‘American Idiot’: A Punk Guide on How to Grow Up
I remember interviewing a new-ish band back in 2004 who were dunking on Green Day before the interview started. Their then-imminent album, American Idiot, was clearly a new direction for the band: the title track and first single had already made a big impact and was the talk of the rock world. “They used to sing about getting high and hanging out,” one of the members scoffed. “And now they’re political geniuses?”
At the time, I worked for VH1, and it would not have been appropriate to comment. My job was more to ask questions and get clips that I would put into my news packages that would air on the channel. I was a bit annoyed: I loved Green Day. (Admittedly, I was late to the game: it was 2000’s Warning that really made me a believer.) I thought the song “American Idiot” was amazing, and I’d already heard the new album by that point. I was about to interview them for the album. I couldn’t believe how ambitious it was – and how well it worked. Who would have guessed ten years earlier that these guys would do a well-thought-out, politically-charged concept album featuring two mini-epics that clocked in at over nine minutes each?
So, yes, it was a surprising change of direction, and I was curious how they decided to change so radically. Most rock fans and rock bands are self-conscious enough to know that “We hope you enjoy our new direction” is an invitation for ridicule. Would “Green Day mk. 2” work?
I figured that Warning’s lack of commercial success was part of the reason for the change. Warning was certified gold for sales in excess of 500,000; the three prior albums ranged from double platinum to diamond-certified for sales in excess of ten million. Meanwhile, culture was changing; most of the other alternative rock giants from the early ‘90s were splitting up or just losing popularity. MTV’s TRL was the cultural leader that 120 Minutes and Lollapalooza once was. This worked if you were a nu-metal band, Creed, or blink-182. (The latter, of course, would probably not have existed without Green Day’s influence.) But popular culture was very much moving past the alternative rock giants of the late ’80s and early ’90s and moving on to the next thing.
So I asked Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tre Cool about how they arrived at American Idiot. I think it was Mike who noted that when you tour internationally as they had been doing for nearly a decade, you notice big differences in the way news is reported in other parts of the world and how it is reported in America. That led them to question why and to question other stuff, too. They didn’t elaborate too much on this point, but it’s clear that looking at America from other parts of the world gave them a new perspective.
Billie Joe noted that he loved cast recordings of Broadway albums. I think West Side Story might have been one of them. They also mentioned loving the Who: Not just the early stuff like “Substitute” and “My Generation,” (the latter of which they covered in their early days) but also more complex stuff like “A Quick One, While He’s Away,” which they later covered and released as a b-side for the next album, 21st Century Breakdown.
Clearly, Billie Joe and the band did not want to do the same thing over and over. They love the Ramones. The Ramones represent the gold standard of (mostly) sticking with a tried and true formula over a career. But Green Day may be a bit more like the Clash, who had a bit more ambition (not to mention they were more political). I’m a few years older than the Green Day guys, but I recognized their transition as something those of us who don’t make records call “growing up.” It’s generally uncool to refer to growing up in rock and roll, much less in punk rock, but that’s what it was. They went from guys playing straight-ahead punk rock to a band that tried something a bit more ambitious. They went from being kids who didn’t care about much to adults who realized that they have a stake in what happens in the world. They gained perspective.
Another part of growing up is learning to gamble on ourselves; Green Day showed us that doing this can pay off. American Idiot topped the Billboard charts, had a handful of classic singles (but the album tracks were amazing too), went six times platinum, took them from playing theaters to headlining stadiums, and even got them back onto Top 40 radio.
I thought of all of this when I saw them on their summer tour a few weeks ago. Each night, they played all of 1994’s Dookie and 2004’s American Idiot, along with some other material. It was amazing: It wasn’t just the singles that people loved. People knew every lyric and nuance in the five-part “Jesus of Suburbia” and the album’s closer, “Whatshername.” There were people my age (and even older!); there were people who experienced Dookie in high school or college, and then another generation whose youth soundtrack was American Idiot.
Even if I didn’t love Dookie at the time, I love it now; it’s also a bit deeper of an album that it gets credit for. “Pulling Teeth” deals with domestic violence; “Coming Clean” is about a boy coming to terms with his sexuality. But I wondered: Would they have the respect that they get in our culture without American Idiot? Would they be Rock & Roll Hall of Famers without American Idiot? Maybe, but I am inclined to think not.
American Idiot is not just a classic album but a daring one, and one that led to one of the best comebacks in rock and roll history. And standing on my feet, singing along with about 40,000 other fans, I realized that it provides a strange kind of punk-rock guide to growing up while keeping your edge.
