"Longview" is the first major-label single released by punk band Green Day, from their hit 1994 album, Dookie. The song was the band's first #1 on the Modern Rock chart, in a career that contained many chart-toppers on this chart. The music video for this song received intense airplay on MTV, which is largely credited for breaking Green Day into mainstream popularity. The lyrics describe intense boredom and are about a day spent sitting around the house, doing absolutely nothing of importance, masturbating until it is no longer fun, having no job, and no life. The song captured the attention of many youth at the time with its overt allusions to masturbation. Bassist Mike Dirnt has stated that the famous bass line intro to this song was written one night while he was high, and what remains on the album is what he and lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong could recall in the morning. With the verses featuring the signature bassline and tribal tom-tom drumbeat culminating into the melodic yet destructive chorus, the song echoes the 1965 classic, "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" by The Animals.
In 1995, Green Day was nominated for Grammys for Best New Artist and Best Hard Rock Performance for "Longview".
This song can also be found on their 2001 greatest hits collection International Superhits and a live performance can be found on the Bullet in a Bible DVD.
