"Bang Bang" is a song by American rock band Green Day. It was released on August 11, 2016 as the lead single from their twelfth studio album, Revolution Radio (2016). It is the band's first release since "Xmas Time of the Year" (2015); the single was released four years after their 2012 album trilogy, ¡Uno!, ¡Dos!, and ¡Tré!. Considered a mixture of the band's early punk rock days and politically motivated later albums, the song was inspired from the rise in gun violence in the U.S. and the central theme revolves around from the point of view of a mass shooter. It is the first single recorded by the band since guitarist Jason White was dropped from his role as an official member.

The music video for the song was released on September 13, 2016, showcasing a trio robbing a bank with masks of the band members, then attending a Green Day house party. The song received positive critical reception and peaked at number one on the US Mainstream Rock chart and the Alternative Songs chart, along with charting on various international charts.

Billie Joe Armstrong started testing and recording material in Otis, the studio he built in Oakland, California, in 2014. The first song which he composed turned out to be "Bang Bang", self-described as "the most aggressive single we've ever had". It is written from the point of view of a mass shooter. According to Armstrong, the song is about "the culture of mass shooting that happens in America mixed with narcissistic social media." Armstrong continued with "There's this sort of rage happening, but it's also now being filmed and we all have ourselves under surveillance. To me, that is so twisted."

The song is described by critics as reminiscent of Green Day's early punk rock days of 39/Smooth (1990), Kerplunk! (1992), and Dookie (1994), as well as hints of their album 21st Century Breakdown (2009). "Bang Bang" is considered to be a combination of the "’90s Green Day sound and the 2000s Green Day lyrics". The song was described to reflect a state of confusion in today's world while trying to figure out one's position amongst the chaos; something noted by Armstrong to also be "a big theme through all of Green Day's history", about "feeling lost".

...
Wikipedia