Troubled Times

Album: Revolution Radio (2016)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song was inspired by the November 2015 Paris terrorist attacks. Billie Joe Armstrong is friends with guitarist Eden Galindo, guitarist for Eagles Of Death Metal, who played at Paris club Bataclan where 95 of their fans were shot dead by terrorists. The Green Day frontman told Q magazine:

    "I don't think anything like terrorism hit home right in our backyard the way it did that night. At first, I wrote it and thought 'I don't know if I want this on the album.' It's really heavy to write about and I didn't want it to be trite or maudlin.

    But then Orlando happened, I thought 'Well, it makes perfect sense to put it on the record.'"
  • The song's music video shows Billie Joe Armstrong with headphones, spliced with news footage of the clashes between white supremacists and counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 12, 2017. Political leaders like Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and former President George Bush also feature in the montage.

    Prior to the video's release, Armstrong spoke out about the incident in Charlottesville.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Millie Jackson

Millie JacksonSongwriter Interviews

Outrageously gifted and just plain outrageous, Millie is an R&B and Rap innovator.

Paul Williams

Paul WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

He's a singer and an actor, but as a songwriter Paul helped make Kermit a cultured frog, turned a bank commercial into a huge hit and made love both "exciting and new" and "soft as an easy chair."

Roger McGuinn of The Byrds

Roger McGuinn of The ByrdsSongwriter Interviews

Roger reveals the songwriting formula Clive Davis told him, and if "Eight Miles High" is really about drugs.

Gary Lewis

Gary LewisSongwriter Interviews

Gary Lewis and the Playboys had seven Top 10 hits despite competition from The Beatles. Gary talks about the hits, his famous father, and getting drafted.

Dave Mason

Dave MasonSongwriter Interviews

Dave reveals the inspiration for "Feelin' Alright" and explains how the first song he ever wrote became the biggest hit for his band Traffic.

Oliver Leiber

Oliver LeiberSongwriter Interviews

Oliver Leiber talks about writing and producing hits for Paula Abdul, and explains his complicated relationship with his father, the songwriter Jerry Leiber.