This is the latest studio album by American pop-punk rockers Green Day. This is the album that exploded their popularity in the UK and had them filling stadiums in minutes. Milton Keynes Bowl filled with 65,000 people two days in a row gives you some idea of their popularity.
This album is a more commercially friendly album than the rest of the works by the trio. After quite a while of not producing an awful lot, this was well worth waiting for. Well, definitely for the band, maybe not so much for their loyal following. This latest album seemed too mainstream and political for the liking of many of the fans of the 'old' Green Day.
The album as a whole is very good. It is somewhat of a rock opera which tells a story as it goes through. Little dates in the lyrics book show the passing of time through the whole album. The album with thirteen tracks including two ten minute tracks with 5 little sections each, is well worth the money paid for it. At first listen, all the songs seem listen-to-able and decent
in their own right. After a while some grow a bit tiresome but others still are great to listen to. The album has a bit of a mix of pop rock, rock, pop and pop punk. This is the track listing for the album:
1. American Idiot 2. Jesus of Suburbia i. Jesus of Suburbia ii. City of the Damned iii. I Don't Care iv. Dearly Beloved v. Tales of Another Broken Home 3. Holiday 4. Boulevard of Broken Dreams 5. Are We The Waiting 6. St. Jimmy 7. Give Me Novacaine 8. She's A Rebel 9. Extraordinary Girl 10. Letterbomb 11. Wake Me Up When September Ends 12. Homecoming i. The Death of St. Jimmy ii. East 12th St. iii. Nobody Likes You iv. Rock and Roll Girlfriend v. We're Coming Home Again 13. Whatsername
1. American Idiot The track that threw them straight into the spotlight of the world. This pop punk sort of track is them telling the world they don't want to be told what to do. After the release of this record practically every teenager had heard of Green Day and everyone started loving them. The song itself is nice, upbeat and rocking a good listen and definitely catches the attention first time of hearing it.
2. Jesus of Suburbia This is the first of the ten-ish minute tracks on the album. This track was released I think last out of the ones that have been. The released version of this was only about 6 minutes long and sounded very incomplete. Anyone who has heard the released version and not this should listen to this, especially if you liked it.
3. Holiday Very pop punkish sort of song. They got accused of being very anti-American when this got released but they made their point of view clear that they were anti-war not anti-American. (Same thing isn't it...?) The track is again upbeat and lively. One of my favourites when I first bought the album.
4. Boulevard of Broken Dreams One of the first slightly slower songs of the album. This was the second song released off the album and was again very successful though it was a bit different to American Idiot. The track is slow in the verses then picks up in the choruses but a song doesn't need to be fast to be good. It is a great song to listen to.
6. St. Jimmy This has to be one of the best unreleased tracks in rock history. Many many people believe this to be the best track on the album and somehow it remained unreleased.. maybe keeping it to those who were loyal enough to buy the album I don't know but this is a great track. Lively and exciting music, very punk rock music with catchy lyrics.
8. She's A Rebel This is very much based on punk rock styling. Very simple guitars, as always with Green Day, and simple lyrics. Repeat twice and you've got yourself a song!
11. Wake Me Up When September Ends This is a sad song about the lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong's father who died when he was young. A very emotional song. A bit slower than the rest of the album. I didn't like it to start with but it grew on me. Emotional performance at Milton Keynes was lovely. See Bullet In A Bible for more on that. Great song.
13. Whatsername Now this is a bit of a disappointing ending for me. It is a bit of a slow, boring song that you don't want to end on.. you want it to end on something loud and heavy to make you want to listen to the whole thing again! This just brings it down a bit.
So there that's a few tracks looked at in a little detail. This is a great album and I hope that anything coming from them in the future is this good. If you like Green Day and have only heard this album, definitely make sure you check out their earlier stuff, a little more to my liking! Nice album, enjoy it!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
The only album I have heard from Green Day and I would have hoped their other stuff was similar because this is great. When September Ends is possible my least favourite out of a top selection. Very good review.
Pink-Ice-Queen 18.05.2007 23:34
I quite like green Day...some of these tracks sound ace :-)
jomarley2 18.05.2007 13:03
Good review, i would of liked to hear more about what you thought about though as i have this myself and i thought the first few tracks were great but then the album went slightly down hill. jo : )
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