Hear Green Day’s New Joan Jett-Sampling Song, ‘Oh Yeah!’
Green Day sample a Joan Jett anthem on their hooky new single "Oh Yeah!," the latest sample from their upcoming 13th LP, Father of All …
The power-pop track features a prominent vocal snippet from Joan Jett's 1980 cut "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)," a cover of glam-rocker Gary Glitter's 1973 song of the same name. "Everybody is a star/Got my money and I'm feeling kinda low," frontman Billie Joe Armstrong sings on the chorus over surging power chords. "Everybody got a scar/Ain't it funny how we're running out of hope?"
The band also promoted the song with a creative video — featuring cameos from all three members — that plays on the lyrical concept of universal stardom, from YouTube tutorials to livestreams to viral Internet clips. You can watch the clip below.
Green Day referenced the sample with a blunt note in the video's caption. "BTW we sampled a song from the great Joan Jett’s Bad Reputation album," they wrote. "One of the writers on that song is a total asshole, so we’re donating our royalties from this song to IJM and RAINN." (Even though Green Day don't specify who they're referring to, it's worth noting that Glitter, who co-wrote the song, went to prison for sexually abusing underage girls in 2015.)
Armstrong teased "Oh Yeah!" in a 2019 Kerrang! interview, noting the dark subject matter that contrasts with the song's catchiness. "It's sort of about being freaked out around the polarization that we live in right now," he said of the track, then titled "Bulletproof Backpack." "Whether it's kids getting shot in schools, or the closest thing that America has ever seen to fascism. Light stuff … ."
"Oh Yeah!" is the third song Green Day have released from Father of All … (uncensored full title: Father of All Motherfuckers), following the title track and "Fire, Ready, Aim." The album, out Feb. 7, follows the band's 2016 LP, Revolution Radio. You can see the full track listing below.
Upon announcing the project, Green Day described their latest music as "the new soul, Motown, glam and manic anthemic. Punks, freaks and punishers! The Dirty messy. The Stink. The lyrics are like a party and lifestyle of not giving a fuck. The life AND death of the party. Not political. Surviving in chaos. The real shit."
They will promote the record on the Hella Mega Tour with Weezer and Fall Out Boy. The trek kicks off June 13 in Paris; a North American run launches July 17 in Seattle and runs through Aug. 29 in Philadelphia.
Green Day, 'Father of All ... ' Track Listing
1. "Father of All..."
2. "Fire, Ready, Aim"
3. "Oh Yeah!"
4. "Meet Me on the Roof"
5. "I Was a Teenage Teenager"
6. "Stab You in the Heart"
7. "Sugar Youth"
8. "Junkies on a High"
9. "Take the Money and Crawl"
10. "Graffitia"