"Red Flag" is a song by Canadian rock group

Billy Talent Billy Talent is a Canadian rock band from Mississauga, Ontario. They formed in 1993 with lead vocalist Benjamin Kowalewicz, guitarist Ian D'Sa, bassist Jonathan Gallant, and drummer Aaron Solowoniuk. There have been no lineup changes, alth ...

. It was released in September 2006 as second single from their second album, ''

Billy Talent II ''Billy Talent II'' is the second studio album by Canadian rock band Billy Talent, released on June 27, 2006. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Canadian Albums Chart, selling 48,000 copies in its first week. The album also reached No. 1 on the G ...

''. The Canadian rock music radio station 102.1 The Edge listed "Red Flag" at #145 of their 200 Best New Rock Songs of the Millennium in 2010.

Music video

The music video for this song, directed by

Floria Sigismondi Floria Sigismondi (, born 1965) is an Italian-Canadian film director, screenwriter, music video director, artist, and photographer. She is best known for writing and directing ''The Runaways'', for directing music videos for performers includin ...

– known for her work with artists such as

Sigur Rós Sigur Rós () is an Icelandic post-rock band from Reykjavík, active since 1994. The band comprises singer and guitarist Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson, bassist Georg Hólm, and keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson. Known for their ethereal sound, fr ...

and

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...

– began shooting on July 21, 2005, and first began playing in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, on January 20, 2006, (on

Scuzz Scuzz was a British 24-hour rock and metal music television channel owned and operated by Sony Pictures Television. It was launched on 17 April 2003 and went on to be the highest-rated rock TV station on the Sky satellite platform, available i ...

). It debuted in Canada on

MuchMusic Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31, ...

the following day. The video depicts a spontaneous revolution by youths, with the titular

red flag Red flag may refer to: * Red flag (idiom), a metaphor for something signalling a problem ** Red flag warning, a term used by meteorologists ** Red flag (battle ensign), maritime flag signaling an intention to give battle with no quarter (fight to ...

itself being a symbol of

socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

and revolt. It begins with a group of school children locked inside a school, screaming, "We want out!" Finally, they break through the

handcuff Handcuffs are restraint devices designed to secure an individual's wrists in proximity to each other. They comprise two parts, linked together by a chain, a hinge, or rigid bar. Each cuff has a rotating arm which engages with a ratchet th ...

ed doors and proceed to run around the school and surrounding area, covering various symbols of authority and luxury – including a

CCTV camera A closed-circuit television camera can produce images or recordings for surveillance or other private purposes. Cameras can be either video cameras, or digital stills cameras. Walter Bruch was the inventor of the CCTV camera. The main purpose o ...

, a

barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke ...

, a boat, a car,

gas pump A gasoline pump is a machine at a filling station that is used to pump gasoline (petrol), diesel, or other types of liquid fuel into vehicles. Gasoline pumps are also known as bowsers or petrol bowsers (in Australia), petrol pumps (in Comm ...

s and eventually the town hall – with red flags. As they run through the town, more people join in. Finally, they arrive at

city hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

where the members of Billy Talent are performing, and which has been covered with red flags. Most children begin to mosh to the song, while others continue to run around, covering things with red flags. One of the children throws history books into the crowd, destroying them. The video ends with the children standing under red smoke, with pages of the books falling behind them, all wearing

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

GP-5

gas masks A gas mask is a mask used to protect the wearer from inhaling airborne pollutants and toxic gases. The mask forms a sealed cover over the nose and mouth, but may also cover the eyes and other vulnerable soft tissues of the face. Most gas mask ...

. Voices chanting "We want out!" can also be heard at the end of the video.

Track listing

;UK 5" single #Red Flag (Album Version) #Red Flag (Live at MTV Campus Invasion Germany) ;UK 7" single #Red Flag (Album Version) #Where Is the Line? (Demo Version) ;US single #Red Flag (Album Version) #Red Flag (Live at MTV Campus Invasion Germany) #Red Flag (Live at The Horseshoe Tavern) #Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've?)

In popular culture

The demo version of the song originally appeared in 2005 as a part of the soundtracks of a number of

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted th ...

video games, including ''

NHL 06 ''NHL 06'' is an ice hockey video game that was released in 2005. The game includes the Sega Genesis version of ''NHL '94'' on the PlayStation 2 version. Reception The game received "generally favorable reviews" on all platforms according to the ...

'', ''

Burnout Revenge ''Burnout Revenge'' is a racing video game developed by Criterion Games and published by Electronic Arts for PlayStation 2, Xbox and Xbox 360. Similar to its predecessor '' Burnout 3: Takedown'', ''Revenge'' focuses on a mixture of racing in t ...

'', ''

Burnout Legends ''Burnout Legends'' is a racing video game developed by Criterion Games and published by Electronic Arts for PlayStation Portable. The game features many of the tracks and gameplay modes from the first three ''Burnout'' but repackaged for the ha ...

'' and ''

SSX On Tour ''SSX on Tour'' is a snowboarding and skiing game, the fourth title in the ''SSX'' series of video games for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox and PlayStation Portable. It was released in North America on October 11, 2005 and in the PAL region o ...

''. This demo was released by Atlantic Records on the ''Black Sampler II''. The album version is different from the earlier release, with the

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

and

refrain A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in poetry — the "chorus" of a song. Poetic fixed forms that feature refrains include the v ...

having been changed. It has also been used in the soundtrack for the 2007 movie ''

TMNT ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' is an American media franchise created by the comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael, four anthropomorphic turtle brothers (named after ...

''.

Chart performance

Certifications

References

External links

* Music Emissions (3.5/5
link
{{Authority control Billy Talent songs 2005 songs Protest songs Music videos directed by Floria Sigismondi Songs written by Ian D'Sa Songs written by Benjamin Kowalewicz Songs written by Jonathan Gallant Songs written by Aaron Solowoniuk Song recordings produced by Gavin Brown (musician) 2006 singles Atlantic Records singles Warner Music Group singles