"Warning" is a song by the 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. It is the second single and title track from their sixth album of the same name.

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 ...

has said that the original concept was to create a song whose lyrics were made up of all signs and labels, and the idea grew from there. The song was played for the first time during Bridge School Benefit played acoustic in 1999. The song was a number three modern rock hit in the US. The song also made it into the Top 40 of 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 ...

in the UK. It has been noted that the song's main guitar riff bears strong resemblance to

The Kinks The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, north London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhyt ...

song "

Picture Book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The images ...

". This is the first Green Day song to feature a tremolo effect on the guitar; an effect used prominently in the 2004 single "Boulevard of Broken Dreams". Despite being included in the band's greatest hits albums ''

International Superhits! ''International Superhits!'' is the first greatest hits album by American rock band Green Day, released November 13, 2001, through Reprise Records. It collects all of the band's singles released between 1994 and 2000 as well as a rerecording ...

'' and ''

God's Favorite Band ''Greatest Hits: God's Favorite Band'' is the second greatest hits album by American rock band Green Day, released on November 17, 2017. Background ''God's Favorite Band'' features 20 of Green Day's previous hits, as well as 2 new songs: a new ...

'' as well as appearing as a playable track in their game '' Green Day: Rock Band'', the band had not performed the song live for 21 years since 2001, until it was performed during a warm-up show before their performance in the 2022 Lollapalooza.

Music video

"Warning" has two music videos. The first and main music video premiered on MTV in January 2001. It was directed by

Francis Lawrence Francis Lawrence (born March 26, 1971) is an Austrian-born American filmmaker and producer. After establishing himself as a director of music videos and commercials, Lawrence made his feature-length directorial debut with the superhero thrille ...

and shows the life of a rather oblivious young man who does dangerous, socially unacceptable and trivial things during his day examples being rubbing soap in his eyes, swallowing toothpaste, running into across moving traffic and crossing police tape. His punch-in card reveals his name to be John Earle. The second music video features the recording and touring of the song and

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

edited together.

Track listing

CD 1

#"Warning" (album version) #"Scumbag" #" I Don't Want to Know If You Are Lonely" (originally performed by

Hüsker Dü Hüsker Dü () was an American punk rock band formed in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1979. The band's continual members were guitarist/vocalist Bob Mould, bassist/vocalist Greg Norton, and drummer/vocalist Grant Hart. They first gained notabili ...

)

CD 2

#"Warning" (album version) #"Outsider" (originally performed by the Ramones) #"Suffocate"

Limited edition card sleeve version

#"Warning" (album version) #"Scumbag"

Warning/Minority AU single

#"Warning" #"Minority" #"Scumbag" #"Outsider" (originally performed by the Ramones)

7" Adeline

Side A #"Warning" Side B #"Scumbag" #"Outsider" (originally performed by the Ramones)

7" Reprise

Side A #"Warning" Side B #"Suffocate"

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2000 singles Green Day songs Songs written by Billie Joe Armstrong Music videos directed by Francis Lawrence 2000 songs Reprise Records singles Folk punk songs American folk songs American pop songs it:Warning#Musica