Music
New Green Day Video ‘Back in the USA’ Pays Tribute to ‘They Live’
His days as a filmmaker may be behind him, but John Carpenter continues to be one of the most influential horror masters in the history of cinema. From It Follows to “Stranger Things,” Carpetner’s influence seems to be absolutely everywhere in recent years, and one of his greatest hits even served as inspiration for Green Day‘s latest video.
The band’s just-released compilation album “God’s Favorite Band” includes previously unheard track “Back in the USA,” which gets the They Live treatment for its video.
In the video, which is essentially They Live meets Pleasantville, the members of Green Day come into possession of a special pair of black sunglasses, which allow them to see what nobody else is seeing. In the place of ads, they see words like “Consume” and “Conform.” On the cover of a newspaper, “The President to Lie to Nation Tonight.”
Carpenter’s They Live has taken on a new social relevance these days, just about 30 years after its release, and Green Day’s new video plays upon that fact.
That’s Carpenter for ya. Always ahead of the times.
It’s a new day, and you’ve got new John Carpenter to listen to. John Carpenter, Daniel Davies and Cody Carpenter have released the new track He Walks By Night this morning, the second single off their upcoming album Lost Themes IV: Noir, out May 3 on Sacred Bones Records.
Lost Themes IV: Noir is the latest installment in a series that sees Carpenter releasing new music for John Carpenter movies that don’t actually exist. The first Lost Themes was released in 2015, followed by Lost Themes II in 2016 and Lost Themes III: Alive After Death in 2021.
Sacred Bones previews, “It’s been a decade since John Carpenter recorded the material that would become Lost Themes, his debut album of non-film music and the opening salvo in one of Hollywood’s great second acts. Those vibrant, synth-driven songs, made in collaboration with his son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies, kickstarted a musical renaissance for the pioneering composer and director. With Lost Themes IV: Noir, they’ve struck gold again, this time mining the rich history of the film noir genre for inspiration.
“Since the first Lost Themes, John has referred to these compositions as “soundtracks for the movies in your mind.” On the fourth installment in the series, those movies are noirs. Like the film genre they were influenced by, what makes these songs “noirish” is sometimes slippery and hard to define, and not merely reducible to a collection of tropes. The scores for the great American noir pictures were largely orchestral, while the Carpenters and Davies work off a sturdy synth-and-guitar backbone.
“The trio’s free-flowing chemistry means Lost Themes IV: Noir runs like a well-oiled machine—the 1951 Jaguar XK120 Roadster from Kiss Me Deadly, perhaps, or the 1958 Plymouth Fury from John’s own Christine. It’s a chemistry that’s helped power one of the most productive stretches of John’s creative life, and Noir proves that it’s nowhere near done yielding brilliant results.”
You can pre-save Lost Themes IV: Noir right now! And listen to the new track below…
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