It's a bit tempting to peg Green Day's sprawling, ambitious, brilliant seventh album, American Idiot, as their version of a Who album, the next logical step forward from the Kinks-inspired popcraft of their underrated 2000 effort, Warning, but things aren't quite that simple. American Idiot is an unapologetic, unabashed ock opera, a form that Pete Townshend pioneered with Tommy, but Green Day doesn't use that for a blueprint as much as they use the Who's mini-opera "A Quick One, While He's Away," whose whirlwind succession of 90-second songs isn't only emulated on two song suites here, but provides the template for the larger 13-song cycle. But the Who are only one of many inspirations on this audacious, immensely entertaining album. The story of St. Jimmy has an arc similar to Hüsker Dü's landmark punk-opera Zen Arcade, while the music has grandiose flourishes straight out of both Queen and Rocky Horror Picture Show (the '50s pastiche "Rock and Roll Girlfriend" is punk rock Meat Loaf), all tied together with a nervy urgency and a political passion reminiscent of the Clash, or all the anti-Reagan American hardcore bands of the '80s. These are just the clearest touchstones for American Idiot, but reducing the album to its influences gives the inaccurate impression that this is no more than a patchwork quilt of familiar sounds, when it's an idiosyncratic, visionary work in its own right. First of all, part of Green Day's appeal is how they have personalized the sounds of the past, making time-honored guitar rock traditions seem fresh, even vital. With their first albums, they styled themselves after first-generation punk they were too young to hear firsthand, and as their career progressed, the group not only synthesized these influences into something distinctive, but chief songwriter Billie Joe Armstrong turned into a muscular, versatile songwriter in his own right.
Warning illustrated their growing musical acumen quite impressively, but here, the music isn't only tougher, it's fluid and, better still, it fuels the anger, disillusionment, heartbreak, frustration, and scathing wit at the core of American Idiot. And one of the truly startling things about American Idiot is how the increased musicality of the band is matched by Armstrong's incisive, cutting lyrics, which effectively convey the paranoia and fear of living in American in days after 9/11, but also veer into moving, intimate small-scale character sketches. There's a lot to absorb here, and cynics might dismiss it after one listen as a bit of a mess when it's really a rich, multi-faceted work, one that is bracing upon the first spin and grows in stature and becomes more addictive with each repeated play. Like all great concept albums, American Idiot works on several different levels. It can be taken as a collection of great songs -- songs that are as visceral or as poignant as Green Day at their best, songs that resonate outside of the larger canvas of the story, as the fiery anti-Dubya title anthem proves -- but these songs have a different, more lasting impact when taken as a whole. While its breakneck, freewheeling musicality has many inspirations, there really aren't many records like American Idiot (bizarrely enough, the Fiery Furnaces' Blueberry Boat is one of the closest, at least on a sonic level, largely because both groups draw deeply from the kaleidoscopic "A Quick One"). In its musical muscle and sweeping, politically charged narrative, it's something of a masterpiece, and one of the few -- if not the only -- records of 2004 to convey what it feels like to live in the strange, bewildering America of the early 2000s.
That title requires a certain level of clarification, and I shall deliver it by regaling you with a story.I was listening to the radio (KROQ in Los Angeles) a few weeks back when they had a segment on which bands do you immediately turn the radio off upon hearing them. I thought it was an interesting topic, although one that could have the hidden agenda of trying to cull the herd of radio play...
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Yesterday, marked the 17th anniversary of my father's death. For years now, I have found my mood getting more and more "salty" as the month of March wears on. When Green Day released Wake Me Up When September Ends as a single, I cried the first time that I heard it. Nobody captured the feeling that I get year after year as much as this song. I am really sorry for Billie Joe's loss at age 12. My...
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An Oregon man is pressing his claim that he wrote not one but all of the songs on Green Day's Grammy-winning "American Idiot" album. Paul McPike, 32, Medford, filed a lawsuit in federal court last week alleging that he composed the lyrics and the music for "American Idiot" in 1992 -- more than 10 years before it became a best-seller and won the Grammy for best album in 2005. A federal magistra...
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A loooooooooooong time ago, Bono intro-ed a live cover of "Helter Skelter" by going into a laughably pretentious spiel about how Charles Manson had tried to steal the song away from the Beatles, but now U2 was stealing it back.Now, perhaps, Green Day is trying to steal American football - the Official Non-Motorized Sport of the GOP, boo yaa! - back for the rest of us by getting into bed with th...
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More often than not, the big Inside the Beltway civil liberties and progressive advocacy organizations might be hard for regular Americans to relate to, especially Americans under 40. Hard as they try-- and the ones I'm in touch with do try hard-- there's often a social disconnect somewhere along the line. People For the American Way, the granddaddy of 'em all, just announced something that is ...
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This link was sent to me from someone close to Green Dayhttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/30/theater/30berk.html?_r=1&ref=theater Punk CD Is Going TheatricalBy DAVE ITZKOFFThe punks are invading the theater. A new musical production adapted from "American Idiot," the best-selling album by the punk band Green Day, is scheduled to make its debut in September at the Berkeley Repertory Theater in Cali...
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The countdown to Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown is well underway. Only 36 days or some 876 hours (yes, I am a fan!) Last night, the punk rock trio played a secret show at San Francisco's Independent, with tickets only going for $20 a pop. Billed as "Band Practice" the band played more than 30 songs (2 page setlist!) that lasted 2+ hours to a crowd of roughly 500 fans. Here's some short vid...
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May 15th. Mark your calenders. That's the worldwide release date for the new Butch Vig-produced Green Day album 21st Century Breakdown. Warming up the album's release will be the first single "Know Your Enemy" out sometime in April.The anti- D.C. 21st Century Breakdown is shaping up to be another concept album from the Bay area rockers, much like 2004's American Idiot which followed around ant...
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Yesterday, marked the 17th anniversary of my father's death. For years now, I have found my mood getting more and more "salty" as the month of March wears on. When Green Day released Wake Me Up When September Ends as a single, I cried the first time that I heard it. Nobody captured the feeling that I get year after year as much as this song. I am really sorry for Billie Joe's loss at age 12. My...
More >
More often than not, the big Inside the Beltway civil liberties and progressive advocacy organizations might be hard for regular Americans to relate to, especially Americans under 40. Hard as they try-- and the ones I'm in touch with do try hard-- there's often a social disconnect somewhere along the line. People For the American Way, the granddaddy of 'em all, just announced something that is ...
More >
As long as I'm hyping my blog friends, I thought I give a shout out to MyCrazyMusicBlog, and his work with the Berkeley Rep. From Sept. 4th - November 1st, the Berkeley Rep will be showcasing American Idiot, based off Green Day's album in collaboration with Michael Mayer. Here is a brief synopsis:American IdiotGreen Day won two Grammys for its multi-platinum album American Idiot, which sold mor...
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A loooooooooooong time ago, Bono intro-ed a live cover of "Helter Skelter" by going into a laughably pretentious spiel about how Charles Manson had tried to steal the song away from the Beatles, but now U2 was stealing it back.Now, perhaps, Green Day is trying to steal American football - the Official Non-Motorized Sport of the GOP, boo yaa! - back for the rest of us by getting into bed with th...
More >
Bono and the Edge have found their lead for the Spider-Man musical, Run-DMC are teaming up with a Hollywood producer for a possible Broadway run, Regina Spektor is writing songs for a Sleeping Beauty adaptation, and now Green Day’s Berkeley-based...
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That title requires a certain level of clarification, and I shall deliver it by regaling you with a story.I was listening to the radio (KROQ in Los Angeles) a few weeks back when they had a segment on which bands do you immediately turn the radio off upon hearing them. I thought it was an interesting topic, although one that could have the hidden agenda of trying to cull the herd of radio play...
More >
I’ll admit I was actually considering going to Green Day’s American Idiot musical, which is playing down the street at the Berkeley Rep for just one more month. After catching the trailer, however, I’m not quite sure what to think. The music and...
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While discussing “American Idiot”, the Broadway-style musical, Green Day bass player, Mike Dirnt, told NBC Bay Area…“The only negative thing about being in Green Day is that we don’t get to see Green Day live so this takes care of that 100 fold for us,”To get a sneak preview of the show along with more [...]
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An Oregon man is pressing his claim that he wrote not one but all of the songs on Green Day's Grammy-winning "American Idiot" album. Paul McPike, 32, Medford, filed a lawsuit in federal court last week alleging that he composed the lyrics and the music for "American Idiot" in 1992 -- more than 10 years before it became a best-seller and won the Grammy for best album in 2005. A federal magistra...
More >
Yes, Green Day’s last album, American Idiot, is to be adapted for the stage by Michael Mayer, the Tony Award winning director of ‘ Spring Awakening ’. Apparently Green Day long been thinking of bringing American Idiot to the stage, but it is now that they’ve found the right partners to help them realise that ambition. More on the stage version of American Idiot here.
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Green Day have confirmed that their album' American Idiot' is to be adapted for the stage. Mayer and his producing partner Tom Hulce approached Green Day for permission, revealing : It was very much in my head all that time [ during Spring Awakening ]. American Idiot will intially play at California's Berkley Repertory Theatre from September.
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