American Idiot,
Green DayWhat else is there to say about Green Day that hasn't already been said? Ever since 'Dookie' blasted through 10-million CD players, Billie Joe, Tre and Mike have walked along a path paved in gold. Gold records that is, for every single one of their recent albums has sold by the proverbial bucketload. 'Insomniac' may not have been the same commercial success of its predecessor, but follow-up 'Nimrod' is every bit as good. That leaves us with the curveball 'Warning', a record which surprised many for its un-Green Day like tendancies. It was as if Mr Armstrong suddenly became Elvis Costello or something. So here we are, present day, and Green Day are back. But is 'American Idiot' a return to punk form or Warning Mk II?
In truth it's a mish-mash of both. In sound alone, this would have been the easier step for fans to take rather than the sudden jump from the spite-filled gob of 'Nimrod' to the pop sensibilities of 'Warning'. The tracks here swap and change between the faster, punkier efforts ('St Jimmy' and 'American Idiot' are blasts of old), to the quieter, more considered 'Holiday'. So we've established that the sound is a little less frightening at first than the last record. Good. But, wait, what's this? A punk rock...opera...
Yes folks, here's the twist. The George W baiting title track aside (which, let's be honest, is a fantastic pop-punk song), this is the story of Jimmy and his rise and fall. The album takes in love, lost love, drugs...pretty much everything Billie Joe has sung about before. Except this time it's from a third-person point of view. The album follows the story through Jimmy's life in a biographical kind of way. But that's not all pop pickers! BJ even manages to go one further, throwing in two nine-minute efforts which are split up into different parts, just like a scene from an old-skool play. 'Jesus of Suburbia' charts Jimmy's rise into adulthood, taking in menacing pace changes and lyrical styles as Billie Joe tells his story. By 'St Jimmy', a rocking mother of pop punk fury, the kid is an egotistical bastard and by the closing nine-miute 'Homecoming' he's a dead man. In between we have lots and lots of quality moments. 'Letterbomb' and 'Give Me Novocaine' are blasts to the Green Day of old, while 'Extraordinary Girl' is a great song. Every part of it - muscially, lyrically, structurally - is fantastic.
It's not that Green Day ever lost it, but 'American Idiot' is a brave return to form. 'Warning' was a good record, but it wasn't the Green Day we know and love. They've evolved, I know, and I don't expect another 'Dookie', but this is a record which shows the evolution, keeps things fresh, yet still reminds everyone that Green Day can write a fucking good song. And 'American Idiot' has a lot of them.
www.greenday.com
Warners
Paul
