American Idiot

Not quite as bad as I feared, and while I do like pop-punk this isn't for me

I never liked Green Day. Even when it would have been cool to like them as a teenager, still couldn't fake it. I listened to this whole album and it's the same all the way through? I appreciate the sentiment of it but I just really don't like them.

talvez se eu tivesse menos de 14 anos

The once loved and jubilant band is desperately grasping for the dookie days with this stagnant album.

Green Day is the U2 of punk rock.

Every song very similar, hadn't realised that theyd done boulevard of broken dreams. Very much american coming of age movie music

I wanted to give this a 1 based solely on Billy Armstrongs Haircut. Also wanted to give it a 1 as it comes off as pretentious drivel, a punk opera with an 8 minute song? Go fuck yourself. Also wanted to give it a 1 because the power chords, learn music you dick fucker. But alas, there are some hits, even if they've been so overplayed I would be happy enough to never hear them again.

Suburban Jesus is better than i remembered

I kind of get it but it’s just annoying. It sounds like everything else I don’t get it.

Incredibly dull and soulless for an album which is trying to send a message. Sounds like it was made by a bunch of rich 14 year olds.

Punkki ei ole hyvä jalassa eikä korvassa, mielestäni. Hitaammat hittibiisit on ihan okei mutta muuten vähän meh

Fairly listenable, but not my thing

Als muziek algoritme in 2005 al had bestaan had ik Green day extreem vaak voorgeschoteld gekregen. Het was iets wat in mijn straatje zou moeten liggen met de muziek die ik toen luisterde. Het stemgeluid is altijd iets wat mij irriteerde. Het klonk altijd als een chronische verkoudheid. Het is dus ook voor het eerst dat ik het hele album luister ipv de singels die op mtv langs kwamen. De openingstrack american idiot is van de de dag relevanter dan ooit. Dit was kritiek op het medialandschap en de bush regering en alles wat america was in die tijd. Helaas is de boodschap niet aangekomen en is het alleen maar erger geworden met de Amerikaanse media en de grootste american idiot ooit op de troon. Ik kwam er nu pas achter dat dit een concept album is wat ik wel kan waarderen. Tegelijk is het ook altijd een beetje stom als "punk" verschuift van anarchistisch naar moraal ridder muziek. Dunne lijn waarbij Green day zich aan de verkeerde kant begeeft. Muziekaal gezien het voor punk rock erg gepolijst met emo ballads. Niet echt leuk. Op elk vlak komen ze een beetje nep over. Ik haat ze ook niet echt want ze bedoelen het wel goed maar het komt niet op mij over.

Ik was 14 toen dit album uitkwam, de perfecte leeftijd om deze muziek te kunnen waarderen, ik zat namelijk al in de hoek van Sum 41 en blink 182. Dit heeft me destijds minder gepakt en het doet me nog steeds vrij weinig. Sowieso ben ik een beetje allergisch voor het woord opera in combinatie met punk of rock. Het is eigenlijk te gelikt en over geproduceerd om het echt punk te laten zijn. Ik vind het voor die tijd ook een beetje outdated, een punkband met kritiek op de overheid, ja oké.. de hits zijn verder wel goed hoor, maar voor mij niet nostalgisch ofzo, de zanger doet me altijd denken aan Dirk Kolkman, ik denk dat hij t wel 5 sterren zou geven.

Just add the heretic is worse than the heathen, (American) pop punk is worse than no punk at all.

It’s fine. Felt a little longer than it actually was for some reason? 2.5/5

Rebellious ahh music 🥀🥀💀💀

It has some great songs but overall it’s not great. Not my favourite

This is an ok album, with a few really good songs. But I won’t listen to it again.

Another album that suffered from over saturation on the radio. In fact american idiot still gets too much radio play. I knew all the words, but this one was a miss for me. I prefer their earlier albums.

I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for Green Day, but there's a reason the best punk songs are under 3 minutes (honestly, the BEST punk songs are under a minute thirty, but I'm being inclusive). Like my ex-wife, Green Day and I have matured in different directions. I'm glad they had the space to grow and all that, but it's just not for me. postscript: just got to 'homecoming,' the longest song on the record, and I'm vaguely 'into it'

Didn’t like it then. Don’t like it now. (Sorry Elliot)

I was expecting more of a nostalgia bump for this album, but it is pretty weak in between the hits. There's more instrumental/style variety than a typical pop-punk album, but it's still underwhelming.

Basic Ramonesy power pop plus trite politics, pretentious frippery and a whiny emo mood. A lot of my friends were into this band in the 1990s but I always found them profoundly meh. This came out in 2004 by which time I wasn’t in this scene at all so this LP was new to me. I found lots of the individual songs were quite good (if overlong) but nobody needs 57 minutes of this.

I suppose Green Day were an entry point to Punk for Busted and McFly fans. So that’s a positive. But I was already into Punk when they emerged so they seemed a little dull and old fashioned. Some of there singles are undoubtedly fun but there’s nothing fun about this incoherent concept album.

really wanted to love this for nostalgia's sake, and for 9 minutes, i totally did - Jesus of Suburbia is a bratty, pathos-laden power-pop epic, incredibly confident and winning. but this doesn't last - the politics, though refreshingly bold today, wear thin really quickly, and then we're left with a lot of overwrought balladry and rock n roll with very little bite. i'm happy that this album once sounded dangerous and important, and you could do so much worse than lots of what's here, but i'm 28! I've moved on and that's fine

Is it me or do these guys feel like industry plants? I swear, it's the same generic "punk" rock as their last hit album. Most of the songs here sound like their were ripped from some eighties tunes, and I don't mean sounds like it I mean literally the same songs. I sound like I hate them, which isn't the case. The music is simple but high energy, they have a good political message, but it is just generic and not great. I can't figure out why they made the list twice now, I know it was popular but what makes this a must hear album?

it was kinda bland and primitive, but maybe i just hate fun

Not a huge fan of punk generally, but at least it has teeth. What good is toothless punk?

Listening to this in March of 2026 while the headlines are all about the US war in Iran feels somehow appropriate, though I suppose there’s a certain timelessness about American military adventurism in the Middle East. I have to give Green Day a fair bit of credit for having the ambition to write a rock opera about social dysfunction in then-contemporary (and now as well?) America particularly when they first found fame through songs about smoking weed and jerking off. And that most of that era of pop punk seemed stuck in perpetual adolescence even when the musicians and listeners were far too old to keep up that ruse. For me, the ambition doesn’t quite match up to the results. To take an example, the second part of “Jesus of Suburbia” sounds like Bryan Adams’s “Summer of 69”, which I guess works for singalongs in the arenas and stadiums Green Day was playing, but it’s just all kind of middle of the road and, well, not very punk rock. It sounds and feels safe. Billie Joe Armstrong has some nice vocal melodies on this, but the music doesn’t veer far enough from the three chord thing they were doing before to pull off something like this. It’s not a bad listen, but not something I feel that I need to hear again either.

Mwah

ok ok ok shut up

Not my favorite. Probably the hipster in me but the popular songs felt like a chore. I enjoyed the double feature aesthetic of each song but the songs were a bit too long. I won’t be returning to this.

Only enjoyed last song but I don’t really like pop punk.

2/5

Fazia mais de 10 anos que não escutava nada deles. Envelheceu mal, hoje achei bem chatinho

When I as listening or the first songs I thought that I should recognize them more, but then Holiday… came!! I enjoyed this album.

I can understand why people like it, but it’s still quite generic, even repetitive.

#1. Heard some songs but never listened as a whole before. OK, bad start. Maybe I was a bit prejudiced, but I've never liked Green Day and this was a confirmation. Some of the most popular songs were almost ok, but overall it was too cheesy and boring.

Wasn’t a huge fan of this when it came out. On a re-listen not much has changed.

A couple songs are ok and nostalgic but overall I don't enjoy this.

I think It's maybe like 8 years too late, as far as my life goes, for me to really fall in love with this album. Just as far as my musical taste goes, we're not exactly starting in a great place here. This is a combination of pop punk and musical theater, which takes itself *very* seriously. Additionally, the message here is really intended to resonate with people who, are like a decade younger than I am now. And the path America has taken since this came out honestly makes some of the messaging feel dated, or even detached. I understand this is about generational aimlessness and how cruelty lives quietly (or sometimes very loudly) in traditional American cultural values. Which I think is an admirable enough thing to dial in on. But it also feels like Green Day really thinks they can save American society with pop punk, and today that just feels really naive and self important. Additionally, a friend of mine holds that making a Broadway musical out of your album instantly obliterates your punk credentials regardless of who you are, and I can't agree more. But regardless of my complaints with the concept and execution of this album, it does get out a couple of pretty great songs. My favorite song here is Holiday, which is just driven by a fantastic bassline in the punk tradition. I also like St. Jimmy, and Letterbomb, which just work as great pop punk songs. I think Wake Me Up When September Ends is good too, mostly for it's earnestness. I'd also like to shout out *parts* of Jesus of Suburbia, and at least acknowledge that American Idiot is a particularly catchy song, even if I don't particularly like it. But, as this album is sequenced, Holiday, St. Jimmy, and Letterbomb are all tacked inseparably onto other songs that I don't really like (including Boulevard of Broken Dreams). Holiday plays first, so it's not as big of a deal there, but if you just want to listen to Letterbomb or St. Jimmy, I have to either sit through a song I don't really like, or like skip around. And I understand that this has been changed on some re-releases of the album, but it was obviously an intentional decision when this came out. I'm reviewing American Idiot, not American Idiot (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition). Although, just on principle, I think Homecoming is the weakest track here. Jesus Of Suburbia is an epic that works on this album, it's multi-phased and it isn't too ingrained into the plot of the album that it does just work as a song. But when I listen to Homecoming, it actually feels like I'm missing something without watching the musical, or reading the liner notes or something. It's too tied to the narrative that it doesn't feel like I'm getting a complete experience without checking out another, related piece of media. I think, within this context, that constitutes a failure of songwriting. I don't really hate this album, a lot of the *bad* songs are more inoffensive, and there are highlights. But I found that the concept and execution here took more away from the album than it added to it. I understand why this is important to people, but it will never be for me.

Hey, I have one solitary melody. Let's start a band and be hugely successful. Let's also tell people we're actually 'punk' and see if they'll believe us! Let's be teenagers well into our 50s, at least. Okay, grab your three chords, let's make money!

Hated this on release. Listening to it again, it's still kind of annoying. I don't HATE is anymore... but it's not really drawing me in. Just kind of mid.

Green Day, and this album in particular, were huge when I was in middle school, which was a time in my life where I would only listen to classic rock and "punk". You know, the kind of punk that got played on classic rock radio stations from time-to-time? Comically, I think Green Day are literally the kind of punk that gets played on classic rock radio stations now. Anyways, at the time, Green Day's brand of pop punk felt like the most corporate sellout and least punk music I'd ever heard. Now, I realize teenage me was a closed-minded idiot, but admittedly, I'm still struggling a bit to get past those feelings while listening to American Idiot now. I can hear the punk influences and the societal commentary is right in your face, but it feels so hollow, fake, and safe. Paint-by-numbers punk music with no real edge. Honestly, this kind of feels like my generation's U2. An uber popular band with decent songs, but it just doesn't really do it for me. Am I still just being a closed-minded idiot? I don't know, probably. Maybe I'll come around when Dookie is generated?

Not a green day fan, could barely get through it.

green day is the definition of mid

Ugggh, I'm sorry to be that person but no thank you to a pop-punk rock opera. I can appreciate the concept, and the political message, but their sound here is way too polished, and I kept getting annoyed at the repeated tactic of completely changing up the beat/melody of the songs halfway through them. I fast forwarded/skimmed through most of this.

I can see the effort that went into this but I'm not a fan of the general sound. I like a couple of songs from their earlier albums but overall the vocal style gets on my nerves.

Catchy songs but overplayed

How do I best communicate the eyeroll emoji in a review?

Fine but trite. I would have loved it at 13, but at 15 I was too old for it

Not for me

jel samo meni (i mom bratu također) ovaj frontmen, bili bob džons il kak se već zove, izgleda ko rej vilijam džonson? možda čak i ne liče toliko al imaju ful sličnu vibru prva pjesma - prvi mp3-plejer u osnovnoj, hahahha, strašno. sjećam se kako gledam fleš-animacije sa stikmenima, kolju se automatskim puškama, a ovo svira u pozadini uglavnom ne valja ovo baš. ima još dvije mim pjesme: bulevar bla bla i ona wake me up when september ends. ostatak isto nije baš nešt. ehhh. i još traje sat vremena, brate

didn’t finish. have heard lots of songs on this album. just not really my taste realized i felt like i was wasting my time.

I have an abnormal conflict with American Idiot: How many of these songs are actually good and how many of them are just nostalgic? I grew up in an era where Boulevard of Broken Dreams and Wake Me Up When September Ends were absolutely everywhere, and to this day the sound of noughties Green Day is mentally associated with my childhood. The problem is this isn't an unquestionably positive nostalgia like other albums I grew up with. Sure I have memories associated with these tracks, my cousin introducing me to Jesus of Suburbia, the countless animations soundtracked by Boulevard on Flipnote Hatena, but the songs themselves don't really resonate with me as much as the times associated with them. About 10 years after Dookie, Green Day has for the most part lost its Punk edge. Many might argue that's a good thing, that they've strayed away from a simplistic and restrictive format to make a much more expansive and ambitious project. While I agree in some sense, I think American Idiot struggles to work as a cohesive concept album in the way Green Day may have intended. There's a reason most people just remember the hits from this record, the tracks stand alone as pretty good singles, but outside of that there is a lot of uninteresting filler. There's essentially no point to American Idiot being a concept album because it doesn't utilize anything that makes the format interesting and immersive. The idea of a Pop Punk Rock Opera is not a bad one, The Black Parade acts as an example of what American Idiot could have achieved. With how it's executed though, you'd be better of swiping the singles and skipping the rest (as so many have done). Is American Idiot a bad album? I'd say no, but it thinks it's so much better than it is. It prances on its conceptual high-horse hoping it'll distract you from the 60% of the album that's incredibly boring and forgettable. I think it either boils down to needing stronger writers for a more ambitious project, or cutting losses and releasing what would've been a very solid and consistent LP. The sound that they have on the highs of this record is unmistakably Green Day, and I wish they leaned into that more than they did. As is American Idiot acts only as a memory of simpler times and doesn't provide many reasons to engage with the story it's trying to tell.

I have always been a hater of Green Day. My favorite genre is very similar to this type of music, but that means it has to be done right for me to like it. Blink-182, My Chemical Romance, Rancid. These are bands that take on a similar genre and do it right for the most part. To me, American Idiot is very boring, annoying and pointless. I used to love Boulevard of Broken Dreams and a few other songs from other albums, but they have fallen out of grace with me. The more music I like, the more I get to listen to. I don't want to dislike any album, but sometimes we get American Idiot and I have no choice. Also, I hate how they mash songs together for seemingly no reason. I guess there's a concept here that I definitely didn't follow. Maybe that has something to do with it.

Really really bad. I resent that I had to listen all the way through. Sounds like it was written to be performed on Broadway. A pop punk musical. I fucking hate musicals. Dookie is not bad. This is completely neutered.

Het nummer is leuk maar het hele album niet voor mij

wgl nie moje klimaty czemu te piosenki maja po 10 minut kazda tak jakby byly po 3 piosenki w jednej troche overstimulated taka muzyka dla white men over 30

Svårt album att betygsätta. Jag gick in ganska skeptisk men övervanns snabbt av hur många nostalgiska bangers som fanns med! Sen fortsatte albumet alldeles för länge med massa utfyllnad som var så dålig. Landar nog på en tvåa, trots att det bitvis kändes bra som stark trea. Annie hade en liknande resa, även om hon var mer taggad inledningsvis pga nostalgin. Tvåa för henne med.

Bsk uzpisantis ir atsibostantis

I find it less meaningful that their previous record 'Dookie', which is also on the list. 7/10 [DROP]

Es muy energetica, de tipo punk 2000s, no escucho mucho este genero musical pero es buena aun que ninguna cancion llego a ser de mis favoritas....

Not that big on green day but lets give it a shot Still not a fan of green day

I knew I’d struggle with this one. Not punk rock at all, more jolly singalong rock. It may stand the test of time for those who were into it upon release, but for someone coming to it in 2025 it has little impact. It’s a 2 because it is good for what it is, and plenty of folk like them so they must be doing something right. Well produced too.

😪

A statement album meant to expand the band's sound that really just ends up sounding like mainstream rock. The big swings are the two nine minute songs, which to their credit don't feel their length. But the transitions between each part are often too subtle, and they're lacking the big climax that would turn them into epics. Outside of the intro to "Extraordinary Girl" there's nothing here that strays too far from pop punk and alt rock. The straight-up punk tracks, like the opener, pale to most songs on Dookie. And for me the lyrics never come together. Most of them are pretty vaguely about depression and being an outcast and don't feel specific to the political era the album was rejecting. I'm sure a lot of people who grew up with this album will still vouch for it, but outside of "Boulevard" I'm ok leaving it in 2004.

I just turned 10 when this album came out, and while I didn't truly begin my attention towards music listening for a couple years after, the songs of this album were unavoidable like hearing Rumors on the Adult Contemporary radio. And despite being the prime age for this record and all that post-DC emo bullshit and Linkin Park nu-metal drek, I NEVER wanted to hear this record. It's not that I hate Green Day (could care less/more into Dookie), it's that I could tell at a young age that it wasn't for me. Time to me a good sport and hear this record. American Idiot, the self-titled song, is good enough even though the guitar riff - stop - guitar riff rhythm is annoying. It shows the review theme of this album for me: when the tempo is high, it's fine. The slower song? Oh my G-d there is a reason that this album was very divisive. It was such a commercial success that Green Day changed their slacker 90s punk rock image into......well Green Day of today. As I would normally say, there's plenty of shitty bands in the world and I wouldn't put Green Day in that category. I would for Linkin Park though, fight me. Jesus of Suburbia, sort of a punk medley of 3-4 songs, is kind of a modern A Quick One While He's Away. The best parts of JoS is the middle. It's otherwise cromulent. Holiday I think is the best song of the album. The riff and chorus work perfectly together here. Not sure why some streamed versions combine Holiday with "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", a song to me at this point has lost all meaning and is essentially a meme. That and Wonderwall should not be these big explosive rock songs that people that had to think of rock music would think of those two songs before some better songs that I won't list that will make me feel like a boomer. The composition to Boulevard is good, which makes it superior to Wake Me Up When September Ends, which is essentially everything negative I said about Boulevard of Broken Dreams, but worse. After those songs, I think I'm at the point where I don't know the other half of the album. Are We The Waiting reminds me of how very hit or miss Billie Joe Armstrong's are, and get even worse with that backing chorus too. St. Jimmy is better (again I do not know why some of these songs are combined on streaming). Give Me Novocaine is alright, not much of a standout. She's a Rebel is fine, it's upbeat on this album so it's definitely not bad. Extraordinary Girl sounds like a generic late 90s/2000s rock song. At this point I should bring up that this is a concept album/rock opera about a story that can be summarized like this: young millennial feels jaded about the world!!!!! It's something that's very on-par for the 2000s (and to be fair, it's justified FUCK GEORGE W BUSH). I'll admit I can't be assed to read more deep into the rock opera stuff, though I respect the band's decision to try and not make it hamfisted about the Iraq War (which would've been more fun) in order to preserve the album's legacy. A bit of a costly trade-off for the time, because we could've really used Good Music in the early War on Terror-era over all the shitty "patriotic" country bullshit. One could argue the soul of punk died there without a bigger response against the Iraq/Afghanistan bullshit, but it did exist. Rock Against Bush was around, although not as popular as the dumbass Americans that felt like we needed revenge and not think about the consequence of our retaliation (that sounds very familiar....). I couldn't tell you more about how the general consensus of Americans were thinking at the time, because I was in grade school. Okay back to the album. Letterbomb is the good kind of energy I wish was universal for the album, even if it won't sell as many records as the next song up, that September bullshit song I already talked about. Homecoming is the second of the actually-a-medley song, and it's 9 minutes of basically the same power chord-Billy Joe singing structure that pretty much defines Green Day. It's at that point where American Idiot as an album gets too repetitive for its own good: there was a sharp reason why the Ramones never made an album longer than 50 minutes (aside from live records). THIS FUCKING ALBUM DRAGS ON, your nostalgia glasses can't really blind that. The few interesting guitar parts are on the bridge for the song, which makes it very shortlived. It crumbles on itself, other than the message the album brings out which is probably the strongest part of American Idiot: the idea itself before the executed concept. That sound is coupled with the Loudness Wars in peak form: the perfect storm of many early 2000s rock/metal music. There's dynamics funny enough, washed away by the singing and guitar. I'm curious how Tre Cool views the production on this album because it makes me feel bad for the guy. The last song (on the original release) is Whatsername. That's the name of the women-interest of the album's rock opera. I think I've had enough mini diatribes at this point for a review. The song itself sounds like almost everything else that came out in 2003/2004. This is a real love it or hate it album, but there's very few things I like from the album. The nostalgia of hating the War on Terror/Bush/Osama feels dainty 20 years in the future, as pretty much all of our problems from back then have not been fixed today and things have gone worse for the most part. In short, if you liked emo music and metalcore or nu metal or whatever cringe music was popular at the time: this record is an all-timer. If you're anyone else that has no passion for that era or those music genres: you have a generic (in a Seinfeld is Unfunny effect, although not 100% but plays a part) rock sound for the early 2000s that contributed to the staleness of the genre that would struggle to evolve further in the 21st century. I do leave finishing this album appreciating it maybe 10% more than I normally did (which was maybe at almost zero), but it does not give me a satisfactory feeling to listen or go through it, as the good parts of this album were all spaced from each other. But yeah, I know. People that don't really seek out the weeds of music know "American Idiot", "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", "Holiday" (the good song), and that shit "Wake Me Up When September Ends" crap and are a mainstay in rock canon as the genre struggles to achieve the heights it had in the 50s-90s. Billy Joe Armstrong's voice is divisive, but I think the worst parts of this album is that the power chords and guitar just sound the same on almost every track. Again, the lack of dynamics is understandable for a punk record, but you're making a punk rock opera that's almost an hour long. You NEED dynamics to make that shit sound like you're doing something with it. It just sounds like a loud pop punk record which fucking Blink 182, another band I don't want to care for, could sound better. Green Day made a significant number of moneys from this album, stuck to their new popular image, and essentially retries the same formula from this album over and over again to success (mostly from their large fanbase, good on them to have one). This band would never stay as the pop/skate punk darlings of the 90s that Dookie created for them. Is this "selling out"? I'll leave that question as philosophical insight. Ultimately, I get why this album is on the list. It's iconic, which is a sign for the word that iconic doesn't necessarily mean good or epic or a must listen, just that it was very big for its time against an unpopular war (that started out very popular) and along with Californication by RHCP, some of the last big "rock and roll records". I don't know if it aged well with the loudness war shit, but I didn't fully hate it like I thought I would. I do still dislike the record, in part because most of it sounds too similar and most of the reasons you hear people not liking Green Day come into effect very much so here. Check out next time when I have to listen to Black Parade by MCR and write even more negatively about a band I also never cared for from around the same era that sounds worse. Joy!

I’m one and done with Dookie. No mas

This album sucked when it came out and has aged like room temperature milk

even back in the days when we would listen to this, i knew that i liked it mostly due to peer pressure. it's not that i hate it, it just feels very very mediocre

It was a struggle to get through. I understand its place in history, but it's not my vibe.

Seriously though, I couldn’t finish this album. It was so bad that it gave me anxiety.

Another white people classic I was excited to listen to this because I saw it was only a track and then I saw the dreaded slash symbol God for sake, I had to listen to fucking double the length of what I thought I did of this bullshit this shit became insufferable three minutes in and it lasted for over 45 fucking minutes The problem is these songs are probably the best you’re gonna get in this genre but the lead singer has such a lack of perspective when it comes to the topic she wants to talk about that. I can’t help but laugh so much of this album feels like he was on the precipice of saying something important, but decided to stop before reading anything about the topic you wanted to actually talk about This speak to people who have lived their own own their own experience and have never decided to reach outside of that the fact is so many of these songs are fucking bangers and it pisses me off because they’re catchy, but will I ever wanna listen to a Green Day album again no This album made me feel like I wanted to cut my fingers off yeah it’s just fucking annoying so much about this album just annoyed me the usage of the words like I think there’s something he’s saying there’s something interesting here but there’s just not enough. He wants to to make me believe it and I feel like it’s so shallow and what it’s trying to say it’s everything I hate about American culture in the 2000s Despite trying to be something important sometimes I don’t know again another album I think people who don’t listen to a lot of music or connect with this type of shit would love, but I just was so profoundly bored for the majority of it that I cannot bring myself to give it a good review despite the humungous tracks that are on this Album so yeah

The fact that this album is still relevant twenty years later means that punk rock doesn’t accomplish anything. Well, maybe it’s good for catchy tunes. I did catch myself bopping my head. I think this album may be tainted by the context of representing Green Day’s “selling out” and going “mainstream” despite still being (rightfully) pithy towards authority. They curse a whole lot more than the versions I heard on the tv and radio. Wake me up when September ends is still a banger Are we the idiots? Maybe we graduated from American idiots to American BUFFOONS

Der er et par ok sange på, men det er alligevel mest en omgang larm. Det er et meget mudret lydbillede hele vejen igennem.

Nervig

classique un poil long

There's some decent pop songs in here. But there's an awful lot of noice. What's with all the power chords and posturing? Green Day work best when they're Green Day: back to basics pop punk. No one wants to hear a punk rock opera. I didn't make it to the end. No shit. Like punk never happened.

This was a big letdown for me back then. Haven‘t checken them out since.

Ikkje så glad i Green Day, men anerkjenne at detta albumet produserte ein del hits

чуть лучше чем остальные рок альбомы с этой подборки но скучно и я не стала каждый трек слушать просто проклацала и убедилась что тас ниче интересного

Lol. Mislim da ovo ni kao dijete nisam mogla shvatiti ozbiljno, kamoli sad. Ali evo iz zajebancije 2/5, 4/10

Mjeeh, neither, sheiyyyyöy, this sounds like Ring of Fire, mjööh njääh, holiday is actually quite a decent song with a great riff, bläää, "last song +8 minutes, cool"

I'm not a fan of Green Day

If Green Day were trying to convey some deeper message here, it got buried under the commercial pop sound and perfect production. The album reminds me of my mother's closet, everything neatly pressed, folded into perfect rectangles and arranged by color. Unlike my mom's ROYGBIV clothes collection, Green Day have a wordrobe full of black band shirts they ordered from a catalogue and brand new shiny Dr Martens lined up in neat rows. I'd classify American Idiot as a success on every front since it's very catchy, unoffensive, safe and an enjoyable listen for a very wide audience (if that's what the band was going for). As a pop album, it merits 4 stars. As a punk/rock album, it merits 1.

Not bad but too poppy. I liked the more aggressive songs.

Green Day is not interesting enough to warrant a multi-movement concept album, even if what they have to say is pertinent.

Not my cup of tea

li didn’t like it the first time around. i get why others do though.

Punkrock, 2004 -> 2

Lots of thoughts on this one. This came out when I was in middle school, which is probably the perfect age for an album like this. I personally was never a huge Green Day fan, but my brother was, and this CD was stuck in his car, so we listened to it alot. That being said, I probably havent listened to this since 2006. All in all, it holds up, even if it seems a little quaint now. Definitely some good Bush-era protest music, which was very of its time. The rock opera elements of this are interesting too, and they probably are a more explicit "rock opera" than many famous concept albums. I do think the songs are generally ok, but can't really sustain the length of the album. I would love to give it 2.5, but I can't, so I think 2 is a fair rating.

Fair

Mid

Pretty mediocre. Some songs way too long. Doesn't hold up to anything they put put in the 90s, but arguably better than almost everything that came after (though Saviors has some good tracks).

..

Ok, but I don't really like.

I was 17 when this was first released. I was not a huge Green Day fan but I was musically aware enough to know who they were and be familiar with their hits from the previous decade. Even then it was plain to me that this was a cynical attempt to appeal to young people who were genuinely unhappy with the direction the world was beginning to take at the start of the 21st century. I think it genuinely offended me that my convictions were being co-opted for financial gain. Particularly in such a facile an insincere manor. I can't believe Billie Joe was in his 30s when he wrote this. It presents itself as an attack on the Bush administration and the people who supported it, but the actual politics on display are vague and incoherent. Green Day had reached a point where they should have matured with their core audience, but instead elected to continue trying to appeal to angsty teenagers. I felt personally insulted that they imagined I would fall for it. There were other bands writing protest songs at the time, doing it much better and having fun with it. I think out of my friends, those who are a year or two younger than I hold this up as one of their favourite albums of all time, whilst those my age or older largely regard it with ambivalence if not outright disdain. So, trying to put aside the animosity I have left over from when I was myself a very angry young man, I am trying to approach this as objectively as possible. First of all. There is precisely one banger on here. That is 'Holiday'. It's a great tune that I can't help nodding along to. A lot of the other tracks have benefited from the fact that they were inescapable when I was a young adult, and therefor immediately trigger my nostalgia receptors. This will always make you regard a song more warmly than it deserves on merit alone. Musically, it is competent, but it is bloated and self indulgent. I note with horror that there are two tracks on here with runtimes in excess of 9 minutes. A 9 minute pop punk song is an absolute travesty. Just get on with it guys. I was tired of it before it was half way over, and the music just isn't interesting enough to pull me back in. I pushed through just to say I had given it a fair chance, but at the end of the day it is bland turn of the century pop punk dressed up in shallow politics and melodrama. 1 and 1 half rounded up.

Pop punks

meh

Dookie straddled the line between pop and punk pretty well, this one does not whatsoever. There's hardly any Punk element to it, you can't make a pop album and a rock opera and have it fall under Punk as well. I really didn't like this. The big hits are all fine but I've heard them a million times before without ever putting it on myself. The transitions between the songs are nice but the album tracks don't do it for me. Definetely deserves to be on the list, I just don't like it.

Not a huge fan of this era green day. That being said I think Jesus of Suburbia is the best song they have ever recorded. A pop punk Bohemian Rhapsody. This is their so called "sell out" record, which marked a stark change in style from their previous work, from a more true punk style, to more pop punk and stadium rock esthetics. Overall it's listenable. But there's only one track I come back to revisit on this project, and honestly it can't carry the whole album.

This album sadly marks the death of Green Day for me. And I consider myself a pretty big fan of their 80's-90's stuff. I learned to play drums largely from playing along to Green Day records. Some people will say they sold out.. which I think is a bit harsh. Essentially it's just when they became popular in mainstream circles. It's sorta crazy that this was the first introduction many people had to a band that had been together for over 15 years at this point. When suburban moms start listening to your punk band, I think it's safe to drop the "punk" moniker. The songs on this album were radio-friendly enough that they became played to absolute death. The political theme of the album certainly is a reflection of the increased divisiveness of our society. Technically, the album is fine. But I've heard it enough times to last a lifetime.

2.5

Never been a Green Day fan. Would have been nicer to start with Dookie but I'll try my best to appreciate this despite it being the most mainstream punk ever got. This sounds so much like Now That's Punk for Kidz. "Holiday" is a minor banger as is the chorus to "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" though I'm afraid that's all this album (band?) has to offer me. Turns out "Holiday" is Billie* Joe's attempt at Bob Dylan. I am the man I am today because I never had a pop-punk phase outside of being tickled by the Blink 182 music videos on VH1 and MTV. *Of course it's Billie and not Billy, that wouldn't be very punk now would it?

Ikkje så glad i Green Day, men anerkjenne at detta albumet produserte ein del hits

Based on their many hits, never loved Green Day: it bugged me that they got called punk when they were at best in a kiddie pool in an overgrown backyard in the okay part of town down the street from a place where one might glimpse punk. I gave this a go, and still don't really like Green Day. A vaguely political pop-punk opera--I mean, who'd have thought?--so of course it feels belaboured, overlong, and excessive. That "September Ends" song reminds me of that "Time of Your Life" song which indirectly arrives at some solid nostalgia (not mine, theirs).

Ich würde gerne eine Nachricht an mein jüngeres Ich senden "Nein, dein Geschmack ist nicht falsch... Nein, du musst nicht das mögen was deine Gleichaltrigen cool finden.....Ja, ich finde auch das diese Musik das übliche "Fuck the system"-Punk Geschreie ist und man nur edgy sein möchte" Wie damals und auch heute..... nicht meine Musik

Buena energía, un sonido distintivo. No es mi estilo. Me aburre un poco.

I like the sentiment, it's not my vibe.

Unfortunate for this to come just a few days after maybe the smartest, most interesting political punk record ever released in Gang of Four's Entertainment. Just highlights how tame and basic this all is. Take me back to Dookie.

--American Idiot...giving "I just got to college and realized society has problems" energy --Jesus of Suburbia...did Mike Dirnt get a hand injury after Dookie? His bass parts have been seriously lacking since then (edit: I've been told he still does cool stuff on Insomniac). This track rocks a little. Don't know why it's 9 minutes long. --Holiday...guh it's fine, I guess --Boulevard of Broken Dreams...not about this at all. I just don't buy it, the emotions don't ring true --Are We the Waiting...no --St. Jimmy...here's the Green Day I know and liked --Give Me Novacaine...straightforward power pop. it's good --She's a Rebel...forgettable --Extraordinary Girl...(see above) --Letterbomb...more decent power pop --Wake Me Up When September Ends...wake me when this song ends, amirite? --Homecoming...I'm exhausted. The middle 3 minutes are kind of fun --Whatsername...sure

1. idiot - 2.5 2. zuburbia - 1.5 3. holiday - 3 4. uuaiting - 2.5 5. novacaine - 2 6. girl - 1.5 7. uuake - 0 8. homecoming - 1 9. name - 1.5

I like Green Day, everything they put out in the 90's is quintessential for that era. From all accounts they are the realest dudes. On the same day I did this review I saw an old video of Billie Joe Armstrong in 1997 jump kicking someone that was bullying people at a concert and that is awesome. I personally just don't love or enjoy rock operas or concept albums. I lived through the era being described in American Idiot and I think if we weren't living in an even dumber era I could almost look back and think "phew yeah I remember those days". It applies just as much today but it doesn't make me want to bop along to a rock opera concept.

i dont like it but they arent bad

I dislike Greenday.

Kerplunk is a good Green Day album. This is not Kerplunk.

I like their hits but they tend to sound like their songs go on too long even when the song is normal length. Don't really care for Billy's voice overall.

One review took the opportunity to highlight NOFXs The Decline, and that was actually awesome. Green Day on the other hand is the same poser shit it was when I was young. But catchy.

Basically the same song 10 or 11 times. Wake me up when September ends is very good and american idiot is passable. There is a lot of dreck to wade through. Rock and roll for the fast food generation

All of the songs blended together for me. Not a big fan of Green Day to begin with. I was bored listening to this. If there was a story, I completely missed it.

★★⅝

*I really enjoy Green Day, but don't love this album. Same Green Day, but it's really whiny. And not in a fun emo or punk-rock way. RATING - 5/10

I listened while scraping paint with a heat gun. I thought that this isn't too bad. Then I put on music I enjoy and realized that I like scraping paint with a heat gun more than I like this album.

very catchy but it is a little corny and annoying the only good thing they ever did only like 3 good songs how did they get so popular

At least I can say with certainty that I’m no fan of (punk) rock operas. Really no hate towards this album it’s just not for me whatsoever. I’ve heard each song 20x more often than I’d care to growing up and I’ve always felt the same sense of loathing towards it. Re-listening in full as an adult, it did make it plainly clear how flat some of the social commentary really is. It falls far more pop than punk to me as well.

The hyperbolic praise and mystique around this album is downright silly. Billy Joe set out to write "his own bohemian rhapsody" and then we ended up with two songs in a row about "omg gurls!!!" ? Musically the album is just wall to wall full of power chords, bass following the exact same pattern as the guitar, and lots of crash cymbals. Sonically it's only interesting in a couple of places (hello, middle of "Homecoming"). Features a couple of good, catchy songs ("Holiday", "Wake me up when september ends"). Overall though it just feels really inauthentic and "edgy" for the sake of it. Let's throw in 1 f bomb into our radio hits so that we still can make tons of money from them! While also criticizing the radio / media / whatever lowhanging fruit we can get our hands on! Blegh

It was okay? Holiday sounded like an American version of Blur. The hits were good. The rest went on and on. I wouldn't revisit and didn't save any tracks. Low 3/high 2, but settled on a 2.

I had never listened all the way through. I couldn't wait for it to finish. I understand that it politicised a new generation of kids, so that's good but it is so repetitively boring - and this is coming from a hard rock/punk fan. It is also overwhelmingly depressing. I like a couple of songs, but overall - never again.

I do not like this album

Yeah no this isn't my thing

Has its high points but I also wanted it to be over before the end of Jesus Of Suburbia, which is only the second song.

This is where I outgrew green day. I thought it was embarrassing.

Some decent pop punk songs, but too long. It’s no Dookie - that’s

Not for me.

Musically, it might not set the world on fire, but this album definitely shaked things up a bit at a time when no one else was even trying, and it did it while going full mainstream. The song American idiot is still used as an anti-Trump song these days. That being said, I don’t really like pop punk.

Green day

Whatever. Boring "pop punk" its sincerely just pop rock with a little punk tinge on some tracks. Could never stand this album

Ugh. The only thing worse than regular dumb-and-proud-of-it punk rock lyrics are dumb-but-trying-to-be-deep/political punk rock lyrics. Musically this is fine, but I got all of it that I wanted from Dookie. Wake me up when this album ends.

Eh, not my cup of tea. Good energy but very derivative of better stuff and I don't love the vocals.

Meh. I did what I do whenever I hear Green Day. Go listen to the bands that did it before, did it better. As I'm pretty sure Billie Joe would. Nothing wrong with it.

It's a 2 but I hate GWB so I'll bump it up a star

Not as bad as you think.

Meh

I don't like this.

Not for me. Something about the vocals.

When Green Day (not punk rock) was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (questionable), Fall Out Boy (extremely not punk rock) listed off a list of their punk rock bona fides (a not very punk rock thing to do), including their contribution to a Green Day Broadway musical (I’m not sure there’s anything less punk rock than a Broadway musical). Like their contemporaries The Offspring and Weezer, a band with incredible promise that really plummeted. This album is about as interesting as under seasoned mashed potatoes.

Mwa, niet denderend

Don't love punk, but wake me up when september ends - amazing. As a whole I just feel like this album was made for weird teenagers in the 2000s.

not a bad album by any means but it's just not for me - it feels very repetitive and I understand the rebellion aspect but it doesn't really dive into what they're rebelling against... I don't know it just feels a but surface level when other artists really dive in and make you think about things instead of just 'north american society = bad'

Boulevard of broken dreams and wake me up when September ends are the only two I like, and probably wouldn’t revisit too much in general - good effort lads!

Not bad but a lot of corny pop-punk. Many, much better political pop-punk records that actually have something to say other than Bush bad.

Someone got a new kick drum for christmas and wrote a whole album to show it off!!! :) The political/social "commentary" on this album feels really juvenile and there is a lot of it. There's also a couple tracks that just feel like the band decided "hey, it would be fun to have some really long songs" and just slapped together various snippets into 8-9 minutes of half-baked musical ideas. Billy Joe Armstrong's vocal affectations are weird. I don't think this album merits much more serious consideration. I will say that it reminds me that in the early 2000s, we really did feel like our political landscape was as clownish as it could possibly be, which in retrospect is hilarious and sad.

OK, I'll admit I don't know much of anything from Green Day since they left Lookout records and were a cheap rip off of Ramones and Cheap Trick. This... is... rough. It's wildly overproduced milksop powerpop. While it has its moments, it's for the most part forgettable. I don't feel enough to say I hate it, but I would NEVER think to ever put this on to listen to.

I think this album is just ok but wouldn’t list as a top album to hear before I die

Free skip.

Fast, loud and boring. Did nothing for me.

I'm really not a fan of the era and genre of popular music that this album belongs to - it's the most manufactured and commercial that a countercultural movement has ever been. All of the kinks that would be on an album like this have been completely smoothed out, and everything else is shined to the point of having nothing to latch onto. It's admittedly pleasing, though only superficially. On a positive, this album definitely belongs on the list. I can't think of a more popular album that I've skimped out on listening to.

The difficult 7th album. I would have preferred a decent punk rock album to this ‘punk rock opera’

Pretty fun and not at all annoying which is a massive plus

Crappy pop

Just there really, out there, doesn't care whether you like it or not. I can make it all the way through, but it's not pressing any pleasure buttons.

I tried. 2

Dated, boring, pop punk from Target

I knew right away that I was not going to be a huge fan of green day so I was kind of annoyed. This shockingly wasn’t AS horrible as I had thought it would be, and I recognized a lot more songs than I thought I would. Don’t get me wrong I still hated the voice and everything but it wasn’t as bad as I had expected.

Redundant title, cynically infinitely more-appropriate for 2024. But a pop-punk concept album and from a band I never liked sounds awful...? I absolutely didn't give time to this back in 2004 - let's see how I feel 20 (!) years later... --- yeah every Green Day song sounds so ... Green Day. Every time. Billie Joe's voice is so utterly featureless as to almost seem fake - this was always one big aspect that prevented me from liking Green Day. That and the standard plowing ahead with nothing-beyond-power-chords aspect of the songs .... nitpicking I guess since that IS their thing? But I really don't like it - just not hitting with me at all. There may be some things more complex/interesting than Dookie (the only other album I know from them) and at the risk of sounding like a pompous douche ... it seems like they really tried pushing the limits of their limited songwriting abilities here, so ... good on them! <while patting them gently on the head as they head back to their seats> I shouldn't have read that they listened to "Quadrophenia" a lot to get some concept album ideas because ... this ain't that (nothing is). TL;DR: ... good effort, I guess? This music simply isn't for me: power pop punk with ironically no emotion at all and just one volume (thanks, 2000-era compression?). 5/10 2 stars.

Entirely predictable. There were even a few songs where I thought the album had started itself over for some reason because so many of them sound the same. I skipped over Boulevard of Broken Dreams because I don't ever need to hear that again. On the one hand, there is such little evolution in their sound from their Dookie days that this sounds so sophomoric. On the other hand, they tried so hard to create meaning here that just falls flat for me. Maybe if I were at a more impressionable age when this came out...

No aportan nada nuevo.

Yeah we get you're angsty youths and we live in a sucky country, that doesn't make it a good album. The music is pretty uninspired and the only real selling point is the angst. You know, I'm glad my mom didn't let me listen to this one growing up.

it's fine. not into punk.

Shit

I loved earlier green day but this seemed too commercialized for my taste when it came out.

Same issues I have with all their albums, one (maybe 2) engaging or interesting tracks, then a lot of filler. This is a band who dont know what they are, feels like a pop band trying to be a punk band, the tracks are too polished and satire is not the same as subversion. Fails more than it hits. Grumble grumble

Green Day never quite seemed to work for me, this was just another in a long list of US pop-punk bands with a well intentioned but somewhat simplistic message delivered in an overly polished and formulaic way. Fun enough in its.way, but too poppy and not quite punk enough for.me.

2004. I was seven. Too young to "think" about this album, but I do remember, somewhere around that age, hearing Boulevard of Broken Dreams and doing this slow, cool walk in time with the opening fade-in. I remember other kids head-banging to American Idiot, and I think, I found it too aggressive. I was seven. To me, what stands out is not the sound, but the message. Disillusionment. Stuck in suburbia (a la Arcade Fire), hopelessness, angst. It's almost like this cynicism has always existed, but just manifested differently over the years. You had "slackers" in the early 90s, then was it power-pop-punk fusion for the next 20, and then I think hip-hop took became the language of the young and jaded. So, at the time, I can understand how this was anthemic. Now, falling on my ears, which have heard so many more sounds, lots of digital sounds, it's not so great. Upon this listen I was pleasantly surprised by extraordinary girl/letterbomb, which I wouldn't have been able to name hitherto, and the hits still hit: boulevard, holiday, idiot, wake me up. Armstrong's voice is 100% generation-defining and full of conviction. Fav track: Boulevard of Broken Dreams

Not taking anything away from the cultural impact of this record (I feel a reluctant nostalgia towards it as a real zeitgeist moment in mid-2000s music), but it just does nothing for me anymore. It's a completely distended, superficial, processed punk (debatable use of the term) album. Its commentary is as laughably thin as a primary school reflective essay, and the rock opera premise irks me immensely. There are still one or two half-decent tracks here, but I couldn't wait for it to be over. Billie Joe Armstrong might not have wanted to be an American idiot, but his decision to pen some of this album communicates a level of idiocy that parallels anything said by Bush (albeit with considerably fewer civilian casualties).

I like Holiday, but don't care about the rest

Not as good as it used to sound

hopefully I'll eventually get the hang of sending my reviews to y'all..every day I make a new mistake LOL.. I'd voted 1 for Moby Grape and 4 for Brubeck. Here's my review of Green Day - I was never a fan, but I liked a couple of songs and I appreciated them. Now I can honestly say that I don't like them enough to listen to a whole album. Skillful musicianship, a couple of catchy tracks, but I was done when it all started sounding the same..

Hmmm. He taps into something genuine and vulnerable within the ballads. Overall, it’s in no man’s land…not truly punk, rock, … Thus, the hmmm.

Nine minute suites; is this punk or prog rock? Anyway, i like this a bit more than Dookie, but it's still not really for me.

This album didn’t age well. While the opening and title track is strong, it quickly falls off from there. It’s an important album for sure, but the greatness of it didn’t last.

Just not a fan I guess.

I can't stand Green Day. Even when listening to it objectively for good points. I just cannot do it.

cringey but good hits, only here bc libtard politicz

12 year old me would’ve gone wild at the opening of this album.

Boulevard of Broken Dreams brought this from a 1 to a 2 for me, but I'm not a green day fan.

As a life long Green Day hater I’d love to give this a 1/5 but some of these surprised me. Not enough to go back but more respect for them now.

Wake me up when September ends is the best song on this album. That says a lot more about the quality of this album than anything else. I can’t fathom how this album is on this list. No one wants to listen to watered down pop punk from a band that once made actual punk. I was 15 when this album came out and I remember it being lame then, and this is one of the few times I agree with my 15 year old self on music

Most of these songs have been played into oblivion. Jesus of suburbia gives this the additional star

It's a decent album but this type of pop-punk sound always feels a bit mundane and unrewarding for me.

Ehhh, this was a lot of Green Day for me. The singles from this album are some of my least favorite Green Day singles, and the rest of the album didn't do much to redeem it.

The singles are unfairly maligned, but the whole thing was always more “musical” and less “concept album” and that is grating to me

2.5☆/5 08.03.2024

Elég volt egy életre a green dayből. 1.5/5

Stupid emo sounds with good production.

Kind of embarrassing, in hindsight.

Not my favorite Green Day Album.

I wonder how many albums on this list are less the artist's best work VS their most commercially successful work. I appreciate that this album has some depth but for my money they peaked at Dookie. Squarely in the #earlypeak category for me

I really hate this album. It feels like they set out to make something "profound" and emotional, but it just comes off like a theatre kid's version of a pop punk record.

American Idiot aged better than expected. I thought it would be hopelessly naive, but actually it was unfortunately prescient. The rest of the album I can take or leave, so I will leave it.

Never was a Green Day fan growing up and I'm not one now. There are a few good ones on this album, but there are also certainly some tunes that have aged *distinctly* poorly. Just not super my vibe!

Famously my least fav band, I was shocked by how many of these songs I did remember from the last time i listened to this album (i must have been nine years old?) I will at a later date maybe try and do some research about the best art made during the bush era of political activism (there was basically nothing good made tho...) Anyways still think it sucks :)

I found this album to be underwhelming overall. I can understand why it resonates with people but for me this is nowhere near the masterpiece I’ve heard it is. I’ll start by saying I did enjoy a few songs off it, Holiday/Boulevard of broken dreams and Wake Me up When September Ends. While I didn’t enjoy American Idiot (the song) it was anthemic, I just personally felt it was annoying. Jesus of Suburbia is kind of goofy with how long it is but again I won’t deny it has hooks all over it. Unfortunately the album on a whole just dragged on for me, it’s just way too long with way too many songs that sound the same. Every once in a while they will use a motif but I found the story/concept not interesting enough to care when a musical idea was brought back. Idk it feels like more aesthetic than an enjoyable concept album. But hey maybe it’s just not for me, I still think it’s fair to call the album iconic because I know the impact it had but as a listening experience I have no want to every listen front to back again. Wake Me up When September Ends is in my opinion Green Day’s best song.

quite bland musically, quite bland lyrically, couple of nice bangers that are relatively nostalgic, but they are genuinly alright. its not a bad album, but its not good, and its definitely not significant enough to be considered "blabla one of the greatest", its just a generic pop "punk". nothing in the world of music would change if this album didnt exist. In a vacuum id give it a 5-6/10, but in this list its a 4/10

the unwanted soundtrack to my middle school/high school years. nostalgic but not in the best way haha. probably would have been better to me if it wasnt so overplayed during that era.

It was ok.

The only American Idiots on this album are the political naïve members of this band. This cam out while I was an adult already, so I was able to see through all of their bullshit. About as terribly boring as the other albums on this list from the naughties. It really was the worst decade of Pop Music going all the way back to the 1950s. It seems that the albums that were really worth listening to, that managed breaking new sonic ground in the 2000s were not included at all on this list. For three chords and boredom, "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" is the only song that feels at all like an earworm on this album. I applaud the band for trying a couple of new things, but ultimately this a formulaic mess of a punk rock opera album that is also way too long for a punk rock album. What is more concerning is that are no new fresh ideas for the genre on here. Stormtroopers of Death did this idea better with SPEAK ENGLISH OR DIE way back in 1985 and their concept album character Sergeant D. There are countless other punk rock acts, NOFX is another, who did all of this more interestingly than these guys. About the only positive thing I can say is that Tre Cool, their drummer, is the best thing about this band and he shows it again on this album.

Melodically 2-dimensional with some drum hooks lifted from better songs. Blink-182 without the special sauce.

Never really been a fan. Title track’s okay, although I prefer the follow-up single, Boulevard Of Broken Dreams. Apart from those, i enjoyed the change of pace with Wake Me Up & I liked the closing track, Whatsername, but the most of the rest of it all sounds the same to me.

Was never a big green day fan. Overall pretty bland

Unless you're Taylor Swift, a 9 minute song is not needed, let alone TWO. The double titles on half the album is also unnecessary just pick one title. Music was not super interesting and the album was too long. Favourites: holiday/Boulevard of broken dreams, give me novacaine/she's a rebel. I'm in a hater mood today. 2/5

Hey, hey, we're The Punkees!

Stadium punk.

Never been a huge fan of Green Day but this is a pretty decent album.

always felt this was an overrated generic sounding album

Eh

Correcto pero no demasiado de mi agrado.

Not for me.

The World's most Disney "Punk" band are here to complain about something. But don't worry kids they've bought a load of highly polished commercial pop songs that all sound similar apart from the really heartfelt slow one. Still less cringe than Blink 182 and that bloke sure can play the drums... in exactly the same way on every song.

A massive pop punk hit that spawned a Broadway show. There are undeniably studio crafted hits on here but the rest are more by the numbers. Not for me.

Green Day has always made me want to shut Green Day off. If I'm gonna listen to poppy-punk, I'll choose a band that does it well (Operation Ivy, NOFX) I wanted to shut this off several times too. I do commend them on stretching out a bit for this album. I'm sure if you like GD then this album works for you, it just doesn't for me. I almost long for the days off Kerplunk or Dookie. Almost

I know it's just not my jam

I enjoyed a couple of tracks, but it was all a bit the same. Like the other punk albums, I also find the lead singer a tad monotonous.

Fake punk music. Musicianship is good but message is lacking substance.

Only one Green Day is required in the collection, Dookie. Interesting lyrics, same-y songs.

😴

I'm not mad about any post Insomniac Green Day.

This is the album that made Billy Joe armstrong think he is the best thing since sliced bread. Yet it has at best mediocre songwriting.

Bit meh Fave track: novocaine

Cmon I never have to hear this again. This list is basic mid shit so far like you’re gonna tell me I just goooottta hear this album by (looks around and leans in) “green day”. Have you heard of them? I’m pretty sure I can buy the vinyl to this at Homesense

Ja wel pure nostalgie maar echt me ding niet meer

Kind of boring. Jesus of Suburbia is the lone standout.

It's hard because I love Green Day and I'm happy for them but man this really marked the beginning of their mediocrity. Its almost good but you can just feel the 'sell out' dripping from it. annoying.

I mean, it’s Greenday so it’s my jam but it’s one of the worst Greenday albums so I guess that makes it average maybe? It’s a bit elevator music-ish in places but also each song has a little bop in it that means I can’t pick any stand out bad songs. It’s a confusing album cos I want to hate it and I can’t, and it’s boring except when it’s not.

Oy. Ok, first off, this is not punk. Not by any stretch of the imagination. Anyone who thinks this is punk, doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Stop calling anything after 1993 punk. This is frat rock. Loud annoying pop, would be more accurate. Look, this band sucks. Their sound is ordinary and contrived. Jesus of Suburbia is a rip off of David Bowie’s Life on Mars. And they still managed to gunk it up with what sounds like fake cheese in a can. The only thing this band can take credit for was the balls it took to release American Idiot during the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions, by the Bush administration. At the time, Dubbya Bush was the worst, most atrociously offensive, idiotic mess of a piece of shit president, that anyone could possibly imagine. But he created the “you’re either with us or you’re against us”, motto right after 9/11. So, anyone who disagreed with the invasion, was publicly shamed and ostracized. This record was the first piece of music that successfully captured the protest movement and general dis-ease, that had been overshadowed by the racist pro-war political climate. It benefited from the fact that it was released years after other artists had already taken the heat. But still, it was well-received by the general American audience, and that in itself was the achievement of the time. That said, this band sucks and their music is terrible.

this is prob another of these things where i can understand the context and why it was a touchstone but i am not personally big on it, rock opera always hard for me to stomach idk why, i am now praying this list will not make me listen to tommy or sth idc about ur pinball wizards bro!! anyway. this started out ok but overstayed its welcome for me. :( faves: holiday / blvd

first two songs are bangers, then it just sounded like i was listening to the same thing over and over again

i dont like this album never had liked it having to listen to it again made me depressed 2/5

I found this a slog. I have a slight nostalgic affection for early Green Day, Dookie’s singles were all over MTV in the late 90s and although it wasn’t my thing, it was fine because they didn’t seem to take themselves too seriously and some of the songs were ear worms (Basket Case, Longview, When I Come Around). This, by comparison seems dreadful. They lost the sense of humour and upped the production gloss. The very idea of a concept album seems the least punk thing imaginable. American Idiot is ok, mainly because it’s a slightly bloated version of their early style, a little bit Buzzcocks maybe, but the attempts to branch out fail badly. They’re too polite to be punk, and not catchy enough to be power pop. Oddly, they remind me of the dreadful bands they helped inspire - that wave of god awful emo-punk dross like Funeral For A Friend and My Chemical Romance. Whatsername is Fountains Of Wayne without the hooks or wit. At their very worst (Wake Me Up When September Ends) they sound like Snow Patrol. Turgid. Adding one star for nostalgia.

More Green Day? ugh... It's fine but not something I'll likely revisit. I recognize the 'hits', "American Idiot," "Holiday" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," none of which was I into when they were released. The rest of the album doesn't really stand out much... lots of power chords and cymbals all over the place. Not the worst album I've listened to on this albums generator but also not one I enjoyed. 2/5

Het is touwtrekken geblazen tussen jeugdsentiment aan de ene kant, en de volwassen bezinning dat post-Nimrod Green Day gewoon kutmuziek maakt aan de andere kant. In het begin van het album lijkt de eerste het te winnen, en moet ik toegeven dat er ook echt wel overblijfselen te vinden waren die deden denken aan de aanstekelijke 90s pop-punk van de band. De titelsong is niet al te best, en representeert voor mij de lichtzinnigheid van deze muziekstijl. De elementen voelen allemaal zo gefabriceerd aan, dat het echt een karikatuur van het punk genre is. Plastic punk, if you will. Ik kan de vertakking van classic punk naar melodieuze, radiovriendelijkere muziek soms best waarderen, maar dit is over de top. En die auto-tuned stem van Billie, alsof hij door een radiofoon praat, maakt het lachwekkend. Ze hebben wel effectief aantekeningen gemaakt bij het beluisteren van werk van de peetvaders van het genre, the Buzzcocks. Die snelle riffs zijn onmiskenbaar, maar helaas konden ze het nummer niet redden. 'Jesus of Suburbia' laat daarentegen zien dat de band de simpelheid voorbij wilde, wat een ware pop-punk Bohemian Rhapsody opleverde. En je weet, ik ben geen fan van Bohemian Rhapsody, maar die heeft in ieder geval nog verrassende wendingen. Dit nummer schakelt een aantal keren naar een ander tempo en melodielijn, maar echt memorabele momenten levert het niet op. Behalve het stukje wat bijzonder veel op Summer of '69 lijkt. Anyway, een stap in de goeie richting, en het geeft aan dat de intentie van het album was om een pop-punk opera neer te zetten. Inventief, maar het had van mij niet gehoeven. Dan komen we aan bij het hoogtepunt (lees: de Vaalserberg in een land vol heuvels) 'Holiday', waarbij de nostalgie het getouwtrek voor even wint, en de haat aan het genre met de kont door de drek sleurt. By far het beste refrein van het album, en had niet misstaan op Dookie. In combinatie met 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams', die uitstekend werkt als tegenhanger, wordt het album dan toch opeens interessant. Maar het was niet meer dan een stuiptrekking. De rest van het album vind ik niet echt de moeite waard om dieper in te duiken, anders dan dat ik even kwijt wil dat het klinkt als een 'somewhat punky' versie van '3 Doors Down'. De politieke thema's op de eerste helft van de plaat zijn aandoenlijk, maar als er op deze manier wordt afgesloten dan overheerst de cringe. Next. 5/10 Highlights: Holiday / Boulevard of Broken Dreams

Its so front loaded that you dont want to listen to the second half and this split track technique where the tracks are sewn together like a Stars on 45 remix doesnt really work. This album is a turning point, after this Green Day would be creatively bereft

Good sounds but got to be a little much

i cant

A bit cringe.

Shit

Erinnerung von früher: Nicht mein Ding

After reading that Billy Joe wanted this to be his Bohemian Rhapsody I decided to listen to Queen’s A Night at the Opera instead.

Boooo but better than I thought

You believe their conviction and drive, but musically it's just not interesting enough for me.

Very Green Day. Not my kind of music.

NO

Never thought I'd sit down and listen to this album as an adult... I knew almost every song from simply being a teenager in 2004. This is definitely past Green Day's prime, and it is WAY too long. If it were most tight and concise, I feel like I could've gone with a 3, but I'm not feeling that generous with this today.

It was fine, reminiscent of fall out boy, mcr, but definitely feels like an album you can grow out of somehow. Which is rather how I felt. Wouldn’t have said I would feel like I missed out if I didn’t hear this before I died.

Listened to the first half so far. All the energy and snot that I enjoyed on dookie is nowhere to be found here. Trying to find moments I enjoy but it’s just a slog. I guess I appreciate the fact that it had a lot of youth rocking against bush for whatever that’s worth.

a little hard on the nervous system, all the drum beats & heavy guitars. Did have flashbacks to when it came out? or maybe to movies the songs have been in. there was definitely familiarity.

wake me up when this record ends

I don’t remember Green Day fondly, and I think it’s because this album was the first time I really felt a band I liked Changed. I saw them on the tour for this one and it sucked, I almost never listened to them again after that. However, after listening to about one hundred 1960s Brit Rock Operas on this list so far, this actually doesn’t seem that bad.

Not sure if title refers to the purveyors of purchasers of this record, which isn’t terrible by the standards of late adolescent music and no doubt rates highest with low-information voters who fancy themselves politically informed and engaged, but are at least likely to have their hearts in the right place. Can’t tell if it's a poppy punk record or a punky pop record. Either way, it’s pretty bland, being awfully obvious and mainstream-y (if of above- average ambitiousness). Oh sure there is a story arc but – editors take note – one not even remotely in Quadrophenia’s league. Even if the plot line were worthy of a Booker Prize, that wouldn’t solve for the musical meh-ness any more than the decently cool art cover does. Hooks are so broad, if likable, as to suspect R. Rubin was at the controls (alas, no). The political commentary isn’t exactly piercing and not even additive or even remotely worth one’s time (for their being scads of better sources, obvs). The power ballads (“Are We the Waiting” and “When September Ends”) are kinda cute. “Boulevard of broken dreams” — hmmm, where has one heard that line before? That cut/paste – and certainly not mature – songwriting (eh, editors?). Last cut might be best of the lot but it will almost certainly be a coincidence or accident if one ever heard it again.

Angst rock. Occasionally melodic but too one note in sound and themes.

Loved this album when I was a kid but I don't think it's held up very well aside from a couple songs.

There were a few glimmers of hope (Holiday stands out), but save some time and just listen to Dookie.

Green Day only has one good album. This album is not Dookie.

Undeniably efficient and serves as a solid entry point into (pop) rock. The musicians are quite good, but overall the album seems somewhat bland.

Quite like the title track but otherwise I found this a little dull. Lack of variation and at times it comes across as a Clash tribute act

Rebelling against a tedious, pedestrian way of life by writing tedious, pedestrian music.

No thanks

Idiot album

I liked this album when it first came out, but it was way over played on the radio

Too cheesy for me

corny ass stem. ik snap dat het voor de pop punk scene een belangrijk albums is. maar niet voor mij.

Nothing really offensive, just nothing to get excited about either.

These guys were more subversive when they wrote songs about jerking off.

I found it mostly generic. It's not bad music, but to listen to the entire album became repetetive and boring, then annoying, because it's very "simple" music. These are songs to play on a party to create the corresponding undertone.

Not a huge Green Day fan.

The production is too much. It sounds hot, bright, and overly sweet. The songs are decent. These Bush-era protest songs are not nearly as good as the Thatcher-era produced but the rock opera format is honored by this album -- for whatever that's worth.

Nostalgic, quintessential teenage pop punk, ambitious if still undercooked. Protesting the general state of American life without having any idea what kind of life would be better. Angsty. Production sounds good though.

Great instrumental; the vocals could be annoying, and it doesn’t need nine minutes because of two songs together. I don’t feel anything about this one. 4/10

what an icon of culture, even me who lives under a rock away from popular music is well aware of this whole album. though, i only really care about the title track, "boulevard of broken dreams", and "wake me up when september ends". the rest ranges from boring at best to making me forget that i like long songs at worst.

I was in 7th grade when this came out. Prime demographic. I didn't like it then and I still don't like it now. Old Green Day is still the best Green Day.

There was a time when Green Day was one of my favorite bands. Dookie, Nimrod, and Warning were heavily in my rotation and I still think they're good but I've gotten so sick of hearing half this album everywhere I go to this very day. I'm not even going to listen to it again. Don't need to.

I remember when this album came out, and I wanted so badly to dislike it because it was the Green Day sell out album. But man, it was catchy and cool and I wanted to fit in. Does it hold up nearly 20 years later? Eh, it’s a good time if you’ve never grown in your music tastes since its release. It’s definitely a hit machine if nothing else. I think it’s been talked into the ground, and I have nothing new to say about it. Armstrong’s voice gets pretty grating after a few tracks. You like Green Day and haven’t heard this album? I’d go ahead and do that.

I must sheepishly admit that I never listened to this album in its entirety, even during its peak when I was younger. While I've found select favourites within the punk rock/pop genre – with tracks from bands like The Offspring, My Chemical Romance, Paramore, and Fall Out Boy resonating with me – I'm admittedly quite picky. Green Day has always been a more mixed bag for me. Nevertheless, of all the tracks on this album, 'Holiday / Boulevard of Broken Dreams' stands out as my favourite. But I'm also not likely to revisit it anytime soon.

a bit boring

2-3

I mean it could be subversive if you were the most middle American person possible. I am not and so it seems more like a corporate put together mainstream bland "punk". All guitar riffs sound the same throughout. "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" is the stand out which shows it's not really punk at all but middle of the road rock.

Very much of the zeitgeist. Sounds hoary now (certainly didn't expect to recognise the slightly reworked chords of Bryn Adams' 'Summer of 69' amidst this...

I know this was a big album when it came out but I’ve never been a fan. Just never sat well with me. Giving a two as there is likely something I’m missing.

I'm not a Green Day fan, and there's not a single from this album that I have liked, but I listened to it anyway...it's not good. Overindulgent but completely uninteresting punkish rock opera with annoying vocals and songs that go on way too long. At it's best, it's okay (I don't mind Whatsername or Holiday), at it's work it's insufferable. 1.5/5

Green Day has spent their career disproving my hypothesis that I can totally hate them. And, while I can't totally, easily hate them...this record comes close with every overproduced, over-instrumented slow number meant to be "meaningful" from the band that brought us the album titled "Dookie" and named themselves after a big weed session. And here we are with this record. I'm not a fan of Green Day's Grease by way of the Clash mixed with their own selves from a decade ago and a dropout version of Professor Greg Graffin's course on Bad Religion. Quadrophenia this is not. And yet, I'll give it an entire star for existing at all as a signpost to punk that existed in the mainstream during some rough years for radio rock and a second star for the opening track.

Didn’t listen, grow up album generator.

Highlights: "American Idiot," "Holiday" It's easy to understand the success of this as a resolute musical comeback for a beloved pop group, with all the hooks and energy their fans could want. But I don't think anyone would have asked for this group to make something so self-serious as a narrative concept album with nine-minute medleys. You can't really call it a "rock opera" so much as a musical, a mark of the increasing convergence in emo et al between rock fans and theater kids. You could imagine Lin Manuel Miranda featuring somewhere in here. Just kidding. But not really. "Dookie" has an appeal as one of many 90s albums about being a loser, something way more grounded and honest and sympathetic than being a millionaire in the Bay making an utterly flat character with a 'Christ figure' label say "how dare you sir." What's really so frustrating is that the narrative seems to obscure the initial setup. The lyrics of "Holiday" don't even line up semantically, let alone arrive at a message, but you definitely get extremely political airs with a clear context of Bush-era jingoism for two wars in the Middle East. And this album literally has a bleeding heart as a weapon on the cover. And it says nothing at all with that. The protagonist gets a girlfriend, smokes weed, gets dumped, and commits suicide. The "letterbomb" in the album if *figurative* for a mean letter sent to an ex. Even if this is some allegory, suggested by the inept use of quasi-pseudo-Indian affect to introduce the love interest, the tail is wagging the dog, and it's not only incomprehensible but ultimately self-pitying. It's purely inward-looking, interested in the suffering and guilt of Americans. Or else that's giving it too much credit. Really a touchstone of feckless liberal resistance preening, a work of dithering, diffusive controlled opposition, a great cash cow dropped all of two months before Bush took a second term, giving no one a moment's pause over what it really had to say.

this was worse than i remember i was rly annoyed

I had a better time with this than Dookie, but I think that's mostly from familiarity (I'll cop to kinda liking "Holiday/Boulevard of Broken Dreams," but otherwise I've really disliked their stuff). I'm definitely in the age cohort such that this one was a big, big deal to people when it came out, so it was nostalgic to play this and realize I knew each song on here really well. But it's also interesting to pull the lists of what else was going on in rock music at the time, and 2004 had a lot going on! Like that's the year that brings us Franz Ferdinand and "Hot Fuss," Modest Mouse released "Good News," White Stripes had just put out "Elephant" the previous year... idk I know emo went strong into the aughts, but my personal big music touchpoints for that era tended to be alt-rock/indie stuff.

Je déteste c'est surcôté à balle et c'est gênant comme pas possible

Clearly a band trying to outgrow one-note punk, but the only good songs on this are the one-note punk songs. And what's with the voice?

I have mixed feelings about this album. It sounds great, and sounds like Green Day, but the concept album kind of ruins it for me. I suppose this album is, for me, like Dookie was 10 years prior to all the original Green Day fans. A big change that made them even more popular than ever, but I wasn't a huge fan of.

3 stars for the drummer. -1 star for everything else being shite.