Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown

What this video is

Released in October 2009 amid the tail end of the George W. Bush-to-Obama political transition era, '21st Century Breakdown' is the title track from Green Day's eighth studio album and second rock opera, arriving five years after American Idiot. The album — and its video — reflects disillusionment with American political and social institutions, drawing on arena rock theatricality from The Who and Queen while…

Why it matters

A defining artifact of late-2000s arena punk and rock opera revival. The video exemplifies how post-millennium punk bands deployed cinematic, high-production-value visuals to match increasingly grand musical ambitions, bridging the gap between MTV-era performance videos and the emerging era of…

The director

Marc Preston Webb (born August 31, 1974, Bloomington, Indiana) is an American director who began his career directing music videos in 1997. He directed over 100 music videos for artists including Green Day, My Chemical Romance, AFI, Good Charlotte, 3 Doors…