Album Rankers: "American Idiot," Green Day

[Deleted]

01. Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
02. Wake Me Up When September Ends
03. Are We The Waiting
04. Jesus Of Suburbia
05. Extraordinary Girl
06. Whatsername
07. Holiday
08. Give Me Novacaine
09. American Idiot
10. Homecoming
11. Letterbomb
12. She's A Rebel
13. St. Jimmy

This is a great, great album. I think it's right up their with "Dookie," and "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" and "Wake Me Up When September Ends" are their best songs ever. I was surprised that I'd rank "American Idiot" (the song) at #9 when that song is currently in the Top 10 of my personal chart.

[Gold Soundz]

I'm just getting into this. Nothing will be as good as Dookie. I mean the same goes for Tragic Kingdom and Enema of The State.

[allow that]

danjaseeka said:

Nothing will be as good as Dookie. I mean the same goes.... Enema of The State.

No way.... Enema is a classic but blink's best effort to date is last year's self-titled album.

[Deleted]

Jersey said:

No way.... Enema is a classic but blink's best effort to date is last year's self-titled album.

[halo19]

I don't know about anyone else here, but I find it unfair that once someone hears a particular album, they then assume that none of the future releases will be as good, then say how the new releases aren't near what they are. I guess in some ways that really is what happens.

But I feel that that's what gets artists lower in popularity as time goes by. A lot of my favorites, for that matter (i.e. Garbage, Stone Temple Pilots, Smashing Pumpkins, NIN, RHCP, etc.).

[allow that]

halo20 said:

I don't know about anyone else here, but I find it unfair that once someone hears a particular album, they then assume that none of the future releases will be as good, then say how the new releases aren't near what they are. I guess in some ways that really is what happens.

But I feel that that's what gets artists lower in popularity as time goes by. A lot of my favorites, for that matter (i.e. Garbage, Stone Temple Pilots, Smashing Pumpkins, NIN, RHCP, etc.).

I agree.

People hold the "best" album as the standard for everything to follow and assume nothing will top it before they even hear the new stuff. So mentally you bring down the new stuff before you even hear it, while subconsciously overrate the "best" album by letting time make you remember it as greater than you thought it originally was. I'm guilty of this too, but sometimes you need to forget about a band's old material in order to enjoy their new stuff.

[Unexpected]

"Wake Me Up When September Ends" is freakin amazing. Can't wait to buy the album!

[Love Plastic Love]

Jersey said:

I agree.

People hold the "best" album as the standard for everything to follow and assume nothing will top it before they even hear the new stuff. So mentally you bring down the new stuff before you even hear it, while subconsciously overrate the "best" album by letting time make you remember it as greater than you thought it originally was. I'm guilty of this too, but sometimes you need to forget about a band's old material in order to enjoy their new stuff.

I understand and agree...but sometimes when an artist puts out the best cd of their career-absolute brilliance from song to song...its kind of hard not to look at new material and think, gee thats not as good as _______ (insert album name)

[Walking Contradiction]

danjaseeka said:

I'm just getting into this. Nothing will be as good as Dookie. I mean the same goes for Tragic Kingdom and Enema of The State.

I think Enema of the State is Blink's worst album, and I certainly wouldn't call it a "classic". But I agree about their newest (self-titled) effort being the best.

As for American Idiot, I'll have to listen to it a few more times before ranking the songs. So far "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" is my favorite. I do have to say that this is Green Day's artistic peak, and is the album that Warning should've been. I will always have a soft spot for their older albums though, especially Nimrod.

[Rob64]

The album isn't even out yet. Where are you guys hearing this?

[halo19]

mtv.com has it on The Leak, which has each of the tracks.

[MoreAdventurous]

I'm really surprised about this album...I had low expectations. But this could top even Dookie.

My favorites are "Holiday" and "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams".

"Are We The Waiting" is one of those frustrating songs where you love the verses and hate the chorus. Grr!

[Deleted]

I love the chorus of "Are We The Waiting". It's so 80's!

[Gold Soundz]

Boulevard, Holiday, and Are We The Waiting are my favorites right now. Favorite Son should've been on the album though - i LOVE that song.

----------------------------------------------------------------

This album is amazing. It may not be as fun as Dookie, but quality wise, it's right up there. As far as singles go, I think Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Holiday, Wake Me Up When September Ends, and possibly Extraordinary Girl. Nothing else really sticks out as a single, but there isn't a track on the album I would skip over.

[Walking Contradiction]

Alright, now I'll rank the songs

1. Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
2. Are We The Waiting
3. Holiday
4. Jesus of Suburbia
5. Extraordinary Girl
6. Whatshername
7. Wake Me Up When September Ends
8. Give Me Novocaine
9. American Idiot
10. St. Jimmy
11. Homecoming
12. Letterbomb
13. She's A Rebel

[allow that]

I think I might just have to buy this album on Tuesday now when I really had no interest as recently as yesterday. I love when a great album pop up, literally overnight. Happened last year to me with blink 182 too! Casually liked the band and listened to it on "The Leak" when I had nothing to do one day, and it ended up becoming one of my favorite albums ever.

[Gold Soundz]

I'm REALLY getting into Whatsername. The hook isn't instant, but once it comes around it's killer!

[Deleted]

All Music Guide gave this an amazing review.

It's a bit tempting to peg Green Day's sprawling, ambitious, brilliant seventh album American Idiot as their version of a Who album, the next logical step forward from the Kinks-inspired popcraft of their underrated 2000 effort, Warning, but things aren't quite that simple. American Idiot is an unapologetic, unabashed rock opera, a form that Pete Townshend pioneered with Tommy, but Green Day doesn't use that for a blueprint as much as they use the Who's mini-opera "A Quick One (While He's Away)," whose whirlwind succession of 90-second songs isn't only emulated on two song suites here, but provides the template for the larger 13 song cycle. But the Who is only one of many inspirations on this audacious, immensely entertaining album. The story of St. Jimmy has an arc similar to Husker Du's landmark punk-opera Zen Arcade, while the music has grandiose flourishes straight out of both Queen and the Rocky Horror Picture Show (the '50s pastiche "Rock and Roll Girlfriend" is punk rock Meat Loaf), all tied together with a nervy urgency and a political passion reminiscent of the Clash, or all the anti-Reagan American hardcore bands of the '80s. These are just the clearest touchstones for American Idiot, but reducing the album to its influences gives the inaccurate impression that this is no more than a patchwork quilt of familiar sounds, when it's an idiosyncratic, visionary work in its own right. First of all, part of Green Day's appeal is how they have personalized the sounds of the past, making time-honored guitar-rock traditions seem fresh, even vital. With their first albums, they styled themselves after first-generation punk they were too young to hear first-hand, and as their career progressed, the group not only synthesized these influences into something distinctive, but chief songwriter Billie Joe Armstrong turned into a muscular, versatile songwriter in his own right. Warning illustrated their growing musical acumen quite impressively, but here, the music isn't only tougher, it's fluid and, better still, it fuels the anger, disillusionment, heartbreak, frustration and scathing wit at the core of American Idiot. And one of the truly startling things about American Idiot is how the increased musicality of the band is matched by Armstrong's incisive, cutting lyrics, which effectively convey the paranoia and fear living in American in days after 9/11, but also veer into moving, intimate small-scale character sketches. There's a lot to absorb here, and cynics might dismiss it after one listen as a bit of a mess when it's really a rich, multi-faceted work, one that is bracing upon the first spin and grows in stature and becomes more addictive with each repeated play. Like all great concept albums, American Idiot works on several different levels. It can be taken as a collection of great songs — songs that are as visceral or as poignant as Green Day at their best, songs that resonate outside of the larger canvass of the story, as the fiery anti-Dubya title anthem proves — but these songs have a different, more lasting impact when taken as a whole. While its breakneck, freewheeling musicality has many inspirations, there really aren't many records like American Idiot (bizarrely enough, the Fiery Furnaces' Blueberry Boat is one of the closest at least on a sonic level, largely because both groups draw deeply from the kaleidoscopic A Quick One). In its musical muscle and sweeping, politically-charged narrative, it's something of a masterpiece, and one of the few — if not the only — records of 2004 what it feels like to live in the strange, bewildering America of the early 2000s.

Highlights are listed as "American Idiot," "Jesus Of Suburbia," and "Wake Me Up When September Ends".

[Walking Contradiction]

The said:

All Music Guide gave this an amazing review.

Highlights are listed as "American Idiot," "Jesus Of Suburbia," and "Wake Me Up When September Ends".

I agree that was a fabulous review. Very spot on.

[Rob64]

I bought the album. I only listened to about half of it so far, but I'm REALLY impressed. After going to HMV and purchasing it, I listened to it on my way home. While "Wake me up when september ends" was playing, I was driving down a narrow road surrounded by trees, the leaves are changing colors, there was a girl riding her bike, the sun was shining, it was such a nice scene. Seeing these things and hearing the song at the same time made me feel great and I said to myself "It's great to be alive" (yes i was alone in the car, LOL!).. WHAT A SONG!!! GREENDAY IS BACK!

What I REALLY love about this album is that the drums sound like they were recorded in an arena, as opposed to a studio. You can really feel the music. It's powerful.