American Idiot

Look. I know the rating should be lower. But I fucking love this album. I love it. Its a no skip album for me. I remember loving it since I was four. So many great tunes. 9/10 F. T. : A tie between Holiday and Are we the Waiting. I can't choose among my children.

Expert witness account of this album incoming. It is easy to forget how big this album was, and Green Day were after this one hit. Going into it though in 2004, popular culture had passed them by. Dookie had hit 10 years earlier and while the following Green Day albums were hits, they were never going to reach the heights their breakthrough did. At the start of the 2000s, Blink 182, Good Charlotte, Sum 41 and Simple Plan had taken what Green Day were doing in the 90s and replicated it (to lesser artistic success) and dominated the charts, MuchMusic airtime (yes I’m Canadian) and magazine covers. At the same time, a narrative had been going on in music conversations that rock and roll was dying, the pendulum had swung to pop and hip hop (very short sited and mostly perpetuated by people who only get music through TV and top 40 radio, of which I was mostly too) which had contributed to the overall decline in relevancy of guitar-bass-drum acts. By time fall 2004 had come around there already were the next generation of popular rock acts coming up (The Killers and Frank Ferdinand had hit earlier in the summer, Arcade Fire would hit mainstream this fall). So here came Green Day with a new album, and it had been a few years since they had put out new music. I think there was some level of hype, and it was known this was going to be a concept album. People forget though, Green Day had changed their image in preparation of this album. For a band that had been at the height of their relevancy 10 years earlier, the refreshed look absolutely helped their appeal, as they somehow looked cooler and ahead of the curve than the other bands that had surpassed them. This was sort of a clean entry point for new fans too as they’re visually striking at this point, sound as good as they ever have and are riding this Anti-Bush wave that’s happening right before the 2014 US election. So when the American Idiot single came out, I remember the music video had gotten a lot more play than singles from previous Green Day had been. But this album just kept growing with each successive single. Holiday, Boulevard of Broken Dreams and Wake Me Up When September Ends we’re all massive hits and had endless radio play. This album landed like nothing else in rock had. They stayed in the public spotlight for at least 2 years off the strength of this record. I remember seeing them on the cover of Entertainment Weekly in 2016 still promoting American Idiot, and the band won the Grammy a few weeks later which kept them going. Now this album has been adapted into a Broadway show and Green Day is the only other band that got a Rock Band game besides the Beatles (AC/DC had a disc, but that was just songs, no band representation) So I say all of this because looking back at the 2000s decade because of when American Idiot hit, the case could be made Green Day was at the top of the rock pile, along with U2, RHCP, Coldplay and I suppose the Killers. So while people had this conversation that rock was dying in the 2000s we have to count ourselves pretty fucking lucky we had Green Day that rode the mainstream. You may hate this album but it’s better than most of the other slush pile the 2000s had to offer. The album itself though; it is still absolutely killer and it’s obvious why they became the biggest band in the world again because of this. There’s nothing challenging here about the music; it’s immediate, every song is catchy, lyrics are great (if dated criticism of America in the 2000s). So many of the songs have been ridden into the ground (anything released as a single) so the real winners here are the longer concept album saga songs (Jesus of Suburbia, Homecoming). What I have had to contend with doing this 1001 album project is putting into perspective when I would have been listening to this album before. American Idiot doesn’t seem like it’s that old. Im assuming this is because the songs in this have been played to death on the radio as well as movies and video games. I’ve also been thinking about Green Day lately as I listened to the excellent episode of the podcast Bandsplain did on Green Day a few months ago. But to place it, I would have been listening to this one when I started university. I would have listened to it on my 3rd Gen iPod (the one with the four red action buttons across the top and the first touch click wheel). I wouldn’t have even had a laptop yet, I would have still had my Compaq desktop PC. In terms of where this lands in Green Days legacy I have the unpopular opinion that this is their best album. Still incredible that this is a comeback on the level it was considering how they had fallen out of fashion, but listening to the album, it seems obvious. Could Green Day make another comeback? Sure. Apparently Green Day is hot with teenagers. They make music that sounds like what it’s like to be a teen. Among the best albums of this decade, deserved all of its sales and the success the band had from it.

“American Idiot” by Green Day (2004) Not familiar with this album or this group. Punk political opera - intriguing. Good music, shallow politics. But the music is good enough to persuade the listener to overlook the political naivety. These gentlemen would have been well advised to read a few lines of Zbigniew Brzezinski on the Iraq War before writing this opera. They still would have been wrong, but at least they would have sounded intelligent. Or are they affecting intentional unintelligence? Are they just joshing? Anyway the music is very entertaining. Head banging punk rage, with a unifying operatic theme. Plenty of creative innovations. Some real gems here. “A steady diet of soda pop and Ritalin” is a great line. Conceptually this album follows the line of “Tommy” by The Who, without being overly derivative. “Dearly Beloved” is truly good music. Integrating acoustic guitar in this genre is a stroke of genius. And the glockenspiel! Ya-ya. But check out this quatrain: Oh, therapy, can you please fill the void? Am I retarded or am I just overjoyed? Nobody's perfect and I stand accused For lack of a better word, and that's my best excuse One could step back and reflect on that for awhile. Very good drum work. Bass contributes much counterpoint. Vocals appropriate for the genre. Billie Joe Armstrong can really sing. Extraordinary musical range for punk (admittedly, my experience with punk is limited), reminiscent of what The Beatles did for rock ‘n roll on “Sgt. Pepper” and “Abbey Road”. I enjoyed this one. 4/5

Parts of this are dated, and I don’t like this album as much as Dookie, but I’ll be damned if Boulevard of Broken Dreams and Holiday aren’t just as great as they’ve always been. I will say that the second half feels like a bit of a letdown, at least musically.

Of all the pop punk bands, I think Green Day is the only one I actually enjoy on some level. I've only heard Dookie through Nimrod before though. I've seen this album get alot of praise and I wanted to give it a 3 when I first started listening but as the album goes on I feel like it collapses under its own weight. I respect the ambition but it was a bit of a chore to get through.

A protest rock opera that protests... something? I understand the thrust of songs like "American Idiot" and "Holiday", but "Jesus of Suburbia" seems like a protest song without a cause and more of the album resembles the latter than the former. An album that claims to protest the state of America, but magically omits any mention of race or gender or class is probably not a very effective protest album. The protagonist (the aforementioned Jesus of Suburbia) just comes off as an edgy kid with no political consciousness. At the very least, it sounds a lot better than The Offspring.

A punk rock opera concept album? Johnny Rotten would be rolling in his grave, if he were dead. Shame he's not dead really, rather than selling his soul on I'm A Celebrity and butter adverts.

Billie Jo doesn’t care if I don’t care. Well that’s lucky... Anodyne, over polished, facile, faux outrage, mock punk, unit shifting, safe rebellion, fake, fake, fake.

poggers

I might be biased, but this album marked a generation. I've always enjoyed it as a decent rock/punk album. It's fun and full of energy, but manages to express quite well the frustration and disillusionment felt at that time.

This is how a band does a sound change and comes out on top for it. Excellent pop rock fun.

When this album came out, I was listening to "real" punk, metal, and hardcore and couldn't be bothered with Billie Joe's pop nonsense. I like to think I've mellowed a bit since then. And I must have because I enjoyed this WAY more than I expected to. It's fun. "American Idiot," "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," and "Wake Me Up When September Ends" are great but none of the tracks are snoozers. Every song seems to have a thesis and each track makes its point well. That said, I am not here for 9-minute punk songs. And I'm not talking about the four tracks that are two songs mashed. Those get a pass because of the format. None of them break 9 minutes anyway. No, I'm talking about "Jesus of Suburbia" and "Homecoming" here. There's no excuse for that. You're padding your term papers, fellas. Just make the point and move on.

Used to listen to this all the time back in the emo kid days. I still know every single word.

A rock opera in everything but intention, this segued album is easily one of the best of the punk-pop-idiot rock that came about in the era of the Iraq war. Easily one of the best albums of the 2000's

I'm dating myself here, but American Idiot is the first album I ever owned. There are legitimate criticisms that can be made about it - it's firmly rooted in the Bush era and hasn't aged particularly well; it's a whiny sort of pop-punk for white kids in the 'burbs - but none of that is enough to detract from my rose-tinted nostalgia. Even today, I find the album's pure sincerity a very charming break from the 2010s ever-present air of irony.

The first album we have gotten that I have listened to all the way through before this project. The way they pair two songs for the middle four tracks(plus Jesus and Homecoming both have 5 subtracks in them) is a cool concept and helps underline the bands desire to put out something they enjoyed creatively rather than something that would necessarily do well commercially - luckily this did both. I mean Punk Rock Opera? Nostalgia+Strong Songs+Creativity= 5 stars

Classic!

I went into this fully expecting for it to not have aged well. I was wrong. This album still bangs.

Look, we all loved some "Dookie." It was dumb punk fun. But we're not gonna pretend that Green Day didn't go gradually downhill from there in their next several albums. There were some hits in there, but nothing that hinted that they had "American Idiot" in them. I don't think Green Day was taken very seriously before "American Idiot." They were a raucous punk band, but mainstream enough to be MTV darlings and probably the band most responsible for the unfortunate wave of pop-punk of the late 90s and early 00s. (Take a star off for that if you want.) But holy crap was "American Idiot" ambitious. And I think it's the best they've ever sounded. (Who knows, maybe I would eat my words if I went back and listened to all of "Insomniac" or "Nimrod.") They cleaned up and polished their sound, and while that may sound bad for a punk band, they pulled it off so well. Regardless of any concept in the story or lyrics, Green Day really matured sonically. The punk is still there, but the songs are varied, well-structured, with great build and rise-and-fall throughout. You may not love Billy Joe's voice - it's nasally and a bit whiny - but I think you can tell here that he is becoming a better singer. It's really a great album, start to finish. It may not be the Great American Novel of the 21st century, but it's a solid concept with good lyrics for a vaguely political punk album. And it became a musical! Are Green Day sell-outs? Or did they just perfect what they do and be accepted for it?

This album already has three hits that absolutely blew up. Then I listened to the rest of the album. It didn't disappoint. I learned that this album "expresses the disillusionment and dissent of a generation that came of age in a period shaped by the tumultuous evens such as 9/11 and the Iraq War." And i'm a sucker for a politically charged album. This one hits just right.

Proof that the the old axiom, “no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people” is not only true, but that you can turn a buck (quite a few, as it turns out) calling them idiots to their face.

I like their other records more. I know this was caught up in the hysteria of a rock opera but for the NEW MILLENNIUM, but I don't think it was quite as amazing as it was made out to be.

Very clean album. A bit too clean and predictable, I like a bit of fuzz. Some good songs to listen to on their own, but BJ’s voice and guitar gets a bit grinding listening to a whole album.

While their earlier work is a lot more poignant and relatable, the first few tracks of American Idiot are pretty good. The thing about this point on in Green Day's discography is that they will write maybe 1-2 good songs and then phone it in for the rest of the album. That's pretty much what happens here. Most of the tracks are very vague about antiestablishment/anarchist views, but American Idiot, Jesus of Suburbia, and Holiday/Boulevard are some great doomer-minded anarchist songs. The rest of the album can really just be thrown directly in the trash. Wake Me Up When September Ends doesn't really feel like it belongs on this album, and I honestly thought it was on Twenty One Guns or Nimrod, but it definitely solidified that Green Day could phone in their earlier punk talents for radio bullshit. Oh my god... there's even fake clapping added to track 6. This band fell so hard. It's like Weezer, but at least Weezer has had redeemable moments in the last decade. Highlights: 1, 2, and 3.

Pretty formulaic stuff here. Well produced vanilla indie schmindy punky rocky stuff.

Green Day were my first favorite band, and this was my first favorite album. I don’t love this album quite as much as I did when I was 8 or 9 but it still has its moments. Jesus of Suburbia is still just as amazing as it was the first time I heard it.

Longstanding fan of everything up to and including Dookie. But nah, there's easily 2002 better albums to listen to this. Never listened before because I was fully done with them by this point. Heard the singles and thought nah. Maybe It's ok. Maybe I just stopped liking new Green Day stuff when I stopped being a teenager when they came out. It's a theory. Wait, what? The second track is 9 minutes long. Who are this band? Starts off aping the Beach Boys and then segues into All the Young Dudes. Actually quite funny how all over the place it is. What the hell, the next track is 8 minutes. Ha, Bush sent them mad. Ok I'm on board now. Might get 3 stars just because of how ridiculous it is. Yeah boulevard is still as dull as it always was. I see what's happening here, they've just removed the space between separate songs. Nah, too long and too many mediocre songs. 2 stars it is.

Dookie is still the best Green Day album, but some classics on here

Thought it was purile and shite when it came out and was “pleased” to be proved right. Horrendous listening experience and I curse myself for not having enough self respect to have turned it off.

I'm too old for this, and so are they. Singles are fine, but the rest is filler. Teen punk rock for people who think the Matrix is 'deep'.

We already had a Green Day album. What do I get for being polite the first time? A concept album. If that's not bad enough, they have a character named St. Jimmy? Doesn't at all sound like Dr. Jimmy. Pete Townshend at 80 y.o. is still infinitely cooler than these nerds with tats.

Nostalgia bomb. Awesome album, and the slow/fast song double features are pretty fun, I kind of forgot about that format

Already heard this one, very many times - great project; one of the best pop punk works of art there is. Relevant even today.

Still great and fun to listen all the way through. S/o to my cousins and their Limewire plug

Hands down the best Green Day album of all time, one of the best concept albums of all time, and one of the best albums in general. 5 stars, all killer-no filler.

One of my favorites, a great commentary and timeless rock sounds to bang your head along with.

Was very excited to see this bad boy pop up. This was the album that introduced me to Green Day but I haven’t listened in forever. Very rewarding for us lyrics listeners ;) Kathleen Hanna should’ve sang Letterbomb though.

One of the albums I listen to often, very good.

Probably my best Green Day album as well. Loved the first one but this one is just really good.

Absolute classic.

idiota americando da minha juventude idiota

Epic!

I definitely bought this album on the day it came out - I was 16. I was riding in the back seat of my friend's car listening to "Holiday" - we had it cranked and he was driving too fast trying to take a turn off 18th Ave - into the ditch we went! A fond memory. I get why some people don't like Green Day but they were such a big part of my formative years and I come back to their music often enough. I think this is their best album. "Jesus of Suburbia" is epic, I love that song. Rounding up to a 5.

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Great. Recognize lots of songs.

Can't not give it a 5

Energetic, one of my favourite albums then I was a teenager.

stone cold classic.

Punk Opera about the disillusionment of growing up in suburbia? Easy 5 stars. I listened to this album so hard the summer it came out that I spent the next 3 years hating on it. Once I went back and realized I had just overplayed it for myself, it went back into a moderated heavy rotation.

Solid album that represents Green day maturity. I just don't get the double songs per album track.

Superb.

more timely than ever!

YEESSSSSSSSS

Américan idio, Jesús suburbio y boulevard broken dreamS

Not surprised that this ended up on the list. Jam-packed with hits, somehow polished and pop while maintaining the raw edge.

Wow this album unlocked childhood memories I forgot existed. Was a little nervous that it wouldn't be as good as I remembered, but oh my god am I so glad I was wrong. That rocked hard as hell, its got a political message that still rings true today, was a total risk by a band way outside of their comfort zone thematically, and still was an incredible success. We've had a lot of concept albums lately and I haven't been the biggest fan, but yo this is how its done right. Also, who else was a 5th grader who didn't really know anything about politics but didn't like George Bush just because of Green Day? Any ways, this group just earned its pop-punk merit badge because its 5s across the board for Green Day!

"No one ever died for my Sins in hell As far as I can tell At least the ones that I got away with" (Jesus of Suburbia) "Cigarettes and ramen and a little bag of dope I am the son of a bitch and Edgar Allan Poe Raised in the city under a halo of lights The product of war and fear that we've been victimized I'm the patron saint of the denial With an angel face and a taste for suicidal" (St. Jimmy) A Green Day sí le permito hacer canciones de más de cinco minutos.

This hasn't aged well but it still takes me back to chugging too many drinks at house parties and jumping off of the roofs of various neighbours

Great album. Career defining. Good guitars, beats, melodies!, sensicle lyrics.

One of the legendary Rock Opera's of our time. Right up there with Pink Floyd's The Wall.

Un álbum prácticamente perfecto. No lo escuchaba desde hace más de 10 años y lo he disfrutado más de lo que creía. Las melodías vocales son perfectas, el ritmo prácticamente no decae, es una historia desesperada; no hay héroes, no hay cambio. El cambio es la quimera. "Letterbomb", el punto álgido.

Да это же лучший жанр, поп-панк! Стоит, вероятно, немного пояснить за отношение к коллективу. Узнал где-то в период своего роцкерского становления на A-One. Вероятно, сразу после клипа на Бульвар поставил ярлык недорока для школьниц и боле шанса даже не давал. Ещё негатив подкрепился тем, что именно Green Day стали единственной "современной" (на тот момент) группой, удостоившейся собственной игры с пластиковыми гитарами. То есть встали рядом с Metallica, The Beatles, AC/DC, Aerosmith и Van Halen, отчего я немного негодовал. Посему в ближайшем окружении хейтил. Спустя годы выкупил прикол панка так какового, да и поп-панка в частности. Енто позволяэ как-то иначе взглянуть на творчество коллектива. На самом деле альбом сделал мои выходные, грубо говоря. Возможно, тут можно говорить о явлении, когда кто-то испытывает ностальгию по тому, чего в жизни и не было. Тупа веет яркой молодостью. Издали думал, что альбом является где-то первым-третьим с основания группы, мол в начале запилили, хайпанули, а потом паразитируют на начальных успехах. Но, сука, альбом то седьмой и запилен через 18 лет после основания! Уже подобное вызываэ увожение. Аналогия навскидку проводится разве что с пристовским Паникулёром. Чё там по трекам... На самом деле, прослушивание на 4-5-е выкупаешь, что все хорошие. Хотел сказать, что к концу явно просаживается, но то, что опосля Whatsername - цэ, оказывается, бонус-треки. Не, реально, как-то всё в единое концептуальное полотно выстраивается с сопоставимой степенью качёвости, из которого вырывать что-то отдельное и не хочется особо. Разве что 3 "главных" трека: есессна, заглавный, Бульвар и Сентябрь. Заглавный ранее казался недостаточно цепляющим, чтобы быть цепляющим при своей лаконичности. Но ныне, особенно в рамках альбома, звучит вполне достойно. К Бульвару сохранился немного школьный негатив, наименее живой трек на альбоме. Звучание веет словом "коммерческий". Ну типа а вдруг так вышло просто? Написался трек, как и остальные, но там продюссеры подсуетились, давайте ща стерильности наведём, сотни нефти подымем. Ну типа а чё бы и нет. Возможно, один из тех треков, по котором публика знакомится с исполнителем, а, прошарившись, не особо и ценит. Но трек в целом всё же хороший. Сентябрь, возможно, даже и не слышал ранее. Разве что фрагменты где-нить, да и то не точно. И прям чёт сразу пропёрся. Этот рек всё же достаточно цепляющий, чтобы быть интересным при лаконичности. При этом он не такой уж и лаконичный, там вон инструменты разные всякие, переходы. Ну типа попс, да. Но попс то мы тут не хейтим сам по себе. В целом, возможно, лучший новый для себя альбом в рамках 1001. Синтез идей прошлых декад, причём тех, что мне самому заходят. Тут слышу Битлов, там - Квинов немного, тут - Дэвид Боуи, там - глэм-митол 80-ых. И при этом как бы не завершает ход эволюции, а служит её звеном. Так, хук из Letterbomb я будто слышу в angelic milk - Rebel Black. Короче, отличный альбом. Отличный альбом, оставлю на плеере.

Very very awesome Album!!!

Great piece of American music.

Absolutely fantastic album that is a highlight of Green Day’s career. I love so much of this album and have for as long as I can remember.

Still awesome!

The high water mark for Green Day and possibly all pop-punk.

Still one of the best concerts I ever saw was their American Idiot tour. I also still know most of the lyrics as I listened along. Jesus of Suburbia is still a classic and forever will be.

Rating: 10/10 Best songs: all

I've had heard the hits, but never the full album. Every song is good or a masterpiece, it's a very solid album.

Nostalgic bliss

Been touring this album for 15+ years and that's alright. Good stuff.

Perhaps I’m just rating it highly because I lived in the East Bay for so long, but this album seriously holds up after 17 years. A punk rock opera was genius then and is genius now

Riley says 5 stars and I agree. I have a soft spot in my heart for pop punk and Green Day does it better than anyone. Jesus of Suburbia is like a microcosm of the whole album, a tiny pop punk rock opera all on its own. Even if you don’t love them, you have to appreciate the ambition here.

Grew up listening to Green Day, needed to be a 5

perfeito clássico!

Nostalgia. Letterbomb and Homecoming don't really stand out but the rest are really great. A must.

I don't want to be an American idiot.

I know all the songs in this album by heart! I used to listen to it when I was an awkward teenager, so it will always be special to me. Favourite track: Jesus of Suburbia but honestly I like them all

banger

That's my childhood, no way I could not love it

Whew, American Idiot is an absolute classic in my eyes. The entire album is filled with commentary on the political and disenfranchised state of the USA in the early/mid 00s, and although the album is almost 20 years old, sadly it still speaks to the state of USA. This conceptual album is multi Grammy award winning, has been adapted for Broadway and has a documentary that was filmed about the process of making the album. This takes me back to early high school blasting this in my headphones on my discman, and to what we now know as a much simpler time considering what the Trump Administration has brought to the world. Best: American Idiot; Boulevard of Broken Dreams; Wake Me Up When September Ends Worst: Are We the Waiting Note: Spotify has joined some songs as one, which I can see why they've done it for the flow, but I have always listened to them as separate songs. (Holiday/Boulevard of Broken Dreams; Are we The Waiting/St. Jimmy, and a couple of others)

Know this one great. Good one.

This album has been in regular rotation for me since it was released. As much as Dookie was incredibly influential for the pop-punk scene and the band continued to evolve their sound on Insomniac and Nimrod - it wasn’t until American Idiot that they really cemented their legacy as a Hall of Fame band. Haven’t been as big of a fan of anything since but still love the classics. This album tells a story and does so in a way that’s never boring. Would love to see the musical (or a film adaptation) some day. Fav Tracks: “Jesus of Suburbia” “Letterbomb” “Homecoming”

Green Day's masterpiece. What a perfect pop-punk album. Every song flows together nice and moves into the next one. It's one of the few 21st century albums that really engages you from song to song and is best listened to in its entirety. What a fantastic album from one of my all-time favorite bands. Listening to this when I was in my youth during the Kerplunk! days would have been slightly disappointing, but now that I've grown up, I can really appreciate American Idiot for what it is: perfect for its time and genre. Nice work, Green Day!

Awesome classic

Very nostalgic. Loved this album growing up

I can't even begin to quantify how much of a soft spot I have for this album. It came out when I was a kid, and was the first rock music I got REALLY into at the time, having listened to contemporary country up until then. Easy 5/5, but I'm biased as hell to the point where I'm not gonna bother trying to explain why I feel that way. I did actively relisten to the album for this, but I seriously considered just skipping it because I have literally every song on it already in my usual playlist. If you want a nuanced opinion ask literally anyone else.

Good music, good lyrics, brought me back to my high school years

❤️❤️ Jedan od najbitnijih albuma u mom životu, dan danas znam svaki takt jer je jebeno savršenstvo. Jebiga to je komedija i tragedija, to je Sv. Ivica i to je moje ime... AND DON'T YOU FUCKING WEAR IT OUT.

Great album, worth it's accolades.

Obwohl teilweise gestückelt passt alles wunderbar zusammen. Man merkt ein klares Konzept. Fett Fett fett. In jeder Nummer gibt's an geilen Höhepunkt.

Def some nostalgia here

Absolutely fantastic shit that I ignored for so long just because I hated how beloved it was in middle school or whatever

Going into this, I thought there was no way American Idiot could rate as high as Dookie. I was wrong. This was the annoyingly catchy popular sellout album for a reason: The music was annoyingly great, and everybody knew it.

I'd written Green Day off as a one album wonder before this came out...... but this was a ferocious return to form

Fantastic. One of the first CDs I ever bought, and it still holds up.

A pretty perfect rock album, not a bad song on there. Verges on operatic in composition. St Jimmy, Give Me Novocaine, Homecoming, Whatsername all great but Jesus of Suburbia is the obvious classic - punk Bohemian Rhapsody

Where to start? I got into Green Day back in '02, when I was 19. I played the shit out of International Superhits! When American Idiot dropped I had just seen Green Day headline Leeds festival (my first festival and Green experience) so to say I was in the height of my fanboy phase is an understatement. I remember watching the American Idiot music video weeks before and no joke, every single damn one of my friends owned this album. The end of 2004 and going into 2005 was a great time in my life and this album was the soundtrack. It was everywhere I went. House parties? Gaming with friends? While I was at work? This album was on constant rotation by me and everyone I hung out with. It was huge. It was my favourite Green Day album for the longest time but I rarely listen to it now. I have listened to it so many times that I kinda ruined it for myself. It will always be a 5* album for me though. The one song I can still happily revisit is Jesus of Suburbia. That song has everything. The other highlights for me are American Idiot, Holiday, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, St. Jimmy, Give Me Novacaine, Wake Me Up When September Ends and Homecoming. Pretty much the whole album.

Absolute CLASSIC. Like, wow. A lot of these songs hold up so well, they capture the epic emotions and paradoxically small scale of the suburbs. Beautiful!