was written one night while he was high, and what remains on the album is what he and lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong could recall in the morning. With the verses featuring the signature bassline and tribal tom-tom drumbeat culminating into the melodic yet destructive chorus, the song echoes the 1960s classic, "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" by The Animals.
In 1995, Green Day was nominated for Grammys for Best New Artist and Best Hard Rock Performance for "Longview".
This song can also be found on their 2001 greatest hits collection International Superhits and a live performance can be found on the Bullet in a Bible DVD.
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"It's about boredom, masturbation and smoking dope." - Billie Joe Armstrong[1]
"I guess it was just living in the suburbs in a sort of shit town where you can't even pull in a good radio station. I was living in Rodeo, California, about 20 minutes outside of Oakland. There was nothing to do there, and it was a real boring place." - Billie Joe Armstrong in an interview in Guitar Legends magazine, May 2005.
"When Billie gave me a shuffle beat for Longview, I was flying on acid so hard. I was laying up against the wall with my bass lying on my lap. It just came to me. I said, "Bill, check this out. Isn't this the wackiest thing you've ever heard?" Later, it took me a long time to be able to play it, but it made sense when I was on drugs." - Mike Dirnt in Rolling Stone magazine, 1995.
It is said that the name of a song came about after the band took a trip to Longview, Washington where they first played this song. - according to Jim Baltutis, their press agent for the concert.
Sit around and watch the tube but nothings on; I change the channels for an hour or two
Twiddle my thumbs just for a bit; I'm sick of all the same old shit
In a house with unlocked doors and I'm fucking lazy
Bite my lip and close my eyes take my away to paradise
I'm so damn bored I'm going blind and I smell like shit
- A live version found on the Foot in Mouth EP, Live Tracks EP, and "Basket Case" single. (recorded March 11, 1994 at Jannus Landing, St. Petersburg, Florida).
- A slightly different version on International Superhits! (no fade from "Chump")
- Another live version found on Bullet in a Bible.
The video takes place in a dimly-lit basement of a broken-down house in Oakland, California that the band used to live in. The cost of the video is reported to be U.S. $300. The band members say that the look was intentionally grungy and un-aestheticized, including low-budget filming and visible pimples and apples. This was Green Day's first music video and was directed by Mark Kohr. Though the video was released in the Summer of 1993, it was nominated for three MTV Video Music Awards in 1994: Best Group Video, Best Alternative Video, and Best New Artist.[2]
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- On the original versions of Dookie, the song is titled as "Long View", possibly a mistake, like the titling of "Stuck With Me."
- Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine covered this as a Tropical Caribbean style song on his 2004 album I'd Like a Virgin.
- The music video has been critiqued on a popular MTV show of the time, Beavis and Butthead, the boys highly approved.
- Robert Eggplant, of the bands Blatz and The Hope Bombs, can be heard during the lyrics "Call me what you will," singing "What you will," a line he used to shout out at shows before bands would play.
- The lines in the chorus about going blind is an echo of a popular myth that states constant masturbation will make you go blind.
- "Longview (Album Version)"
- "Welcome to Paradise (Live)"
- "One of My Lies (Live)"
- (live tracks recorded March 11, 1994 at Jannus Landing, St. Petersburg, Florida)
| Preceded by "Selling the Drama" by Live |
Billboard Modern Rock Tracks number one single June 11, 1994 |
Succeeded by "Fall Down" by Toad the Wet Sprocket |
Categories: Single articles with infobox field chart position | Articles with trivia sections from October 2007 | 1994 singles | Debut singles | Green Day songs | Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine songs | Songs about masturbation | Pop punk singles | Billboard Modern Rock Tracks number-one singles