There is sometimes just no way around saying some things. For instance, while there is of course a sharp divide of support in the US with positive or negative things to say about President Donald Trump, in some countries the majority opinion is that, people do not like him and what his image conveys. The UK is one such place, despite some feeling of informal camaraderie between certain government officials and Trump who supports BREXIT. When word came out months ago that he was visiting the country, certain Britons organized a “musical protest” to have a particular Green Day song become Number 1 on local music charts when he arrives.
CNN has it that a social media campaign focused on the UK has been encouraging music listeners to mass-download “American Idiot”, the title song of the 2004 album by American rock band Green Day, to artificially bump that over-a-decade-old song back to the top of the charts, right in time for the arrival of US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump in London on Thursday, July 12, for a three-day visit. The window for taking this action, according to the “Get American Idiot to No.1 for Trump’s UK Visit” Facebook page, runs from July 6 last Friday to this coming Friday the Thirteenth.
Gaming the music charts in order to make a particular song Number if only for a week, is something of a tradition with some British protesters. There is a story from 2008 about how a British DJ got tired of listening to Christmastime top chart songs belonging to recent winners of reality singing competitions that he campaigned on Facebook for supporters to push for “Never Gonna Give You Up”, a 1987 hit by Rick Astley and the origin of the “Rick-roll” meme. Similar campaigns to game the charts were done in other times past, for songs like the “Pokémon” theme.
British who are wary or critical of President Trump have been busy in recent days to visually present their dislike of him during his visit, including the use of a large “baby Trump” balloon to fly over London on Friday. They also make sure to point out that the President is on a “working” visit and not the more formal “State” visit. He will meet with Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Theresa May, but will then go to his two Scotland golf courses before leaving for Finland come Saturday.
“American Idiot” was credited with revitalizing the careers of Green Day, which slumped briefly following their peak in the 1990s. The title song was also popularly used in protests against then-US President George W. Bush.
Image courtesy of Daily Express
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