"Wake Me Up When September Ends" Video - Green Day

Acclaimed music video director Samuel Bayer successfully turns Green Day's elegy about the death of lead vocalist Billie Joe Armstrong's father into a hymn to the pain suffered in the past 4 years by the entire U.S. No specific political stance is advocated, and no solutions are given. The massive emotional pain of wartime is simply and effectively acknowledged in a very simple story of two young people.

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While Green Day are still reveling in leading the pack in nominations for the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, they have quite possibly set the quality bar even higher with the video for the song "Wake Me Up When September Ends" from the landmark album American Idiot. Music video director Samuel Bayer (the man behind Nirvana's groundbreaking "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video) told MTV this video is "hands down the greatest thing I've ever done." It is difficult to disagree.

The 7 minute length of the video, and the fact that young film stars Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot) and Evan Rachel Wood (The Upside Of Anger) were hired to play key roles, indicates an effort to make something more epic than the standard music video. Beyond somewhat standard footage of Green Day performing, the video is fleshed out by images of young romance and graphic battle scenes. The end of the mini-film's story is ambiguous, and this ambiguity gives "Wake Me Up When September Ends" much of its power.

For many, the U.S. has been plunged into an ongoing national nightmare since September 11, 2001, and they can empathize with the sentiment "Wake Me Up When September Ends." Although the song originally was centered around Billie Joe Armstrongs' personal tragedy, Samuel Bayer created his own personal vision. His interpretation is brought to life with both power and restraint and is likely to provoke tears, a visceral human response to pain.

Watch the video at the official Green Day Web Site.