# Green Day's "I Fought the Law"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-days-i-fought-the-law/231826>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 1, 2004, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-days-i-fought-the-law/231826 "2004-03-01T01:36:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-days-i-fought-the-law/231826/1 "2004-03-01T01:36:47Z")

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I see that Green Day has covered one of the greatest one-hit wonders ever recorded.

Anybody hear it? Opinions?

I haven’t listened to radio in so long, I would have no idea what kind of station would play it.

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**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-days-i-fought-the-law/231826/2 "2004-03-01T01:46:41Z")

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I just listened to it. It’s not bad at all, pretty slick. “Fuller” than you’d expect a Green Day song to be. Is it new? I could see it being played on Top 40 radio.

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**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-days-i-fought-the-law/231826/3 "2004-03-01T01:49:56Z")

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> [@Bruce\_Daddy](#):
>
> I just listened to it. It’s not bad at all, pretty slick. “Fuller” than you’d expect a Green Day song to be. Is it new? I could see it being played on Top 40 radio.

I was watching Headline News one day and it was listed as one of the top ten downloaded new tracks.

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**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-days-i-fought-the-law/231826/4 "2004-03-01T02:38:36Z")

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> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#):
>
> I was watching Headline News one day and it was listed as one of the top ten downloaded new tracks.

Were they referring to legal or illegal downloads? Or both?

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**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-days-i-fought-the-law/231826/5 "2004-03-01T02:46:49Z")

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> [@Revtim](#):
>
> Were they referring to legal or illegal downloads? Or both?

Legal. It was also listed in Billboard’s Top Ten Digital tracks.

I assume there’s a video. I could start recording MTV2 (I guess that’s who’d play it).

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**Author:** ![TitoBenito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2acd7d/32.png) [@TitoBenito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TitoBenito)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-days-i-fought-the-law/231826/6 "2004-03-01T04:25:39Z")

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It sounds more like a cover of the Clash’s cover of the Bobby Fuller song. I mean it sounds exactly like the Clash version, only crappier.