Walking Contradiction Explained
"Walking Contradiction" is the fourth and final single taken from Green Day's fourth album Insomniac.
Track Listings
- "Walking Contradiction" - 2:30
Music video
The video was directed by Roman Coppola. The main theme of the video was the line from the song "I'm a smart ass but I'm playing dumb". Therefore, the video features the three members of Green Day going about in a town indirectly causing accidents, explosions, and all kinds of mayhem but pretending to ignore it. It remains one of the most popular Green Day videos.
- Billie throws a stick into the spokes of a man's bike, causing him to crash. Moments later, a car runs over the bike.
- Tré makes a bread truck roll into some parked cars and a moving car.
- Mike presses a pedestrian crossing sign that says "Out of order, do not use!" and electrocutes an electrician (mere seconds after exchanging pleasantries with him).
- Billie takes a newspaper from a newspaper stand, which causes the whole stand to collapse.
- Billie walks into traffic (due to the malfunctioning traffic signals triggered by Mike's above-mentioned pedestrian crossing button) causing cars to swerve to avoid him and crash.
- While looking into a mirror which fell off one of the cars, Billie Joe blinds a man lifting a piano.
- The man drops the piano, narrowly missing Tré.
- The truck from earlier on crashes into a fire hydrant.
- A police car coming to the scene gets launched into the air after crashing into the stalled traffic. The car spins around in air as it rolls over.
- The boys drive away in a Ford Pinto, which is notorious for bursting into flames upon a crash. When they pull away in the Pinto, a building in the background collapses, probably due to the car's exhaust fume.
The members all did their own stunts, although at first, Billie Joe Armstrong refused to do the stunt work required for it. He was about to pull out until Tré Cool talked him into it.
This video is one of few music videos to have colored closed captioning, a practice that is rare in North America. The captioning appears on most modern televisions as green.
