Green Day’s ‘American Idiot’ Returns to U.K. Chart Prior to Donald Trump’s Visit
On the strength of a social media campaign, Green Day's 2004 single "American Idiot" has returned to the U.K. singles chart, where it currently sits at No. 18, 14 years after it peaked at No. 3.
The campaign timed itself to coincide with the arrival of President Donald Trump on Thursday.
Billboard reports that back in May a Twitter account using the screen name "@TrumpIdiotNo1" and describing itself as "American Idiot for UK No.1 When Trump Visits" launched, asking people to buy or stream the song in the week leading up to Trump's visit. As of press time, the account has more than 1,600 followers.
The title track to Green Day's career-saving 2004 album, "American Idiot" was written during the George W. Bush administration as a critique on propaganda-driven TV, with Billie Joe Armstrong singing, "Don't wanna be an American idiot / One nation controlled by the media / Information Age of hysteria / It's calling out to idiot America."
It's but one of several displays of anti-Trump sentiment planned for his visit. A giant balloon representation of the president wearing only a diaper is set to fly around London with full approval from Mayor Sadiq Khan. Protests throughout the country are also scheduled, with British police preparing for possible riots.
"American Idiot" is Amazon U.K.'s best-selling song at the moment, and if it's going to top the Official Charts list in the next few days, it will have to unseat another older song that has become relevant. The No. 1 song in the U.K. is currently "Three Lions (Football's Coming Home)," a 1996 recording by Baddiel & Skinner & Lightning Seeds, an anthem for the England national soccer team, which is playing a World Cup semifinal against Croatia tomorrow.