Synopsis

Green Day perform "Longview" in the cramped, dimly lit basement of a run-down Berkeley house, surrounded by the clutter and decay of everyday life. Billie Joe Armstrong spends much of the video slumped on a couch, watching television while the band's performance cuts through the room. A bizarre monkey appearance adds to the surreal atmosphere. As the song builds, Armstrong's boredom and frustration erupt into destruction, ending with the couch torn apart and feathers filling the basement.

Factoids & Trivia

• "Longview" was Green Day's first music video, made shortly before the release of their major-label debut, Dookie, in February 1994.

• The basement was not a studio set. It was the Berkeley house where Billie Joe Armstrong and Tré Cool lived, and where the band rehearsed. The group shared the practice space with the East Bay Weed Company.

• The video grew out of a simple idea from Armstrong: showing the band sitting on a couch and watching television. The deliberately ordinary concept was expanded into the video's grimy, surreal presentation.

• Producer Rob Cavallo first encountered Green Day at the same basement apartment. His early impression of the band's living and rehearsal space closely matched what appeared in the finished video.

• The low-budget, unpolished look helped distinguish the video from more elaborate early-1990s rock productions and became an important part of Green Day's breakthrough image.

• Heavy MTV airplay helped make "Longview" one of the songs that introduced Green Day to a mainstream audience. The video received MTV Video Music Award nominations for Best Group Video, Best Alternative Video, and Best New Artist in 1994.