Essay: What can the listener take away from ‘American Idiot’ by Green Day?

In September 2004, Green Day released American Idiot, a politically fueled concept album, that became a huge commercial success and sparked an international tour. What set this album apart from others was its timely release before the upcoming election and its theme as a whole. In the midst of the election and the wake of an unpopular war, this album represents the culture of 2004 more than any other album released that year. The album’s main character, “Jesus of Suburbia”, is a teen who has no identity in a world where the focus is on drugs, violence and personal image as portrayed by the media. This dark, yet honest perspective of American culture rings true throughout the whole album as the theme of the millennium’s concept album.
In the month’s leading up to the release of American Idiot, America was into the third year of the Iraq War, and the popularity of President Bush was on the decline. The first spark of popular protest of the president, was evident in a comment made by Dixie Chick, Natalie Maines. While on stage in London, she announced to crowd, “Just so you know, we’re ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas.” (DIN). This sparked outrage in the United States and the Dixie Chicks were banned from airplay on all Clear Channel radio stations. (DIN).  Flash forward a year, and the album begins with, “Don’t wanna be an American Idiot, Don’t wanna nation under the new media.” Phrases like this have become commonplace in popular culture by mid-2004 and although it is not as direct as Maines’ comment, it resonates just as clearly throughout the youth in America. This shift in public opinion led to the decision to not ban “American Idiot” from the radio as the Dixie Chicks had been, and it became a top-40 hit.
Aside from the political messages evident on the album, there is another very interesting point exclusively evident to late 2004 to early 2005, and that is the concept of an entire album versus hit singles. In an era when iTunes was just gaining ground, and the digital single marketplace was not the main purveyor of music, digital tracks were able to coexist with that of an entire album. The band intended for the album to be heard in its entirety as Tre Cool says, “On purpose we made a record that had to be accepted as an album, not a bunch of singles. It’s not put out a single and work it to radio. That sucks. You’re just going to have to buy the album.” (Newman). What Tre conveys to the listener is that, Idiot is not simply another pop album full of hit singles and filler, but that this album has an actual theme, something that has all but disappeared from popular music. This time period is very important as the time of physical retail singles had come to an end, due to the record companies slowly phasing out their release. Many record execs believed that the sales of singles greatly hurt the sales of albums, so in the early to mid 2000’s all one could find on a record store’s shelf were full albums. As mentioned in a Billboard article referencing the album and the hit single at the time, “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” the authors calls it “interesting and encouraging to note that the same act can hold the No. 1 slot simultaneously with an album and a digital track.” (Now and Then). However, in 2006, the sales reports were released for 2005 and it showed an interesting phenomenon. Although digital music sales nearly tripled in 2005, accounting for a billion dollars of sales, the overall global sales dropped nearly three percent with a nearly nine percent drop of physical album sales in the United States for that market year (Digital Music Playing Worldwide). This shows the great changes to come in the music industry as the move towards digital sales and a singles market becomes more evident.
In light of the idea that American Idiot is to be listened as a whole album, it is important to analyze the story and the main characters present throughout the album. Seeing that the album is considered to be a rock-opera, it is important to divide the album up into the operatic structures. The album begins with “American Idiot” a song, or overture, that describes the setting of the album, an America where there is fear and violence caused by the media. It paints a dark and dreary picture of a country full of “Idiots” who simply go along with what they see on television and in pop culture.
What follows the title track, is in the form of a nine minute epic that can be considered as scene one. The song is titled “Jesus of Suburbia” and is a collection of five different parts. In the first part, the main character of the album is introduced and his thought process is described. Jesus, the main character, is lost in a seemingly hopeless world. He seems to have no sense of purpose in life and consequently has no identity. He appears to sit around all day watching television and doing drugs. The references that this song makes to society, are through the visualization of the lower class. This still resonates today, where a society so based on material goods, has simply accepted that a lower class will spend most of their life receiving government checks to simply work low wage jobs and sit around all day. This also shows the inability of one who trapped in the lower class to move up. There is very little class mobility in the U.S. and the chorus of this part reflects this perfectly: “And there’s nothing wrong with me. This is how I’m supposed to be in a land of make believe, that don’t believe in me.” This shows the loss of will by those who are trapped in the low wage vacuum of society. This reflects directly on one of the most pressing political issues of the time, the economy. After the attacks of September 11th, 2001, and the downfall of the dot-com boom, the American economy began to slow. When the economy slows, the first people that are affected are lower class. The first jobs cut are those of lower wage, less skilled workers who make up much of the lower class. This slow of job growth took a toll on the lower class and for some made it impossible to support their families and the song reflects that through the loss of class mobility and will. The rest of the song continues to describe the emotions that he is feeling due to this, and eventually brings out the anger that builds inside of him. This is evident as Jesus decides to run away from his home and becomes a vagrant among the rest of the world. Although it may appear as depressing to many, Jesus is actually taking the steps to change his life from the one he is trapped in. He comes from “Another broken home” as referenced in the song, and is finally going against what the rest of society would recommend.
Jesus has left his town and is seemingly all alone in a new city. Being a person who has no sense of self, he joins a protest against the wars that America is fighting and goes on “Holiday”. This song touches on the domestic war that the United States is engaged in through the inability to express one’s own opinion. In the line, “Kill all the fags that don’t agree, Trials by fire, setting fire” Green Day represents the attitude of the American government through the passage of the Patriot Act in 2001, which allows the monitoring of United States citizens by the government and essentially discourages any dissent among Americans. It also refers to the example of Natalie Maines and the backlash that ensued from their anti-Bush comments. In an interview about Idiot, Billie Joe talks about the lack of voice on the issue, “It’s disappointing because it’s like, the main people that went up and said something was the Dixie Chicks? You know what I mean?”(Johnson) This shows the intent of the album as a piece of protest art and the lack of opinion at the time. People were afraid to speak out for fear of the tarnishing of their image in a culture driven by the media. The other war that this song touches on is the Iraq war, and the focus of the violence that we are committing as a country overseas. There is nothing light about this album and its although this song appears to be more upbeat, it also takes direct stabs at President Bush. It refers to him as “The president gasman,” drawing a similarity between Hitler and Bush.  This is part of the theme involving corrupt leadership and excessive violence. In Armstrong’s eyes, Bush is committing acts as horrible as Hitler. Although the numbers are not nearly the same, killing those in a country that we as a nation, invaded, is a horrible act. As Jesus yells out in protest, the album has completely transitioned from the small town he was previously trapped in. He now is influenced by others in a city where he knows no one and it shows the conflict of suburban life versus urban life and it is now act two of the opera.
Feeling the effect of loneliness in the city that he so desperately wanted to live, Jesus launches into a two-part monologue. The protest is now over, and he wanders aimlessly throughout the streets at night. The sense of joy that he hoped he would feel upon arrival is completely gone, and he walks along the “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” as the title of the song suggests. After he expresses his loneliness through the first song, Jesus’ mind begins to deceive him. He focuses on the monotony of life and lack of purpose that many in America are feeling. The song is titled “Are We the Waiting” because it shows how people are simply working through life and the dark viewpoint of hopefulness towards death. People are stuck in this repetitive rut of working all week in order to spend their paychecks on something that will improve their image in the eyes of the rest of society. What this really does is create a defined class system which prevents the lower class from ever saving enough money to leave their poor neighborhoods and social role. As Jesus is waiting for his day of judgement to come, his mind begins to skip and tell him that “The Jesus of Suburbia is a lie.” This allows for the next character to be introduced as part of his schizophrenic alter-ego.
The next character that Jesus encounters is in the form of a suicidal alter-ego. The song’s title is “St. Jimmy” and is the name of this new symbol of rage. This is the first part of the internal conflict that Jesus begins to feel, and he is tempted to follow the “Patron saint of denial”. The main idea behind this song is that the youth in the city have become corrupted by the desensitization of violence in American culture. They commit crimes for their enjoyment and out of boredom as the song suggests, “Welcome to the club and give me some blood, I’m the resident leader of the lost and found”. These struggling urban youth have nothing to look for in life and without a sense of moral being, they jump at the chance to follow violence throughout life. This has all stemmed through war and the feeling of victimization by the American people. Through the attacks of September 11th, the nation has found a cause to commit excessive acts of violence on people of other cultures. The transition of Jesus to St. Jimmy signifies the end of act two as the song fades out with the lyrics, “It’s St. Jimmy, and that’s my name.”
St. Jimmy, as the listener finds out, is a user of drugs. He wants the feelings of emotion and the last remaining remaining morals to exit his body. Therefore “Give Me Novocaine” is a song about the quest to be numb from the pain of everyday life. Jimmy wants to be able to commit acts of violence without repercussion, and his solution is to abuse drugs. This is a common occurrence in America as people simply use drugs to get away from the problems in their lives. People search and travel to better places while on these drugs and they begin to feel a necessity to use them in order to make it throughout their lives. This eventually leads to abuse and creates a culture based around drugs. However, as Jimmy begins to come back to reality after his drug trip, he meets someone who will change his mind in act three.
This new person, known as Whatsername, is a girl who is love at first sight for Jimmy. He loves her and she represents something new and exciting in life. “She’s a Rebel” describes how Whatsername is not only “a rebel, She’s a saint”. What she signifies, is the other part of Jesus’ internal conflict, and that is love. She is the angel figure in his life and goes directly against the self destructive behaviors embodied in Jimmy. She is such an important embodiment of moral belief and love, that she is given a second song, “Extraordinary Girl” to show her emotional state. This song shows that she is sad and in a constant state of emotional pain and conflict with Jimmy, which translates into a conflict of rage versus love. These two characters do not fit well together as shown by the constant crying throughout the song. It is time for the culture of America to wake up move away from the culture of violence before it suppresses the last bit of moral being that is left. As it was a doomed relationship from the beginning, “Letterbomb” delivers a break-up letter from Whatsername to Jimmy. As act three closes, Jimmy is now alone once again and has lost the one person he loves.
All alone, stuck in the city of his dreams, Jimmy wanders throughout the streets. “Wake Me Up when September Ends” is a song about the pain that he feels in losing Whatsername. Jimmy is fixated on what he has lost and has no strength to overcome it, as he is a one-sided figure of rage. As the feelings of depression sink in, the seemingly unavoidable end of his emotional trauma begins to creep nearer in the story.
As the self-destructive behaviors of Jimmy lead him to commit suicide, Jesus of Suburbia returns in scene four. The five-part “Homecoming” is the second nine minute track on the album, and shows the regret for the city that Jesus feels. He is sick of the monotony of working a normal job, and everything that he hoped the city would bring him has ended in failure. He receives a postcard from a friend who has a girlfriend, a band and has been clean for over 22 days. This is the final straw of his depressed urban life and Jesus returns home, back to a place of despair and familiarity signifying the end of scene four and Jesus’ story.
In the form of an epilogue, “Whatsername” brings up the memories that Jesus had with his ex-girlfriend. He is alone again at home after burning the photos of her and is lost again in a hopeless world. What this song does, is tie the album together and show that without morals and change, America becomes a hopeless place. It is the responsibility to bring accountability to the actions of others that will keep America from turning into the dark world that is pictured here in American Idiot.
When thinking of similar albums, there is a comparison that jumps out immediately to most avid music listeners and is based on the idea of a rock opera. This inherently brings up comparisons to the Who’s Tommy. Although Tommy is less political, both albums share the theme of change for the better or worse. Both albums follow a teenage boy who is seen as an outcast from the world that they are living in and is seeking change to remedy his situation. Tommy is seeking cure for his disabilities and uses drugs and other methods to attempt to cure them. Tommy is eventually cured of his disabilities and begins to amass followers due to his miraculous recovery. Jesus of Suburbia is looking for a change in life and is using drugs in the short term to get away from the life he despises in his small home town. However he eventually leaves his hometown in order to start a new life. However, both characters dislike the change that they originally sought out. In Tommy, the character eventually reverts back to his old self and is left without his followers, as well as being blind, deaf and dumb. In American Idiot, Jesus returns back to his hometown after he learns that the new life in the city was not what he wanted, and becomes lost in the hopeless despair that he so strongly wanted to leave. Both of these albums deal greatly with change, and although the characters revert back to their original confines in the end, both have had the courage to experience what else the world has to offer.
The other comparison that can be attributed to this album is due mainly to the bands shift in music style and themes. When Green Day began, they were direct products of the Berkley punk scene in California and enjoyed making songs about abusing drugs and inappropriate humor. Throughout the nineties they made a name for themselves through the simplicity of their songs and immature lyrics. However, as the band members aged and the album sales declined, Green Day began to grow up. Songs about masturbation and being stoned began to morph into more political themed songs as shown on 2000’s Warning. Even though this album flopped, the band was onto something, and began to focus on a new project when their 2003 album was stolen. This led to the current format of a rock opera, and gone were the simple three chord songs of the past, now replaced by more complex multi instrument harmonies. They simply woke up and realized that they were not adolescents anymore, but middle-aged men who had the true talent to influence a new generation. In a Newsweek Article, this transition is described, “A lot can go wrong when you stop pretending you don’t care. Growing up is the most daring move this band’s ever made” (Lorraine). This shows the inherent risk that the band was taking. They were abandoning their humorous immature roots, in order to create something entirely different.
This transition from their hit album Dookie to American Idiot, their most popular album to date, is best compared with that of the Grateful Dead. The Dead’s transition between Anthem of the Sun and American Beauty serves as one of the greatest transitions of all time. Both bands went through tough times during their transitions between these albums, as Green Day was considered by many to be finished after Warning’s failure. However, through these rough patches, both bands revealed a sense of urgency to create quality new music and both Idiot and Beauty became hits. These two albums are considered great albums of their time and were only possible through the maturation of the bands that made them.
American Idiot was greatly successful due to its timely release and extreme, yet relatable subject matter. Had the album not been ready by the election season, it would have seemed dated and less relevant. After traveling on many tours and selling millions of albums, a documentary titled, “Bullet in a Bible” was made, chronicling their performance in Milton Keynes, UK. During this performance Billie Joe, inspires the people and sums up the moral of American Idiot through this quote: “Remember one thing: regardless who the powers that be are, the people that you elect, the people that I elect in the office, remember, you have the fucking power, we’re the fucking leaders, don’t let these bastards dictate your life or try to tell you what to do.” (Bullet) If there is one thing that the listener can take away from American Idiot, it is that they should stand up for what they believe and let others hear your voice. Without debate, the world becomes a dull place.