By: Matt Drufke |
Wednesday February 23, 2005 |
Genrerock PublisherReprise Records External Links |
In a shade under ten years, Green Day has done more than most bands could
dream. They've made a record which catapulted them to fame (Dookie),
followed that with a bad record (Insomniac), created a hit
single which would guarantee they'd never have to worry about money forever
("Time Of Your Life" off of Insomniac), and made their
"grown-up record" (Warning). They've also had time to release a greatest
hits album, as well as forming The Network, their snarky side project. Apart
from that, we have Green Day to thank for Blink-182, and we have them to
blame for Good Charlotte. So when we ask, "What's next for Green Day?" it
really is a surprise. Will they continue to age and mature, as they showed
on Warning, or will they go back to the commercial well, making more
catchy pop-punk songs about disenfranchised teens?
No one expected the answer to that question to be both. But American
Idiot is Green Day's balance of growing up while still staying the
irritating snot-nosed punks we've all come to know and love. Green Day makes a
bold move in telling an interesting story (read: concept album) over the course
of their latest album, and few albums have expressed so sincerely what it means
to be a teen growing up in a post-9/11 world.
The story of American Idiot follows figures Green Day have been singing
about their whole career; on the second track we meet "Jesus of Suburbia," the
depressed product of a broken home. We follow Jesus as he travels to the big
city, meets a nihilistic rebel named St. Jimmy, both of them meet a girl,
Whatshername, who inspire them and then leave. Jimmy dies, and Jesus falls
into the drug-induced life which numbs him from reality enough to only leave
him moderately depressed.
In just reading the last paragraph, I'm aware that this sounds like the
dumbest fucking idea for an album, let alone a Green Day album. And while
they may not be good at certain things (i.e. naming their characters), the
trio is great at writing songs which really make you smile and hop around,
even while lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong is telling tales mired deep in
drug-addled depression. Throughout it all, the same themes continue to ring
true: our parents fucked us up, women can use their love as weapons, and
eventually all of our friends leave us.
In a way, the album is a perfect combination of Green Day's two best
albums, Dookie and Warning, using the strengths of both to
eliminate the weaknesses of the others. Dookie is a catchy pop album
with disguised as punk songs, but doesn't have a real interesting story, while
Warning tells some interesting stories, but lacks the kick a punk band
should have; in fact, Warning's first curse word doesn't come until the
second-to-last track! Green Day plays this whole album with their middle
fingers raised proudly in the air, which has brought back the kids who felt
like the band may have gotten soft as well as new ones wanting to know what all
the fuss is about.
American Idiot contains the best songwriting that Green Day has ever
done. Most concept albums are cursed with a string of boring tracks which exist
simply to tie the plot together. Green Day avoids this by taking each of their
nine-minute opuses, each divided into five sections, and making them fun and
interesting rock numbers in which each section could've done well on it's
own. And the other songs all have really great moments. The title
track opener is a brilliant political statement without getting too preachy.
While many assume the "American Idiot" to be Bush, Armstrong tells us that
anyone who just blindly follows the media is the boob who deserves to come
under fire. "She's A Rebel" could be the best up-tempo love song written
this year, while "Whatshername" (which opens with the drum beat straight out
of "Billie Jean") closes the album with a great tale of lost love.
In making American Idiot, Green Day realized that they had to return to
the punk attitude they once embraced brazenly to make the boldest album of
their career. And in doing so, have produced their biggest success in a long
time.