American Idiot (stylized as american idiot), is the seventh studio and first rock opera album by the band Green Day, released on September 21, 2004 through Reprise Records and produced by longtime collaborator Rob Cavallo. The album originally began as another concept album, called Cigarettes and Valentines, but its master tracks were stolen, and eventually was scrapped to start American Idiot completely from scratch. It remains as one of Green Day's most successful albums most commercially and critically, and is single handedly responsible for reviving the band's career.
Background[]
After the release of Green Day's 2000 somewhat commercial disappointment album Warning, the band would take a tiny break from music by co-headlining with Blink-182 for the Pop Disaster Tour in 2002. During this time, the band would release Shenanigans and recorded new material for their anticipated 2003 album Cigarettes and Valentines. However near completion of the record, the master tapes were stolen from the studio. Despite backups of the tapes being made, and the stolen tapes would eventually be recovered, the band decided to completely start from scratch which would become American Idiot.
Recording[]
Production would began in April of 2003, after the band had agreed to spend the next couple months writing new material for the album. Inspired by the work of The Who and several musicals, the band decided to make their first rock opera, the concept album following the life of Billie Joe's creation Jesus of Suburbia, a character with a "anti-hero" image. Following early recording at Studio 880 in Oakland, California, the band migrated the album to Ocean Way Recording in Hollywood, before completing the record at Capitol Studios.
Concept[]
The album follows a Jesus of Suburbia, an anti-hero imagined character created by Billie Joe. He believes that everyone's an American Idiot and ends up leaving his town and his close ones for the city. Two characters, St. Jimmy and Whatsername are later introduced in the story. St. Jimmy serves as a raging alter ego to Jesus of Suburbia, while Whatsername serves the rebellious girl but also somewhat love interest to the protagonist. These two illustrate the concept of "rage vs. love" and trying your best to stick with what you believe in. The story would later fall apart though as Whatsername would later leave Jesus of Suburbia alone, while the alter-ego St. Jimmy commits suicide, making him become just another American Idiot. The story serves that Jesus of Suburbia in reality is St. Jimmy and he will not get a happy ending, with the ending of the album showing him lose connection with Whatsername.
Music[]
Mike Dirnt was in the recording studio one day recording a 30 second segment by himself, which escalated in the band writing short segments in an attempt to out-do each other. This would eventually result in the track "Homecoming," the longest song they've recorded to date. According to Billie Joe Armstrong, throughout recording "the band aimed to be ambitious, which he felt many contemporary rock bands were not." The band abandoned various song-making methods that were used to make Warning, instead opting for various song writing structures, louder acoustic guitars and various other guitars on top of existing drums and bass. Because of this, compared to the folk-punk sound of the previous album, American Idiot has been mainly described as punk rock, pop punk, and alternative rock.
Reception[]
The album was an instant hit worldwide, charting in 27 countries and peaking at number one in 19 of them, including the United States and the United Kingdom. It sold 267,000 copies in the U.S. in its first week while it nearly sold 90,000 copies in the U.K. around the same time. It would sell over 3 million units alone in 2005, becoming one of the best selling albums that year. Since its release, it's estimated to have sold over 16 million physical copies, totaling up to nearly 30 million including digital and streaming sales. It was well received by critics initially, and is currently adored for being one of the best rock opera albums among both fans and critics.
Track Listing[]
All lyrics written by Billie Joe Armstrong except where noted, all music composed by Green Day.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "American Idiot" | 2:54 |
| 2. | "Jesus of Suburbia"
|
9:08
|
| 3. | "Holiday" | 3:52 |
| 4. | "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" | 4:22 |
| 5. | "Are We the Waiting" | 2:42 |
| 6. | "St. Jimmy" | 2:56 |
| 7. | "Give Me Novacaine" | 3:25 |
| 8. | "She's a Rebel" | 2:00 |
| 9. | "Extraordinary Girl" | 3:33 |
| 10. | "Letterbomb" | 4:05 |
| 11. | "Wake Me Up When September Ends" | 4:45 |
| 12. | "Homecoming"
|
9:18
|
| 13. | "Whatsername" | 4:14 |
| Total Runtime: | 57:12 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 14. | "Favorite Son" | 2:06 |
| Total Runtime: | 59:18 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "American Idiot" | 2:54 |
| 2. | "Jesus of Suburbia"
|
9:08
|
| 3. | "Holiday" / "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" | 8:13 |
| 4. | "Are We the Waiting" / "St. Jimmy" | 5:38 |
| 5. | "Give Me Novacaine" / "She's a Rebel" | 5:26 |
| 6. | "Extraordinary Girl" / "Letterbomb" | 7:39 |
| 7. | "Wake Me Up When September Ends" | 4:45 |
| 8. | "Homecoming"
|
9:18
|
| 9. | "Whatsername" | 4:14 |
| 10. | "Too Much Too Soon" (deluxe bonus) | 3:30 |
| 11. | "Shoplifter" (deluxe bonus) | 1:50 |
| 12. | "Governator" (deluxe bonus) | 2:31 |
| 13. | "Jesus of Suburbia" (iTunes music video deluxe bonus) | 9:05 |
| Total Runtime: | 74:08 | |
Trivia[]
- This is the only studio album besides the Uno... Dos... Tré! trilogy to have a clean version. It is not available on digital anywhere and is only on a CD format.
- Oddly enough, the clean version does not censor out the words, "s**t," "f****t," "r****d," etc, and keeps any violent or drug references intact.