American Idiot


Green Day were (was?) new to me. Of course, I knew Basket Case - who doesn't? But that was all. No other songs, no videos, no recollection of who was in the band. Then came American Idiot, their much-lauded comeback album.

Pim Verhulst, a friend of mine, illegally sent me the MP3 of Holiday, one of the five singles that were eventually pulled off the album. I was blown away by the song and played it all summer long. Boulevard Of Broken Dreams was no stranger to me either, since most Belgian radio stations played it non-stop.

I decided to order the vinyl edition in the local recordstore. When I dropped the needle and the opening riff from American Idiot (the song) started, I knew this album was going to be something special. And indeed, it's very good. Almost every track could be a single.

The highlight for me is the sensitive Give Me Novocaine, with the touching lyric "I get the funny feeling, that's allright/Jimmy says it's better than here". Another personal favourite is St. Jimmy with "I am the son of a bitch and Edgar Allen Poe". I wish I had written that line.

With American Idiot (the album), Green Day came of age and found a new audience - I was only 10 when they released their bestselling album Dookie. Let's hope the next album will be half as good as American Idiot. Recommended.



Julian De Backer, 14 June 2006