Politics and Social Justice
When asked his opinion regarding whether all musicians ought to try to add a social or political message to their work, Armstrong replied that
| “ | The only people who should sing about social issues or politics are the ones who aren't full of shit. | ” |
American Idiot was released two months before former President of the United States George W. Bush was reelected, and as a result the album became protest art. Created as an anti-war album, American Idiot contains many new-age protest songs, like Holiday which was against George Bush's decision to invade Iraq. Armstrong described the song as a means by which "to battle your way out of your own ignorance".
Read more about this topic: Green Day/archive3
Famous quotes containing the words politics, social and/or justice:
“The [nineteenth-century] young men who were Puritans in politics were anti-Puritans in literature. They were willing to die for the independence of Poland or the Manchester Fenians; and they relaxed their tension by voluptuous reading in Swinburne.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)
“Nothing more rapidly inclines a person to go into a monastery than reading a book on etiquette. There are so many trivial ways in which it is possible to commit some social sin.”
—Quentin Crisp (b. 1908)
“Through tattered clothes great vices do appear;
Robes and furred gowns hide all. Place sin with gold,
And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks:
Arm it in rags, a pigmy’s straw does pierce it.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)