Songfacts®:

• This song explains how the hard-working, helpful types will lose out to the arrogant jerks of the world. The conceit is that Green Day were very much the outcasts in the world of pop music, yet dominated it when their 1994 album Dookie took off, selling over 10 million copies just in America. It took them a while to dig out from under their newfound fame, and their next album, Insomniac in 1995, was very dark. After some rest, they wrote some lighthearted songs like "Nice Guys Finish Last" for their Nimrod album, released in 1997. This is the opening track on the set.
• The music video is an homage to NFL Films, which produces game recaps using tight, slow-motion footage and very dramatic voiceovers. At the beginning, we're introduced to "Green Day Stadium," with a narrator that sounds a lot like John Facenda, the voice of NFL Films:
  
  The mere mention conjures up images of sweat-covered mosh pits, vomit-soaked stands, and very worried parents. But to three rag-tag musicians from the Bay Area, it was simply known as home.
  
  We then see fans tailgating in the parking lot and the band getting a pep talk from a coach. The voiceover concludes:
  
  In punk rock, nice guys finish last.
  
  When the band starts playing, it's like a football game, with fans scrambling for a fumbled water bottle and eluding tackles after buying T-shirts at the merch tent.
  
  The video was directed by Evan Bernard, who also did The New Radicals' "You Get What You Give," and shot at the College Of The Canyons in Santa Clara, California. The band did a five-song set for the fans who showed up as extras, and had a place-kicking contest with the band and crew that was one by drummer Tre Cool, who kicked a 25-yard field goal.
• This song plays at the beginning of the movie Varsity Blues when the kids are driving to the football game. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Bertrand - Paris, France