The latest issue of Rolling Stone magazine (12/24/09) lists its choices for the Top 100 Albums of the Decade. I zipped trough the list, looking for Green Day’s American Idiot, which would have been my selection for the NO. 1 SPOT. With its grandiose themes (hopes and dreams of a better America), songs that tell a story, and lush/angry arrangements, American Idiot is a Rock Opera with a capital R and O. The CD was released in 2004. It was wildly successful, selling 14 million copies worldwide and earning a Grammy for Best Rock Album. Five years later, I still listen to it almost daily.
I love the songs so much—the fury of the lyrics; the high-energy pulsating rhythms; the sing-able melodies; the cranking intensity of the playing; the muscular and impassioned voice of Billie Joe Armstrong—I never tire of hearing them. Over the years, the songs that killed me (“St. Jimmy”) still kill me. The ones that electrified me (“American Idiot”) still do. The ones that made me swoon (“Wake Me Up When September Ends”) still get to me like nobody’s business.
And after all these years, AI still rings true. It emotionally charges me like “Born to Run” used to do in the 70s. My favorite song is “Holiday.” If I had to choose one song to play at my funeral* this song would be IT. The song sends me into the stratosphere.
“I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives
On holiday.”
“Holiday” gives me a feeling of exuberant confidence. When I listen to this song, there is NOTHING IN THE WORLD that can touch me.
(*Speaking of funerals, which I REFUSE to have when the time comes [and if someone plans one I’m not going!], if I can get to the end of my life and NOT be an American Idiot, I will have had a good life.)
One of the reasons AI continues to resonate with me is that socially and politically it is a perfect fit for me. The majority of it is a “big F.U. to the politicians,” as Billie Joe screams in the intro to “Holiday” on Bullet in a Bible (live concert DVD). AI is a wake-up call for Americans to pay attention to what’s happening in their country.
AI is Green Day’s scathing commentary on the dismal state—politically, economically, globally, and culturally—America has devolved into. To me the message of this CD is as patriotic as any “God Bless the USA” kind of fluff songs. I think AI makes America a better place to live. To this end Green Day has my undying love and devotion.
What Bruce Springsteen said about Pete Seeger I think can be said about Green Day:
“Pete has been a stealth dagger through the heart of America’s illusions about itself.”
Rolling Stone magazine rated American Idiot at No. 22 for the ’00 Decade. Hey RS, clean out your ears!
I agree with Kerrang!, a rock music magazine published in the U. K. It voted American Idiot the NO. 1 Album of the Decade. I must say, what excellent taste those Brits have!
P.S. In September of this year I saw American Idiot: The Musical at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Every song on the AI CD is included. I hate musical theater but this production was stellar. I give it an A- only because when you’re used to Billie Joe ripping through his own songs, no one else’s voice, no matter how talented, can compare.
In the musical there are also three songs from 21st Century Breakdown, the phenomenal follow-up album to AI released this year—presented in tomorrow’s blog on 12/17/09.
