It’s been four years since Green Day released their last album, Warning, a period that has clearly given the Berkeley Punk outfit a radical shift in perspective. American Idiot is a concept album straddled by two nine minute workouts, Jesus of Suburbia and Homecoming, each told in five parts.
The notion of a punk concept album from a band whose origins lie in turbo charged 3 minute angst fests (their first breakout single was all about torpor and masturbation) and whose name alludes to hazy, smoked-out days, might have filled some fans with apprehension. But GreenDay have pulled it off and some critics are lauding American Idiot as the band’s best album in their twelve year career.
Post 9/11 in the midst of the era of George Dubya, there’s a whole helluva lot to get riled up about and Green Day do, from “redneck agendas” to “a hurricane of f*!@ing lies” and a “zieg heil President,” all underscored by a pervasive sense of alienation. Billie Joe Armstrong’s lyrics are visceral but not weighed down by a sense of their own self importance. Musically, this is something in the manner of a rock opera, with nods to the likes of Queen and of course rock opera pioneers, The Who. Jesus of Suburbia particularly stands out with its clipped phrases (musical and lyrical) morphing into a different variation so that there’s no sense of things dragging.
American Idiot is an audacious, sprawling musical adventure that nevertheless manages to hold itself together, showing that Green Day have evolved into something greater than the sum of their parts. JD