So why is Green Day’s American Idiot on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
If there’s one word to describe American Idiot, it’s ambitious.
Expanding on that, it’s a rock opera that runs nearly an hour in length that includes just nine songs, though many are quite lengthy and include multiple sections, a la “Give Me Novacaine / She’s A Rebel.”
Pulling from Wikipedia, Billie Joe Armstrong succinctly puts it like this: “For us, American Idiot is about taking those classic rock and roll elements, kicking out the rules, putting more ambition in, and making it current.”
For the story that American Idiot tells, I’ll also lean on Wikipedia:
It is written from the perspective of a lower-middle-class suburban American teen, raised on a diet of “soda pop and Ritalin.” Jesus of Suburbia hates his hometown and those close to him, so he leaves for the city. The second character introduced in the story is St. Jimmy, a “swaggering punk rock freedom fighter par excellence.” Whatsername, “a ‘Mother Revolution’ figure,” is introduced as a nemesis of St. Jimmy in the song “She’s a Rebel”. The album’s story is largely indeterminate, because the group was unsure of where to lead the plot’s third quarter. In this sense, Armstrong decided to leave the ending up to the listeners’ imagination.
While that’s all good and interesting, for me the ambition shines through most in the music itself, allowing me to ponder the meaning of each section’s powerful sound and lyrical imagery. But importantly, you can also just rock out with it if you’re of a mood.
The title track, “American Idiot,” is the closest thing to a standalone pop punk cut that Green Day is “traditionally” known for, and it happens to be an absolute smasher.
And there’s something about the song title and general vibe of the lyrics that plays into strong feelings that I have – as do many others, of course – about what’s happening in our country, the good old U.S. of A., and to our society at large.
Donald Trump got elected to a new four-year term two weeks ago as I write these words, and I’ve been thinking about the role of the conservative media ecosystem and the general role of misinformation/disinformation and high degrees of media illiteracy that are pervasive these days.
Don’t wanna be an American idiot
One nation controlled by the media
Information age of hysteria
It’s calling out to idiot America
I’d say that Green Day is onto something here. Something quite serious and important.
And thankfully, it also rocks hard. We need that too.
Always did, always will.
From there, American Idiot gets more complex and varied, with each step along the way a fascinating and wildly entertaining turn.
“Jesus of Suburbia” is more than nine minutes long, but never gets boring for a second. It’s a mini-rock opera unto itself, with a glorious and soaring opening section, backed by a jangling piano and arena rock-ready power chords. Around the halfway mark, it takes an insanely great turn, with Billie Joe and the boys harmonizing wonderfully, followed by a thrashy hard rock section that’s simply dazzling.
And yet the combined eight minutes and change of “Holiday / Boulevard of Broken Dreams” might be the best pure songwriting and musical craftsmanship that Green Day has ever produced (with huge bonus that it’s really two songs that you get here, different from each other but equally good).
“Wake Me Up When September Ends” is Green Day and Armstrong at their quietest and most delicate, to fantastic effect. I’ll caveat “quietest” here as the song does build into a really effective power ballad from its soft, acoustic opening section.
Some stats & info about Green Day – American Idiot
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Alternative Rock, Pop Punk, Punk Rock, Rock Music, SF Bay Area Bands
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – #248
- All Music’s rating – 5 out 5 stars
- When was American Idiot released? 2004
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #130 out of 1,000
Green Day’s American Idiot on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Green Day’s American Idiot that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
Now everybody, do the propaganda, and sing along to the age of paranoia.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.