Ahead of Trump’s Visit, Green Day’s ‘American Idiot’ Soars on the UK Charts In case you were wondering how the British feel about Donald Trump… Green Day’s ‘American Idiot’ has steadily climbed the UK Charts ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit. Yesterday, the song topped Amazon’s ranking of best-selling songs. It also ranked on iTunes Top 10. According to Chart Data, the song landed on the Top 20 on Britain’s Official Singles chart. Fans have apparently rallied together to increase the song’s popularity and keep it at the top spot. First posted on Facebook late last week, a new campaign launched with a very particular motto – ‘Make American Idiot Great Again.’ A post on the social media platform page reads, “Let’s give him the welcome he deserves. We’re doing this for the amusement as it will annoy him.” A separate post on Twitter last week invited people in the UK to frantically download and stream ‘American Idiot.’ Speaking about the campaign’s sudden popularity, founders Keith Curle and Geoff Thomas told the Washington Post, “Us in the UK have a good record of protesting in this way. We are the country who put Sex Pistols and Rage Against the Machine at No. 1 in the past.” Green Day first wrote the song to protest the Iraq War. The group has yet to issue a comment on the campaign. Yet, band members have previously expressed their frustration at the current US President. Specifically, with Donald Trump’s politics. During a performance at the 2016 American Music Awards, they famously chanted, “No Trump / No KKK/ No fascist USA!” Though undoubtedly popular, ‘American Idiot’ faces stiff competition from another well-known track in the country. Thanks to England’s success thus far in the World Cup, soccer fans in the UK have tried to get The Lightning Seeds’ ‘Three Lions’ to No. 1. Protestors have planned a series of events when President Donald Trump visits the country. A giant “angry baby” balloon will reportedly fly over London when he stops by this Friday. According to Bloomberg, President Trump had caught wind of the protests. He reportedly asked Prime Minister Theresa May to “guarantee” there would be no protestors. She ultimately denied the US President’s request, however. “May responded to say such treatment was simply the way the British press operate, and there wasn’t much she could do. In the secure bunker underneath the prime minister’s office, her advisers listened in to the call in astonishment at Trump’s demand.” Featured image by Sven-Sebastian Sajak (CC by 3.0)<doc-sep>USA TODAY Welcome to a new kind of tension, President Trump. As the U.S. leader began his first official visit to the United Kingdom Thursday, Green Day's 2004 punk-protest anthem "American Idiot" re-entered the British pop chart, where it currently sits at No. 18. It's faring considerably better over on the British Amazon best-seller list, where it's No. 1. In the interest of historical accuracy, the song, which was released the summer before the 2004 election, and the album of the same name were actually inspired by the first term of President George W. Bush and his administration's rush to war with Iraq in 2003 over claims of weapons of mass destruction that were later debunked. However, the song deals primarily with the issue of fascism in general, with lyrics like "don't want a nation under the new mania / And can you hear the sound of hysteria? / The subliminal mind-(expletive) America." The U.K. campaign was spearheaded by a Twitter account called American Idiot for UK No. 1 When Trump Visits. "Want to annoy Donald Trump and Nigel Farage this week?" it asked in a tweet posted earlier this week. "Buy a download of 'American Idiot' by Green Day, then keep streaming it, get watching the official video on Youtube, too. Keep doing that until midnight on Thursday. Why? Because if enough people in the U.K. do this, it will create enough sales to be the official No. 1 single on the very day Trump lands on U.K. soil." "American Idiot" is far from the only high-profile protest on display: Trump was also greeted by the now famous Trump baby blimp as well as a crop circle bearing a crude message in Russian. The only problem: He may not see them because he's traveling between destinations by helicopter. Representatives for Green Day did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment.<doc-sep>Green Day's "American Idiot" Soaring Up UK Charts in Anticipation of Trump Visit This album is nearly 14 years old, the same age as its ideal listenership One good thing about the United Kingdom, aside from its surprisingly strong showing at this year's World Cup, is that they still care about pop charts there. Every so often, a percentage of the British population bands together to ensure that some album or song gets to number one by a particular date. The last one I remember was in 2008, when a campaign to make a cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" number one the week of Christmas resulted in three versions of the song landing in the top 40 (including the numbers one and two slots). The latest iteration of this culture jamming impulse has a slightly more caustic aim. A Facebook group is campaigning to make Green Day's 2014 single "American Idiot" number one in the charts during the time when US President Donald Trump is in the country for a "working visit." According to CNN, the effort is working, and it's only one of several art-based anti-Trump protests gaining momentum. The nearly 14-year-old song is currently sitting at number 18 with just over a week to go. And here I thought life under George W. Bush was the only condition stultifying enough to make that song and album feel like bold political gestures...<doc-sep>Green Day's hit 2004 song "American Idiot" is dipping in and out of the UK charts ahead of Donald Trump's impending visit on 13 July. The song was the No.1 single on Amazon's list of best-selling songs on 9 July, and it also crept into the iTunes Top 10 on the same day, according to the Huffington Post. Chart Data also reports that the song cracked the Top 20 on Britain's Official Singles chart midway through the charting week. Its renewed success is down to a fan campaign aiming to increase the song's popularity and get it to No.1. A Twitter account is encouraging fans to download and stream the song from Friday 6 July to the end of 12 July so the song will be in the charts when Trump lands in the UK. In January, Mr Trump reportedly told Theresa May that he would not visit unless she banned protests, which she said would be impossible. He will meet the Queen on his arrival in London, the US ambassador to the UK, Robert Wood Johnson, told media: "Meeting Her Majesty is the most important thing because she's the head of state and, from then on, it'll be what the president wants to do." The Queen has met every single US president since 1945 with the exception of Lyndon Johnson. It is understood that she will entertain Trump at Windsor Castle, which will be closed to the public on the day of his visit. "American Idiot" was originally written in part about President George W. Bush and features lyrics such as: "Don't wanna be an American idiot/One nation controlled by the media/Information Age of hysteria/It's calling out to idiot America." It was recently referenced by Sen. Tim Kaine, who suggested that if the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, planned on gifting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with a CD of Elton John's song "Rocket Man", Kim should reciprocate with "American Idiot". The song isn't the only way people are protesting Trump's visit. Activist Leo Murray successfully raised the necessary £16,000 to pay for 'Project Trump Baby' - a six metre-high inflatable baby resembling Trump, with unusually small hands and feet, which will be flown over London when the real-life version arrives.<doc-sep>
Green Day's 2004 hit single "American Idiot" is climbing to the top of the U.K. music charts, ahead of President Donald Trump's visit this week. On Monday, the rock track emerged in the No. 1 spot on Amazon's best-sellers list (via HuffPost). The song has also been popping up on the iTunes singles chart, and Chart Data confirmed that it re-entered the U.K. Top 20 earlier this week. UK mid week (singles): "Three Lions" returns to #1, Drake's "In My Feelings" debuts and Green Day's "American Idiot" re-enters the top 20. — chart data (@chartdata) July 9, 2018 The re-emergence of the decade-old song was driven by a social media campaign first launched in May that aimed to make the song No. 1 on the charts during Trump's visit to the U.K. The Twitter group "American Idiot for UK No.1 When Trump Visits" regularly urges Trump critics to purchase, download and listen to the song in order to boost its ratings. "Want to annoy Donald Trump and Nigel Farage this week?" they tweeted on Sunday. "Simple. Buy a download of 'American Idiot' by Green Day then keep streaming it, get watching the official video on YouTube too. Keep doing that until midnight on Thursday." Paul Shane and Jeffrey Holland, the organizers of the group, told Newsweek that they first started the campaign in January 2017. "[When] Theresa May offered Trump a full state visit, 1.8 million people signed a government petition to protest this," they said. "We thought we'd protest in a different way. We thought this would be amusing." My fellow Brits... we have a job to do Links here: https://t.co/ATx90lu88S pic.twitter.com/JbqNCNVngS — American Idiot For UK No.1 When Trump Visits (@TrumpIdiotNo1) July 8, 2018 "American Idiot" was originally inspired by American political events that occurred around the time it was released, such as George W. Bush's presidency and the Iraq war. Last week, Senator Tim Kaine referenced the "American Idiot" campaign in a Trump-mocking tweet. After reports emerged indicating that Trump had gifted Kim Jong Un with a copy of Elton John's song "Rocket Man," Kaine joked that the North Korean leader sent back a copy of "American Idiot." And Kim Jong Un sends back a copy of Green Day’s “American Idiot.” https://t.co/YCGjR2QcgU — Tim Kaine (@timkaine) July 6, 2018 Trump is set to make his first visit as president to the U.K., where he will meet with British Prime Minister Theresa May and Queen Elizabeth II. The president is scheduled to visit the U.K. from Thursday to Sunday this week. He will stay in London on the night of his arrival but will spend the rest of his trip outside of the capital. The move was speculated to have been decided in order to avoid planned protests in the area. This story was updated to include comments from Paul Shane and Jeffrey Holland​.