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“American Idiot:” 10 years later

Marlon Pitter
Connector Editor

Green Day’s iconic punk rock opera, “American Idiot,” turned ten this Saturday. Before Sept. 20, 2004, this generation had never seen – nor heard – anything like it. But now, all around the world, “American Idiot” is a household name.

“American Idiot,” Green Day’s best-selling album since “Dookie” ten years prior, flew off shelves in music stores everywhere upon its release. The album sold more than 260,000 copies within its first week, a true feat in the modern music industry. The album went on to sell 15 million copies worldwide, six million in the United States alone.

The album starts off by telling the story of the character Jesus of Suburbia as he leaves for the city because he hates his town. Later in the story, St. Jimmy and Whatsername make appearances as Jesus of Suburbia’s morals and love interest, respectively.

The best tracks on “American Idiot,” aside from its five platinum singles, are “St. Jimmy,” for its fast-paced punk rock style that Green Day haven’t really played since “Nimrod;” and “Give Me Novacaine,” for its soft, acoustic-guitar-tracked verses and crunchy electric guitar choruses and solo.

The album has led Green Day on to some of the biggest tours and shows of their now-27-year musical career, including playing to about 130,000 people over two days at National Bowl Milton Keynes, England in 2005, where they filmed the live DVD “Bullet in a Bible.”

Since then, the album was transformed into “American Idiot: The Musical” in 2009 and arrived on Broadway on April 20, 2010 with 422 performances before touring the rest of the country and the world. The musical features additional characters compared to the album, as well as additional songs from the band’s 2009 record “21st Century Breakdown.”

This summer, Kerrang! paid tribute to Green Day’s landmark record by releasing a cover album of “American Idiot,” featuring some of today’s biggest bands in the alternative, pop-punk and hardcore music scenes.

Notable covers on the Kerrang! edition include 5 Seconds of Summer’s cover of “American Idiot,” Neck Deep’s cover of “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” Escape the Fate’s cover of “Give Me Novacaine” and Falling in Reverse’s cover of “She’s a Rebel” with a screamo breakdown included free of charge.

With everything that this album has accomplished, it’s almost certain that “American Idiot” will be one of the most celebrated albums of our generation.

Marlon Pitter is a former editor-in-chief of the UMass Lowell Connector. Hailing from Hartford, Conn., he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English with a concentration in journalism and professional writing and a digital media minor in 2017. Follow him on Twitter @marlonpresents.

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