AMERICAN IDIOT
American Idiot is the seventh studio album by American rock band Green Day. Produced by Rob Cavallo, the album was released in the UK on September 20, 2004 and in the US on September 21, 2004 by Reprise Records. A concept album dubbed a “punk rock opera” by the band members, American Idiot follows the story of Jesus of Suburbia, a lower-middle-class American adolescent anti-hero. Through its plot, the album expresses the disillusionment and dissent of a generation that came of age in a period shaped by many tumultuous events like the Iraq War. American Idiot charted in 27 countries, peaking at number one in 19, and eventually sold 16 million copies worldwide. The album spawned five successful singles. American Idiot was well received critically and won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Album in 2005. Its success inspired a Broadway musical and an incomplete feature film adaptation. (More from Wikipedia)
Green Day was the lead punk revival band of the early 1990’s and actually have had much greater success than any of the original punk rock bands, and most of the new wave bands as well. Their first major-label release (and third album), Dookie (1994) was an immediate worldwide smash, peaking at #2 on the Billboard Hot 200 Albums chart, and sold well throughout the 1990’s, with total sales of 20 million albums. Their 2004 rock-opera album American Idiot was the basis of a hit Broadway show a few years later. In all, Green Day has sold more than 85 million albums and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015, their first year of eligibility.
The celebration of the 10th anniversary this year of the introduction by Apple Computers of their earthshaking personal device, the iPhone let me know that Steve Jobs referenced Green Day in his original announcement about the iPhone. While demonstrating its features on January 9, 2007, he flashed the album art for American Idiot to the audience and played a brief excerpt from “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”.
* * *
Twenty-three years after the release of the punk-rock concept album Only Lovers Left Alive by past UARB the Wanderers, Green Day released their classic rock-opera album, American Idiot. From Wikipedia: “American Idiot (2004) marked a career comeback for Green Day following a period of decreased success. It charted in 27 countries, peaking at number one in 19, and eventually sold 16 million copies worldwide. The album spawned five successful singles: ‘American Idiot’, ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’, ‘Holiday’, ‘Wake Me Up When September Ends’, and ‘Jesus of Suburbia’.”
* * *
But nothing prepared me for Green Day’s rock opera to become a hit Broadway show called American Idiot; the musical ran for a full year beginning in April 2010 and since then has had regular performances worldwide. The musical American Idiot featured all of the songs from the original American Idiot album, plus several from their second rock opera, 21st Century Breakdown (2009) and one previously unreleased song, “When it’s Time”. Billie Joe Armstrong wrote the book for the musical with director Michael Mayer; while Green Day never performed during the show, Armstrong occasionally played the role of “St. Jimmy” during the Broadway run.
(June 2017)
