Green Day: Minority Meaning
Song Released: 2000
Minority Lyrics
I don't need your authority
Down with the moral majority
'Cause I want to be the minority
I pledge allegiance to the underworld
One nation under dog
There of which I stand alone
A face in the crowd
Unsung,...
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1TOP RATED
#1 top rated interpretation:I think that this song is all about not being scared to be who you really are and you should do what you want to do and not what others want you to do. Because YOU are your OWN PERSON. This song is about about stepping out and being an individual and not just another sheep in the herd. You shouldn't let anyone dictate your life.
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2TOP RATED
#2 top rated interpretation:Be yourself, don't let anyone tell you what to do, and also, this is from me F*CK OFF GEORGE BUSH.
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It's funny now, all these songs could be about the woke left, who are now 'the moral majority', they're the new religious right that wanted everything banned in the 90s.
There's been a whole paradigm shift in the last 15 years -
I don't think most people realize it but the "moral majority" was an actual organization. yes, this song is about going against the grain and standing up for one's individuality, but it also has a very deep historical meaning that dates back to the civil rights movement.
it is important to note that not everyone during the civil rights movement was happy that African Americans, women, and LGBTQ+ people were gaining rights (especially white Christian America). after the era of the civil rights movement, there was a huge rise in conservatism that was predicated on "saving Christian family values". values such as that women should stay home clean the house and raise the kids, or that marriage should be between a man and woman, etc. (you know all the lovely bigotry we still see today). the "moral majority" was a right-wing Christian organization from this time period focused on recruiting Christians into the republican party and undoing some of the progress that was made by the civil rights movement. Their whole political ideology was centered around trying to enforce these Christian family values and punish and discriminate against those who dared to not uphold them. the moral majority was extremely successful in recruiting these Christians and by the late 80's they disbanded Proclaiming "our mission is accomplished" forever cementing the Christian right.
put all of this into context and the song has a slightly different meaning. I'll show you
"I want to be the minority
I don't need your authority
Down with the moral majority
'Cause I want to be the minority"
the chorus is essentially the theses for this song which is about rejecting the will and authority of Christians or anyone really that thinks they can force people who are different to act like "the majority". (very on-brand for green day)
"I pledge allegiance to the underworld"
this is just a direct and fun jab at Christians
"One nation under dog
There of which I stand alone
A face in the crowd
Unsung, against the mold
Without a doubt
Singled out
The only way I know"
this is pretty self-explanatory, he stands out because his beliefs and lifestyle doesn't aline with "traditional family values"
"Stepped out of the line
Like a sheep runs from the herd
Marching out of time
To my own beat now
The only way I know"
this is about gain individuality from not being in the majority
"One light, one mind
Flashing in the dark
Blinded by the silence of a thousand broken hearts"
I'm not too sure on this one exactly but I think it's about how believing there is one proper way to live out a life is blind
"'For crying out loud' she screamed unto me
A free for all
Fuck 'em all
You're on your own side"
I interpret this as an encounter he may have had with a bigoted Christian woman disapproving of his way of life and liberal ideals in general. and his response which is everyone deserves the right to have their own identity that doesn't have to align with her "own side"
"'Cause I want to be the minority
I don't need your authority
Down with the moral majority
'Cause I want to be the minority
The minority
I wanna be the minority
I wanna be the minority
I wanna be the minority"
again we close with the same theses
TL;DR: this song is about being out of the norm, going against Christianized America, and being proud of one's individuality -
if you want the meaning - listen to his speech during the bullet in a bible version
it is awesome -
There should be small frdeeal income tax. Everything should revert down to the county or even city. User pays. Inner cities contributing nothing? You get nothing. In this world, you should get what you paid for. I don't mind contributing to national security but why should I finance a crack smoker in Detroit?
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This song reminds me of a recent article entitled, "Politics, Odors and Soap", by Nicholas Kristoff from the New York Times, dated 3/21/12. If the spirit moves you, read it and comment on this song. I am obviously just grasping, but I could be "on" to something.
I want to be the minority
I don't need your authority
Down with the moral majority
'Cause I want to be the minority
Maybe the singer didn't "want" to be the minority, but he IS the minority whether he likes it or not. He doesn't much dig on authority which apparently if we believe Nicholas Kristof, means he is NOT a Republican. He says PHOOEY to the majority now because he is adjusting to being THEE minority.
I pledge allegiance to the underworld
One nation under dark
There of which I stand alone
A face in the crowd
Unsung, against the mold
Without a doubt
Singled out
The only way I know
Maybe by pledging allegiance to the underworld he is vowing loyalty to satan, which of course, is an anti-Republican value. Republicans are dedicated to their party and reside in "God Country" ALWAYS. It also sounds as if they wash their hands a lot. At this point, if I had to wager, I'd say most definitely this man is NOT a Republican. (Oh where is that "fart spray" when it is so desperately needed?) His view of our nation is "dark", which means he doesn't understand why so many -in positions of authority and subordination- are liars. He feels like a face in the crowd which means he feels as if no one is listening to him. At the same time, he does NOT feel like a face in the crowd because he was singled out to be prawned. Yes indeed, he feels like a shrimp, cast out from the sea of life. Right now it is the only way he knows. And I think we all can agree that shrimp taste good, but smell bad.
'Cause I want to be the minority
I don't need your authority
Down with the moral majority
'Cause I want to be the minority
He is learning to like his role as the single scampi. Yes, he's a part of a different breed.. He thinks those in authority make deals that are crappy & deceitful and he wants no part of it. The government & the media companies value concealment over disclosure. There is a widespread corrupt conspiracy at work in our midst. The captains of policy & industry and those who obey their orders are complicit. With much gusto, this odorous seafoodman thumbs his nose in their direction. "Down with the moral majority" might mean "impeach authority" & the government and all people who support an oppressive dictatorship. Who is MORAL? He'd rather be the odd shrimp out than stand with a large party of gas-filled yes men. Perhaps each person he questions regarding the legitimacy of their heinous plot is an "anomaly". (Not to be confused with "abnormal".) Then again, maybe each person is a Republican, hence "committed", but this time to an intricate web of murk.
Stepped out of the line
Like a sheep runs from the herd
Marching out of time
To my own beat now
The only way I know
Here the shrimp is speaking about how it felt to be "out of line" and not a part of the norm. It has been rather difficult, I'd guess. He felt like the black shrimp of the family running away from the herd of angry clean sheep. He marches to the tune of his own beat and it is the only way he knows. He is not one of the gang. He is "okay" with being ostracized by life and its wooly players because he knows they want to eat him as an appetizer at one of their fancy cocktail parties.. He thinks their hidden practices stink.
One light, one mind
Flashing in the dark
Blinded by the silence of a thousand broken hearts
"For crying out loud", she screamed unto me
A free for all
Fuck 'em all
You are your own sight
"One light, one mind" sounds like Bob Marley. Maybe the singer is saying, "Let's Get Together And Feel Alright". It's a big shift from the madness we hear in the rest of the lyrics. Perhaps he is like Lady Gaga's muse who said, "My life is very volatile, man." Then he shouts about flashing in the dark, blinded by silence, for crying in the beer, screaming What In The Sam Hill, it's a free for all, Fuck You, Fuck My Feet, Shame on You, There Is An Old Saying In Tennessee, "You Can't Fool The Fool Three Times" or so on, along those lines. Then the last sentence which reads, "You are your own sight" which sounds like doomsday information for the shrimp who only sees darkness. At this juncture, I think we are to believe the prawn is screwed.
I think this song is telling us to try to see things from the enemies POV. Let's all try to get along, eh? As "Tom from Tuscaloosa" wrote in the comments printed after the Kristoff article, "Both sides need more empathy"; the cast-out single shrimp and the mass of hungry power sheep. BTW: How "threatening" is a shrimp? Hmm. -
He is talking about the two types of governments we have in America. Most people have no clue that we have two types of government, and even less knowledge that they have a choice between the two.(the majority) is run as a Legislative Democracy based on opinions of the majority, the other is (the minority) a Judicial Republic which is based on the individual.
Government was instituted to protect and maintain individual rights (the minority). Yet 99% of people except the collective opinions of the majority as law. What if my opinion (the minority)differed from the collective opinion(the majority)?
The song is based on this concept...
The American Idiot song is also based on this concept. -
This is about not doing what the government wants you to do, or eve n what other people (ie your parents, friends, boyfriend/girlfriend/wife/husbad) want you do. The "Stepped out of the line Like a sheep runs from the herd" is addressing sheeple.
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I totally get many of the ideas here, but for me it's about being all you can be - it's only yourself who can hold you back. You can see as far ahead as you want (or have been told you can) so it's your constraints that hold you back, not anyone elses control.
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I think it's about not letting everyone else tell you what to do because you're you and not a living creature on this planet can change that.
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Minority is about breaking away from the status quo, and being your own person. Its like 'who cares what the majority thinks? I say ______ because its what I believe in" You can be who you want to be, and you don't really have to do what everyone says you have to do, even if they put a gun to your head. "I want to be the MINORITY, I don't need your AUTHORITY, DOWN WITH THE MORAL MAJORITY..."
do the math people -
It's about herd mentality, basically, and I also think it's about how ultimately EVERYONE is in the minority in some form or other, which just adds to the idiocy of trying to be normal
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This song is about being yourself. Its really obvious in the first verse when it says "I WANNA BE THE MINORITY!" or in other words, I want to be different. I am not a follower. Minority also means to not give in to what the government tells you. That meaning stands out in the part "I DONT NEED YOUR AUTHORITY, DOWN WITH THE MORAL MAJORITY"
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It's about not following the mainstream crowd and doing what YOU want to do. Just because what you want to do has other people doing it, doesn't mean that you're being a poser or whatever. You're still doing it because you want to and the minority is the smaller part, so you aren't the ONLY one doing it, you're just the smaller bit of people.
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this song was written as a result of Nirvana's "I hate myself and I want to die". Noel took great exception to this song as he couldn't stand seeing someone on smack from america portraying that kind of message to british kids. Especially when Cobain himself had everything he wanted whereas noel and liam where still on the dole at the time but still loved life hence "live forever" was born
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