The making of Green Day: American Idiot [2/2]

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ChannelGreenDay
June 07, 2009

Making The Video: Green Day - American Idiot [2/2] Making the song American Idiot of Green Day. ------------------------------ ---------- STORY: American Idiot is the seventh studio album by the ...

Making The Video: Green Day - American Idiot [2/2]
Making the song American Idiot of Green Day.

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STORY:

American Idiot is the seventh studio album by the American punk rock band Green Day. It was co-produced with longterm collaborator Rob Cavallo and released on September 21, 2004 through Reprise Records.

In mid-2003, the band began recording songs for an album titled Cigarettes and Valentines. However, the master tracks were lost and the band decided to start over rather than re-record Cigarettes and Valentines. They decided to produce a rock opera, inspired by the work of The Who and numerous musicals. It follows the life of "Jesus of Suburbia", a sort of anti-hero created by Billie Joe Armstrong. Following early recording at Oakland, California's Studio 880, the band finished the album in Los Angeles.

The album achieved popularity worldwide, charting in 26 countries and reaching number one in nineteen of them, including the United States and the United Kingdom. Since its release, American Idiot has sold over 13 million copies worldwide, including 267,000 in its opening week.[1][2] The album won numerous awards including a Grammy for Best Rock Album, and was received mostly well by music critics.

The album's protagonist, Jesus of Suburbia, emerged out of Armstrong asking himself what sort of person the title of "American Idiot" referred to. Armstrong described the character as essentially an anti-hero, a powerless "everyman" desensitized by a "steady diet of soda pop and Ritalin".[3] Jesus of Suburbia hates his town and those close to him, so he leaves for the city.[9] As the album progresses the characters of St. Jimmy and Whatsername are introduced. St. Jimmy is punk rock freedom fighter, "the son of a bitch and Edgar Allan Poe." Whatsername, inspired by the Bikini Kill song "Rebel Girl", is a "Mother Revolution" figure that Armstrong described as "kind of St. Jimmy's nemesis in a lot of ways." Both characters illustrate the "rage vs. love" theme of the album, in that "you can go with the blind rebellion of self-destruction, where Saint Jimmy is. But there's a more love-driven side to that, which is following your beliefs and ethics. And that's where Jesus of Suburbia really wants to go," according to Armstrong. Near the end of the story, St. Jimmy apparently commits suicide. While the singer did not want to give away the details of the story's resolution, he said the intention is for the listener to ultimately realize that Jesus of Suburbia is really St. Jimmy, and Jimmy is "part of the main character that pretty much dies." The reason for St.Jimmy's suicide is because of the Jesus of Suburbia's conformity to regular life, illustrated in "Homecoming: East 12th Street" with "Jesus filling out paperwork now, at the facility on East 12th St." Jesus of Suburbia longs to have the St. Jimmy personality back to break conformity and "be free" as heard in the same song by saying "I don't want to stay, get me out of here right now, I just wanna be free." Then, in "Homecoming: Nobody Likes You" it is said that Jesus of Suburbia's relationship with Whatsername is starting to fade away. In the album's final song, "Whatsername," Jesus of Suburbia loses his connection with Whatsername as well, forgetting her completely. Whatsernamme is actually not her real name but since he can only remember her face he refers to her as Whatsername. Also it is also apparent that Jesus and Whatsername fell in love. But Jesus knew that the relationship was failing apart due to the fact that St.Jimmy was simply a charector that he had made up to have a rebel side to himself, while Whatsername was a true rebel, who really believed in it. But St.Jimmy waas not truly a rebel and she left him to go and make a life somewhere else, described in Homecoming.

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