"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" is a song by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Green Day Green Day is an American rock band formed in the East Bay of California in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, together with bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt. For most of the band's career, they have been a powe ...

. The

power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. C ...

is the fourth track from their seventh

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

'' American Idiot'' (2004).

Reprise Records Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels. Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Enya, Michael ...

released "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" as the second single from ''American Idiot'' on November 29, 2004. The song's lyrics were written by lead singer

Billie Joe Armstrong Billie Joe Armstrong (born February 17, 1972) is an American musician who is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the rock band Green Day, which he co-founded with Mike Dirnt in 1987. He is also a guitarist and vocalist for t ...

, and the music was composed by the band. Production was handled by

Rob Cavallo Robert Siers Cavallo (born March 21, 1963) is an American record producer, musician, and record industry executive. He is among the biggest-selling producers in history, and has produced or had creative involvement in albums that have sold over ...

and Green Day. The song speaks from the point of view of ''American Idiot''s main character, " Jesus of Suburbia", and is a moderate midtempo song characterized by somber and bleak lyrics. This is in contrast to the previous track on the album, "

Holiday A holiday is a day set aside by custom or by law on which normal activities, especially business or work including school, are suspended or reduced. Generally, holidays are intended to allow individuals to celebrate or commemorate an event or tra ...

", which illustrates Jesus of Suburbia's high of being in The City. MTV's ''Green Day Makes a Video'' described "Holiday" as a party, and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" as the subsequent hangover. The song was ranked number one on ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

''s Reader's Choice: Singles of the Decade list in 2009 and number 65 on the 100 Best Songs of the Decade list in the same year. It has sold over 2 million copies in the United States as of 2010. The single peaked at number two on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, behind "

Candy Shop "Candy Shop" is the second single by rapper 50 Cent from his second commercial album, ''The Massacre'' (2005). It features Olivia (singer), Olivia and was written by 50 Cent. "Candy Shop" peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billbo ...

" by

50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and businessman. Born in the South Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 2000, when he produced ...

and

Olivia Olivia may refer to: People * Olivia (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Olivia (singer) (Olivia Longott, born 1981), American singer * Olívia (basketball) (Carlos Henrique Rodrigues do Nascimento, born 19 ...

, making it Green Day's most successful song in the United States. The song was the ninth-highest-selling single of the 2000–2009 decade with worldwide sales exceeding 5 million copies. As of 2021, "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" is the only song to win both the

Grammy Award for Record of the Year The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without reg ...

and

MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

. It remains one of Green Day's signature songs.

Background

"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" was written during a respite from pre-production on what would eventually become the band's seventh album, '' American Idiot''. Hoping to clear his head and develop new ideas for songs, Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong traveled to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

alone for a few weeks, renting a small loft in the East Village of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

.Spitz, 2006. pg. 150 He spent much of this time taking long walks and participating in jam sessions in the basement of Hi-Fi, a bar in

Alphabet City Alphabet City is a neighborhood located within the East Village in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Its name comes from Avenues A, B, C, and D, the only avenues in Manhattan to have single-letter names. It is bounded by Houston St ...

.Spitz, 2006. pg. 151 He began socializing with songwriters

Ryan Adams David Ryan Adams (born November 5, 1974) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, artist, and poet. He has released 23 albums, as well as three studio albums as a former member of alt-country band Whiskeytown. In 2000, Adams left ...

and

Jesse Malin Jesse Malin (born January 26, 1967) is an American rock musician, guitarist, and songwriter. Starting his performing career in the New York hardcore band Heart Attack, and rising to prominence as vocalist of D Generation, a solo recording artis ...

. Armstrong wrote the song about his time in New York City, about "feeling alone" and trying to take power from that fact. Armstrong felt the song fit nicely with the album's storyline, which is about "going away and getting the hell out, while at the same time fighting their own inner demons." The song's concept is from a

Gottfried Helnwein Gottfried Helnwein (born 8 October 1948) is an Austrian-Irish visual artist. He has worked as a painter, draftsman, photographer, muralist, sculptor, installation and performance artist, using a wide variety of techniques and media. His work is ...

painting of

James Dean James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931September 30, 1955) was an American actor. He is remembered as a cultural icon of teenage disillusionment and social estrangement, as expressed in the title of his most celebrated film, ''Rebel Without a Cause' ...

, Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley sitting in an all-night diner. In the 2005 VH1 ''Storytellers'' program featuring Green Day, Billie Joe Armstrong stated that the title of the song was "nicked" from the painting of James Dean walking alone.

Composition

"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" is set in

common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

and composed in the key of

F minor F minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature consists of four flats. Its relative major is A-flat major and its parallel major is F major. Its enharmonic equivalent, E-sharp mi ...

, like "

", its prelude. The opening features an electric guitar with

tremolo In music, ''tremolo'' (), or ''tremolando'' (), is a trembling effect. There are two types of tremolo. The first is a rapid reiteration: * Of a single Musical note, note, particularly used on String instrument#Bowing, bowed string instrument ...

playing the verse progression, which is a i–♭III–♭VII–IV progression (Fm–A♭–E♭–B♭). The song's distinct tremolo effect on the opening guitar was achieved by digitally manipulating the recording in

ProTools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...

. It was difficult to produce, as it needed to remain in sync with the song's tempo. Armstrong added tracks of acoustic guitar-playing to augment his electric guitar rhythms and Cool's drumming. Billie Joe's vocals begin, accompanied by acoustic guitar. The bass and drums enter after the first two lines. The pre chorus features a memorable lead guitar melody before seguing into the distorted chorus. The chorus contains a ♭VI–♭III–♭VII–i progression (D♭–A♭–E♭–Fm), ending on a C major

vamp The VaMP driverless car was one of the first truly autonomous cars Dynamic Vision for Perc ...

. The solo following the second chorus follows the verse progression while the outro follows a heavily distorted i–♭VI–♭VII–♮vi-♭III-♮VII power chord progression (F5–D♭5–E♭5–D5–A♭5–E5).

Oasis controversy

Noel Gallagher Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. He was the chief songwriter, lead guitarist, and co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis until their split in 2009. After leaving Oasis, he formed ...

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...

criticized Green Day in late 2006, saying, "They should have the decency to wait until I am dead efore stealing my songs I, at least, pay the people I steal from that courtesy," referencing the fact that "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" uses the same chord progression as Oasis's hit single " Wonderwall". Gallagher's reaction may have partly been due to the emergence of "

Boulevard of Broken Songs "Boulevard of Broken Songs" (also known as "Wonderwall of Broken Songs" or "Wonderwall of Broken Dreams") is a popular mash-up mixed by American DJ and producer Party Ben in late 2004. The mix consists of elements from American pop punk band G ...

", a popular mash-up mixed by

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

DJ and producer

Party Ben Ben Gill, better known as Party Ben, is a DJ in San Francisco. He spent many years working at radio station Live 105 and producer of mashup music. Mashups From June 2003 to December 30, 2005, Party Ben hosted the "Sixx Mixx" on Live 105, a wee ...

in late 2004. The mix consisted of elements from "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", "Wonderwall", Travis' "

Writing to Reach You "Writing to Reach You" is the first single (music), single taken from Scottish rock band Travis (band), Travis's second studio album, ''The Man Who'' (1999). Background The song was written by Fran Healy (musician), Fran Healy, who admitted th ...

" and

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing hip hop in middle America and is critically acclai ...

's "

Sing for the Moment "Sing for the Moment" is a song by American rapper Eminem from his fourth album ''The Eminem Show'' (2002). It was released on February 25, 2003, as the fourth single from ''The Eminem Show'' and the final single in the United States. The song sa ...

", which itself has samples from

Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whi ...

's " Dream On".

Chart performance

"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" was named

Record of the Year The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without reg ...

at the

Grammy Awards of 2006 The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

. The song's broad appeal was demonstrated by its performance on several ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' singles charts: it spent 14 weeks at number one on the

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...

chart staying there for 38 weeks, 16 weeks at number one on the

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

chart staying for 32 weeks, 11 weeks at number one on the

Adult Top 40 The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems ...

chart staying at 44 weeks, and four weeks at number one on the

Mainstream Top 40 Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/contemporary hit radio, CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played o ...

staying there for 26 weeks. This was the first song to top the four charts altogether making this song a multi-chart success. It reached number two on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 (the highest a Green Day song has ever charted on the Billboard Hot 100), staying there for five weeks behind

's "

". This was also the first Green Day song to reach the

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

chart, peaking at number 30 and though "

Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" (or "Time of Your Life (Good Riddance)") is a song by American rock band Green Day, released in December 1997 as the second single from their fifth studio album, ''Nimrod'' (1997). Although different from the b ...

" didn't chart on the Adult Contemporary, it did chart on its recurrent chart. Outside the United States, "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" charted strongly on many international charts. The song debuted and peaked at number five on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

on the chart dated December 5, 2004, giving the band their third top 10 single in that country. It stayed in the UK top 100 for 29 weeks, becoming their longest-charting single at the time, but " Wake Me Up When September Ends" would log 32 weeks in the UK top 100 nearly a year later; it remains their second-longest stay on the UK chart. In 2021, the

British Phonographic Industry British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with th ...

awarded the song a Platinum certification for sales and streams exceeding 600,000 units. The single was successful in Ireland, reaching number two in January 2005 on two occasions and totaling 23 weeks in the top 50. It was their highest-peaking single there until "

The Saints Are Coming "The Saints are Coming" was the third single by the Scottish punk rock band Skids, featured on their 1979 debut album, '' Scared to Dance''. The song became an international hit when it was covered in 2006 by U2 and Green Day. It was covered ...

" topped the

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are bas ...

in 2006. Elsewhere in Europe, the song reached number one in the Czech Republic, number two in Sweden, and the top 10 in Austria, Denmark, and Norway. In

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologica ...

, the song reached number five in both Australia and New Zealand. It stayed on the latter country's chart longer, remaining on the

RIANZ Recorded Music NZ (formerly the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ)) is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell recorded music in New Zealand. Membership of Recorded Mus ...

chart for 25 weeks compared to 17 weeks on the

ARIA Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

. Despite this, the song was overall more popular in Australia, finishing 2005 as the 31st best-selling single and earning a Platinum certification from the

ARIA In music, an aria (Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompanime ...

for sales exceeding 70,000 copies. In response to

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

and the popularity of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", Green Day donated all of the

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

proceeds from this song for the year to the

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...

for Katrina aid efforts.

Music video

The award-winning music video for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" was directed by

Samuel Bayer Samuel David Bayer (born February 17, 1962) is an American Visual arts, visual artist, cinematographer, and commercial, music video and film director. Bayer was born in Syracuse, New York. He graduated from New York City's School of Visual Arts ...

. The music videos for "

" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" were filmed with a single, continuous storyline—the video for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" picks up where "Holiday" has left off, with the last few seconds of "Holiday" audible at the start of the "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" video. Both videos were also shot back-to-back. The video depicts the band members after their car has stalled in the desert, and they begin a melancholy walk down a dusty road. Scenes are interspersed with film footage, taken from around

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, of homeless people and other miserable sights. The video also features performance footage of the band playing the song in an abandoned warehouse. The video features a 1968 green

Mercury Monterey The Mercury Monterey is a series of full-size cars that were manufactured and marketed by the Mercury division of Ford from 1952 to 1974. Deriving its name from Monterey Bay, the Mercury Monterey served as the upscale version of the Mercury Cus ...

convertible that was modified for filming in the "Holiday" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" videos. The car features a hood ornament in the shape of the hand and heart grenade image from the ''American Idiot'' album cover, which was also used in the video for "Holiday". But the "iron fist" was actually used in the video for "

Walking Contradiction "Walking Contradiction" is a song by American rock band Green Day, released as a promotional single from their fourth album '' Insomniac''. Also the closing track on the album, the song reached number 21 on the Modern Rock Tracks in August 1996. ...

", when the band members meet at a car towards the end of the video. The band's name is also on the front of the hood in silver letters. The band rode this car to the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards ceremony. As shown in an MTV ''Making the Video'' special, Bayer used unorthodox techniques to achieve the aged

film look Film look (also known as filmizing or film-look) is a process in which video is altered in overall appearance to appear to have been shot on film stock. The process is usually electronic, although filmizing can sometimes occur as an unintentional ...

of the "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" video, including using rear projection (as opposed to green screen) and physically damaging the negative: scratching the film with razor blades, pouring coffee on it, and smudging cigarettes on it. The video won six awards at the

MTV Video Music Awards The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honour the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category) ...

in 2005, most notably for Video of the Year. It also won

Best Group Video The MTV Video Music Award for Best Group (also known as the MTV Video Music Award for Best Group Video) is given to recording artists at the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs). The award was introduced at the inaugural ceremony in 1984 by vocalis ...

Best Rock Video The MTV Video Music Award for Best Rock was first given out in , one of the four original genre categories added to the VMAs that year. In its first year, the award was called Best Heavy Metal Video, and from 1990 to 1995, it was renamed Best Meta ...

, Best Direction, Best Editing, and Best Cinematography.

Track listings

UK limited-edition 7-inch picture disc Note * Live tracks were recorded on September 21, 2004, at the Irving Plaza in New York City.

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

* * {{Authority control 2000s ballads 2004 singles 2004 songs American Idiot Charity singles Grammy Award for Record of the Year Green Day songs MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction MTV Video of the Year Award Music videos directed by Samuel Bayer Number-one singles in the Czech Republic Reprise Records singles Rock ballads Song recordings produced by Rob Cavallo Songs written by Billie Joe Armstrong Songs about dreams Songs about loneliness Songs involved in plagiarism controversies Warner Records singles