Junkies On A High

Album: Father Of All... (2020)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • When he was writing Father Of All..., Billie Joe Armstrong came across a tweet referencing the recent spate of deaths in hip-hop: Lil Peep, Mac Miller and Xxxtention all passed away in 2017 and 2018. "This kid said, 'Death has become the best marketing tool for the music industry,'" he recalled to Q magazine. "I was like, 'Wow, that so true.'" The tweet inspired a line on this slinky West Coast tune:

    Rock 'n' roll tragedy, I think the next one could be me
  • Armstrong told The Sun the song "has a lot of paranoia going on in it." He added: "A lot of these people are no longer with us. Linkin Park's Chester Bennington was one of the younger guys. I also remember playing shows with The Prodigy in 1997, and I saw Soundgarden when I was like 15 years old."

    "Keith Flint and Chris Cornell from those bands have gone too," Armstrong continued. "They are not with us anymore. It just gets scary. These are people that are not only artists they mean something in a spiritual way. These are people that are very heavy. When they are gone, you feel it."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Janis Ian

Janis IanSongwriter Interviews

One of the first successful female singer-songwriters, Janis had her first hit in 1967 at age 15.

Lace the Music: How LSD Changed Popular Music

Lace the Music: How LSD Changed Popular MusicSong Writing

Starting in Virginia City, Nevada and rippling out to the Haight-Ashbury, LSD reshaped popular music.

Jimmy Jam

Jimmy JamSongwriter Interviews

The powerhouse producer behind Janet Jackson's hits talks about his Boyz II Men ballads and regrouping The Time.

Dar Williams

Dar WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

A popular contemporary folk singer, Williams still remembers the sticky note that changed her life in college.

Commercials

CommercialsFact or Fiction

Was "Ring Of Fire" really used to sell hemorrhoid cream?

Reverend Horton Heat

Reverend Horton HeatSongwriter Interviews

The Reverend rants on psychobilly and the egghead academics he bashes in one of his more popular songs.