This is one of the most popular albums of the past decade. My words are hardly necessary for an understanding of this album, and frankly, it wouldn't matter to anyone I know. Before anyone heard a song on this album, they decided what they were going to think. "Green Day doing a political concept album?" How would you respond?
Frankly, I'm still a Green Day fan, although I've always favored their early independent work, and Dookie, although they never really disappointed me until I heard Warning, as it sounded too sedated to be the high energy boys I remembered.
American Idiot is, as I said before, a political concept album, but I think its success as an album has nothing do with either of these things. I think of my younger brother, who swears Obama is a Muslim and thinks Toto was God's true returning. He loves this album, because it's fast, fun, and substantial without being overt. And that's already more than anyone asked for from Green Day.
Somewhere toward the second half, the album performs a typical lull, but in a smart fashion, they put one of their singles ("Wake Me Up When September Ends") toward the end to rejuvenate spirits for it's epic ending. Songs like "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" contain acoustic guitar that doesn't sound contrived (as most punk bands who incorporate acoustic guitar do), but you can mostly thank the slick production for making those transitions more subtle and tasteful.
I'm not in love with this album, but for what it is, I can't hate it, especially when it does so in a relatively successful way. Now, I'm not looking forward to anything else Green Day does, but I'm not jumping on the hate train either.
Rating 6/10
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