Boulevard of Broken Dreams (Green Day song)
Encyclopedia
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" is a song by American punk rock
band Green Day
. It was released as the second single from their seventh album, American Idiot
. The song was written by Green Day, with lyrics by lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong
. "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" remains one of Green Day's signature songs.
The song speaks from the point of view of American Idiots main character, Jesus of Suburbia
, and is a moderate midtempo song characterized by somber and bleak lyrics. This is in contrast to the previous track on the album, "Holiday
", which illustrates Jesus of Suburbia's high of being in The City. MTV's Green Day Makes a Video
described "Holiday" as a party, and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" as the subsequent hangover.
It was ranked the number one on Rolling Stones Reader's Choice: Singles of the Decade list in 2009 and number 65 on the 100 Best Songs of the Decade list in the same year. As of 2010, it has sold 2,084,000 copies in the United States, and was certified 2x Platinum. The single peaked at number two in the United States, making it Green Day's most successful song. "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year
.
of Oasis
criticized Green Day in late 2006, saying, "They should have the decency to wait until I am dead [before stealing my songs]. I, at least, pay the people I steal from that courtesy", referencing the fact that "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" uses the same chord progression
as Oasis's hit single "Wonderwall
". Gallagher's reaction may have partly been due to the emergence of "Boulevard of Broken Songs
", a popular mash-up mixed by San Francisco
DJ and producer Party Ben
in late 2004. The mix consisted of elements from "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", "Wonderwall", Travis
' "Writing to Reach You
" and Eminem
's "Sing for the Moment
", which itself has samples from Aerosmith
's "Dream On
" (another remix by Party Ben featured this, "Wonderwall" and Kanye West
's "Flashing Lights
").
This song was covered by Japanese-American
singer Hikaru Utada acoustically with a guitar during an internet broadcast in December 2005; a video of it can be found. "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" is sung first and then fades into "Passion
" (After the Battle version) from the Kingdom Hearts II
original soundtrack.
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" is also featured in the movie trailer of Lords of Dogtown
(2005), starring Heath Ledger
, Emile Hirsch
and John Robinson
.
Billie Joe Armstrong wrote the song while he was in his son Joey's bedroom.
In the 2005 VH1
Storytellers program featuring Green Day, Billie Joe Armstrong stated that the title of the song was "nicked" from the famous Gottfried Helnwein
painting of the same title, which features James Dean
. Four earlier songs also have the same title: an old Harry Warren
song, a Hanoi Rocks
song, a Marianne Faithfull
song, and a song by Brian Setzer
from his 1986 album The Knife Feels Like Justice
.
Lyrics from the song bear some resemblance to the Pinhead Gunpowder
song "I Walk Alone", a band in which Billie Joe Armstrong also sings. It appeared on their 1997 album, Goodbye Ellston Avenue
.
The song also shares some lyrics with the Whitesnake
song "Here I Go Again
", the words "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" can be found in the lyrics of the Elvis Costello
song "Brilliant Mistake", the Allman Brothers Band song "End of the Line", the Deadsy
song "The Key to Gramercy Park", and The Ataris
song "Road Signs and Rock Songs". The phrase "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" also appears in punk/new wave band Blondie's 1982 minor UK-hit single Island of Lost Souls
and in the 1988
song "Broken Dreams
" by hard rock
artist Lita Ford
.
A live version of the song can be found on Bullet in a Bible
, the 2005
live album of Green Day performing on June 19 that year at the Milton Keynes
National Bowl
.
Bluegrass band Cornbread Red did a cover of the song on a tribute album to Green Day Pickin' on Green Day, while the German choir Gregorian
did a cover, on their Masters of Chant Chapter V
album, in the style of a Gregorian Chant.
Mark Mallman
covered this song on his MP3-only compilation release Outtakes Vol 1
.
The song is also featured in Green Day's musical American Idiot
, sung on the cast recording
by John Gallagher Jr., Rebecca Naomi Jones, and the rest of the company.
and composed in the key of F minor
, like Holiday, its prelude. The opening features an electric guitar with tremolo
playing the verse progression
, which is a i-III-VII-IV progression (Fm-G#♭-D#♭-A#♭). Billie Joe's vocals begin, accompanied by acoustic guitar
. The bass
and drums enter after the first two lines. The pre chorus features a memorable lead guitar
melody before seguing into the distorted chorus. The chorus contains a VI-III-VII-i power chord
progression (C#♭-G#♭-D#♭5-A#), ending on a B5 power chord vamp. The solo following the second chorus follows the verse progression while the outro follows a heavily distorted i-VI-VII-iv power chord progression (Fm-D♭-E♭-B♭5).
for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", which was directed by Samuel Bayer
, depicts the band members after their car has stalled in the desert, and they begin a melancholy walk down a dusty road. Scenes are interspersed with film footage, taken from around Los Angeles
, of homeless people and other miserable sights. The video also features performance footage of the band playing the song in an abandoned warehouse.
The music videos for "Holiday
" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" were filmed with a single, continuous storyline — the video for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" picks up where "Holiday" has left off, with the last few seconds of "Holiday" audible at the start of the "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" video.
The video features a 1968 green Mercury Monterey
convertible that was modified for filming in the "Holiday" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" videos. The car features a hood ornament in the shape of the hand and heart grenade image from the American Idiot
album cover, which was also used in the video for "Holiday". But the "iron fist" was actually used in the video for "Walking Contradiction
", when the band members meet at a car towards the end of the video. The band's name is also on the front of the hood in silver letters. The band rode this car to the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards ceremony.
As shown in an MTV Making the Video special, director Samuel Bayer used unorthodox techniques to achieve the aged look of the "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" video, including using rear projection (as opposed to green screen) and physical damaging the negative: scratching the film with razor blades, pouring coffee on it, and smudging cigarettes on it.
The video of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" won six awards at the MTV Video Music Awards
in 2005, most notably for Video of the Year. It also won Best Group Video
, Best Rock Video
, Best Direction
, Best Editing
, and Best Cinematography
.
" at the Grammy Awards of 2006. The song's broad appeal was demonstrated by its performance on several less-publicized Billboard
singles charts: it spent 14 weeks at #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks, 16 weeks at #1 on the Modern Rock Tracks, and was also successful on the Adult Top 40
charts. It reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100
, staying there for five weeks behind rapper 50 Cent
's "Candy Shop
" (however, the song charted above "Candy Shop" on the Hot 100 year-end chart, attaining position number seven).
In response to Hurricane Katrina
and the popularity of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", Green Day donated all of the iTunes
proceeds from this song for the year to the American Red Cross
for Katrina aid efforts.
Slant Magazine
has called the song "adult-skewed pop-punk", comparing it to Green Day's previous album Warning
.
Live tracks were recorded on September 21, 2004 at the Irving Plaza, New York City, NY
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band Green Day
Green Day
Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool...
. It was released as the second single from their seventh album, American Idiot
American Idiot
American Idiot is the seventh studio album by the American punk rock band Green Day. It was released on September 21, 2004 through Reprise Records and was produced by longtime collaborator Rob Cavallo. In mid-2003, the band began recording songs for an album entitled Cigarettes and Valentines...
. The song was written by Green Day, with lyrics by lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong
Billie Joe Armstrong
Billie Joe Armstrong is an American rock musician and occasional actor, best known as the lead vocalist, main songwriter and lead guitarist for the American punk rock band Green Day...
. "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" remains one of Green Day's signature songs.
The song speaks from the point of view of American Idiots main character, Jesus of Suburbia
Jesus of Suburbia
"Jesus of Suburbia" is a song by American rock band Green Day. It was released as the fifth and final single from their seventh album, American Idiot. The studio version of the song, a five movement piece, runs just over 9 minutes and was considered to be unfriendly for radio, so it was cut down to...
, and is a moderate midtempo song characterized by somber and bleak lyrics. This is in contrast to the previous track on the album, "Holiday
Holiday (Green Day song)
7" picture discVinyl Boxset* Live tracks recorded September 21, 2004 at Irving Plaza, New York-Music video:The first half of the video takes place in a car , where Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool are partying around the town...
", which illustrates Jesus of Suburbia's high of being in The City. MTV's Green Day Makes a Video
Making the Video
Making the Video is an MTV show, consisting of half-hour episodes, which chronicles the process of filming various music videos. Usually the director outlines the concept of the video and the show often includes light-hearted and humorous moments. It always concludes with a premiere of the...
described "Holiday" as a party, and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" as the subsequent hangover.
It was ranked the number one on Rolling Stones Reader's Choice: Singles of the Decade list in 2009 and number 65 on the 100 Best Songs of the Decade list in the same year. As of 2010, it has sold 2,084,000 copies in the United States, and was certified 2x Platinum. The single peaked at number two in the United States, making it Green Day's most successful song. "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year
Grammy Award for Record of the Year
The Record of the Year is one of the four most prestigious Grammy Awards presented annually. It has been awarded since 1959.-History:The honorees through its history have been:*1959-1965: Artist only.*1966-1998: Artist and producer....
.
Influences and covers
Noel GallagherNoel Gallagher
Noel Thomas David Gallagher is an English musician and singer-songwriter, formerly the lead guitarist, backing vocalist and principal songwriter of the English rock band Oasis. He is currently fronting his solo project, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.Raised in Burnage, Manchester with his...
of Oasis
Oasis (band)
Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...
criticized Green Day in late 2006, saying, "They should have the decency to wait until I am dead [before stealing my songs]. I, at least, pay the people I steal from that courtesy", referencing the fact that "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" uses the same chord progression
Chord progression
A chord progression is a series of musical chords, or chord changes that "aims for a definite goal" of establishing a tonality founded on a key, root or tonic chord. In other words, the succession of root relationships...
as Oasis's hit single "Wonderwall
Wonderwall (song)
"Wonderwall" is a song by English rock band Oasis, written by the band's guitarist and main songwriter Noel Gallagher. The song was produced by Owen Morris and Gallagher for their second album, Morning Glory?...
". Gallagher's reaction may have partly been due to the emergence of "Boulevard of Broken Songs
Boulevard of Broken Songs
Boulevard of Broken Songs is a popular mash-up mixed by San Francisco, California DJ and producer Party Ben in late 2004...
", a popular mash-up mixed by San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
DJ and producer Party Ben
Party Ben
Party Ben is a DJ in San Francisco who spent many years working at local radio station Live 105 and is one of the more notable figures in the mashup scene.-Mashups:...
in late 2004. The mix consisted of elements from "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", "Wonderwall", Travis
Travis (band)
Travis are a post-Britpop band from Glasgow, Scotland, comprising Fran Healy , Dougie Payne , Andy Dunlop and Neil Primrose...
' "Writing to Reach You
Writing to Reach You
"Writing To Reach You" is the first single taken from Indie band Travis' second studio album, The Man Who.-Background:The song was written by Fran Healy, who admitted that he took the guitar chords from Oasis' "Wonderwall"; as an overt acknowledgement of this, the song contains the lyric ""What's a...
" and Eminem
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
's "Sing for the Moment
Sing for the Moment
"Sing for the Moment" is a song by American rapper Eminem from the album The Eminem Show, released in 2002. It was released as a music single in 2003.-Song information:Eminem samples the song "Dream On" by rock group Aerosmith...
", which itself has samples from Aerosmith
Aerosmith
Aerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many...
's "Dream On
Dream On (Aerosmith song)
"Dream On" is the first single by Aerosmith from their 1973 debut album, Aerosmith. Written by lead singer Steven Tyler, this blues-influenced power ballad became their first major hit and classic rock radio staple...
" (another remix by Party Ben featured this, "Wonderwall" and Kanye West
Kanye West
Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and...
's "Flashing Lights
Flashing Lights
"Flashing Lights" is a song by American rap artist Kanye West. It was released on November 22, 2007, as the fourth single for his third studio album, Graduation. The song was co-produced by Eric Hudson and features R&B singer Dwele as well as additional vocals provided by Connie Mitchell of Sneaky...
").
This song was covered by Japanese-American
Japanese American
are American people of Japanese heritage. Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities, but in recent decades have become the sixth largest group at roughly 1,204,205, including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity...
singer Hikaru Utada acoustically with a guitar during an internet broadcast in December 2005; a video of it can be found. "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" is sung first and then fades into "Passion
Passion (single)
"Passion" is a song by Hikaru Utada, released in Japan as a single on December 14, 2005. It was used as the theme song for the Disney Interactive Studios/Square Enix game Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days in Japan, while an English version also sung by Utada, titled "Sanctuary", was...
" (After the Battle version) from the Kingdom Hearts II
Kingdom Hearts II
is an action role-playing game developed by Square Enix and published by Buena Vista Games and Square Enix in 2005 for the Sony PlayStation 2 video game console...
original soundtrack.
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" is also featured in the movie trailer of Lords of Dogtown
Lords of Dogtown
Lords of Dogtown is a 2005 biographical film directed by Catherine Hardwicke, written by Stacy Peralta. The film is based on the story of "The Z-Boys", an influential group of skateboarders who revolutionized the sport...
(2005), starring Heath Ledger
Heath Ledger
Heath Andrew Ledger was an Australian television and film actor. After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to develop his film career...
, Emile Hirsch
Emile Hirsch
Emile Davenport Hirsch is an American television and film actor. He began performing in the late 1990s, appearing in several television films and series, and became known as a film actor after roles in Lords of Dogtown, The Emperor's Club, The Girl Next Door, Alpha Dog, and Into the Wild. In...
and John Robinson
John Robinson (American actor)
John Robinson is an American actor. He portrayed John McFarland in Gus Van Sant's Elephant and Stacy Peralta in the skateboarding film Lords of Dogtown....
.
Billie Joe Armstrong wrote the song while he was in his son Joey's bedroom.
In the 2005 VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
Storytellers program featuring Green Day, Billie Joe Armstrong stated that the title of the song was "nicked" from the famous Gottfried Helnwein
Gottfried Helnwein
Gottfried Helnwein is an Austrian-Irish fine artist, painter, photographer, installation and performance artist.-Work:Helnwein studied at the University of Visual Art in Vienna...
painting of the same title, which features James Dean
James Dean
James Byron Dean was an American film actor. He is a cultural icon, best embodied in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause , in which he starred as troubled Los Angeles teenager Jim Stark...
. Four earlier songs also have the same title: an old Harry Warren
Harry Warren
Harry Warren was an American composer and lyricist. Warren was the first major American songwriter to write primarily for film. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song eleven times and won three Oscars for composing "Lullaby of Broadway", "You'll Never Know" and "On the Atchison,...
song, a Hanoi Rocks
Hanoi Rocks
Hanoi Rocks was a Finnish rock band formed in 1979, whose most successful period came in the early 1980s. The band broke up in 1985 after the death of their drummer, Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley...
song, a Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Evelyn Faithfull is an award-winning English singer, songwriter and actress whose career has spanned five decades....
song, and a song by Brian Setzer
Brian Setzer
Brian Setzer is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He first found widespread success in the early 1980s with the 1950s-style rockabilly revival group The Stray Cats, and revitalized his career in the late 1990s with a jazz-oriented big band.-Career:Setzer was born in Massapequa, New York...
from his 1986 album The Knife Feels Like Justice
The Knife Feels Like Justice
The Knife Feels Like Justice was released in 1986 by Brian Setzer on the EMI America record label. The album was not promoted well by the label, possibly because Setzer had progressed from playing rockabilly music to the more adult-oriented and more topical rock-roots sound, as several of his...
.
Lyrics from the song bear some resemblance to the Pinhead Gunpowder
Pinhead Gunpowder
Pinhead Gunpowder is an American punk rock band formed East Bay, California, in 1990. The band has consisted of Aaron Cometbus , Bill Schneider , Billie Joe Armstrong and Jason White for the majority of its existence...
song "I Walk Alone", a band in which Billie Joe Armstrong also sings. It appeared on their 1997 album, Goodbye Ellston Avenue
Goodbye Ellston Avenue
-Personnel:* Aaron Cometbus – drumss* Bill Schneider – bass, backing vocals* Billie Joe Armstrong – guitar, vocals* Jason White – guitar, vocals-Production:* Kevin Army – producer* Aaron Cometbus - graphic design, cover art* Bill Schneider - photography...
.
The song also shares some lyrics with the Whitesnake
Whitesnake
Whitesnake are an English rock band, founded in 1978 by David Coverdale after his departure from his previous band, Deep Purple. The band's early material has been compared by critics to Deep Purple, but by the mid 1980s they had moved to a more commercial hard rock style...
song "Here I Go Again
Here I Go Again
"Here I Go Again" is a #1 hit song recorded by Whitesnake. Originally released on their 1982 album, Saints & Sinners, the song was re-recorded for their eponymous 1987 album Whitesnake. The song was re-recorded yet another time that year in a new "radio-mix" version...
", the words "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" can be found in the lyrics of the Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
song "Brilliant Mistake", the Allman Brothers Band song "End of the Line", the Deadsy
Deadsy
Deadsy is an American synth rock band from California. The band is known for its visual iconography and signature characteristics assigned to each band member. Each musician is identified by a specific color, stage name, and graphic tied into the band's theatrical nature. The band has released...
song "The Key to Gramercy Park", and The Ataris
The Ataris
The Ataris are a rock band from Anderson, Indiana. They have released five studio albums, and their most recent E.P. was released on November 25, 2010 on the Gainesville, Florida based label, Paper + Plastick. It contained the brand new tracks "All Souls' Day" and "The Graveyard of The Atlantic"...
song "Road Signs and Rock Songs". The phrase "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" also appears in punk/new wave band Blondie's 1982 minor UK-hit single Island of Lost Souls
Island of Lost Souls (song)
"Island Of Lost Souls" is a song recorded by Blondie in 1981 and released as a single in April 1982. It was the first single released from their sixth studio album, The Hunter.-Song information:...
and in the 1988
1988 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1988.-January-March:* January 1 – André Rieu's Johann Strauss Orchestra plays its first concert....
song "Broken Dreams
Lita (album)
Lita is an album by Lita Ford, released in February, 1988 on RCA Records. The album features a duet with Ozzy Osbourne, "Close My Eyes Forever," as well as "Kiss Me Deadly," another hit for Ford...
" by hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
artist Lita Ford
Lita Ford
Lita Ford is a British-born, American rock musician and singer who was the lead guitarist for The Runaways and achieved popularity for her solo career between the 1980s and late 2000s.-Early life:...
.
A live version of the song can be found on Bullet in a Bible
Bullet in a Bible
-Certifications:-Personnel:* Billie Joe Armstrong – lead vocals, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, harmonica* Mike Dirnt – bass, backing vocals* Tré Cool – drums, percussion-Additional musicians:* Jason White – lead guitar, rhythm guitar, backing vocals...
, the 2005
2005 in music
-Events:*During the year 2005, 12 rock music albums scored number 1 in the USA. This was the first time even ten albums have scored number 1 since 1996.-January:...
live album of Green Day performing on June 19 that year at the Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes , sometimes abbreviated MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England, about north-west of London. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Milton Keynes...
National Bowl
National Bowl
The National Bowl is an entertainment venue in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The site was a former clay-pit , filled in and raised to form an amphitheatre using sub-soil excavated by the many new developments in the area and it has a current maximum capacity of 65,000...
.
Bluegrass band Cornbread Red did a cover of the song on a tribute album to Green Day Pickin' on Green Day, while the German choir Gregorian
Gregorian (band)
Gregorian is a German band headed by Frank Peterson that performs Gregorian chant-inspired versions of modern pop and rock songs. The band features both vocal harmony and instrumental accompaniment.- Band history :...
did a cover, on their Masters of Chant Chapter V
Masters of Chant Chapter V
Masters of Chant Chapter V is the seventh album by German band Gregorian. It was released on March 31, 2006.Note that the album The Dark Side was also released in Oceania under the name Masters of Chant V...
album, in the style of a Gregorian Chant.
Mark Mallman
Mark Mallman
Mark Mallman is a Minnesota musician and composer for film.-Education:Mallman graduated from Waukesha South High School in 1991. He studied jazz piano at The Milwaukee Conservatory of Music then moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1991...
covered this song on his MP3-only compilation release Outtakes Vol 1
Outtakes Vol 1
Outtakes Vol 1 is an mp3-download only compilation of demos and outtakes by Mark Mallman. It is only available through Mark Mallman's website.-Track listing:#"Besides the B-sides"#"Unborn Sons and Daughters"...
.
The song is also featured in Green Day's musical American Idiot
American Idiot (musical)
American Idiot is a one-act, through-sung stage musical. The show is an adaptation of punk rock band Green Day's concept album of the same name. Additional Green Day songs were interpolated from other sources, including 21st Century Breakdown, American Idiot b-sides, and an unreleased song called...
, sung on the cast recording
Cast recording
A cast recording is a recording of a musical that is intended to document the songs as they were performed in the show and experienced by the audience. An original cast recording, as the name implies, features the voices of the show's original cast...
by John Gallagher Jr., Rebecca Naomi Jones, and the rest of the company.
Composition
Boulevard of Broken Dreams is set in common timeCommon Time
"Common Time" is a science fiction short story written by James Blish. It first appeared in the August 1953 issue of Science Fiction Quarterly and has been reprinted several times: in the 1959 short-story collection Galactic Cluster; in The Testament of Andros ; in The Penguin Science Fiction...
and composed in the key of F minor
F minor
F minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. The harmonic minor raises the E to E. Its key signature has four flats ....
, like Holiday, its prelude. The opening features an electric guitar with tremolo
Tremolo
Tremolo, or tremolando, is a musical term that describes various trembling effects, falling roughly into two types. The first is a rapid reiteration...
playing the verse progression
Chord progression
A chord progression is a series of musical chords, or chord changes that "aims for a definite goal" of establishing a tonality founded on a key, root or tonic chord. In other words, the succession of root relationships...
, which is a i-III-VII-IV progression (Fm-G#♭-D#♭-A#♭). Billie Joe's vocals begin, accompanied by acoustic guitar
Acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
. The bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
and drums enter after the first two lines. The pre chorus features a memorable lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
melody before seguing into the distorted chorus. The chorus contains a VI-III-VII-i power chord
Power chord
In music, a power chord is a chord consisting of only the root note of the chord and the fifth interval, usually played on electric guitar, and typically through an amplification process that imparts distortion...
progression (C#♭-G#♭-D#♭5-A#), ending on a B5 power chord vamp. The solo following the second chorus follows the verse progression while the outro follows a heavily distorted i-VI-VII-iv power chord progression (Fm-D♭-E♭-B♭5).
Music video
The award-winning music videoMusic video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", which was directed by Samuel Bayer
Samuel Bayer
Samuel David Bayer is an American commercial, music video and film director, and cinematographer.-Early life:Bayer was born in Syracuse, New York...
, depicts the band members after their car has stalled in the desert, and they begin a melancholy walk down a dusty road. Scenes are interspersed with film footage, taken from around Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, of homeless people and other miserable sights. The video also features performance footage of the band playing the song in an abandoned warehouse.
The music videos for "Holiday
Holiday (Green Day song)
7" picture discVinyl Boxset* Live tracks recorded September 21, 2004 at Irving Plaza, New York-Music video:The first half of the video takes place in a car , where Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool are partying around the town...
" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" were filmed with a single, continuous storyline — the video for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" picks up where "Holiday" has left off, with the last few seconds of "Holiday" audible at the start of the "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" video.
The video features a 1968 green Mercury Monterey
Mercury Monterey
The Monterey was introduced in 1950 as a high-end two-door coupe in the same vein as the Ford Crestliner, the Lincoln Lido coupe and the Lincoln Cosmopolitan Capri coupe. The reason was to offer a more luxurious coupe as the FoMoCo still not had any hard top. The Mercury line got a styling redesign...
convertible that was modified for filming in the "Holiday" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" videos. The car features a hood ornament in the shape of the hand and heart grenade image from the American Idiot
American Idiot
American Idiot is the seventh studio album by the American punk rock band Green Day. It was released on September 21, 2004 through Reprise Records and was produced by longtime collaborator Rob Cavallo. In mid-2003, the band began recording songs for an album entitled Cigarettes and Valentines...
album cover, which was also used in the video for "Holiday". But the "iron fist" was actually used in the video for "Walking Contradiction
Walking Contradiction
"Walking Contradiction" is a song by American punk rock band Green Day. It was released as the fourth and final single from their fourth album Insomniac. The song reached number 21 on the Modern Rock Tracks in August 1996....
", when the band members meet at a car towards the end of the video. The band's name is also on the front of the hood in silver letters. The band rode this car to the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards ceremony.
As shown in an MTV Making the Video special, director Samuel Bayer used unorthodox techniques to achieve the aged look of the "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" video, including using rear projection (as opposed to green screen) and physical damaging the negative: scratching the film with razor blades, pouring coffee on it, and smudging cigarettes on it.
The video of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" won six awards at the MTV Video Music Awards
MTV Video Music Awards
An MTV Video Music Award , is an award presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in music videos...
in 2005, most notably for Video of the Year. It also won Best Group Video
MTV Video Music Award for Best Group Video
The MTV Video Music Award for Best Group Video was first given out at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards; and in 2007, going along with how the VMAs were revamped that year, the award was renamed Best Group, as it awarded the artist's body of work for the full year rather than a specific video...
, Best Rock Video
MTV Video Music Award for Best Rock Video
The MTV Video Music Award for Best Rock Video was first given out in , and it was one of the four original genre categories added to the VMAs that year. That year, though, the award was called the Best Heavy Metal Video. From 1990 to 1995, the award was called the Best Metal/Hard Rock Video, and...
, Best Direction
MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction
The following is a list of MTV Video Music Awards winners for Best Direction in a Video. In 2007, the award was briefly renamed Best Director, but it returned to its original name for the 2008 awards....
, Best Editing
MTV Video Music Award for Best Editing
The following is a list of MTV Video Music Awards winners for Best Editing in a Video. Five artists are tied for the record of biggest winner in this category, each having won the award twice: Peter Gabriel, R.E.M., Madonna, The White Stripes, and Gnarls Barkley. The latter two, in fact, won...
, and Best Cinematography
MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography
The following is a list of MTV Video Music Award winners for Best Cinematography in a Video. Madonna is the biggest Winner in this category with 3 wins....
.
Reception
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" was named "Record of the YearGrammy Award for Record of the Year
The Record of the Year is one of the four most prestigious Grammy Awards presented annually. It has been awarded since 1959.-History:The honorees through its history have been:*1959-1965: Artist only.*1966-1998: Artist and producer....
" at the Grammy Awards of 2006. The song's broad appeal was demonstrated by its performance on several less-publicized Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
singles charts: it spent 14 weeks at #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks, 16 weeks at #1 on the Modern Rock Tracks, and was also successful on the Adult Top 40
Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks
Adult Top 40 is a variation on the United States Billboard charts...
charts. It reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
, staying there for five weeks behind rapper 50 Cent
50 Cent
Curtis James Jackson III , better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, entrepreneur, investor, record producer, and actor. He rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin and The Massacre . Get Rich or Die Tryin has been certified eight times platinum by...
's "Candy Shop
Candy Shop
"Candy Shop" is the second single by rapper 50 Cent from his second commercial album The Massacre . It features R&B singer Olivia, and was written by 50 Cent....
" (however, the song charted above "Candy Shop" on the Hot 100 year-end chart, attaining position number seven).
In response to Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
and the popularity of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", Green Day donated all of the iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
proceeds from this song for the year to the American Red Cross
American Red Cross
The American Red Cross , also known as the American National Red Cross, is a volunteer-led, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief and education inside the United States. It is the designated U.S...
for Katrina aid efforts.
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
has called the song "adult-skewed pop-punk", comparing it to Green Day's previous album Warning
Warning (Green Day album)
Warning is the sixth studio album by American punk rock band Green Day. It was released on October 3, 2000 through Reprise Records. Building upon its predecessor, Nimrod , the album eschewed the band's trademark punk rock sound and incorporated acoustic and pop rock elements...
.
Single track listing
7" picture discLive tracks were recorded on September 21, 2004 at the Irving Plaza, New York City, NY
Charts
| Chart (2004/2005) | Peakposition |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
5 |
| Austrian Top 75 Singles | 8 |
| Belgium Ultratop 50 Ultratop 50 Ultratop 50 singles, often just Ultratop 50, is the weekly chart of fifty best-selling singles in Flanders, Belgium, and is produced and published by the Ultratop organization. The chart has existed since March 31, 1995... Singles |
4 |
| Belgium Ultratop 40 Ultratop 40 Ultratop 40 singles, often just Ultratop 40, is the weekly chart of best-selling singles in Wallonia and Brussels Capital Region, the french-speaking parts of Belgium. Its equivalent covering the Flanders region is Ultratop 50. Both charts are produced and published by the Ultratop organization... Singles |
3 |
| Danish Singles Chart Tracklisten Tracklisten is a Danish top 40 record chart that is presented every Thursday midnight at .The weekly Danish Singles Chart also known as Track Top-40 combines the 40 best selling tracks from legal music downloads and the sales of music singles on either CD or vinyl... |
8 |
| Dutch Singles Chart Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting... |
8 |
| European Hot 100 | 13 |
| Finland Singles Chart Finland Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside... |
16 |
| French Singles Chart | 19 |
| German Singles Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie... |
13 |
| Irish Singles Chart Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured... |
2 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart | 5 |
| Norwegian Singles Chart VG-lista VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by... |
4 |
| Swedish Singles Chart Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association .... |
2 |
| Swiss Singles Chart Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75... |
12 |
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
5 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
2 |
| U.S. Billboard Pop 100 Pop 100 The Pop 100 was a songs chart that debuted in February 2005 and was released weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States until its discontinuation in 2009... |
1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks Adult Top 40 is a variation on the United States Billboard charts... |
1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Digital Songs Hot Digital Songs The Hot Digital Songs chart ranks the best-selling digital singles in the United States, according to Billboard.Beginning in February 2005, digital sales have been incorporated into many of Billboards music single charts. It was decided to do so mainly because of the dramatic rise in popularity of... |
1 |
Certifications
| Country | Certification | Sales/shipments |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | Gold | 150,000 |
| United States | 2x Platinum | 2,084,000 |
Year-End charts
| Country | Position |
|---|---|
| United States | 7 |