American Idiot by: Green Day

“Good Music”. The phrase means different things to different people. To most it refers to music that has a “catchy” beat, such as a main verse, or the entire song, that is worth repeating throughout your day. To others “Good Music” refers to a song that means something important to people; whether they are having a rough time with it or the specific song referred to reminds them of a certain memory or person that means a lot to them. Protest songs can be considered a member of this elite group of good music.

One of the most realistic and accurate protest songs is “American Idiot, by: Green Day”. American Idiot by: Green Day was and still is a very important to the culture and history of the United States.

“In late 2004 the United States was so wrapped up in threats of outside bombings and attacks it was getting ready to blow itself up from within.” Says Heel Good Music.edu. During the term of President George W. Bush Americans were full of anxiety caused by the repeated bomb threats from Iraq. Because of this anxiety and frustration, Green Day took the opportunity to write a song that expressed of the feelings of the American people. In “American idiot” Green day wrote in line fourteen “ and sing along to the age of paranoia”, which is probably one of the truest lines of the whole song. The word paranoia is defined as a mental condition characterized by delusions of persecution, which many people were effected with while every gory detail of the war in Iraq was broadcasted, and exaggerated, over the television twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

The California punk rock band, Green Day, began when Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt were fourteen years old, and formed their first band, Sweet Children, in Rodeo, California. Later in 1989, third band member Al Sobrante joined, and the band was hence fourth known as “Green Day”. In 1992 Green Day’s second album “Kerplunk” had huge underground success, which led to a large sum of record labels with an interest in the future of the band and whether it would be with them or not. They later signed with the label “Reprise”. The album “Dookie” was Green Day’s first major label debut was released in the spring of 1994. “Dookie” won the 1994 Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance. The band Green Day began by creating the reputation that they understood their fans which mostly consisted of punk rockers from the 90’s until the beginning of the twenty-first century when they released American Idiot. After their first political protest song release in 2004 their fan base has been switched to a more mature audience concerned about the well being of this country. While most of their audience is more mature they have still maintained a great deal of their punk rock fans.

The song in general describes the feelings of most American’s during all of the threats; most of Green Days music is written this way. They try to express their listeners feelings for them even if the listener isn’t one hundred percent sure how they are feeling themselves. Most people’s feelings from that year were anger and hatred that was caused by the constant threats, the number of family members they had lost, the fact that the media always expands things out of proportion, the political arguments, and so much more. In the second line of the song “ don’t want a nation under the new media”, the three band member express their frustrations with the excessiveness and consistency of the news and media. The purpose of American Idiot is to push listeners to reflect over everything that was currently going on around them, in the process they stayed true to their reputation as a punk rock band but also branched out into music that was meaningful to politics from around that time period to the present day.

Currently Green Day is still producing similar music to what they have in the past. Most of their music is based on personal experiences that one or multiple members of the band have gone through. All three of the band members have been married at least once. Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool both have daughters and an ex-wife. Bill Joe Armstrong has only had one wife and, and the time of the article, two sons. Mike Durnt is still the bass player and backing vocals. Tre Cool still plays the drums. And Billie Joe Armstrong is still the lead guitar and vocals.

In the present day Green Day is a very successful in their specific genre of music. Their home lives seem to be very successful as well. The song was very successful and well received by so many of the music community. American idiot by green day was and still is a very important to the culture and history of the United States.

References

1. “Green Day (Punk Rock ) - Song: ‘American Idiot.’” THE POWER OF LYRICAL PROTEST , Mary Elizabeth Quir k Cort, 2013, scholarworks.rit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=8770&context=theses.
2. “Green Day Biography.” Green Day - Biography, History, Band, 2001, greendayweb.yaia.com/biography.html.
3. Long, lacey b. MERICAN IDIOT TO THE 'AMERICAN EULOGY': GREEN DAY'S ROCK OPERAS AS APOCALYPTIC POLITICAL PROTEST DURING THE GEORGE W. BUSH ADMINISTRATION. 2009, getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/long_lacey_b_201108_ma.pdf.
4. MrGreenDayLyrics. “Green Day - American Idiot Lyrics [1080p].” YouTube, YouTube, 14 Nov. 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=a1BS7XnEZqc.
5. Robinson, parks. “American Idiot: Green Day’s Triumph Over Politics and Punk.” Heel Good Music, 20 Apr. 2015, heelgoodmusic.web.unc.edu/2015/04/20/40/.