American Idiot

The Recording

After the release of International Superhits!, Green Day's greatest hits album, the band was scared and inspired into writing American Idiot. Their writing process had become mechanical and they felt they needed to release something more relevant. This inspired them to write their most critically acclaimed album to date, American Idiot. It is a rock opera, similar to other thematic albums such as Pink Floyd's The Wall and The Who's Quadrophenia.

Related Topics:
International Superhits! - Rock opera - Pink Floyd - The Wall - The Who - Quadrophenia

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Two of the tracks, "Jesus of Suburbia" and "Homecoming", composed in 5 different parts, are multi-movement suites that are both more than nine minutes long. In Armstrong's words, "One day, Mike was at the studio and he wrote a thirty-second song. I don't know, I liked it so I wanted to do one too. The one that I did, I connected to his and then Tre did one and he connected it to mine and so on and so forth until we had about ten minutes. It was just purely out of having a good time." These thirty-second song sessions were started in frustration when the band was trying to decided what to do after the master tapes of their orginally planned album were stolen. Armstrong jokingly remarked during this session "This sounds like a Rock-Opera" The song "American Idiot" has been described by the band as their public statement in reaction to the confusing and warped scene that is American pop culture since 9/11. Armstrong has said that they chose to write this way because the band has obtained respect and sway in the music world, and that this social commentary is part of their natural evolution as a band. They have four videos from the album, "American Idiot", "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", "Holiday" and the latest "Wake Me Up When September Ends". The 9-minute epic "Jesus of Suburbia" is tipped as the fifth and final single/video for American Idiot.

Related Topics:
American Idiot - 9/11

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American Idiot has sold 4.0 million units in the US as of August 2005.

Related Topics:
August - 2005

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