American Idiot is the seventh album by legendary punk rock band, Green Day. It was released on September 21st, 2004, and was released to a post-9/11 America that was deeply divided over the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars of the Bush administration, the violations of Americans civil liberties with the Patriot Act, and the idea of gay marriage. I was born in 1999, and was a kid throughout the 2000s and early 2010s, so while I knew that there were wars going on, my parents wanted me to have a happy childhood so they kept a lot of this stuff secret from me. The 2000s were a rough decade though, because like I mentioned the United States was attacked on September 11th, 2001, and the government used it to justify the “War on Terror.” In addition, it added increased national security measures, that are still here to this day, which, in my opinion, are unconstitutional. In addition, 3-4 years after American Idiot was released, the United States experienced one of the worst economic crashes in history, the Great Recession, which deregulation of banks by the Bush administration contributed heavily to. So there was a lot going on at this time, people were divided over the Bush administration’s policies and wars and we were lied to about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction. Bands like Green Day and System of a Down were the voices of a generation disillusioned by the warmongers in power who didn’t represent all Americans. This album is a legendary record that tells the story of a teenage anti-hero, Jesus of Suburbia, and his experiences growing up in a time of division and war. I got kinda sidetracked, but given that this is a political album, it would be ignorant of me to not mention the context in which this album was released in. With that being said, how does it hold up today?
We begin the album with the title track, “American Idiot,” which is a pop-punk anthem that is highly political, it criticizes the “American idiots” who created a post-9/11 world of hysteria that manipulated Americans into giving up their freedoms in order to fight the “war on terror.” “The subliminal mindfuck America,” is what the Bush administration did to the American people with these draconian laws. The track directly criticized Bush and his supporters and was highly controversial when it first came out. It’s aged incredibly well, and it is sad that so many Americans were lied to and essentially told that if they didn’t give up freedoms, and unequivocally support meaningless, deadly wars, that they were un-American. Billie Joe Armstrong, the lead singer and guitarist of the band, is openly bisexual and says, “Well maybe I’m the faggot America, I’m not part of a redneck agenda,” the last part which references the Bush administration’s policies towards those in the LGBTQ community. This track is one of my favorites, for its political messages, angry tone, and pop-punk guitar riffs.
We follow that with a nine minute punk rock opera, “Jesus of Suburbia,” which is split into five parts. Part I: Jesus of Suburbia, tells the story of our main character, a teenager who is the “son of rage and love,” which could be referencing the parents or the division in the country at the time. I like the line, “No one ever died for my sins in hell as far as I can tell,” is a great line, because it directly references how Jesus of Nazareth’s story and how he’s a far cry from that, being the anti-hero. Part II: City of the Damned, talks about his disillusionment with his hometown, because while they say, “home is where the heart is,” he doesn’t feel the same way about his. It’s a desolate city with “signs misleading to nowhere.” I like how he pictures such a miserable place with the visual lyrics. Part III: I Don’t Care, talks about how everyone is full of shit and hypocritical and I especially like the lyric: “Hearts recycled, but never saved. From the cradle to the grave.” Armstrong is directly criticizing the war machine and how people are viewed as collateral damage in the process. In Part IV: Dearly Beloved, Jesus of Suburbia is questioning whether his thoughts and feelings are real or psychotic. “Oh therapy, can you please fill the void? Am I retarded or am I just overjoyed?” I like how our anti-hero is questioning his sense of self. Part V: Tales of Another Broken Home, concludes the song, where Jesus of Suburbia abandons his hell of a home and leaves behind, “this hurricane of fuckin’ lies.” He’s running away from the propaganda and misery of his home. I love the variety of guitar riffs on this track, the guitar solos, and Billie Joe Armstrong’s storytelling is engaging.
We continue the story of Jesus of Suburbia, with the next track, “Holiday,” another anti-war anthem. “Hear the sound of the fallin’ rain, coming down like an armageddon flame. The shame, the ones who died without a name,” is a direct indictment of the Bush wars, with the “rain,” being the bombs dropped on cities, that are “coming down like an armageddon flame.” I like how he uses a biblical reference of armageddon, to criticize the hypocrisy of extreme religious types who threw away their principles when it came to the Iraq War. I love the guitar solo and bridge with Jesus of Suburbia angrily speaking against the Bush administration. Another favorite of mine on the record.
We have a seamless transition into “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” where our protagonist, Jesus of Suburbia is roaming the streets of the city lost. “I walk a lonely road. The only one that I have ever known. Don’t know where it goes. But it’s home to me and I walk alone.” Like with the other tracks, I love the storytelling. Being so alone that his shadow is the only one with him, is another wonderful visual lyric. He also discusses his own sense of self and well-being, asking himself to “read between the lines” of “what’s fucked up and everything’s all right. The chorus on this track is memorable and will stay stuck in your head for days. The guitar riffs and solos are iconic and are some of the best on the album, with that fuzzy main riff. I love how sad this song is and you truly feel the pain of our protagonist.
Following that is, “Are We the Waiting,” which is a slower, and somber song. I love the guitar chord progressions on this track, I like that Jesus of Suburbia is questioning his dreams and his future in a world that he doesn’t recognize. I love the anthemic stadium chants in the chorus, this song, like many of the tracks on this record, shows that we ALL are Jesus of Suburbia, he’s one of us, sort of like how Jesus of Nazareth was one of us. He represents the poor and the sick, and Jesus of Suburbia represents the forgotten and disillusioned.
“St. Jimmy,” sort of emerges with a quick end of the previous track, and introduces the rebellious alter ego of Jesus of Suburbia, St. Jimmy. The track is a drastic sonical shift from the previous two tracks, which are sadder in tone. This one sounds like a classic punk track with a fast upbeat tempo. I like the abrupt change in tone, as well as the creative decision of introducing an alter ego for Jesus of Suburbia. I like the lyric, “Raised in the city in the halo of lights. Product of war and fear that we’ve been victimized.” St. Jimmy was created from Jesus of Suburbia’s darker traits and rebellious nature. According to a Genius annotation, “St. Jimmy was born out of dread and pure, unadulterated hate, who is quite literally the son of all bad things in life, with his purpose being nothing but causing havoc and destroying things.”
“Give Me Novacaine,” returns us to the story of Jesus of Suburbia, starting with a much more acoustic sound and bare bones drum beat. In it, our protagonist discusses how he wants to take drugs to ease the burdens of what gives him anxiety and unhappiness. I like how the chorus is more distorted instrumentally than the verses. The Hawaiian-like guitar riff in verse 2 is a nice touch as well. I like how Jesus of Suburbia uses the metaphor of “a kiss goodnight,” to giving him Novacaine. Because that comparison for him justifies the use of drugs to ease his pain.
“She’s a Rebel,” is a fun, upbeat punk anthem, in which Jesus of Suburbia falls in love with a rebellious girl named Whatsername. I like the paradoxical lyrics in the chorus that directly contradictory, “she’s a rebel, she’s a saint.” I also like the reference to the album cover, “And she’s holding on my heart like a hand grenade.” He clearly idolizes Whatsername, and she makes him feel less lost. Based on the story, when our anti-hero ran away from home in exchange for the city, he had sentiments of rebellion and freedom which departed from him. Now that he’s met this girl, he’s regained these emotions.
We continue with, “Extraordinary Girl,” which starts with what seems to be almost a tribal drum rhythm, before transitioning into a pop-punk sound. The track illustrates how much Jesus of Suburbia loves Whatsername. In his eyes, “She’s an extraordinary girl in an ordinary world,” meaning that Jesus of Suburbia is so into this girl that she makes an otherwise boring world better for him. However, their relationship is contentious at times, with them arguing often. I especially like the guitar power chords in the chorus, and the Middle Eastern sound incorporated into the song during the verses. He describes her as having a low self-esteem though, “She sees the mirror of herself. An image she wants to sell. To anyone willing to buy.”
“Letterbomb,” is another favorite of mine off the album, which is about the end of Jesus of Suburbia and Whatsername’s romantic relationship. I love the heavy guitar and drum rhythms on this track. A lyric that caught my attention, “What’s in love is now in debt. On your birth certificate,” comparing his emotions for Whatsername to a monetary investment.” And the chorus is meant to illustrate the emotions of a rebellious teen trapped in societal expectations and norms. I also like how we hear from Whatsername’s perspective, where she says in the pre-chorus. “You’re not the Jesus of Suburbia. The St. Jimmy is a figment of your father’s rage and your mother’s love.” It directly referenced the earlier themes of the track, “St Jimmy,” where Jesus of Suburbia’s alter ego is the direct product of his dad’s anger and his mom’s love.
“Wake Me Up When September Ends,” takes us away from the main story to tell a separate story, this one being personal to Billie Joe Armstrong. He wrote this song about his dad who died from cancer when Armstrong was ten years old. Having lost my own father from leukemia at a young age, this track actually makes me think of my dad every time I hear it. The title originates from what he told his mother after the funeral service. He locked himself in his room and told her to “Wake me up when September ends.” I like the alternating acoustic and heavy punk guitar riffs, and like on the rest of this album, Armstrong’s vocal melodies are phenomenal. I love the chorus with those visually descriptive lines of sadness, “Here comes the rain again. Falling from the stars. Drenched in my pain again. Becoming who we are.” It’s an absolutely heartbreaking song and you can feel the emotions poured into this track.
We return to the story of Jesus of Suburbia, with the five part pop-punk opera of a track, “Homecoming.” We begin with “Part I: The Death of St. Jimmy,” where Jesus of Suburbia feels the desire to return back to the home he originally escaped from. I like the double reference to “Holiday,” and “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” where he says, “In the streets of shame, where you’ve lost your dreams in the rain. There’s no signs of hope. The stems and seeds of the last of the dope. JOS lost his dreams in the big city amid the Armageddon flames of bombs in the wars, and the generation of Americans who join the military to drop said bombs. JOS mentions the death of St. Jimmy, who tells him, “We’re fucked up but we’re not the same. And Mom and Dad are the ones you could blame,” basically saying to JOS, that society and your parents are to blame for the shitty things in your life, which was his whole appeal to JOS to begin with. His dual persona is dead now. After that, is “Part II: East 12th St.” where JOS realizes that no matter what he does, whether it be running away or fitting into society, nobody will care. Following that, is “Part III: Nobody Likes You,” sung by bassist Mike Dirnt. Jesus of Suburbia thinks that he shouldn’t have left home to begin with. I also noticed how the chorus calls back to the intro that Whatsername sang in “Letterbomb.” “Part IV: Rock and Roll Girlfriend,” is sung by Tré Cool, the band’s drummer from the perspective of Jesus’ friend, Tunny. In the letter, he talks about his “rock and roll life,” and how happy he is. He tells JOS to stop bitching about his life and to get “off his case.” It reminds JOS of how he was a non-conforming rebel. Finally we have, “Part V: We’re Coming Home Again,” in which he has nothing but time and is finally back on the outskirts of Jingle Town, where he lives. Another Genius annotation that caught my attention, was the one on, “The world is spinnin’ ‘round and ‘round out of control again,” which means that JOS’ past is repeating itself because no matter how hard he tried to run away from home the town pulled him back.
We conclude the album with the final track, “Whatsername.” It illustrates that even after all these years, Jesus can’t get over the girl he loved, Whatsername. “I made a point to burn all of the photographs. She went away and then I took a different path. I remember the face, but I can’t recall the name. Now I wonder how Whatsername has been.” I like that this whole time, he called her Whatsername, because he possibly never knew her real name from the beginning. I love the chugging guitars and melancholy nature of the song. He also adds that, even in his darkest days, he’ll still remember the love he had for Whatsername. Concluding an amazing album on a strong note indeed.
Overall, American Idiot is one of those albums that gets better and better the more you listen to it, because there’s lyrics and lines that make this record so cohesive and engaging for the listener. It’s easily Green Day’s best album and one of the best albums of the 2000s. It’s 20 years old, but its themes of rebellion, heartbreak, love, and disillusionment spoke for an entire generation during a period of time, in which our country was in two bloody, purposeless wars. It spoke for the youth who lost their loved ones. This album spoke for those who opposed the wars and the policies of the Bush administration. American Idiot was a rebirth for Green Day, as it was a masterpiece that the country needed in a time of extreme divisiveness and strife. The record reminds me a lot of the J.D Salinger book, The Catcher in the Rye. Two rebellious youths who go on a journey of self-discovery, and experience a variety of relatable emotions and experiences. There’s no skippable tracks on this album, as the entire record is beautifully written and illustrated. The instrumentation and pop-punk sound has aged phenomenally, and the themes of this record still hold weight today. This record is a cohesive collage of sonical excellence and I recommend it to anyone who is a fan of political music, punk, or music in general.
Overall Score: 10/10
Favorite Tracks: “American Idiot,” “Jesus of Suburbia,” “Holiday,” “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” “Letterbomb,” “Wake Me Up When September Ends”
Least Favorite Tracks: None
Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYCTXzOTnXg
Genres: Pop Punk/Punk Rock/Alternative Rock