green day american idiot

American Idiot is a concept album that tells the story of a central character named Jesus of Suburbia. The album was a departure from Green Day's typical way of writing music. Armstrong said, "As soon as you abandon the verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge [song] structure ... it opens up your mind to this different way of writing, where there really are no rules." Armstrong said the band aimed to be ambitious, which he felt many contemporary rock bands were not.^[3]

The band favored loud guitar sounds for the record; Armstrong said "we were like, 'Let's just go balls-out on the guitar sound--plug in the Les Pauls and Marshalls and let it rip'". The guitarist played more lead guitar on the album than he had on any previous release, which he said he previously shied away from for fear of sounding "corny". Armstrong added tracks of acoustic guitar-playing throughout the record to augment his electric guitar rhythms and Cool's drumming, creating a percussive sound.^[3]

Story

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.^[4] 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. Whatsername is actually not her real name but since he can only remember her face he refers to her as Whatsername. 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 character 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 was not truly a rebel and she left him to go and make a life somewhere else, described in "Homecoming."^[3]