Working Class Hero

In 2007, Green Day contributed a cover of John Lennon’s Working Class Hero to the Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign To Save Darfur album (released on June 12, 2007), proceeds from which help support Amnesty International’s campaign to focus attention on the conflict in Darfur, Sudan. The song was subsequently released as a single and has an accompanying video for the track with director Samuel Bayer. The single was released to radio on April 30, 2007 and on iTunes on May 1, 2007. Green Day performed the song live during the American Idol Season 6 finale (dropping the offensive words). Green Day’s cover was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance By a Duo/Group w/ Vocals.

When asked why they chose the song, frontman Billie Joe Armstrong said, “We wanted to do ‘Working Class Hero’ because its themes of alienation, class, and social status really resonated with us. It’s such a raw, aggressive song — just that line: ‘you’re still fucking peasants as far as I can see’ — we felt we could really sink our teeth into it. I hope we’ve done him justice.”