Then, tragedy struck. In a grave misfortune Bono has come to know all too well, the master tapes of Green Day's new record simply disappeared, stolen from the studio right under the band's noses. It was back to square one. During a particularly lax day in the studio, Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt decided to write a 30-second song. Intrigued, Billie Joe asked drummer Tre Cool to add another 30-second segment to it. As the musicians took turns adding chunks of song to what had already been created, they realized that something interesting was going on -- a sort of "plot" was beginning to develop. The punk-rock opera was born... and the rest, as they say, is history.
There's a point to this story above and beyond the creation of a brilliant new art form. Though it may not have seemed so initially, the theft of Green Day's "lost album" could very well be the best thing that has ever happened to the band. You see, American Idiot is not a good album. It's not even a great album. No, American Idiot is Green Day's masterpiece, their magnum opus, the indelible mark they have left on the music world forever. It is not only the best record of Green Day's career, but I can say with the utmost certainty that American Idiot is the single greatest album I have heard in my entire life. Your mileage may vary. I, for one, am in awe.
- "Welcome to a new kind of tension / All across the alienation / Where everything isn't meant to be okay..." -- "American Idiot"
Yes, these are the guys who recorded an album named after bodily waste. The same three lads who sang songs about methamphetamine and sexual self-gratification. If you grew up with Green Day, you're in luck... Green Day has grown up with you. They've never been this angry, either. No one is safe from Green Day's 20/20 vision of society. The American domestic media is given just as much ill will as the nation's foreign policy. The leaders of our country are no more at fault for our current state of affairs than the apathetic suburbanite who allows it to go on. There is no one enemy, no one ally. It's never that simple.
- "To live and not to breathe / Is to die in tragedy..." -- "Tales of
Another Broken Home"
"Jesus of Suburbia" is a nine-minute epic suite composed of five separate and unique pieces -- "Jesus of Suburbia," "City of the Damned," "I Don't Care," "Dearly Beloved," and "Tales of Another Broken Home" -- which are expertly blended together with some exquisite guitar work. It is here that we are first introduced to our protagonist, Jesus of Suburbia, the disillusioned teenage "son of rage and love." Lost in a world of confusion, apathy, rage, loneliness, and drugs, Jesus doesn't come off as the kind of fellow who's going to take our story home into a warm and rising sun. And yet, for better or for worse, he's completely relatable, these nine minutes locking you into an empathetic mindset that persists throughout the length of this man's odyssey.
- "Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me / 'Til then I walk alone..." -- "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"
The aforementioned image is further reinforced by "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" and "Are We the Waiting," songs which come across as the anguished screams of a destitute soul. Not content to relegate their instrumental oeuvre to the standard guitar/bass/drums that characterize much of their back catalogue, Green Day brings in a series of new ingredients to these and the other tracks on the album, actualizing the pianos, bells, and orchestral inflections they experimented with on Warning:. These unorthodox expansions serve the music far better this time around as they have a greater context with which to justify them. It all feels eerily and brilliantly natural.
- "King of the 40 thieves and / I'm here to represent / The needle in the vein of the establishment..." -- "St. Jimmy"
Our third and final character, Whatsername, is introduced in the duality of "She's a Rebel" and "Extraordinary Girl." The transition from the lamentable chords of "Novocaine" to the uplifting riffs of "Rebel" illustrates that things may be looking up for Jesus after all, as he finds himself quite taken with Whatsername -- "She's holding on my heart / Like a hand grenade." The conflict outlined in "Extraordinary Girl," however, is our first clue that even this particular brand of salvation is too much to ask for.
- "You're not the Jesus of Suburbia / The St. Jimmy is a figment of / Your father's rage and your mother's love..." -- "Letterbomb"
"Wake Me Up When September Ends" is our protagonist's requisite dirge for what could have been. Soaked in acoustic guitars and bells, "September" is easy to regard as the spiritual successor to Green Day's venerable ballad "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)." The band wisely omitted the names of their characters from this powerful song, choosing instead to serve us equal doses of American Idiot storyline and universal emotion without having to break down the fourth wall.
- "Jimmy died today / He blew his brains out into the bay..." -- "The Death of St. Jimmy
- "I'll never turn back time / Forgetting you / But not the time..." -- "Whatsername"
As you can see, I am passionate about this record's brilliance and I am honored to give it my highest possible recommendation. So don't just stand by and watch as this album sets the world on fire. Buy it immediately and see how great music can be.