American idiot

American idiot
Studio album by
Publication (s)	September 21, 2004
Label (s)	Warner Music
Format (s)	CD , LP , music download
Genre (s)	Punk rock , alternative rock , pop-punk , progressive rock , rock opera
Title (number)	13
running time	57:13
occupation	Guitars , vocals : Billie Joe Armstrong Drums : Tré Cool Bass : Mike Dirnt Furthermore: Piano : Rob Cavallo Saxophone : Jason Freese Singing (only in Letterbomb ): Kathleen Hanna
production	Rob Cavallo , Green Day
Studio (s)	Studio 880, Oakland (USA) Ocean Way Recordings, Hollywood (USA)
chronology Shenanigans (2002) American idiot Bullet in a Bible (2005)

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

American idiot   DE 3 10/11/2004 (76 weeks)   AT 1 10/10/2004 (100 weeks)   CH 1 10/03/2004 (79 weeks)   UK 1 10/02/2004 (125 weeks)   US 1 10/09/2004 (121 weeks)

Singles

American idiot   DE 28 04/10/2004 (9 weeks)   AT 18th 10/03/2004 (19 weeks)   CH 75 10/03/2004 (7 weeks)   UK 3 09/25/2004 (16 weeks)   US 61 08/21/2004 (20 weeks) Boulevard of Broken Dreams   DE 13 01/24/2005 (21 weeks)   AT 8th 01/23/2005 (27 weeks)   CH 12 01/23/2005 (26 weeks)   UK 5 12/11/2004 (29 weeks)   US 2 11/27/2004 (36 weeks) Holiday   DE 50 05/09/2005 (9 weeks)   AT 45 05/08/2005 (8 weeks)   CH 44 05/15/2005 (12 weeks)   UK 11 03/26/2005 (8 weeks)   US 19th 04/09/2005 (32 weeks) Wake Me Up When September Ends   DE 22nd 08/22/2005 (18 weeks)   AT 15th 08/21/2005 (26 weeks)   CH 22nd 08/28/2005 (21 weeks)   UK 8th 06/25/2005 (32 weeks)   US 6th 08/06/2005 (27 weeks) Jesus of Suburbia   DE 76 12/26/2005 (9 weeks)   AT 55 December 25, 2005 (5 weeks)   CH 34 01/01/2006 (8 weeks)   UK 17th 11/26/2005 (4 weeks)

American Idiot (English for: " American Idiot ") is the seventh studio album by the US punk rock band Green Day . It was released on September 21, 2004 on Reprise Records . After the band had produced the last album Warning alone, they relied on American Idiot for the support of their longtime producer Rob Cavallo.

American Idiot reached high chart positions internationally. It was also awarded a Grammy for “ Best Rock Album ” that same year .

Emergence

Cigarettes and Valentines

After a long break, Green Day returned to the studio in the spring of 2003 to record a follow-up to the Warning released in 2000 . Again supported by producer Rob Cavallo , 20 songs that sounded much harder and punk were created after the excursions into folk and alternative rock . When the recordings for the album called Cigarettes and Valentines were almost finished, the master tapes disappeared from the studio. The band was faced with the question of whether to record the songs again or start from scratch. She decided that Cigarettes and Valentines was not “Maximum Green Day”. Even producer Cavallo thought the recordings were “mediocre at best”. So Green Day started working on completely new songs. Billie Joe Armstrong later described the incident as "ultimately a blessing".

According to the band, the tapes were stolen, but there are doubts about this version. The band The Network , which consists of the Green Day musicians, released the album Money Money 2020 on Armstrong's and Jason White's label Adeline Records in September 2003 . Due to the temporal proximity and the stylistic orientation, rumors quickly arose that the album was at least partly based on Cigarettes and Valentines .

At their concert in the amphitheater in Greenwood Village (Colorado) on August 28, 2010, Green Day played the alleged title song of the album, Cigarettes and Valentines , live for the first time. Eventually, recordings of the song in Phoenix and Saitama were released on the live album Awesome as Fuck (2011).

It wasn't until 2013 that the band confirmed that raw recordings of the tapes at the time could be saved as a backup. However, these are still under lock and key. At the same time, however, it was also announced that the song Youngblood - released on Revolution Radio - was written in a very early version for Cigarettes and Valentines .

American idiot

The first song after the restart was American Idiot . In this song Armstrong criticizes the US-American politics under the then-President George W. Bush as well as the influence of the media and thus lays the foundation for the strongly political orientation of the album.

Soon after, Mike Dirnt was alone in the studio and, under this impression, wrote a half-minute piece (later Nobody Likes You ). Armstrong and Cool liked this idea and they wrote short songs of their own ( East 12th St. and Rock and Roll Girlfriend ). From these different melodies the nine-minute long homecoming finally developed . Inspired by this approach, Armstrong immediately wrote the second song, composed of several fragments, Jesus of Suburbia . The band thought to create the album as a concept album that tells a coherent story around a main character.

Track list

1. American Idiot (Green Day / Billie Joe Armstrong) - 2:56
2. Jesus of Suburbia (Green Day / Billie Joe Armstrong) - 9:08
   1. Jesus of Suburbia (Green Day / Billie Joe Armstrong)
   2. City of the Damned (Green Day / Billie Joe Armstrong)
   3. I Don't Care (Green Day / Billie Joe Armstrong)
   4. Dearly Beloved (Green Day / Billie Joe Armstrong)
   5. Tales of Another Broken Home (Green Day / Billie Joe Armstrong)
3. Holiday (Green Day / Billie Joe Armstrong) - 3:53
4. Boulevard of Broken Dreams (Green Day / Billie Joe Armstrong) - 4:21
5. Are We the Waiting (Green Day / Billie Joe Armstrong) - 2:44
6. St. Jimmy (Green Day / Billie Joe Armstrong) - 2:56
7. Give Me Novacaine (Green Day / Billie Joe Armstrong) - 3:26
8. She's a Rebel (Green Day / Billie Joe Armstrong) - 2:01
9. Extraordinary Girl (Green Day / Billie Joe Armstrong) - 3:35
10. Letterbomb (Green Day / Billie Joe Armstrong) - 4:07
11. Wake Me Up When September Ends (Green Day / Billie Joe Armstrong) - 4:46
12. Homecoming (Green Day / Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, Tré Cool) - 9:18
    1. The Death of St. Jimmy (Green Day / Billie Joe Armstrong)
    2. East 12th St. (Green Day / Billie Joe Armstrong)
    3. Nobody Likes You (Green Day / Mike Dirnt)
    4. Rock and Roll Girlfriend (Green Day / Tré Cool)
    5. We're Coming Home Again (Green Day / Billie Joe Armstrong)
13. Whatsername (Green Day / Billie Joe Armstrong) - 4:12

concept

American Idiot is a Quadrophenias style rock opera from The Who . The band itself describes the album as a "punk rock opera". It tells the story of Jimmy, a young American who lives with his mother and stepfather in a suburb called "Jingletown" and calls himself "Jesus of Suburbia". He passes the time with television and drugs and feels trapped in the petty-bourgeois " redneck " environment. At the end of the second song, Jesus of Suburbia , he decides to escape the lack of perspective and moves to the city. In the song Holiday he harshly criticizes the Bush administration's " War on Terror " policy and how it deals with critics.

Once in town, Jesus of Suburbia lives alone on the street. In a kind of dissociative identity disorder, he develops an alter ego called “St. Jimmy". St. Jimmy is a rebellious punk - accordingly the album becomes much harder and more aggressive after two quieter songs. He drives Jesus of Suburbia to make his life more bearable with a pain reliever (“Novacaine” is a trade name for the local anesthetic procaine ).

Jesus of Suburbia meets a girl on the street whose face he can remember but whose name he cannot (or does not want to, if you read the booklet ), which is why he calls her Whatsername. In the song She's a Rebel there is a reference to the album cover: “And she's holding on my heart like a hand grenade” (“And she's holding my heart like a hand grenade”).

Jesus of Suburbia and Whatsername fall in love, but the relationship is short-lived. In Letterbomb she wrote him a farewell letter in which she mocked him ("Nobody likes you, everyone left you ...", "Nobody likes you, everyone has left you ...") and accuses him of not being the Jesus of the suburbs for which he keeps, but just another representative of the "idiot America" ​​that he himself criticizes.

Jesus of Suburbia lives alone on the streets again. In Death of St. Jimmy , the first part of the song Homecoming , St. Jimmy commits suicide - Jesus of Suburbia breaks away from his alter ego. He sinks into daydreams, remembers the mockery of Whatsername ("Nobody likes you ...") and decides to return home.

In the last song on the album, Whatsername , he wonders what has become of his old love and finally decides to forget it.

Singles

American idiot

The album's title track, American Idiot , was released as the first single in September 2004 . It was the first Green Day single to be placed on the US Billboard Hot 100 .

Like all videos on the album, the music video was shot by Samuel Bayer , who u. a. became known with the video for Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit . It shows the band in a TV studio in front of a green and white stars and stripes .

Boulevard of Broken Dreams

Boulevard of Broken Dreams is the band's most successful single to date. Released in November 2004, it reached number two in the US singles chart and was awarded a Grammy for "Best Single of the Year".

The accompanying music video won a total of six MTV Video Music Awards : "Video of the Year", "Best Group Video", "Best Rock Video", "Best Direction", "Best Editing" and "Best Cinematography".

Holiday

The third single, Holiday , was released in March 2005. The fact that the song plays before Boulevard of Broken Dreams in the album concept was taken into account in the music videos - Boulevard of Broken Dreams starts where Holiday ends.

On the DVD Bullet in a Bible , Armstrong announced Holiday with the words "This song is not anti-American, it's anti-war!"

Wake Me Up When September Ends

In the song Wake Me Up When September Ends Armstrong processed the death of his father in September 1982. The single was released in June 2005 and brought Green Day the second top 10 position in the US charts.

The accompanying music video is only slightly based on the lyrics. It is about a young couple (played by Evan Rachel Wood and Jamie Bell ) who are separated when the boy is drafted into the army. However, the end of the plot remains open. You can see the young man fighting in a war, where he is also involved in a skirmish, but you do not learn anything about his further fate or that of his girlfriend who is waiting for him.

The video exists in two versions, a slightly longer version with spoken dialogues, for which the music is interrupted, and a shortened version without. The longer video was shown in Germany with German subtitles during the dialogues.

Jesus of Suburbia

The fifth and final single on the album was Jesus of Suburbia in October 2005 . Since the album version of the song with over 9 minutes running time was felt to be too long for the radio, a radio edit was created that was shortened to around six and a half minutes. However, the long album version was included on the singles.

Accordingly, there are also two versions of the music video of Jesus of Suburbia , a twelve-minute version with dialogues and a director's cut that matches the radio edit. The video shows Lou Taylor Pucci as St. Jimmy and Kelli Garner as his girlfriend Whatsername.

Criticism and Awards

American Idiot was received largely favorably by its critics. In the US service Metacritic , the Metascore is 79 out of 100 points after 26 reviews.

Alexander Cordas from Laut.de awarded four out of five stars and wrote:

“In addition to the courage to write a concept album and the musical versatility, the regained strength of the songwriter is striking. As many singalongs and dance floor breakers as on "American Idiot" did not have Green Day in the program even in "Dookie" times. "

- Alexander Cordas

Armin Linder from Plattentests.de gave the album eight out of ten points:

"You have to deal with" American idiot ". Not just to understand. But because it means a big exclamation mark, in terms of content anyway, but especially musically. That's why Green Day are far from being The Who of punk rock. But the best of the good. [...] This "American idiot" is pure explosive because it saves the mallet and has a lasting effect. "

- Armin Linder

Rolling Stone says American Idiot is a mess, with the individual songs being robust and expressive enough to work on their own. The album received four and a half stars out of five:

“American Idiot could have been a mess; in fact, it is a mess. [...] But the individual tunes are tough and punchy enough to work on their own. "

- Rob Sheffield

American Idiot received a Grammy for " Best Rock Album ". The album was also named “Best Album” at the MTV Europe Music Awards and “Favorite Album” at the American Music Awards .

Awards for music sales

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
Argentina (CAPIF)	2 × platinum	80,000
Australia (ARIA)	6 × platinum	420,000
Belgium (BEA)	platinum	(30,000)
Brazil (PMB)	gold	50,000
Denmark (IFPI)	2 × platinum	(80,000)
Germany (BVMI)	7 × gold	(700,000)
Europe (IFPI)	4 × platinum	4,000,000
Finland (IFPI)	gold	(23,113)
France (SNEP)	platinum	(300,000)
Greece (IFPI)	platinum	(20,000)
Ireland (IRMA)	8 × platinum	(120,000)
Italy (FIMI)	platinum	(80,000)
Japan (RIAJ)	2 × platinum	400,000
Canada (MC)	6 × platinum	600,000
Mexico (AMPROFON)	platinum	100,000
New Zealand (RMNZ)	4 × platinum	60,000
Netherlands (NVPI)	gold	(40,000)
Austria (IFPI)	2 × platinum	(60,000)
Portugal (AFP)	gold	(10,000)
Sweden (IFPI)	platinum	(60,000)
Switzerland (IFPI)	2 × platinum	(80,000)
Spain (Promusicae)	gold	(50,000)
Hungary (MAHASZ)	gold	(10,000)
United States (RIAA)	6 × platinum	6,000,000
United Kingdom (BPI)	7 × platinum	(2,100,000)
All in all	13 × gold 60 × platinum	11,810,000

Main article: Green Day / Music Sales Awards

Trivia

• The live album Bullet in a Bible , released on November 11, 2005, was created during the 2005 tour for American Idiot and contains live versions of various songs from the album.
• Shortly after the album was released, there was already speculation about a possible film adaptation of the material. On September 4, 2009, the musical American Idiot premiered.
• Whatsername's voice, which can be heard briefly at the beginning of Letterbomb , mocking Jesus of Suburbia (“Nobody likes you…”) belongs to the ex- bikini-kill front woman Kathleen Hanna , who is also a member of the band Le Tigre , as well as Riot-Grrrl activist.
• Jesus of Suburbia's hometown of Jingletown is a real suburb in the eastern part of Oakland, California, the hometown of the band. Some parts of the album were also recorded there. The place got its nickname from the Portuguese workers of the neighboring canning factory who used to jingle with the money in their pockets on the way home after they had received their wages ("to jingle"). Jingletown's population today is mostly Latin Americans. Probably the Jingletown from American Idiot is not completely identical to the real one, but is also derived as a play on words from the term Jingle to symbolize the pretended idyll of the suburb.
• The bastard pop artists DJ Party Ben and team9 released the mash-up album American Edit under the pseudonym Dean Gray , which is based on American Idiot .
• Universal Studios and Playtone , Tom Hanks ' production company , are currently working on a film adaptation of the musical.
• In response to Donald Trump's election as 45th President of the United States on November 8, 2016, the music channel VIVA broadcast the music video for American Idiot on loop for one hour .

Web links

• Criticism on laut.de
• Criticism on plattentests.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US1 US2
2. ↑ ^{a b c} American Idiot Era 2004–2008 ( Memento from January 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
3. ↑ Consequence of Sound: Watch: Green Day debut “Cigarettes and Valentines” and “Olivia” (English)
4. ↑ YesButNoButYes: Top 10 Albums You've Never Heard (English)
5. ↑ Punknews.org: Videos: Green Day: "Cigarettes and Valentines" (English)
6. ↑ David Fricke: Q&A: Green Day's Mike Dirnt on Billie Joe Armstrong's Recovery. In: Rolling Stone . Wenner Media, March 1, 2013, accessed on May 8, 2017 . 
7. ↑ laut.de: "Laut.de criticism: Against the war, terror and hysteria hysteria"
8. ↑ Plattentests.de: Review: Green Day - American Idiot
9. ↑ Rolling Stone: American Idiot by Green Day (English)
10. ↑ rollingstone.com: Green Day's “American Idiot” Musical To Debut September '09 , March 30, 2009 (English)
11. ↑ Bory's Kit: "American Idiot" movie lands at Universal. Reuters , April 13, 2011, accessed April 13, 2011 . 
12. ^ "American Idiot" movie confirmed - Tom Hanks producing, Michael Mayer directing. Green Day Authority, April 13, 2011, accessed April 13, 2011 . 
13. ↑ Timo Niemeier: "American Idiot": Viva protests against Trump. In: DWDL.de . DWDL.de GmbH, November 9, 2016, accessed on November 10, 2016 .