American Idiot
by Green Day
What McDonalds did to the hamburger, Green Day did to punk rock. I mean this in a good way! Some of my earliest memories are watching the music videos for some of these tracks on MTV with my older brother and sister (particularly Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Holiday, American Idiot, and Wake Me Up When September Ends). Now I work on music videos for a living - reengaging with this every few years helps me measure how much my understanding of the medium has grown. It feels really cool to be able to grow up and appreciate this in the cultural context of post-9/11 Bush-era America. It's perversely stuck in its time, and I can't help but love it for that.