American Idiot (Parental Advisory) [PA] - Green Day > Reviews > American Idiot

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Average
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	Likeable, Good music
Disadvantages:	Not as good as previous albums .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

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!