Los Angeles Is Burning

"Los Angeles Is Burning" is the first single by punk band Bad Religion from their 2004 album The Empire Strikes First. The song reached number 40 on the Modern Rock Tracks in July 2004.^[1]

Meaning and composition

According to bassist Jay Bentley, the lyrics argue that the media is sensationalistic. The music video features men with cameras replacing their heads firing flame into the animated landscape of Los Angeles. It was written at a time when there was a major fire nearby, but Bentley makes clear that the song was using the fire as a metaphor.

Music video

The music video is shot in cut-out animation and depicts a guy in a track singlet and shorts with a Crossbuster (Bad Religion's logo which features a black cross with a red prohibition sign over it) on it running through an apocalyptic Los Angeles. People with cameras replacing their heads shoot fire out their mouths. Frontman Greg Graffin plays a psychotic newsreporter which reads messages like "We're not trying to brainwash you". In the end the entire city goes up in flames.

Trivia

• Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers contributed to the guitar on this track.^[2]
• The song also makes a reference to the first Bad Religion album, "more a question than a curse, how could hell be any worse?".
• In an ironic twist, the song has been repeatedly used by America's NBA to promote the Los Angeles Lakers when they are flourishing, choosing the 'burning' imagery in connection when players get 'on fire', instead of the darker, truer meaning of the song.

Charts

References