Green Day and U2: The Saints Are Coming

Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong has revealed the inspiration behind their Skids collaboration with U2 came from the New Orleans American football team.

'The Saints Are Coming' was originally recorded to raise funds for Music Rising, an organisation which replaces instruments musicians lost in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

But Billie Joe said that both bands picked that particular track because it is the name of New Orleans' football team. They recently debuted the song live before the Saints' first game of the season at the re-built Louisana Superdome, which housed many of those made homeless in the wake of Katrina.

Speaking in this week's NME Armstrong said: "It's a huge event for New Orleans to get their team back after losing everything. The fact that the team was coming back was a major thing for them. It just became a monumental event, a little something to celebrate."

The singer also condemned George W Bush's administration over the handling of the crisis.

"So many politicians, they don't have a clue what's its like to be working class or lower class or live in any sort of poverty stricken area, they are completely disconnected with that sort of lifestyle," he said. "And their reaction to it all made that clear just how disconnected."

U2 guitarist The Edge went on: "It was a big watershed moment because it exposed how vulnerable America was ultimately. This was the world superpower, and it couldn't deal with something that happened in its own backyard."