Green Day
American Idiot

Now i know Green Day is one of the last bands one would expect to see mentioned at The Alt. But, see, back in the day, i was a HUGE Green Day fan. I had the old EPs, all the right proper albums, and would listen to them all the time. It was probably my first introduction into a modern form of pop-punk.

I haven't really followed them in recent years, but i was throughly impressed when i heard the latest single, American Idiot. I didn't want to like it since the last few years have seen little more than crap coming from the Green Day camp, but it was one of those tracks i couldn't stop listening to. So, when i came across a chance to hear the album, i fugred why not? Worst comes to worse, i waste a little less than an hour of my life.

So, on goes the CD. The single starts things off, so i wasn't really paying attention until about 10 muntes later, when i realized i was still listening to the 2nd song. Check out the track time, i see it reads at over nine minutes, and the track listing reveals that it's divided into no less than five parts. A nine minute, five part pop-punk song? What's going on here?

As the album progressed, i found myself not encompassed in dissapointment (my assumption) but rather thinking how much i was enjoying myself. The lyrics have matured far beyond anything they've done before, and the melodies make bands like Blink 182 or Sum 41 soundlike they've just written their first songs.

The lyrics, i must reiterate, are the biggest shock. From the politically charged opener to the sarcastically offensive Holiday, i'm reminded of Pink Floyd's the Wall. Although even i find it wrong to compare anything Green Day could release to Pink Floyd, i think this is as close to a punk rock version of the Wall as we're going to get.

So give this one a chance...you'll be surprised.

mr. gast rates this album 8.5/10