"Broken Dreams, Inc" is a song by American punk rock band

Rise Against Rise Against is an American punk rock band from Chicago, formed in 1999. The group's current line-up comprises vocalist/rhythm guitarist Tim McIlrath, lead guitarist Zach Blair, bassist Joe Principe and drummer Brandon Barnes. Rooted in hardcor ...

. It was released on September 16, 2020 as the lead single for the soundtrack of the

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

series Dark Nights: Death Metal, and eventually became the first single for the band's ninth studio album, '' Nowhere Generation''.

Background

"Broken Dreams, Inc" was written about opportunity inequalities amongst Americans, and putting power back into the hands of the citizens instead of corporations. Rise Against frontman, Tim Mcllrath, detailed the song's meaning more in a press statement:

"'Broken Dreams, Inc.' speaks to today's changing landscape of American society, the opportunities that are available to some but not to others, the people who are able to benefit versus those who get left behind, who suffer and end up as casualties. How do we level the playing field so everyone can have a real chance at attaining the American Dream? One word, 'disruption.' You have to put power into the hands of the people, not business, you have to value people and community over profit. You can't have a shareholder-run country or a shareholder-run world, a world that values profit above all else, because profit above all else can result in dangerous repercussions for humankind." - Tim Mcllrath

Release and reception

Both Mcllrath and lead guitarist

Zach Blair Zach Blair (born December 26, 1974) is an American musician, best known as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for Chicago-based punk rock band Rise Against. Before joining Rise Against in early 2007, Blair was a member of melodic hardcore ...

grew up being big fans of DC Comics, with

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

being one of their personal favorites, so the band were incredibly excited to be able to collaborate on the Dark Nights: Death Metal series. In promotion with the series, the song was released on September 16, 2020 as the lead single for the series soundtrack, while Mcllrath also went on to voice Lobo in the Sonic Metalverse video series. "Broken Dreams, Inc" was met with positive feedback upon release, with

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...

calling the song "brilliant." Marcie Bennett of American Songwriter briefly discussed the band's reputation for social awareness before stating that the song "holds all of these ideas and is drawn out even more so with the heroic/villain elements that illuminate the song's themes."

Music video

A music video was released alongside the song, which features art drawn by DC Comics artist

Greg Capullo Gregory Capullo (; born March 30, 1962) is an American comic book artist and penciller, best known for his work on ''Quasar'' (1991–1992), '' X-Force'' (1992–1993), ''Angela'' (1994), ''Spawn'' (1993–2000, 2003–2004) and ''Batman'' (2011� ...

. The video is primarily composed of art from the comic series, and features notable DC characters such as, but not limited to, Batman,

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...

, Harley Quinn, The Joker,

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

, Aquaman,

The Flash The Flash (or simply Flash) is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1 (cover date ...

Darkseid Darkseid () is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer-artist Jack Kirby to serve as the primary antagonist of his "Fourth World (comics), Fourth World" metaseries, and was firs ...

, and Green Lantern. During the video, monologues can be heard from the various characters relating to the series.

Personnel

Rise Against *

Tim McIlrath Timothy James McIlrath (born November 3, 1978) is an American rock musician. He is the lead singer, rhythm guitarist, songwriter and co-founder of the punk rock band Rise Against. He is vegan and straight edge. Early and personal life McIlrath ...

– lead vocals, rhythm guitar *

– lead guitar, backing vocals *

Joe Principe Joseph Daniel Principe (; born November 14, 1974) is an American musician. He is the bassist, backing vocalist, and co-founder of the American rock band Rise Against. He is also a straight edge, a vegan, an animal rights advocate, and activel ...

– bass guitar, backing vocals * Brandon Barnes – drums, percussion Production * Bill Stevenson –

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

* Jason Livermore – production, engineer, mixing * Andrew Berlin – production, engineer * Chris Beeble – production, engineer *

Ted Jensen Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' ''Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''. Biography Ted ...

– mastering * Jonathan Luginbill - engineer Additional musicians *

Chad Price Chad Price is the lead singer for the melodic punk band ALL and alt-country band Drag the River. He is currently the lead singer for A Vulture Wake. He joined ALL in 1993 as the band's third singer, after Dave Smalley and Scott Reynolds. He has ...

- backing vocals

References

{{Rise Against 2020 singles 2020 songs American punk rock songs Rise Against songs Songs written by Tim McIlrath