Ian Black's video: Good Riddance Time Of Your Life by Green Day Instrumental

"Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" is a song by the American punk rock band Green Day, released in October 1997 as the second single and from their fifth studio album Nimrod (1997), and also serves as the seventeenth and second to last track on the album. Although it was not issued as a single at the time of its release in the United States, "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" sold over 2.6 million copies as a digital download in the country. The song was certified Platinum in the United Kingdom for sales of 600,000. Although different from the band's usual sound, it is one of the band's most popular songs. It has also become a staple of the band's concerts and is usually played as the final song in their live shows. Billie Joe Armstrong wrote "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" in 1993 about his girlfriend named Amanda who moved to Ecuador, with him naming the song "Good Riddance" to show his anger towards her. He did not show the song to his bandmates until the Dookie recording sessions later the same year. During the sessions, however, the song was determined to be too different from the rest of the songs on Dookie, and producer Rob Cavallo was unsure of how to structure the recording. An early version of the song (in a different key, with a faster tempo and sparer arrangement) simply titled "Good Riddance" appeared as a B-side to the European single for "Brain Stew/Jaded" in 1996. When the time came to record Nimrod, Armstrong decided to record the song again, and Cavallo suggested they add strings to the track. He sent the band to play foosball in another room while he recorded the strings, which took "like fifteen, twenty minutes, maybe a half an hour at the most." Cavallo reflected on his decision to add the strings "I knew we had done the right thing. It was a hit the second I heard it." In comparison to previous Green Day material, "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" features more mellow, contemplative lyrics with acoustic music. Band member Mike Dirnt said that the release of this song was probably the "most punk" thing they could have done. The song is more commonly promoted on the radio as "Time of Your Life", and it became a Billboard Country Rock chart-topper and an international hit, and was the only song from Nimrod that was a crossover success when released in single form. The album version of the song begins with Billie Joe Armstrong messing up the opening chords twice, muttering “fuck” under his voice before starting over and getting it right, thus getting the song underway. This mess up was purposely recorded in order to provide some minor comic relief for an otherwise serious and contemplative song. Radio versions and the music video omitted this. The music video was directed by Mark Kohr based on a concept by Billie Joe Armstrong. The video features Armstrong singing and playing an acoustic guitar in a bedroom (filmed in LA's Ambassador Hotel), intercut with "pull-in" shots of various people involved in mundane activities. All of the subjects are shown seemingly staring into space absent-mindedly. Band members Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool make cameo appearances in the video as a person pumping gas (Dirnt), and an injured bike rider being attended by paramedics (Tré). When the video came out, the name of the song was inverted, hence the video's title is "Time of Your Life (Good Riddance)". This title was also used on the single cover. In 1998, Green Day won their first MTV Video Music Award for Best Alternative Video for "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" and they were also nominated for Viewer's Choice. The video can be found on their music video compilation DVD, International Supervideos!. To the band's surprise, the song became a hit at prom dances. Because of the song's lyrics, which many graduating seniors interpret as nostalgic and reflective of their time in high school, it has become a staple song at proms. Armstrong remarked that, in retrospect, the lyrics make sense when viewed that way. "The people that you grew up and braved the trials of high school with will always hold a special place. Through all the BS of high school you hope that your friends had the time of their life, and that's what the song is talking about". During the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Sir Steve Redgrave won his 5th Olympic gold medal in the Men's Coxless Four event. This race was to be Sir Steve's last before retirement. During the UK broadcast, a video montage was produced highlighting each of the 5 gold medals Sir Steve had won - Good Riddance (Time of your life) was used as the backing track to the video, creating an emotional video package. In the Seinfeld episode "The Chronicle", a clip show that aired at the end of the show's ninth and final season, the song was played over a series of clips, outtakes and backstage moments.