Imagine my surprise when an anonymous package, postmarked from California, arrived in my mailbox containing the album we’ve all been waiting for, Green Day’s Father Of All Motherfuckers which isn’t due out until February 7, 2020! Alas, my initial excitement was only slightly dampened when it turned out the package contained just the vinyl sleeve for Green Day’s 13th studio album and did not include any type of insert, but I certainly wasn’t complaining.
What the record sleeve did provide us is an early look at the final Father Of All tracklist – which differs slightly from what we thought we knew. It also solves at least part of the mystery of what Green Day was doing at the Madonna Inn this past August when the band was spotted there with a large production crew. As you can see below, the back cover features the band feasting at one of the unique tables that fill the Madonna Inn’s restaurant.
You may have noticed that two songs mentioned by Billie Joe Armstrong in the September 10th issue of Kerrang Magazine do not appear on the tracklist of the vinyl sleeve I received. The missing tracks mentioned in the interview were titled ‘Bulletproof Backpack’ and ‘Art Of A Deal With The Devil’. The Kerrang interview would have taken place around the same time period as the August 28th photoshoot at the Madonna Inn, so that means that the vinyl sleeve I received is from after that time period and those two song titles have been changed since the interview.
Since all but three songs on the vinyl sleeve matched titles we already knew from other interviews, it would be my guess that ‘Art Of A Deal With The Devil’ was retitled ‘Take The Money And Crawl’, possibly to avoid confusion that the song is inspired by Donald Trump (which Billie Joe Armstrong has stated none on the album are) given the similarity the previous title had to his book The Art Of The Deal.
As for ‘Bulletproof Backpack’, the title was almost certainly changed to ‘Oh Yeah!’. Going back to the Kerrang interview, it was mentioned that ‘Bulletproof Backpack’ samples from the Joan Jett song ‘Do You Really Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)’. If you listen to the song below (featuring a very 80’s video) you’ll notice that the refrain features the line “Yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah” repeated a couple times after each chorus giving a pretty clear indicator that ‘Oh Yeah!’ is the new name for ‘Bulletproof Backpack’ – and most likely that refrain is what is sampled on the Father Of All… track.
The last song, ‘Graffitia’, is completely unknown at this point with no mention in any interviews, but the title appears to be a Spanish spin on the word graffiti if that tells you anything on what the subject matter of the lyrics may be.
So now that we know the final tracklist, what song are you most excited for? Let us know in the comments below.
Father Of All… Tracklist:
- Father Of All…
- Fire, Ready, Aim
- Oh Yeah! *
- Meet Me On The Roof
- I Was A Teenage Teenager
- Stab You In The Heart
- Sugar Youth
- Junkies On A High
- Take The Money And Crawl *
- Graffitia *
* indicates a previously unknown song title.
Special thanks to our anonymous friend in California for sending the vinyl sleeve to share with all of you. Father Of All Motherfuckers is available for pre-order now at Green Day’s official online store.