Jesus of Suburbia
Jesus of Suburbia is a song by American punk rock band Green Day. It was released as the fifth and final single from the album American Idiot. In addition, Jesus of Suburbia is also featured on the live albums Bullet in a Bible and Awesome as Fuck.
The studio version, which is divided into five acts, has a length of over nine minutes and is thus too long for most radio stations. A 6.5 minute radio version was cut for these stations. As of July 2010, the single has sold 205,000 copies.
Background
"After you write a song like that, it was like, 'I can't turn back now.' You can't all of a sudden say, 'I want to write a normal record.'"
"After you wrote a song like that, it was like "I can't go back now." You can't all of a sudden say, "I want to write a normal record.""
- Billie Joe Armstrong: Billboard
Jesus of Suburbia was composed by Green Day, with Billie Joe Armstrong writing the lyrics and Rob Cavallo producing the song with the band.
The song tells the story of the so-called "Jesus of Suburbia", the fictional protagonist of American Idiot. His real name is Jimmy, which is revealed in the music video when a girl calls him that and he later writes "Saint Jimmy" on a toilet wall (later in the album, he creates an alter ego named Saint Jimmy, believing it to be another person. He still calls himself Jesus of Suburbia and is called that by Whatsername in the song Letterbomb). The name Jesus of Suburbia stands for the savior of the rebels in the suburb. He resides in Jingletown, USA and is the son of a divorced mother. He spent his younger years on a "permanent diet of soda pop and Ritalin," watching TV, using drugs, and hanging out in front of supermarkets. Although everything seems fine at first, Jimmy feels trapped and bored in Jingletown and wants to escape, as he makes known in City of the Damned.
Ultimately, Jimmy leaves Jingletown to explore the city. His experiences in the city do not appear in this song, but are depicted throughout the rest of the album, especially in Holiday and Boulevard of Broken Dreams.
Jesus of Suburbia consists of five acts:
- I. Jesus of Suburbia
- II City of the Damned
- III. I Don't Care
- IV. Dearly Beloved
- V. Tales of Another Broken Home
Music Videos
Two versions exist of the music video for Jesus of Suburbia, which was directed by Samuel Bayer (he also directed the first four videos for American Idiot's singles). The official music video was released in the United Kingdom on October 14, 2005, and it was first seen on MTV in the United States on October 25, 2005. One version is 12 minutes long and includes a plot and dialogue. The other version is 6:30 minutes long and consists of just the music, with no additional explanatory plot. The six-minute version is censored, unlike the twelve-minute version.
The role of St. Jimmy is played by Lou Taylor Pucci. Jimmy's beloved (Whatsername) is portrayed by Kelli Garner. Jimmy's mother is played by Canadian actress Deborah Kara Unger. Originally, Billie Joe Armstrong was to play the lead role, but that idea was scrapped before filming.
The plot of the video is mostly identical to that of the song. The music video is a tribute to the song 1979 by The Smashing Pumpkins. In addition, a Snorricam was used, which was responsible for many shots in the supermarket and during the party.
Guitarist Jason White appears on short notice during the fourth act (Dearly Beloved).
