21st September - Green Day's American Idiot

Artist – Album: Green Day – American Idiot

Released:  21^st September 2004

Sounds Like: adolescence

Today’s blog started with a straight shoot out between two albums from my schooldays. One was a concept album by a group of aging American rockers featuring songs nearing the ten minute mark, whilst the other was only the third release from a rural English guitar band with a fervent obsession with Radiohead. Naturally I went for Muse’s Absolution over Green Day’s American Idiot, opting for what I thought was the best of a bad bunch. Then, I found out Absolution wasn’t released 10 years ago today at all – it doesn’t reach that milestone for another 8 days silly me. Although I was a bit perturbed about having to write about the album that featured the pop-punk anthem “American Idiot” and the boring slow ballads “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and “Wake Me Up When September Ends” that I remember the kids moshing to, in truth I was a bit relieved because all of Muse’s songs are just a bit samey. And then, when I pressed play, I didn’t hear the expected pretentious, hackneyed record from the titans of those insufferable genres emo and power punk, but a pretty awesome indictment of George Dubya Bush’s America, with stonking great songs and straight-to-the-point lyrics.

The most obvious influence is The Who, the inventors of the concept album and the rock opera, but other clear reference points include The Clash (strongly felt on the title track) and Bowie (on the likes of ‘Jesus of Suburbia’, the stronger of the two bookending suites.)

Post 9/11 America was a confused place, with the country in a war that most didn’t understand and many didn’t want, led by a man variously viewed as an unflinching protector and a bumbling imbecile. Many artists riled against the government but it’s American Idiot, along with Bruce Springsteen’s ‘The Rising’, that delivered the best, most enduring testimony of the time.

Albumaday... rating: 7/10

1.        American Idiot – 2:54

2.        Jesus of Suburbia – 9:08

3.        Holiday – 3:52

4.        Boulevard of Broken Dreams – 4:20

5.        Are We the Waiting – 2:42

6.        St. Jimmy – 2:56

7.        Give Me Novacaine – 3:25

8.        She’s a Rebel – 2:00

9.        Extraordinary Girl – 3:33

10.    Letterbomb – 4:05

11.    Wake Me Up When September Ends – 4:45

12.    Homecoming – 9:18

13.    Whatsername – 4:14

Listen to ‘She’s a Rebel’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1raCtM3UGk

Also released on 21^st September:

1973: Faust – Faust IV

8th May - Sum 41's All Killer, No Filler

Artist – Album: Sum 41 – All Killer, No Filler

Released: 8^th May 2001

Sounds Like: Pop punk’s pitiful peak

In years to come music historians are unlikely to look favourably upon the pop punk trend of the early 00’s, which followed hot on the heels of the similarly lamentable nu-metal movement. Spearheaded by the likes of Blink-182 and Green Day, pop punk at its best produced great hook-laden, power chord driven slacker anthems but, more often than not, it sounded derivative, bland and whiney.

Sum 41’s All Killer, No Filler is perhaps the definitive album of the era. Where Green Day had the longevity and flexibility to find success both before and after the genre reached its peak and Blink-182 moved to a darker, more mature sound, Sum 41 seem forever identified by this second album and the smash hits ‘Fat Lip’ and ‘In Too Deep’. All the various ingredients of pop punk are here: nasal vocals, a competent blend of melodic power chords and driving rhythms, and childish lyrics about having to do, nobody liking you and just generally being a spotty teenage douche bag. ‘Nothing On My Back’ and ‘Rhythms’ are fast paced scrambles through the mind of an angst-ridden 15 year old, though they’re not without their charm, and ‘Handle This’ is the token slow-song, cut through with a surprisingly harmonious chorus.

Not everything here is exactly generic though. Disposable closer ‘Pain for Pleasure’ showcases the bands love of metal, and ‘Fat Lip’, most definitely the highlight of the set, takes up this template and blends it with rap and hip hop elements, in a manner much more enjoyable than the crappy moans of nu-metal. Still, everything here is still geared at loser teenagers, supported by phenomenal videos for MTV, and it’d be daft to pretend that it’s anything else. For what it is, it’s a good album. In the grand scheme of things, it ain’t.

Albumaday... rating: 5/10

1.       Introduction to Destruction – 0:37

2.       Nothing on My Back – 3:01

3.       Never Wake Up – 0:49

4.       Fat Lip – 2:58

5.       Rhythms – 2:58

6.       Motivation – 2:49

7.       In Too Deep – 3:27

8.       Summer – 2:49

9.       Handle This – 3:37

10.   Crazy Amanda Bunkface – 2:15

11.   All She’s Got – 2:21

12.   Heart Attack – 2:49

13.   Pain for Pleasure – 1:42

Listen to ‘Handle This’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ3H3wvcXHs

Also released on the 8^th May:

2006: Scott Walker – The Drift