Green Day - Walking Contradiction [ Official Music Video]

What this video is

Released in summer 1996 as the fourth and final promotional single from Insomniac, 'Walking Contradiction' appeared at the apex of Green Day's post-Dookie MTV saturation cycle. The video's premise — band members obliviously causing suburban mayhem — literalizes the song's hypocrisy theme while simultaneously addressing Green Day's fraught relationship with the punk underground, which had accused them of selling out…

Why it matters

A landmark of mid-90s pop-punk visual culture, 'Walking Contradiction' exemplifies the genre's crossover moment when punk aesthetics were packaged with high-concept directorial vision for mainstream MTV consumption. Its narrative-comedy approach — eschewing the standard performance-clip format —…

The director

Roman François Coppola (b. April 22, 1965, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France) is an American filmmaker, music video director, screenwriter, and producer. Son of Francis Ford Coppola, he founded The Directors Bureau production company in 1996. His music video work…