Universe Log 1: American Idiot - Why I Don't Shut Up About It, And Why It's My Favorite Album Ever

    You climb into the passenger seat of the machine, expecting a life-changing mission revealing to you a new universe unseen by man. Instead, your guide just presses a few buttons on the center console and a screen projects a hologram of a man donning a fedora and a pinstripe suit, smoking a cigar. 

   "Collins, can you do me a favor?" Your guide asks the holographic man.

   "Sure, boss. Whaddaya need?"

   "Play American Idiot by Green Day." Your guide commands, as the machine is filled with the sound of guitars followed by the iconic opening line, "don't wanna be an American Idiot".

   You sit, confused. Aren't you supposed to traveling? Why is your guide playing a punk album from 2004? He smiles at you. "I never said your our first universe wasn't going to be your own. I'm going to teach you about the best album ever recorded by your kind."

   I've talked about American Idiot so much that by this point pretty much everyone who knows me knows that it's my favorite album of all time, because I don't shut up about it. And now I'm gonna lay it all out and explain everything about the album and why I love it so much so you know why I don't shut up about it.

   It's 2002ish. Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tré Cool are working on the follow-up to their 2000 album, Warning. This new album will be called Cigarettes and Valentines. Then, one day, someone breaks in and steals all the tapes. Now, Green Day could've easily re-recorded their recordings, or maybe they even had backups, but they instead chose to start over from scratch on a whole new project. This resulted in the legend that is 2004's American Idiot. 

   I once made a joke that the guy who stole the Cigarettes and Valentines tapes is my favorite criminal, because American Idiot wouldn't have happened if not for him. He unknowingly did the world a massive favor. 

   American Idiot is part concept album and part scathing attack on government and society. It is a concept album - it is a whole story with characters, settings, and a plot. So much so that it was even adapted into a Broadway musical, which, as I bet you can guess, is my favorite musical. 

    But while the songs tell the story of the characters and what happens to them, they also reflect the band's opinions on government and society in general. There are some anti-religion lyrics here, which of course I don't much care for, but that's a small part of the experience and just because I listen to something doesn't mean I agree with it. 

   The main character is "the Jesus of Suburbia". The lyrics of the actual album do not give us his real name, but the musical assigns him the name Johnny. The story follows Johnny and his disillusionment with his hometown and society ("American Idiot") as well as his addictions and love for his girlfriend, who the lyrics refer to as Whatsername. After Johnny leaves his town for a big city ("Jesus of Suburbia") he has a lot of fun and debauchery ("Holiday"), but after the lights go out and everyone hunkers down for the night, he realizes he's just still sad and lonely and life still sucks ("Boulevard of Broken Dreams"/"Are We the Waiting"). In his despair, he meets a girl he falls in love with and she teaches him to party and throw caution to the wind, awakening a part of Johnny he didn't even know existed ("St. Jimmy"). And while his drug-fueled lifestyle may seem glamorous in the moment, even he knows what he's doing is only done to escape pain ("Give Me Novacaine"). 

    Johnny remains infatuated with his girlfriend ("She's a Rebel"/"Extraordinary Girl"), even as she grows tired of him and his reckless, untamed behavior. She wants him to reel himself in, but the glamor of being Saint Jimmy is all too appealing for him. Eventually things get to the point where she dumps Johnny, writing him a vitriolic letter ("Letterbomb"). Wallowing in his self-pity and depression at his life having become a shell of what it could've been, Johnny realizes he needs to make some changes ("Wake Me Up When September Ends"). Johnny decides to kill off the Saint Jimmy identity of himself and return to his hometown and try to put himself back together. He ends up getting a desk job and missing the fun he used to have, but not the perils that it caused. He makes contact with an old friend and is jealous that this friend is still being wild but is happy with it ("Homecoming"). Years later, he looks back on this time, and the love he lost, wondering what she's doing now and what became of her life after he left it ("Whatsername").

    So there you go, that's the basic story of the album as I know it. There are bonus tracks on the deluxe version ("Too Much Too Soon", "Shoplifter", and "Governator") but those only affect the story of the musical. The musical also incorporates two other songs into the drama, "Favorite Son", and "When It's Time", the former being a hateful jab at President Bush and the latter being a slow, beautiful ballad. The musical also incorporates some songs from Green Day's next album, 21st Century Breakdown, into the fray. Those songs being "Last of the American Girls", "Last Night on Earth", "Before the Lobotomy", "Know Your Enemy", and "21 Guns". 

    Even if you've never listened to the album in full, I guarantee you've heard at least some of it. The title track as well as "Holiday" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" were huge mainstream hits. And of course, there's "Wake Me Up When September Ends". I know you know that one. One of the saddest songs ever written. Of course they found a way to incorporate it into the story, but the song itself was written as a way for lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong to mourn his father who passed of cancer when he was a kid. Armstrong ran home from his father's funeral and locked himself in his room, and when his mother came to check on him, he said, "wake me up when September ends". 

    Anyway, I hope I've done a good job explaining why I love this album so much.