Politically-motivated music fans in the UK have embarked upon a campaign to get Green Day’s ‘American Idiot’ on top of the charts this July, just in time for US President Donald Trump’s visit.
You might remember how back in 2009, British DJ Jon Morter launched a campaign to get Rage Against The Machine’s ‘Killing In The Name’ on top of the charts in an attempt to stop the tradition of winners of The X Factor having the Christmas number one single.
As it turned out, this campaign was successful, and the legendary group even turned up in England to perform a free gig as a way to thank their dedicated fans. Since then, attempts to get songs to top the charts in such a way have been used as similar methods to protest other musical trends, or as a way to make a political statement (such as when ‘Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead’ hit #1 in the wake of Margaret Thatcher’s death), as this recent trend is illustrating.
As Alt Press notes, a Facebook page titled ‘Get American Idiot to No.1 for Trump’s State Visit’ has sprung up, and currently has 12,000 supporters.
The page is prompting UK fans to purchase a £1 download of Green Day’s ‘American Idiot’ between Friday, July 6th and Thursday, July 12th. Presumably, if enough copies of the single are bought, the track will reach #1 on Friday, July 13th, which just so happens to be the day that Donald Trump arrives on UK soil.
https://www.facebook.com/trumpidiot/posts/609461242764975:0
Organisers later posted a message defending their choice. “Yes, we know Green Day are already millionaires,” they wrote. “No, you don’t have to get involved. Yes, we’re doing this regardless. No, we don’t want to choose another song. Yes, we’ll post up all links at the time”.
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Green Day’s frontman, Billie Joe Armstrong, who himself is a rather outspoken critic of Trump, recently posted his support of the campaign on Instagram, though his post has since been deleted.
While there’s still a couple of months before we find out if this campaign is successful, you can be sure that it’s going to be a pretty controversial attempt no matter the end result.
Check out Green Day’s ‘American Idiot’:
