Glad to stumble onto this video! Green Day gave an anti-war voice that was familiar to all of America (which SOAD sadly couldn’t offer), with the punk ethos that DNGAF that their fans expected & respected (which the Dixie Chicks didn’t have in their fan base).
Being on the side of “hey, WTF, why are we in Iraq when Bin Laden is in Afghanistan…. Something fishy is happening” was deemed unpatriotic and “helping the terrorists.” Hearing the general public say that that questioning the wars was a “f*ggot’s position” was simultaneously idiotic and debate-stifling.
To hear Green Day call that out, and to do so for all of America to hear, was cathartic!
Its crazy how low things were them in the early 2000s. Albums that didn't have the previous success that Dookie did leading to their declining success and then having that album stolen from them. They could have just thrown in the towel. To come out with American Idiot was next level.
American Idiot might be the single most important album release to me personally. It came out when I was 13 and just starting to establish my world view. I remembered that my brother always listened to Dookie, so I knew to pay attention to the band. I truly think this album contributed to the very foundation of my identity for life.
Warning! is grossly, grossly under rated. You also completely missed Insomniac. Green Day's BEST album, hands down. Also, lost of the stuff on American idiot seemed to be trying to sound like other bands, and definitely lacked that Green Day feeling, plus a lot of AI songs just sounded like they were not trying as a band. Just going through the paces. It saved them because it was radio friendly and pandering to the masses. Warning! was a fuking sonic master piece lyrically and musically.
Born in 1949 and coming of age listening to Motown, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, Jethro Tull, The Who, etc, I came late to Green Day. By the mid-1970s, I turned my back on rock (because I didn't like what I was hearing) and got into classical and opera, and seldom looked back. Dookie and American Idiot passed me by. Or, more accurately, I passed the music by. Then, a few years ago, I heard Green Day's Crackup. Melodically, I thought it was one of the most beautiful rock songs I'd ever heard. Listening to more of their music made me a big fan of this music that my now 41-year-old daughter was grooving to in high school. Sort of like my parents' generation, who came of age listening to the Big Band sounds of Glen Miller, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman etc, holding their hands over their ears when rock and roll came in, and then becoming Beatles fans after hearing gems from Help, Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Sergeant Pepper.
The war on errorism came out a year prior. Was for more accurately critical of the iraq war and george bush. From a band that had already established themselves as a political band. This contradicts so many things you said in the video.
Except I loathe this album. Green day was never a political punk band. That was not their bag or scene. They wrote more pop punk songs. Then when hating bush hit its all time high in terms of popularity and ease of access suddenly they are polotical and hate bush. It felt like a cheap target for an ageing irrelevant band that was very shameless. This is the moment I stopped listening to their music
I feel like not addressing 1995's "Insomniac" does their progression a disservice because you could hear the shift towards the pop side starting in Nimrod whereas Insomniac was probably closer to Kerplunk coming off Dookie. Yes, Warning was disappointing, but it wasn't horrid.
American Idiot killed this band for me though. Maybe it was just because the radio station where I was living at the time only played about 15 songs in total, and these songs made up a third of them and just got driven into the ground. While "2,000 Light Years Away" is the song that saved me from a life of pop country, it isn't enough to make up for the formulaic pop band they've become. There's also Billie Joe's over-inflated ego that causes him to think they are far more important than a music act. Just look at his tirade at the rock n roll hall of fame.
And on the subject of the Dixie Chicks "controversy", what gets glossed over is the fact that they were a Pop Country act, and Country acts are supposed to be conservative while being politically silent. At least in those days. Whereas Green Day was still supposedly punk…ish….and being from one of the most liberal pockets of the USA (having grown up in Seattle, you can relate), anti-republican statements are all but expected. That's why they got away with American Idiot.
@ThePunkRockMBA
April 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
Check out my second channel! https://www.youtube.com/FinnMckentyPRMBA
@littlecatedward7737
April 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
This is one of the greatest albums of all time hands down there’s just no argument to be had.
@angelamarie7614
April 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
Warning was a good album imo
@Need_a_trailboss
April 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
Yeah they got really popular again in the us. No im lying. They sucked with exception for the doomie album.
@NMages20
April 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
God i hate Green Day but theyre definitely icons in the genre
@miguelvaldez444
April 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
Glad to stumble onto this video! Green Day gave an anti-war voice that was familiar to all of America (which SOAD sadly couldn’t offer), with the punk ethos that DNGAF that their fans expected & respected (which the Dixie Chicks didn’t have in their fan base).
Being on the side of “hey, WTF, why are we in Iraq when Bin Laden is in Afghanistan…. Something fishy is happening” was deemed unpatriotic and “helping the terrorists.” Hearing the general public say that that questioning the wars was a “f*ggot’s position” was simultaneously idiotic and debate-stifling.
To hear Green Day call that out, and to do so for all of America to hear, was cathartic!
@hydetheghost
April 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
the political stuff in their music really got me into green day. awesome
@lewisgrant7622
April 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
And now they’ve done the same thing for this generation of kids and teens with their new album saviours
@ZainKhan-kg6qr
April 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
I remember American Idiot dropped when I was in junior high and I was so curious. Been a fan since
@neilolive112
April 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
And as great and successful as this album is….I'm not listening to this bullshit in 2024 lol
@Princess-ep5hi
April 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
I’m 27 and American Idiot is what got me into Green Day.
@garrettwoods4528
April 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
Its crazy how low things were them in the early 2000s. Albums that didn't have the previous success that Dookie did leading to their declining success and then having that album stolen from them. They could have just thrown in the towel. To come out with American Idiot was next level.
@jimgaddio6255
April 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
Here's a take. Greenday had an idea (overproduced punk music) and they did it. Then this.
@WinterSkyyy
April 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
I was 18 in 2004, criticizing the Iraq War was the norm, NOT the exception!
@LeDank
April 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
American Idiot might be the single most important album release to me personally. It came out when I was 13 and just starting to establish my world view. I remembered that my brother always listened to Dookie, so I knew to pay attention to the band. I truly think this album contributed to the very foundation of my identity for life.
@PEHfinale
April 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
I love Warning 😞
@randoman81
April 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
Warning! is grossly, grossly under rated. You also completely missed Insomniac. Green Day's BEST album, hands down. Also, lost of the stuff on American idiot seemed to be trying to sound like other bands, and definitely lacked that Green Day feeling, plus a lot of AI songs just sounded like they were not trying as a band. Just going through the paces. It saved them because it was radio friendly and pandering to the masses. Warning! was a fuking sonic master piece lyrically and musically.
@themilkman3118
April 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
This aged like milk.
@LiminalMan777
April 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
Maybe not a popular opinion but I absolutely loved warning, castaway, blood sex and booze, misery all bangers
@tomoaries
April 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
Imagine calling American Idiot more important than anything Fugazi did lmaoooo
@user-xx2hj7xb6b
April 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
Born in 1949 and coming of age listening to Motown, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, Jethro Tull, The Who, etc, I came late to Green Day. By the mid-1970s, I turned my back on rock (because I didn't like what I was hearing) and got into classical and opera, and seldom looked back. Dookie and American Idiot passed me by. Or, more accurately, I passed the music by. Then, a few years ago, I heard Green Day's Crackup. Melodically, I thought it was one of the most beautiful rock songs I'd ever heard. Listening to more of their music made me a big fan of this music that my now 41-year-old daughter was grooving to in high school. Sort of like my parents' generation, who came of age listening to the Big Band sounds of Glen Miller, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman etc, holding their hands over their ears when rock and roll came in, and then becoming Beatles fans after hearing gems from Help, Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Sergeant Pepper.
@MistaTofMaine
April 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
green day cool in 90s gasf today.
@cuteIM-db8dl
April 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
they are the greatest of all time
@lexdgordon
April 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
Wow they were jealous of good Charolette? Oof. Where are those guys now?…
@user-wt9ol3ho1b
April 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
Green Day an American sell out
@JallanLangton
April 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
The war on errorism came out a year prior. Was for more accurately critical of the iraq war and george bush. From a band that had already established themselves as a political band. This contradicts so many things you said in the video.
@JallanLangton
April 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
Except I loathe this album. Green day was never a political punk band. That was not their bag or scene. They wrote more pop punk songs. Then when hating bush hit its all time high in terms of popularity and ease of access suddenly they are polotical and hate bush. It felt like a cheap target for an ageing irrelevant band that was very shameless. This is the moment I stopped listening to their music
@Zfrk
April 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
I feel like not addressing 1995's "Insomniac" does their progression a disservice because you could hear the shift towards the pop side starting in Nimrod whereas Insomniac was probably closer to Kerplunk coming off Dookie. Yes, Warning was disappointing, but it wasn't horrid.
American Idiot killed this band for me though. Maybe it was just because the radio station where I was living at the time only played about 15 songs in total, and these songs made up a third of them and just got driven into the ground. While "2,000 Light Years Away" is the song that saved me from a life of pop country, it isn't enough to make up for the formulaic pop band they've become. There's also Billie Joe's over-inflated ego that causes him to think they are far more important than a music act. Just look at his tirade at the rock n roll hall of fame.
And on the subject of the Dixie Chicks "controversy", what gets glossed over is the fact that they were a Pop Country act, and Country acts are supposed to be conservative while being politically silent. At least in those days. Whereas Green Day was still supposedly punk…ish….and being from one of the most liberal pockets of the USA (having grown up in Seattle, you can relate), anti-republican statements are all but expected. That's why they got away with American Idiot.
@ThePhobos100
April 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
They was anti Bush, anti Iraq war, a lot of people had that feeling at the time. It probably put them on the map, in the mainstream.
@crudonrice
April 24, 2024 at 3:35 pm
And then ended it again 😂