American Idiot (Green Day).

[Johnny Scumm]

I'm just listening over this Album currently and as much as I love it, I can't help but love the older music, much like everyone else with sense. Now, I know that there's already been "American Idiot: The Musical", but does anyone else feel that when they listen to this Album, that Billie Joe & Green Day's sole purpose was to write this album so that one day, it could be turned right into a Musical? That's what I feel, every time. Yeah, the songs are great and everything, but it just seems like it was written for stage. It tells a huge story, which goes through every song and the 2 songs that are just under 10 Minutes long each (JoS & Homecoming), both tell stories within a larger one. Here's the Tracklisting for anyone who doesn't know it completely, or hasn't heard of it.

1. "American Idiot"

2. "Jesus of Suburbia"
I. "Jesus of Suburbia"
II. "City of the Damned"
III. "I Don't Care"
IV. "Dearly Beloved"
V. "Tales of Another Broken Home"

3. "Holiday"
4. "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"
5. "Are We the Waiting"
6. "St. Jimmy"
7. "Give Me Novacaine"
8. "She's a Rebel"
9. "Extraordinary Girl"
10. "Letterbomb"
11. "Wake Me Up When September Ends"

12. "Homecoming"
I. "The Death of St. Jimmy"
II. "East 12th St."
III. "Nobody Likes You"
IV. "Rock and Roll Girlfriend"
V. "We're Coming Home Again"

13. "Whatsername"​

The way the two long songs are set out are just like that of a Book, with their Chapters. You can pick them out very easily among the songs as well, so my questions to you are these;

1) What were your initial thoughts on the album, without considering other Green Day material & the Musical?

2) What did you think when the Musical was created?

3) Do you believe that Green Day wrote this entire Album for the purpose of a Musical?

4) Now put the Musical back into the picture and does this affect your views on the Album/Songs in any way?

 

[Dagger Dias]

I bought the album originally because I liked "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" so much, and was already a Green Day fan so I thought I'd see what the rest of the tracks were like. My initial thoughts on the album were that it was full of great music that I started to listen to on a daily basis. I actually hadn't heard of the musical version until I saw this thread. I'll have to look for it. I don't think that Green Day wrote this album for the sole purpose of creating a musical. They wanted to make a concept album and this cd tells an interesting story when you listen to the tracks in order without shuffling. Making it into a musical was a brave move for the band and it will get them more attention from a different group of fans that attend the show. The musical's existence will not change how I feel about the album/songs. It is one of my favorite albums. While I'm not a fan of musicals, I do like that Green Day tried something different.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I don't think Green Day made the album hoping that it would be made into a musical. I do not believe that the band thought the album would have the success it did, and simply made it in the way that they did as they wanted to release an album in a different style to anything they had done previously.

I personally prefer their older stuff, although there are a few really good tracks on American Idiot. However, commerical success indicates that they made the right decision in making the epic-style album that they did, as sales and critcal acclaim from American Idot far outweigh any of their earlier albums, and Green Day are now bigger than ever.

 

[LSN80]

This was the first time I purchased a Green Day album. I never appreciated their older music, as it was on heavy overplay on every radio station in town. This was a completely different side of Green Day, as they showed social and political awareness, with some of the same themes of old sprinkled in at times. (such as Boulevard) I liked this album so much that I caught them when they came to town on their "Bullet in A Bible" tour, and they were simply outstanding live. With American Idiot, they took a chance by changing the themes and possibly their target demographic of their earlier albums, which allowed me to go back and listen to their older music again, and appreciate it.

I found it odd when they made a musical about this album. I don't believe for a second they intended to make a musical about it, I just think the commercial success of it opened up the opportunity to make a musical based on it. I think the major purpose of making this album was to show that they were more then a stoner band, and to attract a more diverse demographic. Theyre not the first band to do it, nor will they be the last. It's not unprecedented for commercial success of an album or song to be used in something bigger, such as in TV shows, movies, and even musicals. They obviously found a formula that worked for them as it's their largest selling album to date, and they were able to make a musical out of it.(albeit one Ive never seen).