Great MTV!

Who says music has no social conscience anymore. And I bet you didn't know the true meaning behind the song before you watched this. If it doesn't load properly, you can try here. Or for windows users, here.



Anyway, here's a short blurb on the video:

Acclaimed music video director Samuel Bayer successfully turns Green Day's elegy about the death of lead vocalist Billie Joe Armstrong's father into a hymn to the pain suffered in the past 4 years by the entire U.S. No specific political stance is advocated, and no solutions are given. The massive emotional pain of wartime is simply and effectively acknowledged in a very simple story of two young people.

The 7 minute length of the video, and the fact that young film stars Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot) and Evan Rachel Wood (The Upside Of Anger) were hired to play key roles, indicates an effort to make something more epic than the standard music video. Beyond somewhat standard footage of Green Day performing, the video is fleshed out by images of young romance and graphic battle scenes. The end of the mini-film's story is ambiguous, and this ambiguity gives "Wake Me Up When September Ends" much of its power.

For many, the U.S. has been plunged into an ongoing national nightmare since September 11, 2001, and they can empathize with the sentiment "Wake Me Up When September Ends." Although the song originally was centered around Billie Joe Armstrongs' personal tragedy, Samuel Bayer created his own personal vision. His interpretation is brought to life with both power and restraint and is likely to provoke tears, a visceral human response to pain.

Read it here.