New Version of Green Day Song "21 Guns", Featuring American Idiot Cast, Debuts Online Dec. 3

By Andrew Gans
03 Dec 2009

The new version of Green Day's "21 Guns," which features the cast of American Idiot, debuts online Dec. 3. (American Idiot is the stage version of the Green Day album; the musical recently played an acclaimed run at Berkeley Rep.)

This new version of the second single from Green Day's gold album "21st Century Breakdown" is now available by visiting http://www.spinner.com/2009/12/03/green-day-with-american-idiot-cast-21-guns-song-premiere.

The song will ship to all radio formats on Dec. 4. Newly arranged by Tom Kitt, "21 Guns" will be available for purchase from all digital service providers beginning Dec. 22.

Featured on the track are American Idiot cast members John Gallagher, Jr., Matt Kaplan, Michael Esper, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Christina Sajous and Mary Faber.

Green Day singer and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong produced the single. In a statement Armstrong said, "We wanted to record ’21 Guns’ because it represents a pivotal moment in the show when the lead character, sung by John Gallagher, Jr., realizes he needs to get his stuff together. After the show wrapped, we headed straight to Oakland with the cast to record, and they sung the hell out of it. I couldn’t be happier. It’s great to have something out there for people to hear who didn’t get to see the show.”

Green Day also features bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tre Cool. American Idiot was staged by Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening), who collaborated with Armstrong on the story.