"Longview" is the debut single by American rock band Green Day. It is the fourth track on the band's third studio album, Dookie (1994), released to radio on February 1, 1994. It was physically released on June 6, 1994. The song was the band's first single to top the BillboardModern Rock Tracks chart in the U.S. The music video for the song received heavy airplay on MTV and is largely credited for breaking Green Day into mainstream popularity. It was directed by Bay Area music video director Mark Kohr, who later collaborated with the band on future music videos.
The song describes intense boredom and frustration with an inability to self-actualize. Lyrically, the song is about a day spent sitting around the house, doing absolutely nothing of importance and masturbating until the days are no longer fun. Bassist Mike Dirnt has stated that the famous bass line intro to this song was written one night while he was high on LSD.[9]
The song is named after the city of Longview, Washington.[10] The band's lead vocalist and guitarist, Billie Joe Armstrong, stated on Twitter, "Our friend/roadie Kaz Hope, suggested we call our song Longview because the 1st time we played [it] was in Longview Washington in spring 1992."[11]
The band had planned their tour using booking tool BYOFL (Book Your Own Fucking Life) and hooked up with Cafe Forum, a venue in Longview, and/or a local band called the Jimmies who both offered a practice pad as a place to sleep for touring bands were listed in this Maximum Rock N Roll Zine’s side project telephone directory and tour planning book which was published annually listing contacts and locations of possible places to crash and notes on how to DIY plan a tour for a punk band. This listed a local venue called the Cafe Forum which is where the band played. They were also on tour with Aaron Cometbus drummer for Crimpshrine and author of Cometbus fanzine, a long going punkrock zine from the Berkley scene, his handing out those zines acted to connect Berkley punk with the broader diy scene which paved the path for many many other bands to come.
Reception
PopMatters listed "Longview" as the seventh best Green Day song, citing "This song didn’t become an instant classic of its genre merely because Armstrong said the word "masturbation" on the radio—it's all in the delivery."[12] Entertainment Weekly placed it among their favorite Green Day songs.[13]
Music video
"Longview" has a music video, which is the first one created by Green Day. The music video was directed by Mark Kohr, the cinematography was by Adam Beckman, and the editing was by Bob Sarles. The music video received frequent airplay on MTV upon release.
The music video takes place in a dimly-lit basement of a broken-down house in Oakland, California, where the band used to live. The band members say that the look was intentionally grungy. In the video, Billie sits on a couch and watches television. At the end of the music video, he goes insane and tears up the couch, with feathers flying everywhere.
The music video was nominated for three MTV Video Music Awards in 1994: Best Group Video, Best Alternative Video, and Best New Artist. The video is also included on the DVD International Supervideos!.
^"Billie Joe Armstrong on Twitter". Twitter [later known as "X"]. February 9, 2011. Retrieved December 25, 2024. Our friend/roadie Kaz Hope, suggested we call our song Longview because the 1st time we played was in Longview Washington in spring 1992
^Borzillo, Carrie (April 9, 1994). "As Reprise Set Rises, It's Easy Being Green Day". Billboard. Vol. 106, no. 15. p. 72. The single and videoclip were serviced Feb. 1, simultaneous with the album's street date.
^"Single Releases". Music Week. June 4, 1994. p. 21.
^"New Releases: Singles". Music Week. March 4, 1995. p. 31.
