PopHorror Let's Get Scared
20 years has gone so fast…
It seems only yesterday that I was 11 years old, standing with my dad in the middle of the Sam Goody (RIP) in Philly. Clutched in my hand was a CD emblazoned with a bleeding heart grenade, a far cry from the albums of Britney Spears, Jesse McCartney and other popstars that lined my shelves at the time.
Over the few weeks leading up to the Sam Goody stop, I had become absolutely captivated by Green Day. It was routine for me to watch music videos on MTV before going to school and, every single day, “Holiday,” “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and “American Idiot” were shown in the rotation without fail. As a kid, did I have any idea what on Earth they were talking about, with lyrics mentioning an Armageddon flame and hollow lies? Not exactly. All that mattered was that, as I sat in my Catholic elementary uniform watching Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool speed down the street in their convertible morning after morning, I knew that I had found something special.
American Idiot was purchased that fateful afternoon and, quickly, became the soundtrack to my life, rarely leaving my Walkman portable CD player. Little did I know at 11 years old, American Idiot, released on Sept. 21, 2004, marked a drastic career shift for the band. As punk rockers who emerged from the 924 Gilman Street scene in California and rose to acclaim with 1994’s “Dookie” (happy 30th anniversary!), their 2004 rock opera took many of their original fans off guard. With tracks like the 9-minute masterpiece “Jesus of Suburbia,” “St. Jimmy” and “Whatsername,” American Idiot chronicles a small-town teen who wants nothing more than to break free of the monotony, which is achieved by the creation of his drug-riddled alter ego.
Though some accused Green Day of selling out, the naysayers were in the minority. The masses were on board for this new era (and new guyliner-heavy look) of Green Day, with American Idiot serving as the ultimate anthem for those who felt misunderstood. The album went on to win the Grammy for best rock album in 2005, sell more than 23 million copies and be transformed into a hit Broadway musical of the same name.
However, American Idiot as we know and love it almost didn’t happen. After Green Day’s 2000 release Warning had its time in the sun, the guys returned to the studio to work on what was supposed to be their next album, Cigarettes and Valentines. However, the tapes were allegedly stolen (some fans question the validity of this), and they had to start from scratch. Rather than re-record the same songs, which they deemed as not their best work, a new and unprecedented direction was taken when an iconic lyric came to Billie while on a walk: “I’m the son of rage and love, the Jesus of Suburbia.”
In the 2005 live concert/documentary Bullet in a Bible, he said:
“Those two lines for me were, ‘Oh my God, here we go.’ It was opening up something that not only was completely a new thing, but there was something about it that dug up some past demons that you seemed like you closed off a long time ago, but you never reconciled with. And then those two lines came out and they excited me and scared the living piss out of me at the same time.”
On this lifechanging album, Mike said:
“American Idiot, after recording it, we knew we had accomplished something that was completely above anything else we’d ever done.”
Tré said:
“American Idiot was sort of a whole new, ‘Let’s take on the planet,’ sort of vibe. You should do it at least once in your lifetime.”
Just as American Idiot changed the lives of Billie, Mike and Tré for the better, this album — and Green Day as a whole — did the same for me, with countless memories tied to the band. I remember being the sole, proud fan in my middle school class, with friends (now ex-friends) questioning how I could possibly like them given Billie’s imperfect teeth (um, what?!). I remember spending hours listening to 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, Dookie and their other early work, gaining an appreciation for their punk roots that I wasn’t alive or old enough to witness in real time.
In high school I remember seeing them in concert for the first time in New Jersey (I have a photo somewhere of Billie mooning the crowd during “King for a Day”). And I remember being in near-tears in 2017, when, at my first “big girl” job as a journalist, I was granted a press pass to photograph (see below) the Revolution Radio Tour at that same Jersey venue. I was within inches of Billie (and his bright red socks), who made eye contact with me and smiled when he saw me sporting a t-shirt of SWMRS, his son Joey’s band at the time.
However, 2024 has been the most special. On Aug. 9 in Philly, and Sept. 2 in Hershey, I had the pleasure of seeing the Saviors Tour, during which Green Day played Dookie and American Idiot in their entirety, along with other hits, over the span of two-and-a-half hours. For Hershey, I opted for a pit ticket, and it was the best decision I’ve ever made. I can’t put into words how special it was to see Billie, Tré and Mike up close as they performed the album that means so much to so many, a larger-than-life hand holding a heart grenade towering over them. Now in their early 50s (and, in my humble opinion, all looking better than ever), Green Day is still a well-oiled machine of pure chaos and energy on stage, and I’m honored to have seen this once-in-a-lifetime spectacle of a tour twice.
This was in addition to taking a solo adventure to New York at the end of July to see them perform in the middle of Central Park for Good Morning America. Was Uber-ing through the Big Apple at 2:30 a.m. nerve-wracking? Just a bit. Yet so, so worth it (check out the photo below!).
Twenty years ago, I never would’ve thought that, someday, I’d be traveling hours to see that band from MTV, blasting their music in my very own kitchen or forming a deep appreciation for the drummer as he frolics across stage in a cheetah bathrobe. But I’m so happy that this is the case thanks to American Idiot, and I can’t wait to see what the next 20 years hold.
