Green Day‘s American Idiot was released Sept. 21, 2004 — 20 years ago Saturday.
Not only hailed as a landmark release of the 2000s rock scene, American Idiot also gave Green Day one of the most impressive comebacks in music history.
After breaking out with their massive 1994 album, Dookie, and ushering the pop-punk movement of the ’90s, Green Day’s popularity began to wane toward the end of the decade. Their last pre-American Idiot album, 2000’s Warning, was their first post-Dookie album to not go Platinum.
Green Day began working on a follow-up to Warning called Cigarettes and Valentines, but when the master tapes of the nearly completed album were stolen, the trio decided to scrap the sessions and start again. What they came up with was an hourlong punk rock opera that followed a character known as the Jesus of Suburbia while also critiquing the George W. Bush administration.
The lead single and title track immediately set the scene by declaring, “Don’t wanna be an American idiot.” Upon its release, the album became Green Day’s first to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200.
Subsequent singles included the equally political “Holiday,” and the more introspective “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and “Wake Me Up When September Ends.” “Broken Dreams” became Green Day’s highest-charting hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #2, and won the Grammy for Record of the Year. American Idiot as a whole was nominated for Album of the Year.
The story of American Idiot also inspired a Tony-winning Broadway musical, which occasionally featured frontman Billie Joe Armstrong in the cast.
Green Day is currently playing American Idiot in full on tour to celebrate its 20th anniversary. A deluxe reissue will be released Oct. 25.
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