American Idiot

Instant 5 star!! 🔥

This is one of the albums that define my teenage years, and I still listen to it. I remember watching the American Idiot music video on MTV and thinking Billie Joe was so cool. What a time to be alive

This album was huge. For years I couldn't walk into a HMV without seeing this album plastered all over. Green Day still use American Idiot to make political statements. Wake Me Up When September ends is still a meme. They still play the majority of this album live. You wouldn't think it was over 20 years old

This is THE Green Day album. Banger after banger! Hearing those guitar riffs just hit the right part of my brain🤘🏻 Sick album cover. They're also one of the best bands I have ever seen live. Hella Mega tour was insane. They nailed it with this one. Points all round honestly

5 ⭐️

I dont get how Green Day have held on to such a big place in American culture - Dookie was amazing, Brain Stew was pretty good, but that Good Riddance song gave them a ruinous taste of sincere balladeering and since then it's been a long steep decline. This album was their big return to the spotlight - an Anti-Bush pop punk opera that is just as embarrasing as that sounds. They still have a nice bright overdriven guitar sound and some decent riffs as well as a gift for a catchy vocal melody, but they're totally wasted on this. Turgid slow tempos turn into forced sped up breakdowns, bombastic production, bloated song writing (8 minutes! 8!), corny arena rock climaxes. The lyrics are pure dumb guys making a statement stuff. Honestly, their songs about teenage disaffection, smoking and jacking off offer a more profound insight into suburban American culture and alienation than this overblown grandiose turd. When Sept Ends is truly abysmal - I know I 've heard this before, but it is so much worse than I could possibly have imagined, how was THIS their return to the bigtime? Good lord this whole thing just sucks so bad.

Liked mostly because of nostalgia but Dookie is better

OK, I'll admit I don't know much of anything from Green Day since they left Lookout records and were a cheap rip off of Ramones and Cheap Trick. This... is... rough. It's wildly overproduced milksop powerpop. While it has its moments, it's for the most part forgettable. I don't feel enough to say I hate it, but I would NEVER think to ever put this on to listen to.

I’m not the biggest Green Day fan but this album was a favourite when it originally came out. Been forever since I’ve listened to it in full but it still holds up to this day.

A few slurs in this eh? I appreciate that I got this right before Trump’s 2nd inauguration and the launch of his shitty meme coin. Fuck Trump and the Oligarchy including his billionaire puppet masters. 3.23

I remember when this came out. Dookie was definitely in my top 5 albums at the time, and I very much remember being disappointed in this album. Green Day had grown up, but I hadn't.

I have heard some of the singles a number of times as they had significant radio play, and maybe listened to the entire album once when it came out. It wasn't ever something I purposely went back to, let alone listened to with intention.

Listening today, in the first days of 2025, I regret all the time that went by that I wasn't listening to this album. I am glad I have been able to mature enough to appreciate this album for what it is: a fucking masterpiece of pop punk, and opera, perfect commentary on the time it was released, and an unfortunately accurate prediction on the time I'm listening in 2025.

I listen to music a lot, and have always had a feeling that I couldn't name about certain songs or bands. Sometimes, a song just feels...BIG. An epic. Led Zeppelin and My Chemical Romance are two bands that stick out to me as making songs like this that I couldn't describe well. Reading the Wikipedia article, Green Day said they wanted to abandon the verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge structure and go big. That's it. That's the thing I haven't ever been able to put my finger.

Also, Tré's toms sound so big on this album. The bass and guitars sound huge and so good together. This was masterfully produced and recorded.

5 stars

A punk rock opera, huh? I think I might disagree. I applaud the ambitiousness of this album but, good god I can't stand the way Billie Joe Armstrong sings. Really most of the pop-punk bands from back in the day, the vocals are all trash.
This album was huge when it came out. I mean didn't they make a Broadway show off of this? No comment on the irony of that.... As with a lot of the other stuff from Green Day, I actually like the music fairly well. It's interesting, decently recorded, varies from song to song. But the vocals are just tough for me. Lyrically I think it's ok, a little simple and on the nose but not bad I suppose. I appreciate the message at least.
Green Day is a band that I wish I liked more, I just don't. Mostly because of the vocals, I just can't get on board. Generous 3/5

Pretty good. Felt a bit repetitive at times though. Holiday/Boulevard of Broken Dreams is an all-timer

The production is too shiny for my taste. The songs too poppy, too earnest. BUT. This has heart and spirit. It has ambition. Will I listen to the whole thing again? No. Do I respect it for its heart, spirit and ambition. Yes.

A great album. I had forgotten what's on it. The starter alone is great. Holiday/Boulevard of brolen Dreams is one of my favorites. And I always enjoy listening to 'Wake me up, when September ends'. Full marks.
5/5

I think of they leaned more into the St Jimmy rock opera bit and less of the generic fuck bush stuff it would have been much better

I have a soft spot for a concept albums... and this one is a great pop punk rock album, that also kicks dirt at the GW Bush era, win-win! 🤘

Nine minute suites; is this punk or prog rock? Anyway, i like this a bit more than Dookie, but it's still not really for me.

By the time this album came out I had already soured on Green Day and the pop-punk/Gilbert and Sullivan hybrid was a big turn off for me. It’s still not my thing, but there is some strong songwriting on this.

I had this sitting in the queue for a week because I dreaded listening. I absolutely loved Dookie and Nimrod, and I was so disappointed with American Idiot that it still strings 20 years later.

I'm not sure I was wrong to be disappointed, but I have to admit it's a good album. This is the best they've ever sounded, and the easiest to listen to, but that's not really what I want from Green Day.

It's a well played, well produced album, but it's just less interesting than their earlier work.

For once the shoe is on the other foot here, because I know this is an album Maggie knows well, and I’m not entirely sure I’ve ever listened to the whole thing. I owned Dookie, as was required of all junior high boys in the mid 90s, and I like the singles off Warning (2000) more than most people do, but I was out on GD after maybe 2002.

So, after listening, I knew the singles. It was basically impossible to miss them as a 20-year-old in 2004. Didn’t know the rest. And I know this is supposed to be a political album, but I didn’t pay enough attention to lyrics to catch a ton of that, after the title track. Definitely liked the album, though.

I’m willing to bet this album was deeply felt by people born around 1990. The lyrics would resonate hard with antsy teens. I was already adulting when this came out, so it doesn't have a nostalgic emotional attachment with me. The length of this album with the sameness of the music started bothering me about 2/3 of the way in.

I bet that the Broadway musical based on this was enjoyable. The lyrics tap into some universal teen emotions. But this music needs some visual performance accompaniment to break up the monotony. It’s just not that enjoyable as an adult to sit and listen to.

St. Jimmy is the best pop punk song since The Buzzcocks "Ever Fallen In Love." Fight me.
Big anthemic songs. Flawless execution, hard guitars, Green Day made a big rock album in an era when that just wasn't happening. A great sounding recording. A favorite and still meaningful. Somewhat sad and cynical - is all hope gone in modern America? How do we feel about it?

Their best record, and one that defined the new generation of pop-punk. Anyway, the length of some songs on it is unjustified, but in rest this is a good protest album.