Image credit Warner Brothers/Reprise Records
2004 was a shitty year, but a lot of good music came out.
My country was stuck in two wars, including one undertaken under a whole bunch of easily disprovable lies. Our President was a bumbling idiot, who had lost the popular vote and was implemented thanks to one of the worst Supreme Court decisions in history. Worse, he seemed to be heading towards reelection.
It was in this backdrop that Green Day released the first single from their seventh album, the title track American Idiot, on August 6th, 2004. The full album, self-described “punk rock opera,” came out on September 21st. Right smack in the middle of a contentious election campaign.
Green Day’s Big Comeback?
As big as Green Day remains today, going on a stadium tour to celebrate 30 years of breakthrough album Dookie and 20 years of American Idiot, it’s hard to remember that in the several years before the latter, they were considered a bit washed up.
1994 was a banner year for punk, or the year punk sold out, depending on how you look at it. Green Day and The Offspring sold millions of copies of Dookie and Smash respectively that year, and a whole bunch of underground bands suddenly got noticed in their wake. Punk went mainstream, or at least pop punk did.
Green Day followed up with Insomniac, Nimrod and by 2000 released their fourth major label record, Warning. While Insomniac and Nimrod sold a respectable 3 million each, it was still far less than the 8 million copies Dookie sold to that point. Warning would end up with sales less than 1 million.
After Warning failed to live up to expectations as far as sales and hit singles, the band scaled back from playing stadiums and large amphitheaters and arenas, and started playing smaller arenas, theaters and even clubs again. They played Warped Tour. They went on an unserious tour where they took audience requests.
As if to accept Green Day’s time had come and gone, the Reprise Records put out a greatest hits album and an album full of B-sides and covers. They were quickly heading towards being a nostalgia act, opening for the newer, younger Blink 182 on 2002’s Pop Disaster tour.
American Idiot Changed Everything, At Least for Green Day
Image credit Lloyd Morgan, Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 2.0
The band recorded most of an ill-fated album called Cigarettes and Valentines, but someone stole the master tapes. That album was described as being “quick-tempoed punk,” in the vein of the band’s 1991 independent release Kerplunk.
Instead of re-recording, the band decided to scrap the entire idea and go in a different direction. The result was American Idiot.
The lead single and title track is a simple anthem. A declaration of sorts.
“Don’t wanna be an American idiot,” is the opening line.
Verse two has the most controversial lines:
Well, maybe I’m the faggot America
I’m not part of a redneck agenda
To those of us who felt marginalized by our increasing disillusion of the war in Iraq and the direction of the country under George W. Bush (and history has largely proven us correct), these lines hit.
You had a president making jingoistic, divisive statements like “either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.” A statement originally intended for the Taliban of Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11, but carried over by his party and media supporters to describe anyone who spoke out against a war in Iraq.
We were made to feel like faggots at times, a slur I detest, but took on new meaning to describe anyone not marching along to unquestioning patriotism.
The line was not without backlash. I know some people I know from my small hometown who had previously enjoyed Green Day took offense to it. Not the use of the word faggot, but the use of the word redneck. They were taken aback that someone would dare use that as an insult. They were confused that punk rock could be blatantly political.
Despite any backlash, the album would prove to be Green Day’s pivot back into relevancy. Back into headlining amphitheaters, arenas and stadiums. It changed their look, from that of bratty skate punks to black-clad, eye-makeup wearing rock stars. The album would sell almost as many copies as Dookie.
The one thing it did not do? Affect the outcome of the 2004 election. George W. Bush would end up being reelected, and hope for millions of Americans yearning for a change was lost for another four years. Over the next four years, the war would escalate, and the United States economy would crash. The American Idiots had won, even if many would suffer.
American Idiot’s Legacy
The album received positive reviews, sold over 8 million copies worldwide in an era of overall declining record sales, and won Grammy awards for Best Rock Album and Record of the Year for single Boulevard of Broken Dreams amidst five other nominations.
The band capitalized on the popularity and concept, and turned it into a Tony Award-winning stage musical.
20 years later, Green Day is currently in the middle of a summer-long stadium tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of the album, along with the 30th anniversary of Dookie. Judging by the ticket prices, the band remains more popular than ever, although admittedly now as a full-blown nostalgia act.
Multiple hit singles followed American Idiot, including the overtly political Holiday, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, and Wake Me Up When September Ends.
20 years later, the album stands up. It may not have changed the world for the better as once dreamed, but it is an anthem for those of us who chose to question rather than simply accept.