American Idiot by Green Day hits UK charts ahead of Trump visit
2004 hit was written in-part about George W. Bush and has now been adopted to protest Trump's visit
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Louise Thomas
Editor
Green Day's hit 2004 song "American Idiot" is dipping in and out of the UK charts ahead of Donald Trump's impending visit on 13 July.
The song was the No.1 single on Amazon's list of best-selling songs on 9 July, and it also crept into the iTunes Top 10 on the same day, according to the Huffington Post. Chart Data also reports that the song cracked the Top 20 on Britain's Official Singles chart midway through the charting week.
Its renewed success is down to a fan campaign aiming to increase the song's popularity and get it to No.1.
A Twitter account is encouraging fans to download and stream the song from Friday 6 July to the end of 12 July so the song will be in the charts when Trump lands in the UK.
In January, Mr Trump reportedly told Theresa May that he would not visit unless she banned protests, which she said would be impossible.
He will meet the Queen on his arrival in London, the US ambassador to the UK, Robert Wood Johnson, told media: "Meeting Her Majesty is the most important thing because she's the head of state and, from then on, it'll be what the president wants to do."
The Queen has met every single US president since 1945 with the exception of Lyndon Johnson. It is understood that she will entertain Trump at Windsor Castle, which will be closed to the public on the day of his visit.
"American Idiot" was originally written in part about President George W. Bush and features lyrics such as: "Don't wanna be an American idiot/One nation controlled by the media/Information Age of hysteria/It's calling out to idiot America."
It was recently referenced by Sen. Tim Kaine, who suggested that if the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, planned on gifting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with a CD of Elton John's song "Rocket Man", Kim should reciprocate with "American Idiot".
The song isn't the only way people are protesting Trump's visit. Activist Leo Murray successfully raised the necessary £16,000 to pay for 'Project Trump Baby' - a six metre-high inflatable baby resembling Trump, with unusually small hands and feet, which will be flown over London when the real-life version arrives.
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